Named after gun writer
Townsend Whelen, the .35 Whelen, like many other
rifle rounds of today, started out as a
wildcat back in 1922.
It consisted of a regular .30-06 case which was necked up to accept a .357" bullet, the same bullet used in 357 Mag and 38 Special rounds. The idea was to make a powerful medium bore round that could be used using the standard length (.30-06) actions of those days. The much more powerful .375 H&H required a magnum length action and was prohobitively expensive at that time.
The .35 Whelen did excellent in the job it was designed for, that is hunting medium sized game. Typical maximum velocities for a Speer 180 grain bullet was a muzzle velocity of 2,891 feet per second.
The Whelen passed the baptism of fire, in 1987 Remington accepted it as a factory cartridge and began building rifles that would fire the .35 Whelen. At long last it no longer was a wildcat.