Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 350 Legend report

About 3 weeks ago I was at the range and picked up an odd looking piece on brass. Headstamp was 350 Legend, I had never heard of it and don’t read Gun Press much except here, but figured it was a Mid-West compliant straight wall deer cartridge. Did a little research and picked up my first Ruger American (Predator w/ 22 in barrel). I thought I wanted the Ranch model but the balance with 16 in barrel was very butt heavy and awkward for 1 hand carry. I cleaned off the packing goop and scrubbed the bore with JB bore paste to prep for applying some Dyna Bore Coat. Up on inspection of the muzzle I noticed a series of gouges in in the rifling about ½ down the barrel. I assume this was probably damage from a pilot when they threaded the muzzle. I wasn’t happy but thought I shoot it before calling Ruger.

I mounted an old Vari-x II 3X9 scope in Burris rings and headed to the range for an initial zero and to cure the Dyna Bore Coat. I didn't take my chrony, and wish I had. Took two shots at 25 yd to rough zero before moving to 100. Shot two groups with Win 145 FMJ target loads; BTW, they were dirt cheap at $11 for a box of 20. These groups were about 2-2.5 inches strung horizontally, not bad and about what I expected/hoped for. I then switched to the Win 180 Power Point and Hornady 170 Whitetail load. Again the rifle was only roughly sighted, and the Hornady 170 shot about 2 inches left of either Win load. Here is the target.



The name is silly, and Winchester doesn’t have a great track record recently, but I’m pleasantly surprised with the chambering and accuracy. This isn’t a game-changer for many parts of the country. Many 'experts' have their complaints about the execution or brass/bullet dimensions, but for a Midwest deer hunter this is a dream come true. Of course it's new so has to be given the Creedmore treatment. Recoil is very soft as is the noise. It’s like shooting a heavy barrel 243 w/o the muzzle blast. The Ruger is rough as a cob, but shoots well. A Howa or CZ 452 mini mauser would be perfect for this round IMHO. I’m looking forward to what loading components will come on line; I think a ~130-140g Barnes offering would be great. The 350 Legend beats the hell out of $3/round shotgun sabots, or the overly powerful 45 cal center fire options for my deer hunting needs.

And it can be had in a 10” AR pistol.

Good write up, thank you.

Is it true the bullets are .355" and not .357? If so I'm a little disappointed they went 9mm instead of 357.

Bb

If you want bullets for .355 get on the Hawk Bullets site. I think they catalogue the 354, 356, and 368 bullets. The jackets are dead soft copper and act as though they are bonded. I think that's due to the copper jackets. They work in .354 for my old 1905 9X56 mm Steyr M/S. Be Well, RZ.

Thinking about this I have a mini-mauser that might get rebarrelled. Isn't this just a renamed 357 Maximum? Be Well, RZ.

No, it's rimless based on a 223 case. Sitting next to a 357 max, the difference is minimal.

IF it was just a rimless 357 Max/blown out 223/5.56 case, MANY wouldn’t be so disappointed and ticked off at Winchester. That’s not to say it isn’t any good or doesn’t have a niche. It was just screwing up a wet dream from a true 35 AR perspective. The 357AR wildcat was already there, is a true 357/358 bore on a simple 223 case, and running at 5.56 pressures will mudhole the 350 numbers in the factory offerings. It’s almost like they made a 9mm legend, but decided to monkey with the naming.

It’s going to be interesting when field reports start coming in too, especially on hogs.

Nice write up by the way.

I’m sure it will do well.....any moderate velocity 150-180gr 35-ish is probably gonna be more emphatic than the lighter 22-30s outside of maybe the TAC or HAMR, souped up, in an AR.

Thanks for keep this a civil thread.

The bullets are .355 per the Hodgen loading data but at least one of the ammo boxes say .357. Ohio regs also say .357 min. I’m sure even Win had the sense to be sure the cartridge would be legal before releasing. My guess is they wanted the case and bullets to be unique enough to dissuade handloaders from using cheap existing components (cheap 223 brass and .358 bullets) and buy their loaded ammo or 'specialized' components. Maybe they are trying to revisit the glory of introducing what they think will be next 270Win; they could have just did a 7mm ’06 (.284) rather than an oddball .277. Bring on the 270 jokes! Either way, the its just a fun cartridge to shoot and plinking ammo is so cheap it isn’t ironic that it is a 9mm (the only round I really don’t messing loading with due to low cost).

I need to test the 170 Hornady and 180 Powerpoint in some type of media to see how they hold together. My bet is at least the 170 Hornady will be a good one.

It was laughable how they announced it. Their ballistics and specs were inaccurate and far fetched and the employees didn't even know what it was or how to answer questions..

They might as well have used a totally new size case. The only thing 223 about it is the head size. But the cartridge base diameter is larger. Won't be long till a handloader uses 223 brass and 358 bullets in an AR and makes a KABOOM of black shrapnel.

A 450 Bushmaster with a brake has no more recoil and is an accurate and powerful cartridge.

The last portion of your statement is correct. The first portion, not so much.

I despise muzzle breaks.

Near as I could figure the 350 amounted to a legally compliant .30-30 or 35 Remington. I would rather Michigan just made those cartridges legal in the restricted zone, and negating the necessity of the 350, but so it goes.

Similar thoughts for me, would have liked to see caliber and speed, instead of strait wall and case length for the regulations.
I have a .458 SOCOM and a 45-70 that are not legal, and they use real rifle bullets.
I predict poor performance from pistol bullets traveling at rifle velocities just like the .450

Now that some youth/firearms seasons are opening, I’m starting to see real world results on deer. I’ll have my 45-70 with me in OH simply because we have a lot of history together. I’ll also be bringing a .350L Ruger Ranch.

I’m confident my son will bloody it first, but maybe only kids and women can kill with it..............,

My Ruger is accurate as well with both the 150- and 180-gr loads and as you say recoil and report are milk-toast stuff relative to such as the 444 Marlin or the 45-70 or even the 450 Bushmaster.

The cartridge is basically a “357 Magnum Long” and is very pleasant to shoot.

ETA: that said, a nice quality lever gun or semi-auto would increase the cartridges appeal to me. This fall, though, should bring reports on the cartridges deer-worthiness, or not. Hopefully, folks won’t try to stretch the range with it.

I get your point and mostly agree, but IMO the 350 is still a notable step behind the 35 Remingon in ballistics. It really seems closer to a 357 Mag lever action than anything else, which of course was already available but that doesn't generate new sales.

There are a couple wildcat cartridges that actually do duplicate a 35 Remington in something like an AR or other miniature magazine/action, but it takes a bit more powder than the 350 will hold. I've got one based on the 6.8 SPC case, but like the 35 Rem, it has a small bottleneck and doesn't meet the legal requirements for some states.

The only way the 350 can be said to near the 35 Remington ballistically is because it is loaded to much higher pressure — somewhere around 50k psi if IIRC — than the Remington which is around 33k psi due to many older rifles. I could probably beat Usain Bolt in a 100 yard dash if he had to do it in a feed sack.

A 35 Rem build with hand-loads could beat it significantly.