What do you have chambered in .35 Whelen? One of the firearms I have been considering is a r7600.
What reloading manual do you use?
I'm not a reloader so I just get factory loads. I've thought about it more than once but it takes time that I don't really want to spend and would be yet-another hobby that would probably eventually languish over time. Unfortunately, it seems that if I want to shoot anything other than .223/5.56, I may have to end up picking it up. I know people who reload and they tell me that powder is now expensive and bullet makers aren't making many different calibers as much now because of the same reasons. I see people talking about not being able to get even "common" (have to use quotations marks with that, now, because there seems to be only a couple "common" calibers now... 223/5.56, .308, and thankfully for the 6.5CM, there seem to be
some 6.5s) 7mm and the like... at least, in some of the popular hunting bullets... I've seen where some folks haven't been able to get things like 7mm Accubonds and the like for (much) more than a year, now, and not just 7mm... Accubonds, Partitions, etc. in a variety of calibers. Right now it sounds like it's not saving anybody much money unless they stockpiled some years ago and still have supplies left and with component availability, it would likely stall out unless I just converted over to the... military-alikes. ANYway....
Down in this part of the country, our "primitive weapons" regulations for deer season have evolved to include single-shot breech loading centerfire rifles that fire 35cal or larger bullets. There was some slow walk to get to .35cal (from muzzle loaders, then inline muzzle loaders, then allowing red dot sights, then allowing scopes with magnification, then allowing .45-70 Gov't and .444 Marlin breech loaders, and then 35cal or larger) so some people (like my uncle) still use .444 Marlin or the Gov't. I went with .35 Whelen because during the short-ish period where .45-70 and .444M, I just kept using my Encore with the .50cal. Eventually, I found a deal on a .35 Whelen barrel and I know a few people using .35 Whelen so if I forgot my bullets or something, it'd be easier to bum some... otherwise I would have rather gone with a .35 Remington, to be honest (I also have my dad's Remington 760 in .35 Remington so common rounds). The .35 Whelen is a pretty big cartridge, especially for what we have here down in SE USA, but there's not a lot of options in .35cal and larger that aren't

I'd have to check but I think the newish 350 Legend would also be legal but it doesn't really spark any interest in me. I'd much rather have a .35 Remington because that's what my dad used pretty much all his life for deer and he put a
pile of deer in the freezer with it using just Remington 200gr Core-Lokts. He tried the LeveRevolutions in it but didn't like them because they were "too hot". He also used a .30-06 for three seasons before giving that rifle to me and going back to his .35 Rem. Of course, I've used a .35 Rem some, too... mostly in a Marlin 336 but my dad let me use his 760 a few times when he wasn't going and I didn't have a rifle with me for some reason.
My rifle is a Thompson Center Encore Pro Hunter. I have several barrels for it. It started out as a .50cal inline muzzle loader w/ 3x9 scope and it was pretty good... ~1" groups at 100yds with .45cal sabots. The barrel that I use with it now is pretty much exclusively the .35 Whelen for hunting. I do have a .338 Win Mag barrel but I've never hunted with it... got a good deal on the barrel but if I were to ever hunt with a .338 Win Mag, I think I'd rather have a bolt gun. I really only picked up the .338 Win Mag barrel because I knew someone selling the barrel for cheap. It's not a custom barrel and is 28" long... granted, even in a bolt gun, I'd want a 24" at least with all that powder. I also have a .260 Rem barrel (ordered it custom to insure 8" twist, 24", and bull profile) that is pretty nice... have gotten a few deer with it, too. There are a few things I like about the Encore PH, overall... one is that it is
light... like really light. IIRC, with my 24" .260 bull barrel including scope and sling, it's like 6lbs or something. It has a really good recoil pad that came with it so even shooting the .338 Win Mag isn't bad even without a brake. The other is that the overall length is short, too, since it doesn't have an "action". With the .260 Rem barrel on it (24" barrel), the stock to barrel tip length is 6" shorter than my 22" barrel standard action Browning .30-06 A-Bolt. Those make it really easy to deal with in the woods and in stands (climbing or box). The bull barrel, in hind sight, wasn't really needed, tbh... and that kind of makes the balance point a little wonky but it's not too big of a deal for the most part. A standard profile barrel would have worked fine and been even lighter.
My uncle has an H&R breech loading .444 Marlin and a (what he used before they allowed the .444 Marlin) .50cal Thompson Omega inline. I think that inline was used this year by a cousin on a trip out west to get a decent muley. Both of those guns are shooters, too.