Thread: .35 cal, why is it so rare here?

I was having a yarn with my cuz in Colorado today. He’s loving summer and getting out and about with the varmint rifles, and spending the evenings hiding from his teenage daughters and highly strung wife in his workshop. He and his step-bro have a seemingly infinite number of Savage rifles, mostly semi-custom jobs that they do themselves. They!re forever swapping barrels and stocks and doing stuff.

Anyway, he’s got a new barrel, a .358, 24”, semi bull profile. He’s umming & ahhhing about which .35 cal to chamber it in, does he go long or short? This got us talking about the Whelan, .358 Win and 35 Rem Mag.

I wondered why we very rarely see the .35 cal over here. I can recall seeing one Remington Model 7 in .35 Remington Magnum for sale on here, there’s @jakewire’s .35 Whelan project, I think @ZQLewis has a .358 Win and other than that... not a lot, eh? If I search for “Whelan” there’s a sum total of 13 mentions on this forum since the beginning of time. My one and only brush with the Whelan was awesome, loved it (QLD pigs and scrub bulls).

Why don’t we see the .358 here? Or is it a well kept secret? In Canada, this was quite a popular calibre. What was it that didn’t gel with NZ? Too much gun? No man eating predators? Are we woosies?

Originally Posted by Flyblown

I was having a yarn with my cuz in Colorado today. He’s loving summer and getting out and about with the varmint rifles, and spending the evenings hiding from his teenage daughters and highly strung wife in his workshop. He and his step-bro have a seemingly infinite number of Savage rifles, mostly semi-custom jobs that they do themselves. They!re forever swapping barrels and stocks and doing stuff.

Anyway, he’s got a new barrel, a .358, 24”, semi bull profile. He’s umming & ahhhing about which .35 cal to chamber it in, does he go long or short? This got us talking about the Whelan, .358 Win and 35 Rem Mag.

I wondered why we very rarely see the .35 cal over here. I can recall seeing one Remington Model 7 in .35 Remington Magnum for sale on here, there’s @jakewire’s .35 Whelan project, I think @ZQLewis has a .358 Win and other than that... not a lot, eh? If I search for “Whelan” there’s a sum total of 13 mentions on this forum since the beginning of time. My one and only brush with the Whelan was awesome, loved it (QLD pigs and scrub bulls).

Why don’t we see the .358 here? Or is it a well kept secret? In Canada, this was quite a popular calibre. What was it that didn’t gel with NZ? Too much gun? No man eating predators? Are we woosies?

I think that the simple answer is that here's less of a spread of huntable animal species over here.

If I'm not mistaken you can conquer everything here with 12ga/22/223/308.

possibly because the .308 did the job well enough,like the 303 did before it....a blr in 358win would just about have to be perfect bush rifle...there is quite a .35 following over on Nathans Site...think someone recently did a .35/303 build/rebarrel with good results.

As far as medium bores go we have been spoilt with the 9.3 cal ( .366) rifles from Europe that pop up so reasonably priced thanks to a certain importer. The 35 Whelan nearly matches the 9.3x62 in every way except easy availability of ammunition and components. That's my take on it anyway.

I went with the 9.3 as well , considered turning the 06 in to the 35 but with Graeme bringing in excellent accurate rifles in x62 there seems to be no point
O6 went the 6.5 way and another 06 was bought.

Bought another 6.5x55 today as well.
Damn, I just can't seem to learn.

I had a nice 350rem mag that I sold to fund others. Reasonable ballistics out to 400m. 338-06 would be cool if using suitable projectiles.
My 'big' gun is 8 x 57 now which carries a 200gr pill pretty well

Thought long and hard about changing my BLR from .243 to .358 guess if it was here in the U.K. still I would have.
Be great for driven boar in France. red dot sight fast action and all four round magazine......happy days.

Reason I didn’t was the original barrel still has life and also has made in Belgium written on it.
I have a 7x57 that dose the the job. Just not as fast as the BLR. Maybe one day

Not being a smart Ass but did you search .35 Whelen or .35 Whelan as I'm sure it is Whelen ?

I have a 338/06 & 9.3X62, (and a few 30/06s) the 338/06 is great for ever where but suitable more for NZ than the 9.3, I use the 9.3 for the same work as .375H&H, Factory loaded up to 325gr !

The .35 is great in many forms, only the slugs let it down, in the old days any way, same as the 8mm !

Yep, Townsend Whelen.
What projectiles do you load in the 338-06?

Because we don't have an abundance of heavy boned big game.

I had a FN 1900 in .35 Remington,manufactured in 1901.
It must have spent 119 years saving up it's semiautomatic evilness before it was handed in.

I feel sorry for whoever crushed it as the concentration of evil spirits it must have possessed would have probably killed anything nearby.

i have a 358 norma, one from Din Collings, and even if i hit a deer in the wrong spot, bad shooting on my part, it would either be dead or anchored. Very good killer with 250 grain projectiles at 3000 fps

Originally Posted by Scout

Not being a smart Ass but did you search .35 Whelen or .35 Whelan as I'm sure it is Whelen?

Well bugger me, who knew. And I got an “A” in English.

Thanks mate! That explains a lot.

Cheer's Flyblown,
I have great fun with my 358win in a Sav 99.. To be fair with full loads it's probably a bit much gun for goats and your typical North island red at my hunting ranges of 50-300 mtr.
(Red spiker at 170 mtr, near side shoulder smashed and off side shoulder missing, no edible meat in the front)
Bullets are a bit of a disappointment. Would be nice to see some upgraded options with better BC's. The 225gr Game Kings can be a bit fragile in close but nothing walks away, it's just a mater of how many pieces it is in. Even red misted a few rabbits. The Nosler 225gr would be a better option IMO if you where hunting cattle.
Down loaded with 158gr pistol bullets and trail boss kids shoot it quite happily.
Will admit that full loads without the silencer on the end it lets you know you have released something substantial when you pull the trigger.

If someone wanted a fun project a long action BLR 30/06 re-barrelled to 35 Whelen would be hard to beat for anything in NZ.
Z

Originally Posted by norsk

Because we don't have an abundance of heavy boned big game.

I had a FN 1900 in .35 Remington,manufactured in 1901.
It must have spent 119 years saving up it's semiautomatic evilness before it was handed in.

I feel sorry for whoever crushed it as the concentration of evil spirits it must have possessed would have probably killed anything nearby.

I don't feel sorry for them.

Now the few 760 and 7600s in 35 cal will join it. What a waste..

Originally Posted by ZQLewis

The Nosler 225gr would be a better option IMO if you where hunting cattle.

Ah ha! Funny, took the vehicle for a WOF this morning, old mate that does them is a keen as hunter, we always swap a few tall tales. Today we discussed our experiences being glared at by Raukumara scrub bulls.

Now I’ve shot and cut up a fair few scrub bulls in Aussie, particularly in NW QLD, always with my .308. Open country, shoot them in the head. But in the riparian bush on the edges of the Mangahaupapa or Raukokore, I didn’t fancy my chances with that rifle and a soft 150 grain. Too dark, too much crap in the way. If any of you been up there and heard those big ball bags moaning their bass rumble at you, you’ll know exactly what I mean. 358 country, and I’d want a staunch bullet.