What brand of factory ammo that has 180 grain ammo for the 30.06 and the .308 loads the .308 hotter? Don’t know that I’ve seen this. Curious for a good factory hunting load hunting load for my .308.
I love the passion you and Bob have for the 35 Whelen and agree it is an under appreciated and very capable caliber. I also like it as it is simply different and unique. I like underdogs and things that aren’t popular. Probably why my first purchased deer rifle with my money was a .280 rem. My first handed down deer rifle was a 35 REM from my grandfather (i still love it). So i do like the Whelen, even if it is simply a chubby 30.06. It’s way more than you need for deer sized game but moves into the bigger medium sized game well. But i can’t take the leap to put it in the class of .338 win mag or .375 Ruger if you are going to compare to the hand loaded potential of those two cartridges with modern powder. It’s simply a matter of case capacity and in the case of the .338 also BC and SD.
But all of us at AH are fortunate to have so many passionate members with favorite calibers. It’s makes this forum so fun to be on.
Bob - you are in a class of your own though with your love of a single caliber
long live the .243, i mean the 35 Whelen
The gunscribes throughout the years have published in the various hunting and shooting magazine’s chronographed several .30-06 and .308 factory loads.
One comes to mind, authored by Mike Venturino, and the article was Quarter Mile Sporters.
He was out at the ranch where he was doing 440 yd shooting at a small car sized white paper target, and the rounds he was using were as follows: .243 (Bob’s Personal Favorite), .25-06, .270, .308, and the .30-06.
To his way of thinking, he had his thoughts as to which ones would be flat shooters. Well, on one, and I was surprised as well, the .30-06 velocities were lackluster, to say the least. The shots averaged 25 to 50 fps slower than the .308 shots, and also shot lower than the .308!
The winners of that exhibition were the .270, .243, .25-06, and the .308.
The .25-06 had a wider group than the others, except for the .30-06, and it strung its groups up and down.
Now, Mike did say that hand loading will make every one better, and he was correct. When the .30-06 was loaded properly, it outshone the .308, and had just slightly more drop than the .270!
Now, the Magnum cartridges can be improved as well, but not to the extent that the regular cartridges have improved in velocity.
Bob had shown me here on AH, that a properly loaded 35 Whelen can get over 4000 ft-lbs of muzzle energy. That’s with the 225 gr Accubond going close to 2900 fps. Of course I did my homework, and conferred with other friends on another forum, and lo and behold, Bob was correct.
I can also say, that by using StaBall 6.5, you can get a 212 gr Hornady ELD-X up to 2800 fps, and that was by careful, and methodical hand loading, and safely experimenting.
Hawk