Ruger american 30-06 into 338-06 or 35 whelan?? Any opinions?

[tygar]

Having had a double rifle in 9.3, & knowing how well the 375/338 performs, I would not consider any 9.3. The bullet selection is very poor & I'm sure any of the 375s will out perform the 9.3. But just my opinion.

[Four Fingers of Death]

Years ago, I would have said go the 35Whelan because there are more moulds available, but these days we are spoilt for choice with custom moulds, so I think that view isn't so important any more.

Hunting with cast, cubic inches count as the hot rodders used to say, but I don't really think there would much in it.

There are some nice light(ish) jacketed and solid bullets around now in 338 which would suit the 06 case well.

If you haven't actually bought the rifle yet, a Mossberg Patriot might be an option. It comes in 338WM, probably not a lot dearer than the RA and the bore is already 338. I have just bought a Patriot Walnut in 338WM and am looking forward to getting it. They also do the 375 Ruger which would be brilliant in jacketed or cast.

[Clay M]

Since I have always wanted a Whelen ,I would opt for that.
Nolser also makes the brass. I know, it is expensive, but the Nosler brass is the best brass I have ever used.

[Four Fingers of Death]

There is also the 9.3x62Mauser. Great round and enjoying a bit of a resurgence here in Australia, especially amongst the Sambar (Elk sized) hunters. Brass and ammo available from PPU and others and cases can be reformed from 3006 (I think they end up a fraction short).

[claude]

Just go with the 35 whelen, it has been proven time and again to be a vicious killer, killing killed stuff at least twice as dead, maybe three or four times as dead, way deader than the old dead horse that gets beat up when discusing killing and things killed by killers of killed stuff. My vote, FWIW, would be the 35 whelen, because........it kills'em dead..er

[Clay M]

I have Whelen's book "The Hunting Rifle".
I am a big bore aficionado,as the .405 win and the .375 H&H are two of my favorite cartridges.
The .375 H&H is a totally amazing round.

I dearly love the .30/06 as a hunting rifle. With the 180 gr bullet it is adequate for most large game.

The .35 Whelen would make a nice Elk/Moose rifle.

But I have never felt undergunned with the .30/06.
It is deadly.

I would like to have a Whelen..
I have a .350 rem mag and a .338 win

The 35 Whelen is a nice medium, like my .350

A good friend of mine from college had a Rem 760 rechambered in .35 Brown /Whelen.
I remember shooting it some.
I always figured it would blow up, because he was a hot dog and had to overload everything.

He had one rifle I wanted and almost talked him out of.
It was a Sako Mannlicher carbine in .375 H&H.
We could shoot offhand and consistently hit quart oil bottles with it at 100 yds.
It was a deadly rifle.
He knew I want it, and that is why he didn't sell it to me.
He loaded it with 80 grs of 4350 and a Hornady 270 gr bullet.

He was a hot dog extraordinaire.

I wonder is he is even still alive today.

We went on some extremely cool antelope and prairie dog hunts together.
He was good, but he would Never shoot against me on paper.

[dh2]

I did my first 98 mauser in .338-06 because bullets and brass is easy to come by and it gives up very little to the .338 Win. mag. and to me the .35 Whelen is very close to my 9.3 x 62mm Mauser which shoots a 38=285 boolit very well , so out side of building one to play with I see no real gain in it.

[dh2]

I did my first 98 mauser in .338-06 because bullets and brass is easy to come by and it gives up very little to the .338 Win. mag. and to me the .35 Whelen is very close to my 9.3 x 62mm Mauser which shoots a 37=285 boolit very well , so out side of building one to play with I see no real gain in it.

[Clay M]

If I could only have two centerfire rifles for big game hunting ,they would be the .30/06 and the .375H&H.

I have worked with them both extensively and trust them .

My .458 win was an excellent rifle, but the recoil was more that I wanted on a day to day basis.

The .458 will deliver, but I would never really need that kind of power here in the U.S.

I truly envy shooing a .30/06 day in and day out.
I become a better marksman with the guns I am comfortable with.

I still own a .375H&H, and it is extremely accurate.

So after many miles and time those are the two rifle I would pick.

[Texas by God]

I have a Rem 700 .358 Win that started out as a .243. I sent it to JES for the rebore and am totally pleased. It's more accurate now than it was! I would vote for the 35 Whelen because of cast bullet availability alone.

[ammohead]

Has anyone had real world experience with the 338-06? Like I said lots of guys seem to have used the 35 on game but no one with the 338.

tygar,

I had my 338-06 built by Steve Zihn back when he lived in Nevada. It is elk medicine supreme and kills way beyond what I had first expected. I started using 225 gr hornady interlocks and found them to be way destructive on mule deer. I have since gone to 185 gr barnes triple shocks. They hold together very well with the only one I have recovered weighing 182 gr after downing a larger cow elk at 225 yards. Muzzle velocity with my 24" bbl hovers around 2940 fps. Your results may vary. I have a LBT 250 WFN made for me by Veral before he was a guest of our governement that gives 1.5" groups at 50 yards and has taken only one mule deer doe. I have other deer rifles now but it is still my "old reliable" when it comes to elk hunting and I wouldn't hesitate to use it on anything of any size on the NA continent.

Some guns just seem to kill good and this is one!

[Clay M]

I concur about the .338 I have a Sako Safari grade .338 win that would probably be one of my last rifle to go.
I chose it over the .375 H&H in the same rifle.
The .338 is magical,especially for North America.

The recoil is stout, but I have always found the recoil of a .300 win mag more objectionable.

The .300 is fast and heavy. One of the least favorite rifles to shoot.

The .338 win mag and the .270 win may be the two best rifles for North America.

I have no experience with the .338/06 , but it maybe be the better choice.

[Hardcast416taylor]

My 1917 Enfield that I took from a `Bubba` mess to a very nice sporter is in 338/06. I also found that it tended to kill a little too good using bullets any heavier than 200/210 Gr. I also have dropped back to Barnes 185 Gr. for Michigan deer. Now I have again changed to paper patched 250 Gr. and various lead alloy boolets for my uses.Robert

[Four Fingers of Death]

. Now I have again changed to paper patched 250 Gr. and various lead alloy boolets for my uses.Robert

What mould are you using for the PP boolits Hardcast?

[Hardcast416taylor]

At present I am just using a custom made mold by Richard Doughty, not sure if he still makes molds due to back injury. Two other molds that are interesting to me are made by Accurate molds. They are #33-210P and #33-240P, both drop at .331 using wheel weights. My custom mold is .332" and weighs +/- 250 gr. before patching, all the mentioned molds are plain based naturally. I wet wrap using ordinary copier paper then let dry a day. I light lube with JPW then push thru size .339", I light lube again before loading if needed. I defy the norm on lead used and use 50/50 alloy. I use load data for jacketed bullet loads and start at lowest loading and work up in small amounts. I`ll probably be ordering the Accurate #33-210P shortly.Robert

[Four Fingers of Death]

Thanks.

[Kestrel4k]

Looks like tygar might still on the fence - my hat is off to his patience.
There are a number of very good hunting articles posted at:
http://35cal.com/
IMO the online bible of .35's - there is some great reading there including much informed discussion of hunting with .35's. It would be exceedingly hard to read through that website and not fall in love with the Whelen.
Or the .350RM for that matter - as it's discussed at length there as well. I'm fortunate to have .350 RM's in the original Ruger M77, the Rem 660, and the Rem 700 Classic (short action) as well.

I'm a relative newcomer here so my love for .35's probably doesn't count for much, but for hunting (especially for CB's) the Whelen looks to be a shoe-in - hard to argue with a larger caliber for terminal effectiveness.

My brother (who lives in AK) built up a 338-06 (rather than a .35 Whelen) for moose hunting a number of years ago - the main reason being that Nosler didn't make a .358 Partition at the time. While he was happy with the rifle overall, when Nosler reintroduced the 35 caliber Partition, he regretted not having the Whelen built instead.

OP, you may want to read up on the various hunting writeups in the website I cited - much great reading there and certainly has a good chance of winning you over.

Edit: such as this jacketed bullet article, for example:
http://35cal.com/35bullet_study/35bullet_study1.html

Best regards,

[tygar]

No, not on the fence. Gun has been with GS for a while now & he said he would put the 338-06 brl on soon.

[pietro]

.

Although I too would keep it as a .30-06, my choice between your two conversion options would be for the cartridge that's commercially available - the .35 Whelan.

I would recommend Jes Ompaugh ( www.35caliber.com ) for the re-bore/re-rifling (IIRC $245 for either the .338 or the .358).



.

[Paul B]

No, not on the fence. Gun has been with GS for a while now & he said he would put the 338-06 brl on soon.

Too bad. I was going to suggest the .35 Whelen. Oh well. I have three rifles chambered to the Whelen but my favorite is an older pre-war Oberndorf Mauser someone had built into the Whelen. I load a 225 gr. Barnes TSX to 2710 FPS with Re15 and accuracy runs .50" to '75" depending on how I'm shooting that particular day. I've done five elks hunts and every elk that I shot was either DRT to stopped so solid they could not get up to leave. The other two .35's are a Ruger M77 tang safety and a Remington M700 Classic. The Mauser which I bought at an estate sale has a 1 in 14" twist and the two factory rifles have 1 in 16" twist. The 1 in 16's stabilize 250 gr. quite nicely.
I think it was RIFLE Magazine that had an article by the late Finn Aagaard comparing the .338-06 to the .35 Whelen. Believe he said he preferred the .338-06 over the Whelen but that it was no big deal as he had rifles in both calibers.
Paul B.