Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Straightwall cartridge choice?

Don't feel too bad
Every wildlife and game department in every
place I've ever been is that way.
Staffed with people that seldom leave the
climate controlled office, let alone go afield
and get an up close and personal view.

That's part of the modern world.
Hopefully someday we'll get back to merit
based hiring, and only the most experienced
and qualified personnel will get the job

I'm not holding my breath...

The .360 BH intrigues me. Got a bug up my butt to send one of my High Walls I rarely use out to JES for a rebore and chamber for the .360. Gotta call them as they don't list the .360 as an option.

I have a .357 Maximum rifle (Martini Cadet with 26" barrel that launches 200 grain bullets with alacrity - it pretty much fulfills my need for a straight wall hunting cartridge), but I like the idea of the .360 with its larger case capacity. Not only for hunting but for single shot target competition - I see it being able to sling a 225-250 grain cast bullet fast enough to stay super-sonic out to 200 yards. To my mind it would also fill a niche between the .32-40 and .38-55- possibly better wind bucking than the .32-40 for 200 yard cast bullet target work without the added recoil of a .38-55, a real consideration over a match weekend involving hundreds of shots on an arthritic shoulder. That's important in the game I play, and the rifle I have in mind sports a heavy barrel and would weigh in the neighborhood of 10 pounds after the rebore. A not totally objectionable weight for hunting since I'm turning into mainly an ass-sitter hunter anymore. That would make it able to pull double duty, for hunting and targets.

I guess I should wait and see which way the wind blows as I don't see .360 brass available yet and I'm damned if I'm gonna spend $2/round for factory ammo just to salvage the brass, and I don't have the desire to send jacketed bullets screeching down a barrel that I'll be seasoning for lead shooting.

gnoahhh,

If it helps increase your interest, you can make the brass from any of the 30-30 based cartridges.

Geez. Of course, d'oh! (Red faced here right now! Me being a dedicated alterer of brass to make other brass and all. Spent the afternoon swaging .40-65 brass out of .45-70's in my 5-ton arbor press dontcha know!)

Speaking of which, I hear talk of "straight wall states" decrying straight tapered cases. What's up with that? By definition a .32-40 or .40-65 wouldn't cut the mustard. Pointy headed politicos/bureaucrats making regs as somebody else mentioned here, I suppose.

The 357 Maxi was more widely used in straight wall states when those states limited case length to 1.625". Now that most of them allow 1.8" it's not as popular.

I have owned no less than 7 guns chambered in 357 Max and have killed a number of deer and 2 bears.

It gets the job done with a calm and humble demeanor.

Brass is available from Starline and it uses 357 or 358 bullets unlike the 350L.

Dinny,

I wanted to use a single shot. .358 bullets and a rimmed case are the main reasons 360 BH was a better choice for me.

Chapter 1: the 45/70

Similar performance and knock down power probably means similar recoil. I really like my marlin guide gun in 45/70 but it's non ported and I just don't like the recoil my old bear load og a 350g Hornady flat nose at about 2100 fps has. I've started using cast bullets again and lighter loads and it's much more shootable. With those hotter loads the recoil puts the bore almost vertical and it takes a bit to get back on target. Not ideal at all if you miss with the first round.

Chapter2: The 444

Maybe 7 or so years ago I found a marlin 444p outfitter model at a good price. I strongly prefer stainless, inwasnt a fan of the ports, and didn't think I wanted a 444 but the price was really good so I bought it. I figured I'd just put it away and maybe a few years down the road trade it for something else.

Eventually I broke down and bought dies and brass for it. I shoot a lot of 44 mag so I had several different 44 bullets on hand. I worked up loads for some 250g Sierra jacketed flat nose silhouette bullets I had on hand and didn't have another use for and a load for 270g speer gold dot flat noses. I didn't go real hot but took them both to around 2200fps iirc.

I was amazed how much more enjoyable that 444p was to shoot than my 45/70 GG. The ports really reduced muzzle rise and the recoil overall was much less.i also found that that jacketed flat nose Sierra 250 actually mushrooms quite well at those rifle velocities. I used to always carry the 45/70 while we picked huckleberry in grizzly areas. Now I find myself just taking the 444.

I can stay on target much better and get quicker follow-ups even with the 270 Speers. Next I'm going to try a bunch of hard cast lee 310g bullets that I cast and powder coated and then sized checks on. I'm hoping it likes the cast bullets too because I made hundreds and it will get me to practice more.

I'm also sure I can get quite a bit more speed with the 250s if I want to and that should give me a lot flatter shooting load that my 45/70 loads.

Chapter 3: The 350L

I think if you want close to 45/70 but with less recoil a 444 is the best of tge more common options. Maybe a 450 bushmaster is similar too. If your just hunting deer and don't have grizzlies around you should seriously check out a 350l. My 350 is on an AR but I've really liked it and want a bolt gun in it now too. It's a very pleasant to shoot round and seems to hit pretty hard and shoot fairly flat for such little recoil. I had a few bugs to work out loading for it in an AR but now that I've got it figured out its great. Brass and ammo are affordable and available too.

My AR is just a cheap radical I went with first to see if I liked the round. Now I'm gathering parts to build me one just how I want it then I'll sell the radical. Once I figure out which bolt gun I want I'll get one of those too. I'd like something short barreled and threaded so I'm eyeing a howa mini. I've already cast and powder coated some 200g lee flat noses that I hope work well in both an AR and a bolt gun. The AR barrel I'm getting for my built has wider feedramos and should do better with the flat nose.

Chapter 4: My 350 AR load learning curve

The issue I had with loading for an AR was getting a good enough crimp to prevent bullet set back when it slammed them in the chamber. You definitely don't want your gun seating your bullets deaper for you on an already warm strait wall load. Pressures can go way up. A heavy crimp alone wasn't enough to reassure me so I worked up my own loads with a bit slower powder than you usually find data for. Now it's around 100% load density at my seating depth and that helps prevent set back. Another advantage to my own load is I used h4198 which is temp stable and seems much more consistent than h110 or lilgun. That cheap ar with 170g Hornady interlocks over h4198 is accurate and just fun to shoot. Iirc I'm got them up over 2200fps I'm that 16" even with the slower powder. The h4198 is cut short and meters well too.

Chapter 5: .358 in a .355

And just in case some person actually reads this far, the starline 350 brass has thinner walls than the win brass and my ar will chamber .358 bullets in starline brass. Just starting with a bit lighter load, just in case, I was able to shoot .358 158g xtps fine. Not that it's recommended so I should say be sure not to try it.

The end,
Bb

I'm amazed 32-40 made the pointy heads' kosher list here. It breaks the rules they laid out, but is specifically listed as a legal "bottleneck" cartridge 🤷‍♂️ Politicians are a strange lot...

I’d bet a dollar if Jess can get a reamer he will do it. I’ve had him do quite a number of things not on his website.

Speaking of, any 30-30 would make a solid rebore option and cheap 30-30 brass doesn’t anymore plentiful.

Maybe a good winter project…

A Savage 219 would make a good donor here or an H&R.

Very interesting, BB. Thanks for the write-up.

FWIW, the chamber in my .350L AR is so tight that I can't even easily seat a .355" slug into a fired case.

Any gun, AR, bolt, SS, etc chambered in 350L will shoot .358" bullets. A simple throat reaming is all that's needed.

Didn't someone confirm that a 30-30 Win couldn't be rechambered to 360 BH or did I just dream that up?

I call bs on this. I am only new on this forum. I have shot a lot of deer with a 100 grain bullet out of a 243 and seen a lot more shot with the 243 including one the other day by my 10 year old grandson. We have never lost a deer with a 243 in the 25 plus years I have hunted with it. They usually go down in sight.30-30 falls into the same category at my house. Never a deer lost. However, I have seen many lost and several long tracking jobs when shot with 180 grain 30-06 loads. Knock down power does not exist in the real world.

You remember correctly. The .30-30 shoulder sticks out beyond the chamber dimensions of the .360 BH.

That was my suspicion.

LGS just put a couple Salvage Trail Hunters chambered in 400 Legend on the rack. I'll say this for them, the Hogue over molded stock beats the abysmal Salvage tupperware. Wonder how long they'll sit?

Probably not long. Savage plastic stock rifles are everywhere around here during deer season. I know an old man who bought one in 243 ten or twelve years ago and he put a 3-9 Bushnell Banner on top and kills four or five deer with it every season since. It ain’t sexy, but she seems to get the job done.

460 Smith & Wesson. Versatile and powerful. Can shoot 45 colt, 454 Cas and 460 in same gun