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Back in the '90s I rebarreled an old Mauser '98 to .35 Whelen. I also bought a Lyman #358009 mould for a 280 grain, gas checked roundnose bullet. I was loading that bullet over IIRC 46 grains of surplus pulldown IMR 4895. I actually hunted prairie dogs with that load, successfully I might add, with peep rear and bead front sights. Another load I used quite a bit was a cast wadcutter over a light charge of fast powder, Red Dot IIRC. I used various other bullets in it too. 158 JHPs, 200 grain cast, etc. Cheap, fun shooting.
I built this rifle after reading an article by Paco Kelly. When he was in Africa he had a gunsmith rebarrel a '98 Mauser to 9.3 x 62, which was very similar to .35 Whelen except it takes .366" bullets instead of .358". And he got a custom mould (I think the same gunsmith cut it for him) for a 280 grain roundnose bullet. Pretty much a copy of the 358009, but in .366 caliber. He made his ammo by pulling the bullets from milsurp .30-06 ammo, expanding the necks and seating the .366 cast bullet. The powder charge for that .30-06 ammo was very likely about 46 grains of 4895. Paco killed a lot of game with that rifle and load, and even killed a rogue elephant with a frontal brain shot.
Upon returning to America, he built a clone of that rifle in .35 Whelen because .358 bullets are more common here than .366". I built mine because of that article.
I have never owned a single round of factory .35 Whelen ammo. In fact I have never owned a .35 Whelen headstamped case. I’ve formed all of my Whelen cases from .30-06 or .270 Winchester.
That Paco Kelly article got a lot of us dreaming about big-bore Mausers back then. Forming .35 Whelen from .30-06 or .270 brass is the classic move — you skip the factory headstamp entirely and the shoulder gives you plenty of room to work.
The 280-grain cast over 4895 is a proven combo. That load has put down more than its share of game, and the fact you were ringing prairie dogs with peep sights says something about the rifle’s accuracy.
The CO of Frankford Arsenal created it as a wildcat in the 1920s. Named in honor of Col. Townsend Whelen. Then Remington standardized it as a factory cartridge in the late '80s.
Since I built mine, I’ve always just pretended that it’s still a wildcat.
That wildcat pretense is half the fun of owning one. Nothing beats the look on a guy’s face at the range when you tell him it’s a one-off custom and watch him try to figure out the brass.
The Frankford Arsenal history is a good pull — Townsend Whelen’s name on a cartridge that outlived the military’s interest in it says something. Remington finally gave it factory legitimacy, but the handloader’s heart knows where it came from.
