Trying to decide the re-barreling of a Husqvarna sporter. Use will probably be 98% on paper, substantially with CB. Does the great variety of CB and J-word .35s (particularly light weights) outweigh the availability of high quality 9.3 brass and factory loads (all with quite heavy bullets)? Ballistically it is a standoff. For casual target shooting, rare outings for white-tails, pigs, and plinking, what is your call?
35 whelen
35 Whelen
really don't understand you. Simple answer- availability 35w. Better round 9.3. The diff is minimal. Twist is the ?. Weight of beast might be a factor. Throw the same weight and they won't know the diff. Myself, I'm working on a 1-12 35w for 250gr CBs. Availabililty swayed me. But I'd by a CZ550 in 9.3 and shoot factory if I saw one.
Both good calibers. Lately I have been shooting a 9.3X57. This is a factory round but not well known here. 9.3 molds are readily available. Brass can be purchased or formed easily from 8X57 brass. It is often interesting to have the only one on the block.
Whelen simply because of better selection, easier to find brass, better resale value. The 9.3 is great too, but you did ask for opinions.
Of course there is the 375-06 to consider too....
I too have a 9.3x57 and love it. There is not a lot of difference between it and the 9.3x62. Maybe 100 to 150fps I think. I've read comparing the x57 to the x62 is like comparing a 308 to a 30.06 or a 358 Win to a 35 Whelen. The x62 brass can be formed from 30.06 cases and they certainly are common enough. I expect the 35W can be formed from something else too but I don't know enough about it to say.
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Just did some googling and found the 35 whelen is also formed from 30.06 brass so either one could be readily made. I guess it would come down to bullet availability and do you want something fairly common or something a little different from everyone else. I like to be a little different.
If you're going to keep the rifle forever, go with whichever caliber you want. If there is a possibility of you ever having to sell it, the .35 Whelen will be easier to sell in the U.S.
While .35 Whelen brass can be made from any ofthe .30-06 based cartridges, these days itis easy to find bags of Remington brass that is properly headstamped, inexpensively.
The 9.3x62 uses heavier bullets in factory loads. With boolits, the choice is yours.
Robert
I am sorry so many are soo darn biased. lol.But I have to agree 35 Whelen or 358 Winchester another great round.
I just had this one done and letting the builder do some minor tweaks lol. But it is a Marlin XL-7 Action with a Shaw 35 Whelen barrel 1-14 Twist 24 inches long in a Boyd's Thumb Hole stock.
If one sits in thundering quiet the soul dies slow instead of yell to the heavens for all to hear and behold the righteous and upstanding and ones of which should be held with tales of woe. By C.A.S. <--- Thats Me lol.
35 Whelen or another 35 cartridge of your choice (358 Win, 350 Rem Mag). For what you say you're going to use it for, bullet selection plus ability to use handgn bullets for plinking gives it a big edge over the 9.3 calibers. I've got 3 35's and a 9.3x74R and the 35's edge the 9.3 for overall versatility for just a plinking and paper punching round. -WSJ
I've never shot a 9.3 so I can't compare them, but I built a 35 Whelen on a large ring 98 several years ago and couldn't be happier with it.
If you're expecting "objectivity", don't hold yer breath.
I chose the 9.3 x 62 over the 35 Whelen in 2002 because at the time there were more examples being sold in this country in 9.3 x 62 than in 35 Whelen as factory items. The lone Whelen was the Ruger 77 in stainless steel with its butt-ugly hollowed-out black plastic stock......while CZ, Tikka, Sako, and Steyr offered the 9.3mm.
Most factory 35 Whelens are (in my opinion) handicapped by virtue of the 1-16" twist rates they are barrelled with. 250 grainers are about as heavy as one can go in such barrels. Most 9.3mm barrels are pitched at 3 turns/meter, or about 1-13.1". This twist enables use of 286 grain bullets very well in both the 57mm and 62mm case length. Newer (post-2005) CZ-550s are available with 4 turns/meter twists (about 1-9.75") in order to accomodate 320 grain behemoths made by a few esoteric bulletsmiths. I suspect recoil impulse on one end is about the same as on the other.
In terms of actual game-effectiveness, I don't think either one has much on the other. "Componentry" for the 35 Whelen is much less an issue than for 9.3--The Mauser 9.3 has a wider head diameter (.480" vs. .473") that shows up when 30-06 or 35 Whelen cases are fire-formed to fit the Mauser. The shoulder must also be blown forward about 1/10" on the 9.3 x 62 from the Whelen or 30-06. If I were to choose today between the two calibers......it would be a lot harder to select one! Those Rem 700 CDLs in 35W would get my attention, for certain. The availability of revolver bullets for loading the Whelen has always been one of its great advantages, but I've used 9mm Makarov bullets (90 grain Hornady XTP) in this same way in my 9.3 rifle. They are reasonably accurate, and JACK UP jackrabbits right smartly. One might expect that from a bullet launched at 3X its intended velocity envelope. Technicolor and HD!
As a cast boolit caliber, I can only say good things about my CZ-550. It is an honest 1.25-1.5 MOA rifle with the 270 grainer I cobbled up on Mountain Molds' software. Be aware that mouldmakers vary on which gas check they adapt their 9.3mm moulds for. MM uses .375" checks, while others use 35 caliber checks.
Last edited by 9.3X62AL; 02-05-2011 at 11:14 PM.
I don't paint bullets. I like Black Rifle Coffee. Sacred cows are always fair game. California is to the United States what Syria is to Russia and North Korea is to China/South Korea/Japan--a Hermit Kingdom detached from the real world and led by delusional maniacs, an economic and social basket case sustained by "foreign" aid so as to not lose military bases.
I built a .35 Whelen on a Mauser '98 about 12 years ago, and have been very happy with it. I shoot 358009s and a variety of cast pistol boolits in it, not to mention the occasional 158 JHP. I have never owned a .35 Whelen headstamped case in my life; I make them from .270 range pickups (I have a few .30/06s so can't bring myself to use 06 brass).
Paco Kelly writes about having a 9.3x62 on a Mauser when he lived in Africa, then building a replacement in .35 Whelen when he returned to the states, for the same performance and the ability to shoot pistol bullets in it.
He also writes about killing an elephant with a frontal brain shot using a cast 280 grain roundnose, similar to the '009, with the 9.3.
Here is another vote for the .35 Whelen just because there is so much more available for it, brass is so easy to make, or buy, and the 35 caliber rifles in general are just so nice to work with using cast bullets. On the other hand I can sure understand the draw of the 9.3. It has such a colorful history in Africa, and other places, and it inspires great confidence in those that have real experience with it. Either will be a fun project.
I looked at the same choices a couple years back and decided to go with the 9.3x62. I'd do it again. Brass is readily available and not expensive or you can make it easily from 30-06. NOE and others make moulds. Lots of regular j-word stuff around too, not a great deal different than the .35 caliber bullet selection from what I've seen. One place the 35 whelen might have the advantage locally is availability of factory ammo, but if you're reloading anyway then that isn't a consideration.
Does the great variety of CB and J-word .35s (particularly light weights) outweigh the availability of high quality 9.3 brass and factory loads (all with quite heavy bullets)?
With your objective at; "Use will probably be 98% on paper, substantially with CB" the above statement should be a "no brainer". With the 35 Whelen you have a plethora of cast bullets available including all the .357 pitol bullets for plinking/small game. That is not only those you cast yourself but all the commercial cast bullets potentially available. So, if that versatility in cast bullet availability is what you may want then the 35 Whelen is the "no brainer" choice. The 9.3 is a fine cartridge and I do not disparage it at all but the .35 Whelen would be my own choice for the reasons mentioned.
Larry Gibson
And let's not forget you can paper patch 35 cal. boolits to shoot in your 9.3 at high speeds...
-Nobade
""Of course there is the 375-06 to consider too....''
Well at least two of us think so. 35 Whelen good - 375 Whelen better
""The x62 brass can be formed from 30.06 ""
On this I have to disagree at least to a point. Its the same issue I have making 6.5 sweed from 06 brass. Its not a good fit. The cases will bulge and it scares me to think of using them for full power loads. Moderate cast loads I am OK with but no full power loads for me using 06 brass for either cartridge 6.5 Sweed or 9.3x62. The 9.3x 57 would be a different story.
I am with you. I have experienced out of spec cases for the 6.5x55 from remington with the standard '06 head diameter. They do not feed correctly from my Mauser 96. I kept wondering why the magazine would occasionally allow rounds to spring out spontaneously, causing a jam by having the round get ahead of the extractor or even having a couple of rounds get airborne after cycling the bolt on a full magazine,and that was it. The case head diameter of the basic '06 brass is too small for proper function in the 6.5x55. You are correct about the bulging brass as well. Case head diameter should be kept to the european, larger specs for best (safest) function.Originally Posted by Bullshop
I discarded those cases after crushing each with pliers and vowed to only buy european spec 6.5x55 cases. Privi brass seems available, as is sellier and bellot for reasonable prices.
Looking at Brownell's web site this morning I noticed 9,3X62 Lapua brass is some of the only ones they have right now.
Sometimes it pays off to shoot something not so popular
I'm with you on the 375-06! One of those is on my to do list eventually. And shoot 9,3mm PP boolits in it!
-Nobade
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