Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles 158 grain bullets in 350 Legend.

Has anyone using 158 grain 357 bullets in a 350 Legend.

The bore is .355"/9mm in the 350 Legend.

Win ammo boxes state the bore is .357"

Typical Win "F' up.

.357" diameter projectiles/dummy rounds will not chamber in my Satern AR-15 Bbl or S&W X frame 350.

https://www.furycustombullets.com/shop-2/35-caliber/short-spitzer/
My brother and I have been shooting these. Work great on whitetails.

Most bullets designed for the .357 are likely a bit soft for .350 velocities. Even for .357 rifles, tougher ones are often recommended like the XTP soft point instead of the HP.

The feed ramp in your AR, and the magazines you use appear to be big factors in reliability. I would stick with stuff designed to work in the .350 myself. No sense looking for more trouble; the folks seem to have enough as it is.

Mule Deer wrote an article on the 350 Legend where he used .358 bullets, but sized them down with a Lee bullet sizing tool.

It's my understanding that you need to open the throat on the 350L to use .358 bullets. I had a Scout re-chambered from 350L to 360 BKHR. The .355 bore is not a problem.

I did size the bullets to .356 with a lee bullet sizing die.
I have a full box of .357 2000 remington jsp plus a few hundred speer and hornady bullets. Thought maybe some one tried using 158 gr. That is the reason I asked. I need some starting loads information. I have quite a few powders to work with.

I did size the bullets to .356 with a lee bullet sizing die.
I have abox of .357 2000 remington jsp plus a few hundred speer and hornady bullets. Thought maybe some one tried using 158 gr. That is the reason I asked. I need some starting loads information. I have quite a few powders to work with.

I chambered a round in my gun. The round chambered but it doesn't feed from a magazine.

I will not be hunting with these bullets. Just trying to see if I can get them to shoot accurately. Thanks all

You would probably have better luck with the 38 Super 160grain RN as made for the auto pistol. They are actually .355-6.

If you're looking for cheap plinking bullets, the Win 145gr FMJs are about as cheap as they come. They have decent accuracy and they feed pretty well. Be careful with loading data, though! Do not substitute 147gr pistol bullet data, and think you'll be fine. The 145gr Winchesters take a lot less powder than their pistol bullet counterparts, of similar weight.

I tried some Hornady 9mm, 147gr XTP pistol bullets. They were very accurate, but they don't feed in the two rifles I had at the time.

I have also loaded quite a few of the 250gr Sub-X bullets. They are listed as .357" diameter, so I called Hornady to ask them about that. The guy on the phone said they have a thicker copper jacket, and the extra couple of thousandths diameter was needed to make them shoot accurately and perform correctly at subsonic velocities. I don't know about any of that, but they seem to shoot, feed, and perform as they should. They shoot accurately, but their point of impact is several inches lower at 50yd, than the other .350L bullets (and factory ammo) I've tried.

My favorite bullet for the .350 Legend is the Hornady 165gr FTX. They are very accurate and they have been the best feeding bullet I've used with the .350 Legend (but they still aren't 100% reliable in my rifle). They are one of the more expensive options for loading .350L ammo, but if I could only use one bullet for the .350L, this would be my choice.

I have found the .350 Legend to be a terribly finicking cartridge. I have struggled to get it to feed correctly, with two different AR uppers. Powder charges need to be pretty exact (especially with Lil' Gun); a 1/2gr increase can get you into high pressure signs, quickly, even before reaching the published maximum charges in the loading manuals! H110/W296 powders seem to be more forgiving, in this regard.

The overall length can be critical as well - a difference of 0.010" can make the difference between feeding correctly and jamming. A slightly longer COAL seemed to work better for me, for feeding reliability, than the published COAL numbers in the loading manuals. This seems to be the opposite of what I'd expect, but I can't argue with what I'm seeing.

So, I don't see the desire to use .357" pistol bullets, even if you're sitting on a large stash you're trying to burn up. I'd rather sell the .357" bullets, and buy specific .350L projectiles. The .350L is picky enough, without adding extra weirdness to the formula.