.35 Whelen Bullet?

[Glockster]

For hunting I've always used Nosler Partition or Barnes bullets and have had nothing but good luck with them. Last fall Dave Henry put together a very nice .35 Whelen together for me on a Savage 110 action. With a healthy load of R-15 and Speer hot-core 250gr bullets it flat shoots, groups for 225gr bullets look like shotgun patterns though. Since I've never taken anything with the Speer bullets I'm wondering how they hold up. Being almost half the cost of 250gr Nosler Partitions makes the hot-core awfully attractive. But if they kerblang on the way in, that's NOT cost effective.

[Homesteader]

I'm using the same bullet and powder as you in my Whelen. Accuracy is excellent, as is velocity. I took a fair size bull elk a couple years back with that load. Elk was around the 250yd mark(lasered after), complete penetration on a lung shot. When we skinned him out it look like somebody had pushed a 2" pipe right thru him, it was almost a perfect circle, I was impressed, but........................when we were loading him in the back of the truck, the bullet jacket fell out. Obviously the load performed, but the bullet still seperated. I'm still using the same load , if that helps any.
I read a post on CGN about this exact bullet, and the fellow had tested it extensively and found that for whatever reason at around 2100fps the bullet almost always shed the jacket, above or below that it always held together. I can't remember what the test medium was, but those were his findings. I suspect for a low cost bullet the Hornady Interlock would be better, but my gun shoots the Speers into little groups so that is what I have stuck with. I tried 225g Partitions and my groups were around 2.5-3". Good luck with whatever you choose.

[raised by wolves]

I don't even bother reloading for my 35. Despite my previous dislike for Remington ammo, the 200 grain Corelokts make beautiful little groups. My rifle makes a tight clover leaf out to 200. After 200, the groupings start to go a bit wild, but the 35 is not a long range gun anyways. The 200 grain Corelokts have great penetration, even after splitting bones, and have folded animals on the spot.