Revisiting the 358 Winchester.

[CWLONGSHOT]

This is gonna be my top contender hunting rifle this year.

Last year I found TAC and a Sierra 225 shot MOA for me at very good velocities. But its crazy loud??

Later I worked up a 3031 load with a 220g Speer and mil cases. Also very respectable velocities and good sub MOA accuracy.

Ill stay with Jacketed with this rifle for hunting. I dont mind a 200g but I have a few 35 Rems shooting that. My 760 shoots 200 FTX over lever gun with great groups and 2200+ velocities. My 35 levers get the 180 FP or 200 Rn Bullets.

The Whelen gets the 225 Accubond and Partitions. My 358 Norma gets all 250 & 280 Bullets.

Just wondering some favorite bullets and powder combos you may have found favorable.

CW

 

[Ian]

Try Reloder 7. It reduces muzzle pressure considerably in my .308 and .35 Remington. As for the noise....get one of these (redneck evaporative cooling blanket optional):

 

[fiver]

RL-19 with a 250,,, either type.
somewhere around 49grs. is enough.

 

[RBHarter]

Off the books .
I 4350 and the RCBS 35-250 . Not jacketed but 250 gr in a durable alloy 2100 fps , in the heart of jacketed speeds , with MOA groups isn't anything to sneeze at .

 

[Jeff H]

Following with great interest.

I've picked the 35 caliber as my "do (almost)-all" caliber for handguns, carbines, rifles. I have other stuff but am focusing on this caliber for the versatility, and the 358 has been on my mind. I have carbines in 357 Mag and Max, but nothing "bigger."

I have one last VZ24 action I started work on probably 20 years ago that I have not dedicated to a caliber yet. I'm thinking about a 20" 358 Winchester. I could shoot jacketed if I could afford/find them, but could also shoot cast (mostly) and have it in my mind I could reasonably expect to implement it as a serious hunting gun out to 200 yards (personal limit) using a low-powered scope, even if I had a chance (FAT chance) to ever hunt elk or moose. This would me the most outlandish, irresponsible and unnecessary firearm in my otherwise pretty sparse and starkly pragmatic personal battery.

Even if I only ever read about it, and have that action in my safe, it will provide some pleasure in the way of a mental distraction, which is pretty cheap entertainment.

@Ian , I like that idea. Part of my plan is to secure a suppressor as soon as possible (meaning I have to sell some superfluous stuff) in this caliber, which will handle my sub-sonic 357 Mag loads, through full-pressure rifle loads to round out my 35-caliber fascination. I HATE noise, and the older I get, the more I hate it. One of my next moves is to mitigate the muzzle blast of my most-used carbines/rifles. It's annoying to my wife as well, because inside the house, the blast of even neighbors shooting a mile away, the noise makes the most irritating "pink, pink, pink" off our double-pane windows. Outside, you only hear a faint "pop-pop-pop," but inside the house, that weird noise needles into your skull and puts you in a bad mood.

@CWLONGSHOT , please keep us up to date on your endeavors. I've always seen the 358 as a really great round which gets mush less respect than it deserves. I have a sparkly-clean M77 Tang-Safety 35 Whelen, with factory irons and a Leupold 1-4x X 20mm, which is not mine, but could be if I wanted to buy it. If I get enough momentum behind the 358 idea, I'd prefer to go that way. Maybe a pipe dream, but I'm still very engaged.

 

[CWLONGSHOT]

The 358 was my first personally bought hunting rifle caliber. It imprinted hard and was root cause of my 35 cal affliction.

YES YES YES, build a 358 Winchester!! Great cast caliber too!!!
CW

 

[oscarflytyer]

Still shooting factory in my BLR 358 (200 grn Hornady Custom). So far, 2x/2x DRTs. Prob work up with the Speer 180 HotCor, as I have a bunch for my 35 Rem Marlin. One day, maybe work a cast load. All my deer are small Southern whitetail (or maybe close pigs).

{Only wild card would be IF I took it on the Africa trip wife won at auction, but doubt it.}

 

[Jeff H]

Still shooting factory in my BLR 358 (200 grn Hornady Custom). So far, 2x/2x DRTs. Prob work up with the Speer 180 HotCor, as I have a bunch for my 35 Rem Marlin. One day, maybe work a cast load. All my deer are small Southern whitetail (or maybe close pigs).

{Only wild card would be IF I took it on the Africa trip wife won at auction, but doubt it.}

That has to be one of the most appropriate platforms for that cartridge EVER.

 

[fiver]

any VZ around here that needed an upgrade would for sure get a 9X57 barrel screwed on it.

 

[Jeff H]

any VZ around here that needed an upgrade would for sure get a 9X57 barrel screwed on it.

STOP IT!

I've been going 'round and 'round on this ride for forty years trying to make up my mind!

I know, I know, the 57mm case is going to have more capacity and FITS the intermediate length of the 98 variants, less pressure, same velocity,....

I'm a big fan of that case, fiver. I kept BOTH a 257 Roberts and a 25 Souper for years and they shot the same bullets at the same velocities and both shot sub-half-inch groups. The 'Roberts is still here.

Oh, man. Here I go again.

 

[fiver]

there's a 22 cal version... LOL
yeah I like the x57 case family too.
the 22 and 9 are pretty much the only ones I ain't had.

 

[RBHarter]

Yep , I wanted 9×57 when I got the 358 . Dies are custom order so a guy may as well swing for the AI .

If you have moulds for the 35/38 cal at all they shoot great in the 358 and would be fine in a x57 too .

I wonder how fast I could run a 95 gr RNFP before the revs pulled it apart in the 14" twist ?

 

[fiver]

you might grey poof it, but it won't be the rev's that make it do it, they just finish off the already done in for lump of putty.

 

[Ian]

13-ish BHN air-cooled .30-caliber can stand a good bit of zip if you don't puttify them at launch.

 

[fiver]

that's an 8 twist AIRC.

I've poofed stuff in the 0-6 with a 10 and they were more like 170grs.
obnoxious recoil for sure since I was riding full jacketed loads,,, no leading in the barrel though.

 

[Ian]

Seven twist in that one. 311316 SC mould from S Mac.

Yeah....OOPS. 60K PSI makes that gas check a real tight bore scraper, but it probably turned inside-out about an inch past the crown.

 

[fiver]

I had a fairly hard jam going on too.
I bet the bullets come out the muzzle looking more like a long cylinder, than anything resembling a bullet.

 

[Brother_Love]

Until 6 years ago I paid no attention to the 358. That changed when I got my first JES re-bore, a Mossberg patriot that shot beautifully but I didn’t like the feel of the rifle. My next one was a Tikka T3 that I still have along with my newest 358, a SAKO Forester. The beauty of the 358 to me is its ability to do most anything. I have light loads for plinking and varmints as well as full power deer getters. I shoot nothing but cast although I have a vast supply of jacketed bullets on hand. Finally, I have found the 358 to be an extremely accurate cartridge much like it’s parent the 308. All I need now is a 358 lever to complete my 358 stable (or maybe a pump or SS).

 

[Jeff H]

.......All I need now is a 358 lever to complete my 358 stable (or maybe a pump or SS).

My brother had a Browning BLR in 257 Roberts and it was quite a nice gun - with a bit of a heavy trigger, but workable.

I understand they make the BLR in 358....

 

[fiver]

they definitely do.
the older originals and the newer re-released ones both come in 358.