Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Ruger American .358

I'd buy one in 358 WCF or even 35 Remington but then again I'm a 35 junkie.

StarchedCover

Firing a 35 Whelen from a 6 1/2 lb rifle would be exhilarating to say the least.

Just to bring this back to the top...
So now we have a couple creedmores and a 7.62X39 in the RAR...But, no 358 still.

I'd still buy one in 358 WCF or a 35 Rem. would be nice as well.

And both of those cartridges are better sellers right now. Ruger is more about profit than serving under-served markets now days. Without special runs by large distributors like Grice or Lipsey's, they are unlikely to produce them. They've dropped the Hawkeye line for left hand shooters for the most part with a few exceptions, those being the FTW hunter, African and Guide Gun in very limited chamberings offered. They had steadfastly maintained the left hand 77 MKII and Hawkeyes offerings for decades before. Such things happen when the founder passes on and the company goes public.

Seems like it wouldn't be too difficult to swap the barrel on one to .358 though.

REBORE!!!

Years ago I sent my Stainless Tikka T3 .270 off to JES for a rebore, 3 weeks later I had a light and very accurate 35 Whelen!

The muzzle end of the T3 is .635 and worked fine and now I am thinking a SA RAR in 338 Federal would be a nice additional to my collection!

Ive got a '06 montana donor rifle... fixed 6x42 leupold on top... need all the eye relief i can get

They made the Hawkeye in .358 and it did not sell well. Ruger knows what they are doing.

Would it be possible to convert a Ruger American to 35 REM?

If setup correctly is is not as bad as you would think, my Tikka 35 Whelen sits in a McMillan Edge and with Leupold VX-2 2-7x33 weighs in at 6lb 10oz. I enjoy shooting it but it does have McMillan's upgrade Decelerator Pad.

I'm sure they sold more 450 Bushmasters than they would .358....not.

Maybe, but the magazine is the problem; pretty specific to the cartridge family, I believe.

I'm on your side, in Spirit anyway, but you're dreaming. The market has spoken, over and over and over. Those medium-sized mediums don't sell well, and special runs are about all you can hope for. I like those rounds, but I don't have one anymore because other, smaller ones work just as well, are easier to feed, more versatile, and more pleasant to shoot. The kind of person that wants a.358 generally doesn't want a RAR, and vice versa. The .450s are for a new market created by new regs in several midwest states. Once tha demand is filled, that market will largely dry up.

A .358 RAR would be pretty pretty sporty in the back end, I believe.

.35 Remington. (Patroller inspired)



....and for the "plastic" guys.



Operates almost identically to an 870. What more do you need?


[...and my latest big bore R&D creation..., (The .615 McMurderer)] Hoping Remington or one of the Big Majors picks it up!


DMc : )


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Like 'em all, but especially the top one.

Those are nice. Never could get into pump rifles much. Pump shotguns and lever rifles, for me. Still got an ugly 99C project to finish or sell. It will become a 358 if I keep it, but I can't get into 98s much either. Happy with Marlins and BLRs or even 87s, I guess.

Interesting question so I experimented a little the other day. The case body fits the normal 308-family magazine just fine, but the 35 cal neck is too large so the magazine binds on the case neck. Same issue applies to the 358 Win. I think 338 is as big as you could go without magazine modifications.

It looks like the magazine could be relieved to work without too much trouble for a custom 35 cal build, but the tooling change required for production is probably one reason Ruger hasn't done the 358 RAR already. Other than the neck area of the magazine, I couldn't see any problems with converting one of these to 35 Rem or 358 Win; it should be pretty straightforward and easy.

It does. Mine started as a .243 though.

You want the best bear bullet made for the 450 Bushmaster......Cutting Edge Bullets 452" 250gr. Flat Base Raptor would work great on moose and elk also....in a bolt you only need two band in the case in a AR all to get them to fit in the magazine....you can order Spitzer Tips to replace RN tips.....

https://cuttingedgebullets.com/452-250gr-flat-base-raptor

If you want really deep penetration CEB 452" 300 gr. Handgun Solids.....in a 45 Colt rifle 1580 muzzle velocity with 22 yard impact in wet newsprint 30" straight line penetration.....

https://cuttingedgebullets.com/45-300gr-handgun-solid