Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats .358 Norma or .35 Whelen

Got a nice .270 Win MTN Rifle donor 700. You know the kind with the locking bolt. Can this be made into a .358 Norma Mag or must I do a .35 Whelen. I have become a 35 cal. exlcusive user. Have a .350 Rem Mag, building a .358 Win currently, would prefer to do the .358 Norma if possible but not sure if this action can handle it.Anyone?

A 358Norma is a good fit for this action. It, as you know, can be loadeddown to be a 35 Whelen but the reverse is not true. Also, the 35 Whelen will not do much that your 350 and 358 already do, if anything.

Boltface would have to be altered for the Norma. Whelen would not.

Do the norma .....mucho coolness facto

Go 358STA mucho coolness facto +10..
I have one and thay are awesome!!
RL..

Thier wouldn't be any action mods required to do the Whelen,...just rebarrel and enjoy. Find a mag bolt face action for the Norma...

The Mountain Rifle was intro'd in '86 and the bolt locking safety was phased out in '82....yours must have been changed out.

I'd go with the 35 whelen. My favorite hunting round

Another vote for something different.The 358 STA would be the one.

Somehow, years ago, I got the notion that it is not prudent to be opening the bolt face of a 700 from standard (270W) to magnum (358N). I think it would be cheeper to get another action or a magnum bolt.

All this talk about magnums and STA is meaningless BS, unless you have the correct action for it.

Talk to a gunsmith and get past this technical issue first, if you must condsider the 358N magnum, otherwise the 35 Whelen is the correct choice for the bolt face you have - unaltered.

KB

Hmmm, makes me wonder. Is there a way to find out what year it is by serial #? Maybe it's a regular BDL? but it does have the 22" barrel and the irons , looks and feels like a MTN rifle to me.

I'm looking for a simpler project on this one. Not necessarily top dollar everything. The norma would cost more if I had to open the bolt face. Looks like I'll do a Whelen. Would be nice to have a 35 Wheelie, 350 Rem and a .358 Win. Maybe I'll just get a 375 H+H instead of going the Norma route. Thought about that 375 Ruger but nah. Don't like Rugers much had my fill of them and now they are gone down the road.

35 Whelen Ackley Improved

The 35 Whelen is very rendundant since you have the 358W and 350RM.

Get a real performer - 9.3x62

KB

I will go with the 35 Whelen BUT 9.3x62 will be cool due that you already have a 350 Rem mag, if you're opening the bolt face the 358 STA better option than Norma and 338-06 could be a nice choice too.

http://www.remingtonsociety.com/rsa/questions/barrelcodes

Here you will find your serial number info. It takes a bit of cipherin'. I've figured it out.

I own a 35-06 JDJ. It is a 15" braked barrel. It'll do 2670 with 225's. It is incredibly accurate. It is simply a 35 Whelen case fireformed to a 60 degree shoulder which ain't much on this round. I do not know but I would suspect it would do near 3000 in a 22" or more barrel.

Were it me, I would go with the Norma version which is efficient as the day is long. The 358 STW is certainly a "big-gulp" on powder charges.

I tend to agree with KaBlue. If you entertain the JDJ version from www.sskindustries.com it'll put you in the fast lane AND would fit your current action AND would require zero alterations of your action except the screwing on of another barrel.

In the mid 70's I picked up a 358Norma. It was an 03 Springfield action, unknown barrel, very nice piece of wood, all the fancy metal work done (custom trigger, side safety ala Rem 700, cocking knob and safety removed, milled floorplate, forged bolt, speedloader slots removed, D&T'd ,polished and blued). I bought it as a moose rifle but never got drawn in ten years. It was verry expensive to shoot, lots of powder and expensive bullets and brass. I did kill a ton of squirels with pistol bullets and a little 700X, it would shoot little cloverleafs at 50 yrds. After ten years of not getting drawn I sold it it was too much gun for most of my hunting.

I did miss having a 35 though and my 35 Whelen (rebored 721) will cover everthing the Norma did at the ranges I'm willing to shoot a large critter.

Good luck on your qwest.

erich

Opening up a boltface on a standard action is NOT a difficult job for a decent gunsmith and does not affect the strength or viability of the action one WHIT. .358 Norma brass is a snap to make from 338 Win Mag brass. It will work in this action with ease and will be plenty cheap to feed and use if one simply sizes up 338 brass and goes along thier happy way.

i have a 35 whelen and love it. it is one nice gun and made for tight places. a good brush buster and good to 300 yards
rob k

Just have it rebarreled to 9.3X62, and you will have a 358 Norma with five in the magazine!

Ted

[quote=encorerbHmmm, makes me wonder. Is there a way to find out what year it is by serial #? Maybe it's a regular BDL? but it does have the 22" barrel and the irons , looks and feels like a MTN rifle to me. [/quote]

check your barrel date code on the site in Reloder28's post...and most later BDL's in standard cartridges have 22" barrels,and iron sights. Mountain Rifles do not have iron sights. Some of the earlier BDL's and the later stainless BDL's were 24" in standard cartridges.

and again...go with the Whelen.