Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Rebore a .308 to .358?

Cory I thought I remembered where there was a factory 358 for $650 but it had DL wood on it, went back to where it was and it dissappeared.

Is barrel wall thickness an issue?

A few members, myself included, have had JES rebore post-mil .308W 99Es to .358W so the conversion is doable.

The factory rotor in my E would feed the top .358 cartridge from the rotary magazine. However, loading a second round in the magazine would jam the rotor. Fortunately, included in the rebore service, at no additional charge, JES modified the rotor to load, feed and function correctly with a full magazine. Looking at the modified rotor, it appears the fix was only a couple of strokes with a file where the rotor cradles the cartridge necks . It should be mentioned that some factory .308 rotors will load and feed .358 just fine too.

My E as a .308W was not particularly accurate even though the chamber, bore and crown looked as perfect as Savage 99 barrels can be. After JES rebored it to a 3 groove, 1/12 twist, .358, it now shoots very close to MOA. Many groups start with two touching and the third opening the group to 1-1/4". The most amusing acquired feature is that squib loads with .38 special pistol bullets will shoot into a single .40 caliber ragged hole at 25 yds. That is better than a lot of .22 LRs can do.

IIRC, there was a post in another forum thread where John Barsness explained that often rebores improves poor accuracy in some barrels because the rebore process relieves detrimental stresses in the barrel metal.

I have replaced the inelegant, heavy Beech wood furniture with more graceful and lighter Walnut F buttstock and EG fore arm. The .358W E weights only 2 oz more than my .308W F. After hunting with both rifles for a couple of years, I find that I prefer to carry the E with the 20" barrel than the F with it's 22" barrel.

I realize that JES is not an option for you but Is there not a rebore specialist gunsmith in Canada? If so, I see nothing obvious missing in your thinking.

John Marlin...........

THE MAN who owned the factory who had enough confidence in his own patents, and was full of kindness and good feeling in his heart to help old Mr. Savage manufacture hisown patent of firearms. ( which are now highly coveted)

The Marlin Lever firearm is still in manufacture.

You seen the latest 2017 savage Lever action?

Me thinks not.

300/35 would not be a bad ass.

Probably pretty easy to do as well. And not very hard to find a 99 in 300 to start with.

Just sayin..

Edit: 300/35 would be a bad ass!

When talking to a good friend he said he used to have a .300 Savage rebored to .35 making it a .35/300. He said it shot quite well. I found a grey rat TD in 300 for the right price, but was wondering if a solid frame would be any stronger than a TD? I can't see any reason it would be, but thought I'd ask. I'm considering this as an option as I reload anyways and being a "wildcat" would add some excitement (Probably along with headaches and expense) to the project for me.

Having problems id'ing the model though (99D?), has a 24" tube apparently.

Cory

Was it a factory DL in 358, or a factory 358 F with DL wood? It took me years to find a mint DL in 358, and it's 24".