Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles .308 to .358

A Pachmyer Decelerator would be the pad you'd want. If you're handloading the .358 180gr. & 200gr. are more than adequate for deer and recoil won't be the issue it can be with heavier bullets. I have recently had shoulder surgery and have gone from 225gr. bullets in my .35 Whelen to 200gr. bullets and found the recoil with a Decelerator pad to be very manageable.

I think you shouldn't waste your time on a 338. Go to 358 for lots of bullets and pistol bullets for fun practice. Cast for another level of fun. I have a 280 gr cast load that should be wicked without lots of recoil. Long for caliber and a flat point should kill well and as they say, eat up to the hole. Rusty

That is where my mind was at when I picked the .358. I was attracted by the caliber’s ability to be effective on everything from small game to big bears at the ranges I usually make kills at. I used to hunt everything with a Winchester 94 in 45 colt, right down to rabbits. Shocked my grandpa when he sent me out to get rabbits for Christmas dinner and I came back with my limit, all shot through the head, no meat wasted. He had been skeptical when I left with that Winchester. Cast bullets and light loads work geat for pot hunting. Lighter bullets for deer and coyotes, heavies for elk, moose and bears.

Looking it over, the .358 seemed hard to beat for a guy who has shot one animal at 400 yards in his life, and most of the rest under 100, maybe a majority of those under 50. I like getting into the thick stuff and taking close shots. Feels better to me to stalk and kill an animal in its “safe space”, often before it has any idea I am there, than it does sitting and waiting for it to walk by. Hunting, as opposed to shooting. The .358 in a short handy rifle should excel at that. That’s the other thing I like about it. Makes hay in a short barrel, which means one doesn’t sacrifice performance for handiness.

Probably going to sell my .308 AR, too, and replace it with a rifle set up for open country. Longer barrel, and a cartridge that cheats wind and shoots flatter to 500 yards or so. I don’t care for belted magnums, so thinking 6.5-06 or 270, maybe. Such a rifle will mostly be used for mule deer and smaller, so no need for a sledgehammer, more interested in flat trajectory and minimizing wind drift.

This all day long. ^^^^^^^^
the 338 Fed is a great cartridge, but, I'm old school, and 358 calibers fits the bill for me.. YMMV

JES has an outstanding reputation. My buddy had his Marlin 30-30 bored to .356 and the accuracy is stellar. Good luck with this project!

Sherwood

I have a 99F in .358 Win and it is fierce in the recoil department with 250 gr loads. Not so bad with 200 gr Hornady RN handloads. Either rebore will make a fine woods rifle IMO. Happy Trails

I plan to run either a 225 gr. Partition or a 200 gr. TTSX out of it for a heavy hitter. Should be enough for a dark timber elk hammer and emergency use as a grizzly defense at the same time. Obviously any bear defense use would be at very close range and have nearly the muzzle energy and velocity to work with. The rifle should end up between 8 and 8.5 lbs. all up. Depending on if/what scope and mounts you have, that may be heavier than your rifle by as much as a pound and a half. Recoil does not really bother me, especially for one to a few shots on a hunt, but I think a lighter bullet in a heavier setup will be akin to .30-06 recoil, which is not a big deal to me, even from the bench. Cast bullets and pistol bullets for practice on rabbits and pot hunting will be pussycat recoil.

I am looking hard at a Winchester 70 EW in .25-06 for hunting in more open country, so will probably settle on a hammer load for the .358 and play around with cast and pistol bullets in it, and use the .25-06 for antelope, WT, mulies and yotes in open areas. With the .358 being effective to 300, I would likely never need anything else, but if I do, the 25-06 will do fine. The .25 is also something for my wife to use, as the flat trajectory combined with low recoil would make her happy. She will like the ability to aim dead on and kill the target to 300 yards. Happy wife, happy life! In two rifles, I should have every kind of hunting I will do covered well, and will be able to put good glass on them, and practice enough to be extremely effective with either. Since I have no interest in shooting past 500 yards, there is no need for magnums or the like. These two calibers appear to offer everything I might need from a hunting rifle, and without the weight, blast, expense and recoil of the magnums or wildcats.

I read enough good things about JES that I have a T3x in 6.5 CM on the way. It will get turned into a 338 Fed. I’ll try all kinds of bullets, but a 200BT at ~2725-2750 is my first plan.

Just another +++ on JES.
I have had a nice MkX rebored into a 9.3x62 and a model 70 Winchester rebored into a 338 Federal by Jesse in the past year or so. Both are showing great promise in the accuracy department. In fact I am considering sending him one or two more pretty soon. I like his work!
Les

Should be enough meat in the .308 AW barrel for the .358 diameter too...no iron sight holes to think about. I had a .358 BLR awhile. Its magazine determined I use the 200 TSX over the 200 TTSX. I had my 35 WAI still up and running then, so it put the "stink eye" on the BLR...sold it to finance a hunt...in which I took the 35 WAI, ha. It has bookoo power and finesse for even long shots, especially with the right bullet. In that BLR, surprisingly, IMR 3031 gave better results than the New School Wonder Powders. Now, I also had a Ruger 77 AW but in .338 Federal. It "did" respond very well to TAC and the 160TTSX. So, don't overlook the 180 TTSX in your "new" .358!

I will be trying the 180 TTSX, to be sure. As a deer round for the midwest if nothing else. Although, the way those Barnes penetrate, I could likely use the 180 as a hammer load and be fine. Just a little more comfortable with a 200 or bigger on anything carnivorous that is pissed off, as well as for busting both shoulders on an elk that I want to stop right where it is.

I like the BLR, but am turned off by the gear driven lever to bolt connection for my uses. A bit of ice or dirt in that mess and... In addition, they are hell to get timed right again if you take one apart. I like simple and sturdy in rifles for the field. The BLR is anything but simple.

That 35WAI intrigues me, too, but I like the short action for a handy rifle in heavy cover. But I am going to have to look more at the Whelen and the WAI now that you mentioned it.

Going with the CM to get the longer length in the CM modified magazine?