Does anyone know if a Ruger Hawkeye in 358 Winchester could be re-chambered to 358 WSM?

Got a hankering for a new project.

Gunner

It should work.

That being said I'd flip the .358, purchase a Ruger 77 in a WSM caliber and go from there. Then you'd only have to rebarrel vs a new mag box, follower, rail work, barrel, boltface, etc.



Here are a few fer sale: http://www.gunbroker.com/Firearms/BI.aspx?Keywords=ruger+wsm

using a .358 will require bolt face/extractor work i believe.

the Win Classic WSM action has a 3"+ mag box and is an easy conversion to rebore and throat a .300 WSM. Redding had.350 WSM dies on the shelf when i called.

Clearwater Reboring handled my rebore and cut a new chamber neck/throat for $225 IIRC.

Thanks Guys, never though of that, makes perfect sense though, a Ruger or Winchester in 300 WSM would make a perfect re-bore candidate, no other mods necessary.

I'm gonna go and study up on ballistics of the 350/358 WSM cartridge, Thanks for the broker adds Karnis, and the hit on dies from Redding, Toad.

Gunner

Why not a .325 WSM re-bored to a .358 WSM?

From my limited knowledge, thought the 325 WSM only came in a Kimber.

Gunner

From the Winchester 2013 catalog,I counted 8 different M 70's in the .325 WSM.

Sporter,Featherweght,Extreme Weather SS,Coyote Light,Ultimate Shadow Hunter SS,Ultimate Shadow Hunter,Ultimate Shadow and Ultimate Shadow SS.

Choose wisely Gunner.

Dang, Thanks EHNM, need to freshen up on the brochures and quit gawking at the old stuff so much.

Gunner

You're welcome Gunner.

Still gonna be hard to sell my little 358 Ruger, she sure is accurate.

Gunner

It's not a .358 Win,but here is my Ruger.

Just a thought, look hard at magazine length. I don't know what the Winchester mag length is but the short Remington is 2.800. The longer the better, and my short Remingtons use the Wyatt extended mag. Let's face it, we don't do 35's for the superior ballistic coefficient of the bullets, but for the larger diameter and heavier bullets. The longer the COL the more room for powder. Have fun with it.

Nice ole hammer there EHNM, looks like a tanger too.

GIJ, thinkin' the Winchesters offer a 3.100" COL in factory form, that will be plenty for me, correct, not a ballistic advantage, just a temporary loony fix.

Gunner

It is a tanger and a hammer.

10-foe, I bet it is.

Gunner

Yes,just ask this oryx.

i had a tang safety .338 WM that seemed to kick worse than my .375 RUM. it had the hard red rubber recoil pad though.

my All Weather/boat paddle .338 seems to kick a lot less.

Toad,10-12 years ago I had a Winchester M 70 SS in .338 Win and tell you what,it was LIGHT and a piss poor recoil pad and it KICKED like a mule and 2 donkeys!

That .358 NM has a Limbsaver recoil pad,cause when I got it the recoil pad was Rugers standard HARD pad.

I hear that Oryx tenderloin is some of the best eating in the world.

Found a beautiful Extreme Weather in 325 WSM today, according to Toad's post, about $225/250 bucks out a Clearwater and it's be ready to start developing loads for.

Gunner

You hear right,that oryx was 18 months old and TENDER! The first oryx I killed was a old bull and TOUGH!

Here is the first oryx I killed.

Gunner, sorry, but either i was mistaken or Clearwater has bumped their price since i had mine done. (it was five years ago or so)

Clearwater Reboring price list

but...

$295 HERE

or...

35 Caliber.com

Thanks Toad, and that's alright, I need to pay a little xtra fer messin with a perfectly good M-70 EW.

Gunner

Helluva deal, looks like it could be quite habit forming.

Gunner

If I get that EW, I'll check the three sources about turnaround time and go with one.

Thanks again Toad.

Gunner

and if you go foreward with this, i have a few loads and Quickload has this cartridge in it's cartridge file (under the 35 Sambar)

10-RahJah, preshade it neighbor.

Gunner

Only when I could draw tags.

I'm hearin ya Bro.

Gunner

I thought about doing a switch barrel on a 700 with a 300 and 350 or 375 wsm. looked at the cost of re-barreling vs reboring, die cost, reamer rental/purchase, etc. then looked at all the loading data I could find. then I started thinking of the 375 ruger, but brass was hard to find and expensive when you did. about that time, I ended up winning a gift cert from shaw barrels. I had a spare long mag action, so to make a long story short, I ended up with a 358 norma. 25" stainless, alittle heavier than a magnum contour. ended up costing me about $130 for them to headspace it and shipping. for you savage guys, their stainless ptc barrels are only $250. I am not sorry I went this way at all. action is long enough that I can seat bullets out as far as I want and don't run out of magazine room. and the barrel shoots great, speer 250 sp's clover leaf all day long at 100. not that you will want to shoot it all day long. and the best thing is brass will be available for ever. it may not say 358 norma, actually all mine say 338 win, but they are easy to make from many other calibers. then they will become 350 rem mag brass, then 458x 2.1" (my next build). good luck whichever way you go.

I am a big fan of the .35's (recent conversion) and have a .350 Rem Mag on a short action 700 SS. It has a Wyatt CFE installed. And is more than long enough for 225gr Accubonds. It prefers 200gr Barnes though.

I did look at Winchester WSMs to do the conversion, but decided to keep the rifle matching its little sister. That said the .350 Sambar (WSM) is a worthy build and should see a solid 100-150fps more than the RM in most bullet weights.

Here is a pic:



7.25 lbs pictured, would work great as a WSM too!

I see there is a gunhead in Indiana who is building 358WSSMs
on Savage bolt rifles.

My gunsmith is building 358 WSSM's on the model 70 WSSM action. They work well.