Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters .358 Winchester

We probably should not let this thread go without declaring that the .358 Winchester is fully the equal of, and in many respects a great improvement upon (and here we're talking INHERENT ACCURACY, among other things) the .35 Whelen.

Here they are side by side.

I hear ya.

Not sure Whelen advocates would agree.

To me, the Whelen is a great round, but kicks a good bit more, both loaded full house.

I don't see it killing'em any deader. It may punch a bit farther, neither the best choice for long range, IMO.

DF

I still am having trouble expressing with "tongue in cheek".

We do tend to get focused on what we like, don't take to other opinions lightly...

I don't have a Whelen, so my fav is obviously the .358 Win.

Go figure....

DF

The beauty is that we can all be right.

Sorry DF. I don't own a Model 14 or 141 in 35 Remington. I have 2-14's and 1-141 in 30 Remington. They are all 3 fine operating machines. I would expect the same from the 35 Remington. There are several listed on Gunbroker.

Jim

I like those vintage Remington pumps. I don't have one, have always admired them.

DF

Or like our lady folks, not always right, just never wrong....



DF

Thanks for the pictures. I put this scope on it--https://www.leupold.com/vx-3hd-1-5-5x20-cds-zl-illum-firedot-twilight-hunter. I am shooting 250g Hornady's but would like to try the Hammers. I have tried them at 200g in my other .358, but this is the one time I didn't get improved accuracy with them. Actually worse. I have X-Term and TAC so may have to try the 178. May I ask what your velocity is?

To the OP: 358 win is a great choice. JES might be the easy button in terms of "finding" a rifle.

Vs the 35 Rem...358 Win case holds ten more grains of powder...not to mention the actions are good for 65K instead of 40K. Plus all the 358 rifles are designed to be used with pointy bullets.

Vs the 350 legend...the 358 Win holds more than twice the powder charge. No comparison there.

As for the Whelen:

No the 358 is not its equal. Anymore than a 308 is the equal of the 30-06. Powder charges matter.

The COAL flexibility the Whelen gives with long and/or heavier bullets also matters. I would love to see how anyone gets a long 358 bullet to work at 2.80 COAL.

The Whelen with 225 accubonds is a reliable 400 yard setup from a 20" barrel at sea level...on steel the load I use (which isn't all that hot, starts at 2675fps) is still holding 1/2 moa at 700 yards. Sort of academic as the bullets are going too slow to expand at that distance but there it is.

For eastern hunting I use a 358 way more than a Whelen but no reason to bust on the Whelen. With modern bullets it's a 400 yard rifle, easy. The 358 generally has a 250-300 fps deficit.

I hope that you noted that my post about the .358 and the Whelen was tongue in cheek, taking the .308/.30-06 business up .05.

Just a Hunter.

I never got around to clocking this load, would guess it's running around 2,800 fps or there about, based on existing load data.

DF

On the .308/30-06 comparison, to me with lighter bullets, not a lot of difference. The '06 pulls ahead with heavies.

Haven't studied the .358 Win/Whelen comparison. May be similar, Whelen's advantage with heavies, don't know.

Would like to hear from those who may have studied them side by side.

I know the Whelen is faster, big block, vs. small block. Doesn't mean the small block can't run...

DF

I've owned 356 WINs in Marlin 336s and 358 WINs in BLRs, Remington 700s, Ruger 77s, and Savage 99s.

In a short bolt action, you run out of magazine length with a lot of component bullets, so that is something to take into account. Factory ammo has a limited variety, is often hard to find, and expensive when you do find it. A Marlin 336 in 356 WIN is a lot of power in a small package.

I had a M700 that I never shot and sent it to JES. Now it gets shot a lot! Very accurate gun and very good work.

Is there any short actions that have a long enough magazine box for the longer bullets?

Not to my knowledge.

I've had several .358 Winchesters, and the only one that had enough room for longer bullets was a "long-action" tang-safety Ruger 77 that originally had a POS 7x57 barrel right from the factory. Had it rebarreled to .358 and it worked very well with any bullet up to 250 grains, including the 225-grain Nosler AccuBond.

Did it have any advantage over the .35 Whelen? No, and I've owned several .35 Whelens as well, including an Ackley Improved, which has to be the most useless AI cartridge ever.

With Sierra 225s or Speer 250s seated close to rifling, both bullet bases are near the base of the neck. I get 2.785" & 2.830" respectively. Both fit & feed thru a M70 short action. My rifle doesn't like Accubombs seated to fit the mag. Works just fine for me.

This is a good article. Thanks for bringing it up.