page_title: .35 Whelen
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: .35 Whelen / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Hand-loaded .35 Whelen cartridges shown against a 25 mm (quarter-inch) grid, from left to right: 275 grain soft point bullet at 2150 feet per second for big-game hunting 200 grain plastic-tipped lead-free copper bullet at 2700 feet per second for big-game hunting 110 grain lead-free frangible revolver bullet at 3000 feet per second for varmint hunting 270 grain cast bullet at 1400 feet per second for silhouette target shooting
context_page_description: The .35 Whelen is a powerful medium-bore rifle cartridge that does not require a magnum action or a magnum bolt-face. The parent of this cartridge is the .30-06 Springfield, which is necked-up to accept a bullet diameter of .358 in. This cartridge is more powerful than its parent, especially in killing power on large game.
context_section_description: The .35 Whelen was developed in 1922 as a wildcat cartridge. Remington Arms Company standardized the cartridge as a regular commercial round and first made it  available in the Remington model 700 Classic in 1988.
  One version of its origin is that it was designed by Colonel Townsend Whelen when he was commanding officer of the Frankford Arsenal. In a 1923 issue of American Rifleman Col. Whelen refers to it as "the first cartridge that I designed" and states that, "Mr. James V. Howe undertook this work of making dies, reamers, chambering tools, and of chambering the rifles, all in accordance with my design." James V. Howe was a toolmaker at the Arsenal and later a founder of Griffin & Howe.
  In his 1940 book The Hunting Rifle: Design, Selection, Ballistics, Marksmanship, Col. Whelen gives a different version of its origin after describing the .400 Whelen.
  About the time we completed development of this cartridge, I went on a long hunting trip in the Northwest, and when I returned, Mr. Howe showed me another cartridge he had developed. The .30-06 case was necked to .35 caliber to use existing .35-caliber bullets. Mr. Howe asked my permission to call this cartridge the .35 Whelen, but he alone deserves credit for its development.
caption: Handloading is popular among .35 Whelen owners because of the wide variety of available bullets in comparison to commercially loaded ammunition. Pictured from left to right are a 275-grain soft-point bullet, a 200-grain plastic-tipped copper bullet, a 110-grain frangible revolver bullet for varmint hunting, and a 270-grain cast bullet for metallic silhouette shooting.
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