35 Whelan Remington 700 Classic

[curiousgeorge]

I have an opportunity to buy a 1988 Remington Classic in 35 Whelan. Anyone here have any experience with the Remington as far as cast boolits? I have a Mauser action 35 Whelan that I built around 25 years ago. I shoot the Lyman 358009 with good but not great accuracy. I've never missed a deer and never had to go far to recover one after the shot so accuracy and boolit performance are working ok.

Anyone shooting the Remington with that boolit? Like it, love it, wish you'd never tried them together? Let me know your experience.

Thanks, Steve

[Lloyd Smale]

Steve no lead experience buy my buddy had one and with jacketed bullets it would give varmint guns a run for there money with group sizes. I saw many 5 shot 100 yard groups that were one elongated hole.

[curiousgeorge]

Thanks. Good to hear. I do plan to use jacketed along with the cast.

When I built my Mauser I had a 1 in 12 twist done for the barrel. Doesn't shoot 200 grain jacketed or my 358009 as accurately as I would like but is a tack driver with 250 grain jacketed.

[square butte]

I have one - Not much experience with cast. But it likes 200 gr jacketed over 220 and 225. I killed a couple of very nice caribou bulls with it in 2008

[curiousgeorge]

Thanks Square Butte for the input. I wondered how the 1 in 16 twist would handle the 250 gr jacketed. Do you remember if you were using a spire point or round nose?
Really hoping that the slower twist will help the accuracy of the 358009 at 1900 fps.

[square butte]

Pointed soft point - I haven't tried the 358-009. Over the years here, some folks have found it to work pretty well in the 700 classic with a 1x16 - And some have not. As usual, Your gun will let you know

[smoked turkey]

My 35 Whelen is in a Ruger M77. I believe the twist rate on it is 1 in 16". According to my old notes from 2015, my load of 45 gr of H4350EXT under a 295 gr cast from 50/50 coww/lead + 1.5 % tin cast from an old Lyman 3589 mould, and using a Rem 9 1/2 LR primer gave excellent results. It chronographed at approx 1700'/s. I took that combo to New Brunswick in eastern Canada and shot a nice black bear. Prior to that I used it here to take a couple of our local whitetail deer. I am quite fond of the old 3589 and recommend it highly for hunting larger game. I know you had asked abut a Remington 700 and not a Ruger, but I thought my experience with the 3589 and a 1 in 16" twist might give you a nudge in the direction I thought you should go.

[curiousgeorge]

Thank you Smoked Turkey.

I sometimes wish I had done a 1-14 instead of the 1-12 twist on my Mauser. Got the excellent accuracy that I wanted on the Speer 250 gr jacketed, but not the best on 200 gr jacketed and my Lyman 358009.
Still haven't had chance to meet with seller to see Remington Classic but leaning towards bringing home with me.
Steve

[smoked turkey]

Thanks for the reply Steve. I plan to do some shooting with the RCBS 35-200. This is a great boolit and I need to shoot it some to get a feel for it. Even though it has been a few years ago, I remember well when I purchased my 35 Whelen from a neighbor a few miles away. He had 2 rifles in that caliber and the Remington had some family ties and some nostalgia associated with it. I really liked the Remington, but had to settle on the Ruger M77. It is a great rifle but I still think about the Remington ever so often. You won't regret buying it in my opinion.

[white eagle]

My boy has one and we shot a 260 gr Mountain Molds boolit through it with light charges of 2400
never had any luck pushing it to it's potential for that we use jacketed

[AnthonyB]

I have one and have been happy with it. I don't remember any load specifics off the top of my head, but mine liked the 358318 HP better than the 3589. I was just using it for deer, so didn't need the extra weight so dropped that one pretty quick. The 3589 is a real thumper in the 356 Winchester with its faster twist rate. I need to play with both of those again next year.
Tony