I finally pulled the trigger on a project I have been threatening to do for two years now. I mailed out my savage 99e in 308 to JES Reboring today. I�m going to have him rebore it to 358 winchester 3 groove, 1-12� twist. I think it will make a hell of an all around big game rifle. It currently has a lyman peep mounted on it but I may put a 2-7 leupy compact on it in the future.
This idea started a few years ago. Shortly after I found my son was left eye dominant I started picking up a few rifles that we could both shoot. Lever guns seemed to be the logical choice for a ambidexterous repeater. I�d always had a sweet spot in my heart for savage 99 and thought that a 358 winchetser would be a good cartridge for all around alaskan use. 200gr for black bear, caribou, and deer, 225 parttions for crossover and bigger stuff and 250+ RN for close range big game. It offers a lot of bang for reasonalbe recoil. Out to 300 yards it should work about perfect.
JES turn around time is usually only a couple of weeks so I need to get ready to feed this thing. I have a hundred hornady brass already, still need to pick up dies and some bullets. Anybody have any pet loads for the 358 that they want to share. As far as bullets to start out with I was thinking about 200gr winchester bulk PP, 225gr partitions, and 250gr speer SP. all bullets that have proven effective in the 35 whelens I have had in the past.
