I'm a big fan of medium bore rifles in general. I have a .338 Win Mag and a .375 H&H but as I get older (I'm 54) I find myself becoming a little more sensitive to recoil and to rifle weight. I've really come to enjoy what I call the mild-mannered medium bores such as the .35 Whelen and the 9.3x62.

I haven't hunted anything with the .35 Whelen yet but I have done some plains game hunting with my 9.3x62. My 9.3x62 is a CZ 550. I currently own two rifles in .35 Whelen. One is a Rem 700 CDL and the other is a recently acquired (this week) new stainless Ruger M77 Hawkeye. Rather than try to decide between the .35 Whelen and the 9.3x62, I simply chose to own both!

Both are classic cartridges.

Personally, I think the .35 Whelen is closer ballistically to the 9x57 Mauser and .350 Rigby Magnum than to the 9.3x62 but that's not a bad place to be at all! Both the 9x57 Mauser and .350 Rigby Magnum had fine reputations in Africa as general purpose medium bores.

Cartridges such as the .338-06, .35 Whelen, and 9.3x62 may not have what are considered today to be "flashy" ballistics, but they all seem to get the job done without a lot of recoil and muzzle blast.

A ballistics table that may be of interest:

Cheers!

-Bob F.