35 Caliber Comparison

There is an excellent article in this month's (March-April) RMEF Bugle magazine written by Wayne Van Zwoll wherein he discusses the merits of the various .35 calibers, past and present.

I?ve always had a fondness for the 35?s. I have a 62 yr. old 35 Rem. In a Marlin, got hankering for a 358 win. and had a 35 Whelen. Wish I had the Whelen back.
Keith

That was a good read and he even mentioned the old 35-30/30

I don't have access to the magazine to read the article, but my .35 REM has provided adequate if not solid performance on my 3 elk.

I really enjoyed my 356 Win Encores I had. I also have a Custom Shop XP -100 in 35 Rem. It shoots really well. plan to hunt more with it this year.

Awesome! What bullet did you use on those elk?

The 35 rem sure couldnt be described as a weak round.

All three of my elk were taken with the factory loaded Hornady 200 grain FTX. The shots on the cows were at 60 and 75 yards. I shot the bull at 159 yards.

Muzzle velocity is just shy of 2000 fps, and I would consider it a 150 yard elk load in respect of loss of velocity and bullet performance. In my opinion, another 200-300 fps would really make the 200 FTX shine as an elk killer.

Interesting thanks!

Ive shot some of those factory hornady ftx in my 35rem xp100. They are loaded pretty hot! They really make that center grip buck lol.

Edited to say center grip

My first Whelen was a 98 Mauser built in 1968 before the round was adopted by Remington. My go to loading in that gun was the Speer 250 gr. Hot Cor over 56 gr. of IMR-4320 (old formula) which generates 2597 fps from a 22" barrel. I have used the 225 gr. Nosler PT in my 10.5" .375 JDJ and it expands well at those velocities. My two .358 Norma rifles are built on P-14 actions. These are heavy bullet elk guns which drive 250 gr. Speer Grand Slams over 2,800 fps, and deliver consistent one shot kills on bull elk. Been thinking about rebarreling my .300 WSM Striker to .358 Norma but have not gotten around to it.

I will ALWAYS forever be a fan of the forgotten 357 Herrett. Does what the 35 Remington will do in a T/C contender with less recoil and IMHO accuracy is better

Here is a 10 Shot 1? Group at 50 yards with a 158gr Hornady FP/XTP
357 Herrett Group

I love the .35 cal.

.357 Mag
.35 Remington
.358 Winchester
.35 Whelen

All enjoyable to hunt with. Just a cool caliber.

The .358 JDJ is also a good one in the Contender, based on the .444 Marlin case.

My first 35 was a Whelen by Colorado Custom built on an old 98 Mauser. I picked it up back in the mid 1970's. I took more deer with it than any other single rifle of handgun I have owned. Next was a first year production 35 Remington 336 Marlin. Another very nice rifle I let a co-worker talk me out of.
Number Three would be my 35 Bullberry Contender barrel. A real favorite of mine for over 25 years. Next was a 357 Maximum Contender barrel. Next would be a 357 Maximum rechamber of a CVA Scout 357 magnum handgun. Last and probably the best is my 356 Winchester Encore handgun barrel.
All of the above handgun barrels have had either three or four gill brakes installed on them. I always have hearing protection with me when hunting with my handguns, so the added noise of a brake is not a problem.
The 35 is my favorite deer hunting handgun caliber.
My new favorite bullet for the 35 Bullberry and 356 Winchester will probably be the 180 Fury. My testing has shown this bullet to perform very closely to the now discontinued Hornady 180 SSP in both penetration and expansion testing.

Bob R

"Small cartridges like the .357 Magnum and .357 Maximum are not even in the same league as the .35 Remington when it comes to big game" "Better performance than is possible with the .357 Herrett". .35 Remington by Bob Milek Guns and Ammo February 1986

Both are GREAT calibers IMO.....Guess I?m just partial to the Herrett. Being around T/C Contenders my entire life the 357 Herrett will always rank #1 with me. Nothing against the 35 Remington at all.

That is quite interesting. As you probably know, Bob Milek helped develop the .30 and .357 Herrett cartridges with Steve Herrett.

I had the privilege of talking to Bob on the telephone and ended up getting a .30 Herrett Contender...I killed a few antelope and mule deer with it and then went to a .309 JDJ.

I?ve used both the .30 Herrett and the .35 Remington on Kodiak Island blacktails, and both worked very very well. The bullet used is the critical choice. I?ve no doubt that the .357 Herrett would have worked just as well. There is no magic in any cartridge, bullet and impact velocity are what matters.



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Yea I?m running the 158gr Hornady FP/XTP infront of a charge of RL-7. I couldn?t be happier

Any thoughts on the 350 Remington Mag? It's another factory load as is the 35 Whelen

I recall that Remington's custom shop chambered the rear grip XP-100 in 350 Rem Mag.

The 350 Rem Mag is a ballistic twin to the 35 Whelen in a shorter package. I have two of the old Model 660 laminated stock rifles. Deadly on bears. Getting too valuable to shoot, and brass availability is an issue. Dean Grennell did a write up on the XP-100 .350 Mag some years ago for Gun World magazine. Thought about getting a .350 Mag, barrel for my Encore, but decided it would not offer anything more than my .35 Whelen Improved.

The 358JDJ is the highest performing 35 caliber cartridge available in the Contender platform. It out performs the 35 Rem and the 357 Herrett - both of which are great cartridges. If you check out my posts you will see that I have been taking game with the 358JDJ for almost 40 years. I prefer the 220Speer flat point or a 250 grain spire point for larger game.

If I was shooting an Encore or a bolt gun I would be hunting with a 358 WIN or a 35 Whelen. Great game hammers.

A couple of cartridges I?ll add. (Love the 358!)

35-06 JDJ 15inch barrel. I have taken deer with the 180 Hornady SSSP (discontinued) at 2700fs and the 220 Speer FP at 2575fs. Both bullets do extremely well accuracy and terminal performance.

358 Norma Magnum. Now guys don't beat me up as mine is a SSK 26 inch carbine barrel. I set it up with Barnes 200 TTSX at 2990fs. I have only taken one deer, a buck in the fall of 2017. Terminal performance of the 200 TTSX was outstanding.

I would suspect the 358 NM in a 15 inch Encore would be on pair with the 35-06 JDJ.
D..

I think the Norma Mag would be the winner on that one. I have a couple of .358 NM Rifles that I built on P-14 Enfield actions as elk rifles. Never saw an elk hit the ground so quick. Still contemplating rebarreling my 300 WSM Striker to a Norma Mag. My Enfields were built with 22 inch barrels. With the 225 X Bullet, AA-4350 will generate 3021 fps. Same Powder and load will get 2831 fps with the 250 gr. Speer Hot Cor. As you said "outstanding".

Only took one boar with 357 Max but its amazing what higher velocity and a good 180gr bullet will do to improve terminal performance compared to a 357 mag... Even at 70 yards..

James, Thanks for posting this. I have rifles in all 3 of those calibers. I especially the 7 x 61 Sharpe & Hart. Far ahead of its time.