THE 35 WHELEN,
WHALEN IN AFRICA
BY
DAVID L. BROWN
(BWANABROWN)
In 2002 I traveled to Africa for the second time to hunt planes game. I took along a custom build Winchester Model 70 chambered in 35 Whelen. It preformed magnificently everything from Eland to Klipspringer at ranges from 50yd out to over 300yd. I feel that the 35 Whelen is a great caliber for a single rifle plains game safari. Let us start at the beginning of my research and testing and you can decide for yourself.
I am a far from ordinary person and so I tend to stay away from the ordinary when it comes to my firearms. My wife uses the term abnormal to describe my tastes but that a woman's prospective. I also feel that a man should seize any opportunity he can to buy a new firearm. Here's how it works gentlemen. If you are going to hunt pheasant in Texas for the first time, you can't be expected to us your old shotgun. The excuses can be made that the Camber length is insufficient to handle the Magnum loads need or the your current shotgun is not choked correctly and so on. Add enough technical information to make it sound convincing and you will usually get the go ahead. You half to buy a Texas Pheasant Shotgun. In this case it is our second trip to Africa so I can't be expected to use the same rifles we took on the first trip. I need a new "Second trip to Africa" rifle. The same technique works for the purchase of new tools to accomplish "honey do" jobs around the house but that's a whole different matter that we do not have time to get into now. The fact of the matter is I need a new rifle for my second safari and because I am out of the ordinary it needed to be in an out of the ordinary caliber.
Some consideration must be given to the game size and type of game intended to be hunted as most of the hunting areas in Africa have a minimum caliber or energy output requirement. When I began preparation for this trip I had intended to hunt lion and leopard in Zimbabwe then plains game in South Africa. In Zimbabwe one must have a rifle which develops a minimum of kilojoules of energy to legally hunt lion. My wife (the mimsahib) had informed me that she would be hunting Eland. Eland requires a minimum of 33 caliber
More to come......
The 35 Whelen, if your not familiar with it, is the a wildcat cartridge developed by James Howe of Griffin and Howe. It was developed in 1922 and named in honor of the famous hunter, and gun authority Col. Townsend Whelen. The cartridge was made by simple necking out the 30-06 Springfield to .358. This offers some advantage in that it allows the the cartridge to be chamber in standard length rifles. The brass is readily available easily modified and less costly then belted cases. The 35 Whelen stayed a wildcat until 1987 when Remington made it a commercial cartridge and started chambering the model 700 and 7600 rifles in it and added it to their factory loadings.
The 35 Whelen is a wonderful cartridge for medium to large North American game and medium African game . It is hard hitting, delivering a 250 Gr. bullet at 2400 FPS* developing around 3200 ft/lbs of muzzle energy. The recoil is mild in an average weight hunting rifle with scope. The Memsahib prefers the big slow push of the 35 Whelen's recoil to the sharp recoil of her 270 Win.
In 2002 I had originally planed to go to Zimbabwe to hunt lion and leopard. Lion and leopard are both dangerous game but are thin skinned and don't require the energies and deep penetration needed for the rest of the big five, elephant, buffalo and rhino. In Kevin Robertson's book "The Perfect Shot" he states this about lions; "They have highly refined nervous systems which can be switched off by a healthy dose of hydrostatic shock, such as that delivered by a bullet's kinetic energy. He goes on to say that 3000 ft/lbs is the right place to be. Many calibers can produce this amount of energy and are common for lion hunting such as the .375 & .300 H&H Mag, or the .300 Winchester Mag. I considered these and other calibers before I went with the 35 Whelen as the rifle for the big cats. One factor was it is unusual and like to be unusual.
The first time I got to play with a 35 Whelen was a few years ago. My nephew had told me and my Uncle Sam to keep our eyes open for a 35 Whelen for him. At that time he only owned a .243 Win and was looking for something to hunt elk with. We can legally hunt elk here in New Mexico with a .243 but most hunters consider it a little light. My Uncle Sam was making the rounds thru the local gun stores when he came across a nice rifle to fit my nephew's bill. A few years back my uncle Sam new a gunsmith by the name of Cal Higgins. He worked here in the Albuquerque Area. He like to take 03 Springfield and sporterize them in the same fashion as Griffin & Howe.
* Remington factory loads.