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It's a dumb question, but I gotta ask it!! I just bought a Winchester 1894 in .356 Winchester. I�m going to get some dies and hand-load with Sierra 200gr. RN bullets and maybe even try some Speer 180gr FN bullets. HOWEVER, what if I wanted to try and see how a 200gr TSX or 225gr Accubond would perform out of the rifle? I do have enough upstairs to realize that these bullets would in no way be safe, loaded in the tubular magazine, but would it hurt to just hand feed one in at a time, at the proper OAL, to see how they perform? Would I more than likely be dealing with bullets that are too long?

Be gentle!

Yes, you are talking about an inexpensive conversion of your lever action repeating rifle to a single shot.

If you can keep them to with in the OAL of 356 win its not a single shot. Its a two shooter.. one in the chamber, one in the mag.(just don't forget and load a second in the mag) Both the TSX and accubond are fairly long bullets and getting them loaded to 356 oal might be dificult.

One of the nice things about the 356 and 358s is that you don't loose much with a cup and core bullet. Core seperations are very rare (never seen one yet) at those speeds. If you are likeing a premium you might take a look at the Northfork 200g bullet.. The northfork site says it was designed for single shot pistols.. so you should get excellent expansion at 356 velocites and they say it can handle 358 norma velocities so it certainly won't come apart. you might need to flatten the tip slightly for safety in the magazine.

I took my 358 BLR elk hunting in 2002( or 2003?) and before I went I shot a few bullets into wet paper to see how they performed. The speer 250 and the hornday 250rn both out penatrated the 225NP..Shot my cow elk with the 250 rn.. twice, and niether bullet was recovered.

I would be surprised if a .358" TSX or Accubond would cycle reliably in a lever gun even if seated in the 356 Win just off the ogive. Plus the Accubond tip would be a mess by the time it was chambered.

Whatever bullet you choose, you will need to maintain a maximum OAL of 2.560". The model 94 does not feed if the OAL is longer than this. Otherwise, it is a single shot as has already been noted. I doubt that you will get more velocity with either the Accubond or the TSX over the Speer FN or the Sierra RN, and it is unlikely, given the velocity limitations, that you will see any significant extension of reach. The rifle is about a 250 yard gun, which will speak with authority as it is.

As an aside, the Speer 220 grain FN is a fine bullet, capable of taking deer and black bear with authority. Loaded to a velocity of 2200 to 2400 fps, this is a 250 yard rifle. I have used this load even to take grizzly. Loaded with this bullet, I suspect that it would be a great rifle for hogs, as well.

Alternatively, you can load the excellent 250 grain Kodiak FN to a velocity of around 2050 fps which gives a big punch to the caliber. Again, this is an excellent deer and black bear load.

I have loaded with the 250 grain Hawk FN, but velocity was in the range of about 1900 fps and the groups were not as tight as with either the 220 grain Speer or the 250 grain Kodiak. Rifles differ, however, and this particular bullet may well work for your particular rifle.

Either of my .356s give me near MOA (2" to 2.5") at 200 yards from the bench, which is better than I can shoot in the field.

You will undoubtedly enjoy your .356. Good luck in your search for the load that you want.

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I have tried all types of bullets in my 30 and 35 cal. lever guns, and can find NO advantage with spitzer or premium bullets in those guns. Bullet shape does not show any advantage at ranges under 200 hundred yards. At longer ranges simply use a different rifle, that is not what the lever gun is designed for.
At velocities under 2500 to 2600 fps the premium bullet is a waste of money in the lever gun. If you want to use premiums that's one thing, if you NEED premiums is another matter. The plain old mundane cup and core round nose or flat nose works just fine. And yes, I have been shooting round nose bullets in lever guns for 40 years, they work great.

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Hornady has now the leverevolution for Rem.35, Win.32spl. and maybe the 356 winchester is next or they might offer the leverevolution bullet to reloaders. A long time ago I contacted Sierra and asked if I can load the sierra 225gr. gameking for my Remington 760 in Rem. 35cal. (a clip rifle)they said yes and told me how to do it, but I never did. I think about it still. Remington makes a 200gr. pspcl bullet that shoots well in my Rem. 760 in rem. 35cal. I haven't try it yet in my winchester 94 in 356 win.. The next time I reload for the 356 win. I'll put together 20 rounds using rem. pspcl 200gr. bullets and let you all know.

I've shot pointy bullets out of my old .30-30 lots of times over the years. Single shot only! No sense pushing your luck by stacking them primer to nose in the tube!

150 gr Nosler BTs are scary accurate at about 2200 fps from my .30-30.

Good shooting!

I've been trying for a long time to find DOCUNENTED evidence that a pointed bullet caused another round to fire in a tubluar magazine of the Winchester Model 94 or 64 So far I have not found one documented instance. I am beginning to believe it is all hear say or an old wives tale that pointed bullets should not be used in a tubular magazine!

If anyone has a DOCUMENTED instance post it up so everyone can see!

I'm with you!

I personally do not think that recoil would set off a mag tube detonation. However dropping the gun or other more tramatic event I could imagine doing it. However I have heard of no documentned event,. Nor have I heard of any solid documented research into this possibility.

I wonder if Hornady did any research when develooping thier new LE ammunition? One would think that they would have to have investigated the effects of just how hard or how soft they must make the gummie tips to ward off this mag tube exxplsion worry. I wonder about the gummie tips getting too cold and hard or even if age will harden the tips to being too hard. For example. What will happen with 10 year old LE ammo? Will the plasticizers in the gummie tip dry out and make the point hard? Will this be too hard?

I also wonder if they did the research and found that this whole mag-tube detonation theory isjust that, a theory. But they obviously could not come out with this finding as it would have totally eliminated the market advantage and marketing of a revolutionary "pointed" bullet for tube fed lever actions.

Why can the remington pointed soft point core lockt bullet work in both the 30-30 and 35 Rem and not cause mag tube detonation? They look pretty pointed to me with only a very small flat spot at the very tip.

I would really like to see some real research done especially on the 336 Marlin as to just what it would take to get a mag-tube explosion. Maybe a minimum flat lead metplat surface area can be determined for the various calibers. But this may not be sufficient because of handloaders doing +p work.

Maybe this would make for a great episode for the Discovery Channel "Myth Busters" program!

I've not experienced nor witnessed a detonation from recoil, using pointy bullets. I have witnessed a detonation on a Winchester 66? Yellowboy dropping factory 45 Colt lead round nose down the mag tube. My buddy needed to get a piece of brass removed from his thigh.

Jim

I like my tubular magazine on a fast handling lever action rifle/carbine in wooded aeras but once in a while I come to a open aera were long shots are possible. I often think of making a cartridge with a pointed boat-tail bullet for those aera. I would put one the chamber and one in the tube magazine only. I don't need proof to know that the point of bullet is about as close as to a firing pin as you can get and it being right against the primer will not give me a comfortable feeling

Not too long ago there was an article in one of the gun rags.Think it was Rifle, but they loaded a bunch of tubular mags with about every kind of bullet there was and couldn'ty make them go bang just from firing. Through other means they did make a few go off, but no major damage occurred. I think a few bulged the tube. The results were about the same as a loaded round in a fire. No means to contain the pressure and they just cook off.

The Leverlution loads were answer to a problem that did not exist,but guys suck up on that stuff.
I can't imagine many, if any lever/tubular magazine guns being 300 yd shooters, but there may be some. The std RNFP bullets that most are loaded with are going to travel just about the same as any pointy bullet you stick in them in the 100-200 yd realm

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Well said!

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that sounds like a dandy rig. i wouldn't mess with pointy bullets when that 220-grainer will reach on out there as drmike wrote.

I think the article was in Rifle, and really hard flat nosed bullets were just as bad as a pointed bullet. The bullets tip down in the magazine because of the rim and the hard edge of the meplat caused detonations.