358WINMAN,

I shoot the .35 Whelen myself, I love the cartridge. I bought the rifle, Ruger M77 RS on a whim when I got home from my first deployment to Iraq. I thought I might use it to hunt the dark woods of Idaho for elk if I ever get back home (Idaho). Last year my son went out to cull some whitetail does off a friends ranch outside of Copperas Cove, Texas. My son shot two does with his .25-06 that I hand loaded with 120 grain Speer Hotcore bullets. The shots were right at 100 yards and I could not believe the blood damage to the shoulders. Both deer ran about 50 yards before expiring. Both shots went right through the shoulders with lots of damage to the lungs. I assumed that the speed of the bullet was pretty high which caused the blood damage. So I decided to use my .35 whelen when it was my turn to shoot. My son thought I was really going to "blast" the poor little whitetails with that big 250 grain Speer hotcore. But when I did get to shoot, that doe went right to the ground like someone smashed her on the head with a sledge. When I cleaned her out I was surprised by the extrance and exit hole. The entrance was about the diameter of the .35 bullet and the exit about twice that, the lungs were pulverized and the blood shot area was only about the size of my palm.I hit bone going in and bone going out.I guess old Elmer Keith had the right idea about using the slow moving, big bore bullets to hunt with. I love the caliber and if you have some good home cooked reloading data I would be interested in getting it from you.

Thanks