Increased trajectory? It will surely be fine when sighted in 3 inches high at 100 yards and considering I won't use the rifle past 300 yards anyway. Too many people think a bullets should fly so flat they don't want to have to think about it. Kind of funny I think. You end up getting poor bullet performance at close range due to high velocity and have a rifle only well suited for ranges beyond normal shot ranges. I am seeing a return of interest in rifles that perform well at normal ranges such as the Whelen and the 358.
Yes the trajectory is a significent factor in the Whelen cartridge. Check the potential fps, bullet bc's for 35 cal with your ballistics calculator. BC's for typical 35 cal hunting bullets are not great being in the low to mid .3's and velocity with a 250 gr. in a 24" barrel is only 2400 fps. It takes 4 inches elevation at 100 yards to put you on at 200 yards and then you will be over 16 inches low at 300 yards. Drop velocity to 2250 fps with your 21' barrel and you have a considerable increase in elevation at 150 yards required.
Rick please shoot that gun with 24" barrel and two or three loads and then repeat those same loads when it's been cut and give us a report on the velocity loss. I think folks are making way too big an issue of the loss and also grossly over stating what it will be. You now have an excellent chance to give us some hard numbers as to what it really does in one specific barrel.
To me a 150 fps velocity loss is significent when dealing with a cartridge only getting 2400 fps to start with. You have an '06 capacity cartridge case using over 55 grains of midburning rate powder. Data I have reviewed on 308 WIN cartridges indicates that with 45 grains of similar burning rate powder there is still velocity gain in barrels over 24 inches and on average a loss of 35-45 fps for every inch you decrease the barrel length under 24". If you slow the bullet it down too much you might as well be using a 45-70 or .444 and have the advantage of a heavier bullet.
That's some bad info you're putting out. Looking in the Hornady manual for the .358" 250 grain spire point interloct bullet I find the following.
If you move it out at 2400 fps for a 200 yard zero you will be only 2.9" high at 100 yards and the drop at 300 yards would be 11.9". Move it out at only 2300 fps and the numbers change to 3.3" high at 100 yards for the 200 yard zero and at 300 yard it's 13.1" low. Drop it all the way down to 2200 fps and the numbers become 3.7" at 100 and 14.5" at 300 yards still flatter than your numbers indicate. You have to drop the starting velocity all the way to 2000 fps to get your numbers.
Inside 200 yards as is the stated use it really makes little to now difference.
Start it at 2500 fps which in a Whelan is really moving out and you'll only change the numbers to 2.6" and 10.8" at 300 yards.
So from 2500 fps which is about max any Whelan is likely to push a 250 even from a long barrel down to a mere 2000 fps which is way less than the 21" barrel is going to deliver you'll be 2" higher at 100 yards and 7.1" lower at 300 yards for a 200 yard zero. To most of us who have real world experience hunting rather than internet experience only that's really not that big a deal. And when the stated purpose is inside 200 yards the difference those 3" he's gonna chop it are of no concern at all and the handiness it adds way more than makes up for it.
