Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters ? for Mule Deer on the .358 Win

I finally got some Ramshot TAC with the plan of testing your load of 49g for the .358 Win with 225g Sierra GK. I also have 225g Nosler partitions to try. From you experience should I stop a grain or two lower with the partitions vs the Sierra's since the Nosler has the partition and maybe a different jacket material? The rifle is a Mod 88 Winchester.

Yeah, a grain or two lower would be a good idea with either bullet in the 88, since I worked up to 49 in a bolt action. You might encounter slightly sticky extraction in the lever rifle.

I'd try them both with, say, 46 grains and see what the velocity is. If it's about the same for both bullets, then pressure probably is too.

In general, I've found Partitions and Sierra hunting bullets shoot to about the same velocity and point of impact with the same load, the reason I often load both in my big game rifles. The Sierra's used for practice, sighting-in and lighter game, and the Partition only for hunting. Have had that work out with a bunch of rifles, from the .243 Winchester to .375 H&H.

Thank you

MD
Does this work for both the GameKing and Pro-Hunter?

I have been amazed by TAC in my 350 mag. Thinking of trying it in my 358s. Have you tried it with 200 grain bullets? I run 200 grain hornady over 48 grains AA2520. Been happy with it but a little more speed would be nice running a little under 2500fps right now.

Prwlr,

Usually.

Sometimes you have to tweak the power charge a little, depending on the bullet weight and rifle. In my Kilimanjaro 7x57, for example, all the bullets from 156-160 grains I've tried (quite a few) shoot very close to the same POI with 46.0 grains of H4350. But the load for 140's often needs to be tweaked, usually less than a grain, to do the same thing.

Mike,

In a Ruger Hawkeye .358, 52.0 grains of TAC got over 2700 fps with the 200 TSX. Would drop that a couple of grains in lever-actions, but that would still probably get at least 2600.

51.0 gr of TAC gets 2600 out of a 20" Savage 99E .358 JES rebore with 200 gr TTSXs. Extraction starts getting sticky after that.

Pound 'O TAC, bag of 180 Speers, Ruger Frontier: what is max charge/velocity? Go

MD

If you wrote an article on the 358, I unfortunately missed it. Would you mind listing the magazine and date? What was the load that you would use for close range elk? Thanks.

I wrote one on both the .338 Federal and .358 Winchester for HANDLOADER. Don't know exactly which issue, but according to my computer I wrote it in 2008.

John,
It was Handloader 254, August/September 2008. And like all of your articles, it was highly informative and useful.

No surprise there.


Steve

There is a copy of the article on my desk right now.

Got Handloader 254, August/September 2008 ordered. Thanks

JB's info on TAC really upgraded my .358 experience.

Is TAC available to buy again? I've been a miser with it as I only have a pound left.

I will add, I find RL7 to be fantastic in the .358 for up to 200-gn bullets. I can get 2640 fps from a 20" barrel with Hornady 200 SP's no problem, and it will push the lighter bullets (and .357 pistol bullets) FAST. The beauty of it, as with TAC and 225's, is that you don't need to get into powder compression.

Whatever happened to "a 100'ish or so FPS really does not matter in the field"?

My Ruger Hawkeye does really well with a stout dose of TAC with 225 grain Nosler Partitions. I have also had good results accuracy-wise with 220 grain Speer Hot-Cor using TAC. It burns clean and measurers nicely in all my powder measurers. The little 358 Win is a fun caliber to reload and, it hunts well.

Jeff,

TAC has been available pretty much constantly since about this time last year from various websites. Right now the supplies are apparently down a little, perhaps because of yet another buying panic starting, but I just found it on a couple of sites.

Thanks John. Haven't seen it locally. I don't usually but powder online to save on the hazmat fees but it might be worth it in this case.

Need some Hunter too. It's as magic for 120's in a 7-08, as TAC is in a .358.

S&M had some last week