Author Topic: 338-06 or 35 Whelen ? (Read 1258 times)

Buckeye · « **on:** March 21, 2005, 04:42:23 PM »

Thinking bout rebarreling my Sporterized Springfield ,Which Caliber 338-06 or 35 Whelen ? I'm leaning toward 35 Whelen,It'll be used for Whitetail ,Black bear, and a future Elk hunt.
Which do you guys like best ?

Thebear_78 · « **Reply #1 on:** March 21, 2005, 08:03:52 PM »

You really can't go wrong with either one, but I perfer the whelen myself too.

old06 · « **Reply #2 on:** March 22, 2005, 03:18:17 PM »

Make that 2 votes for the whelen I don't own a 338-06 but have had a 35 whelen since 1990 and it is a great round. It will handle all the game you brought up plus much more.

Catfish · « **Reply #3 on:** March 23, 2005, 02:11:02 AM »

The Wheelen will push alittle heaver bullet alittle faster and will have alittle more knock down power. The .338-06 will push alittle liter bullets giveing it a slight advantage in range. Unless your wanting it for a special reason and are going to go with a match chamber, I would go with the factroy round, the .35 Whellen.

pop up · « **Reply #4 on:** March 23, 2005, 06:21:23 AM »

I once heard that the best way to improve the 35 Whelen was to neck it down to 338 cal. That said (I have both), I believe that for most people the 35 Whelen is the way to go. I recommend it with 220, 225 and 250 grain bullets sitting top of a max load of RL 15.

Now having said that I prefer the 358 Win which is 99% of what the Whelen will ever be.

POP

Somerled · « **Reply #5 on:** March 23, 2005, 07:21:23 AM »

The .338 bullets have higher sectional densities and ballistic coefficients. There are more bullets available in .338. At the place where I buy bullets, weights range from 160 to 300 grains for the .338 and from 180 to 310 grains for the .358. But one can find .35 Whelen factory ammo and brass around.

If you like to reload or may have to shoot across some wide, windy and open spaces, the .338-06 looks good. Otherwise the .35 Whelen is more convenient.

Vern Humphrey · « **Reply #6 on:** March 23, 2005, 09:07:19 AM »

The .35 Whelen works through the "magic" of expansion ratios. Expanding gas is what drives the bullet, and in a .35 caliber barrel, the gas expands more to push the bullet a given distance than in a .30 caliber barrel. This means the pressure drops faster in a .35 barrel, and since we want to keep pressure up as high as safely possible, we can burn more powder and hence get more energy in the .35 Whelen than in the parent .30-06.

If the .35 Whelen has a flaw, it's that the parent .30-06 case is a bit too small for the bore. There are two ways to "fix" that -- one way is to reduce the bore to bring it into better balance with the case capacity (thus producing the .338-06) and the other way is to blow out the case, increasing the volume by some 11% -- the resulting wildcat is the .35 Brown-Whelen.

I have a .35 Brown-Whelen. If you like a powerful rifle, and are willing to fire form your cases and work up a load with minimal data, that's the way to go. If not, then the .338-06 has a slight edge over the standard .35 Whelen.

Buckeye · « **Reply #7 on:** March 23, 2005, 10:44:34 AM »

I thank you for your input, and i'm still undecided, ?

Guess I'll do more pondering.

victorcharlie · « **Reply #8 on:** March 23, 2005, 10:50:02 AM »

Not that I've ever needed one, but I've always wanted a .35 Whelen.......

longwalker · « **Reply #9 on:** March 23, 2005, 10:51:55 AM »

I liked the 338-06 for the following, high sectional density and high ballistic coefficient. Strong bullets and a wide varity of them. I get a 200 grin bullet going 2670 ft/second. This gives me a 300 yard zero with a 6.3 rise at 200 yards. At 300 yards, I still just over 1800 ft-lbs. Thats alot of a umpf! At 400 yards I am low by only 15 inches, and 1500 ft-lbs.

Not a bad gun to hunt the prairies with and it's light enough to take in to the mountains after elk.

It does a great job on whitetails with very predictable results. I shot three this year all went right down. I like it better than my 25-06 when the wind is blowing.

longwalker :grin:

Lawdog · « **Reply #10 on:** March 23, 2005, 10:58:20 AM »

In my opinion it's a coin flip. I went through this same decision and I went with the .35 Whelen. Lawdog

Vern Humphrey · « **Reply #11 on:** March 23, 2005, 11:02:09 AM »

Quote from: Buckeye

I thank you for your input, and i'm still undecided, ?

Guess I'll do more pondering.

Okay, I'll stop pussy-footing around. Go with the .338-06. If you want more power, go with the .35 BROWN-Whelen.

Bubba Jack · « **Reply #12 on:** March 23, 2005, 01:25:03 PM »

.338-06 is enough, but if you need more power go with the .338 win mag. Spend the extra money saved on a good piece of glass. You will not regret it!
:lol:

Bubba Jack

Mac11700 · « **Reply #13 on:** March 23, 2005, 08:07:40 PM »

Quote from: Catfish

The Wheelen will push alittle heaver bullet alittle faster and will have alittle more knock down power. The .338-06 will push alittle liter bullets giveing it a slight advantage in range. Unless your wanting it for a special reason and are going to go with a match chamber, I would go with the factroy round, the .35 Whellen.

The 338-06 is a factory round....now.....and it looks like a handloaders dream in the books...can't say anything more about it...but I certainly would like one...

Mac

Graybeard · « **Reply #14 on:** March 24, 2005, 02:03:34 AM »

The differences are really quite minor. But the deciding factor for me is bullets available. Those for the .338-06 are made for the .338 Win. Mag and are therefore a bit on the tough side at the lower velocities. Those for the Whelen are made for it and the .358 Win. so are made specifically for the round you'll be using them in. To me that means better performance. Otherwise the selection of bullets is pretty much equal.

Due to expansion ratio you can get about 100 more fps from the Whelen with bullets of same weight but the smaller diameter bullets of same weight have slightly better BC. It's really a toss up. But when all is said and done the larger frontal area of the Whelen plus the bullet selection caused me to chose he Whelen.

Buckeye · « **Reply #15 on:** March 24, 2005, 01:37:22 PM »

Im still leaning toward a 35 Whelen ,,I don't much like light bullets ,but the 200gr. rem. bullets used in the 350 Mag. hold up really well from what I've heard. That being said It would be great White tail / black bear bullet choice, and a good 250gr. would make it great for anything else that walks in North America.
I've got a 9.3X57 and located a great deal on a 9.3X62 but I like .358 bullets ! Such choices !

George Riedel · « **Reply #16 on:** March 25, 2005, 01:30:35 AM »

Hi Guys

I cannot comment on the 338-06,

I have a Ruger #1 re-tubed with a 24 inch Doug with a 10 twist.

I killed a young bull moose (700 lbs) in Newfoundland back in 2001, just north of Gander using a 250 g Partition behind 56.0 g of IMR 4064 2530fps MV and it did the job nicely.

Great .358 bullets out there on the market,

Nosler 225, and 250's. Swift makes a 280 g, Speer 250, Northfork makes a wounderful 225, 250 and a great 270 g, Woodleigh makes 250's and an elephant killer 310 g. Plus I have a NEI mold that casts a 300 g FN out of wheel weights.

I am a big fan of the Ole Col. .35 Whelen. Its been around since the 1920's plus it part of our history.

Elmer Keith loved it with the Western Tool and Copper 275 g bullet behind 57 g of IMR 4064. (ouch)

The .35 Whelen is about as close as one can get to a Cult following :lol:

George

Buckeye · « **Reply #17 on:** April 04, 2005, 09:03:05 AM »

Well I decided to leave the Springfield ,a 30-06 ,and I'm gettin a 9.3 X 62
Its a great round ,its in a model 640 Mauser,oldie but a goodie!
ethier the 338/06 or 35 Whelen or the 9.3 X62 has to handloaded ,so just go with the most powerful ! 9.3 X62 Brass can be fire formed from 30-06 brass.. so what the heck .

Thanks for the input.

Mac11700 · « **Reply #18 on:** April 05, 2005, 04:08:41 AM »

Quote from: Buckeye

Well I decided to leave the Springfield ,a 30-06 ,and I'm gettin a 9.3 X 62
Its a great round ,its in a model 640 Mauser,oldie but a goodie!
ethier the 338/06 or 35 Whelen or the 9.3 X62 has to handloaded ,so just go with the most powerful ! 9.3 X62 Brass can be fire formed from 30-06 brass.. so what the heck .

Thanks for the input.

I have given the 338-06 considerable thought...and to the availablity of factory ammo...and to having to load it up to it's potential...and have found you really don't have to handload for it to do that...http://www.midwayusa.com/ebrowse.exe/browse?TabID=3&Categoryid=10575&categorystring=653***690***

Just looking at the Weatherby factory load...one can see that...

Mac

Buckeye · « **Reply #19 on:** April 05, 2005, 10:32:45 AM »

I handload and prices like that is the reason... I ruled out the 338/06 first ,Why not get a 338 Mag. and reload at slower Vel.s,And between the 35 Whelen and the 9.3 X62 ,it really wasn't a contest there being that the 9.3 x 62 is superior to the 35 Whelen and I'm getting a killer deal on a 9.3 X62 in a Model 640 Swede. And the 9.3 X62 is a great round..2nd. only to the 9.3 Brenke in non- magnum , big game getters..And I also have a 9.3 X 57 so I'm already loading 9.3 bullets.

Nate C · « **Reply #20 on:** April 06, 2005, 07:58:17 AM »

I agree with many of the posters above that 'overall' there are a better selection of 35 whelen bullets out there - if you include online, mailorder, etc.

Fwiw - I had this same question a few months ago and drove down to the local Bi-Mart and checked to see what they had on their shelves. 6 different kinds of 338s in various brands and weights vs a single 35 box of Nos Ballistic tips.

That's only one store, and not a great statistical sample, but for me I was on the fence so I decided to go with a 338-06. Mine is built on a 700 long action ADL, with a gunstocks.inc (sponsor of GBO) fancy grade stock. I'm almost done with the finishing, and confess I haven't actually shot it yet. I'm excited about giving it a try.

Another note, there are a couple of good articles on Oregon Elk Hunting with the 338 in "Wildcat Cartridges vol 1 and 2". I haven't found very many other articles around, so these were a real treat.

Re: the 9.3x62 - I want one of those also

I have an old M98 laying around that I haven't decided what to do with someday when I'm ready to start my next project. 9.3 is on the short list of optinos...

Last and not least as everyone has said - 338, 35w, or 9.3 - all are fantastic, and have a lot of overlap. Whichever you chose you'll be doing well.

Have fun.

Nate

Buckeye · « **Reply #21 on:** April 06, 2005, 10:20:30 AM »

I agree Nate,totally.

bajabill · « **Reply #22 on:** April 12, 2005, 05:29:10 AM »

Id go whelen over the 338-06. I like the history of the wheelen and if I wanted a 338 I get the win mag. For reloading, I would give the nod to the 338 as far as component choices. But how many choices do you need. I doubt I will ever try every 308 bullet there is.