First bull!!!

[GunnyJohn]

I have been hunting the same area for elk for the past 7 years or so. This year it finally paid off. I got a young bull on opening morning. He was a raghorn 4 point at 270 yards. I used my trusty (on paper at least) 35 whelen. As I spent most of my time this year out of town working, I hadn't got comfortable with the cast loads I had been playing with. So needless to say Mr. Nosler won out as the load of choice. This morning, now that the preassure is off, I started playing with my cast loads again. I still have a bear and cat tag left. I'm using a 358318 ACWW with gas check, and 50 grains of AA2520. I loaded 3 rnds for a quick test. My first shot was a called ???? shots 2&3 were at an inch or less. The preassure stated in the AA book is 53000 psi. As I haven't been shooting cast all that long, I was wondering how much preassure affects cast boolits? There are other loads (different powders) which produce less preassure and roughly the same velocities, should I spend my time? this load seems to fit the bill as a two hundred yard load. Mabey???

[x101airborne]

Congrats on the raghorn.
Unfortunately I am not much help with the rest of your querys.

[smoked turkey]

You have just done what I would love to do, right down to the 35 Whelen. Congratulations on a fine trophy. I have tried to work up a heavy boolit load for my whelen on whitetail using the old 3589 boolit which I traded for. Unfortunately the twist rate of my rifle is too slow (?) for it. So if I use my whelen this year I will also have to use bullets instead of my desired lead boolits.

[MT Gianni]

I think but am not sure that the higher the pressure the less likely it is that a boolit can hold together and the more need you have for a stronger alloy. I would look for the less pressure that produces a velocity around 2200 fps.

[292]

Congrats on the elk. An elk hunt is on my bucket list.

[OnHoPr]

Finally uh, good job on the elk and happy vittles. That is a good feeling for success. They should start coming easier. That's a good cartridge also. You could try in the 4350 to Rel 19 range to lower pressure but still keep the velocity up.

[429421Cowboy]

Very nice! Elk are my curse, i am just happy to see them when i hunt and never have gotten the chance to tag one! Congrats on your bull, i believe here in montana the success rate is something like 10% so any elk is a trophy.

[clodhopper]

Great job getting elk.
My 35 whelen shoots the RCBS 200FN very nicley at 1900 or so FPS with 40.6 grains of 4064.
That velocity makes 270 yard shots pretty dicey.
RCBS uses linotype to figure their bullet weights. The boolits I fire from that mould weigh around 217 with gas check and lube. Incredibly effective on small whitetails in brushy river bottoms.
My old jacketed bullet load for that rifle was seirra 225 boatail and more 4064.