Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters .358 Winchester

I assembled my Savage 110 in 35 Whelen myself with a prefit barrel from Midway. It shoots sub-moa with Federal factory ammo. I see Midway also has it in 358:

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1003581243?pid=343533

I made a great small game load for the 358 carbine that shoots a 124 gr 9mm bullet with 7 grains of fast powder.




30 yard group

Nice and practical. Did you use any filler in the case? I used to load a lot of Bullseye powder loads and cast for mild 44 mag loads when I was a young kid. I'd imagine the 358 being a good candidate for an 250gr cast bullet and a light cast bullet for small critters.

Pretty cheap solution for Savage guys.

Not a Savage fan, but they do shoot.

DF

I thought the barrel contour looked a little heavy but maybe not?

I had an early BLR in 358. I sold it probably too cheap. I liked the cartridge but didn’t like those early BLR magazines. I rebarreled a 700 308 to 358. Totally adequate for any thing a 30-06 is good for and I have a dozen 30-06’s.
I had a nice 700 Classic 35 Whelen and again I sold it likely too cheap. But I still have a 700 chambered in 35 Whelen. This one has the barrel shortened to 20.5” and threaded for a suppressor.
I like 35’s having had several 35 Remington’s, a couple 358’s, a couple 35 Whelen’s, and a couple 350 RM’s. I still have one of each. I’m thinking a 35 Winchester chambered in a 1885 Winchester would be great.
Comparing a 358 and a 35 Whelen as to which one I liked would be like asking me if I like left shoes more than right shoes.
I like long action 700’s more than short action 700’s so I think I’d keep the Whelen if it came down to which one of mine I liked the most. But if all were on Winchester 1885 actions the choice would be “left shoe” or “right shoe”, which one???

If it's like mine, yes, .7" at the muzzle, IIRC. Maybe it was .6". Either way, I had to remove a bit of wood with sandpaper wrapped around a dowel to get it to fit.

I am a 358 win nut. I own 7 different 358 win. It just works.

MAC said "Why not just get a 9.3x62?"

That's a very good question. MY own answer is the guns themselves. The Browning BLR is one that I find attractive especially the pistol grip style and the shorter action suits me better in that rifle. Personal preference.
But I do have a VERY deep respect for the 9.3X62 and although it's not popular in the USA, the 9.3X57 has a lot to offer too. In a bolt gun, I would absolutely choose one of those 2 cartridges over the 358. In fact, I did. I own four 9.3s and love them all. Two 9.3X57s, one 9.3X62 and one 9.3X74R. Having killed game with all of them I can vouch for their usefulness.
The strong suit (in my mine anyway) of thee 358 is that it fits in 308 length magazines. None of the 9.3s above will do that. So I get a very good killer in my AR rifle with excellent accuracy, and I can swap out the uppers from 308 to 358 in seconds. In fact the same thing can be said to make a 6.5 CM, 243< or 7-08 and one that i have done for customers that is proving to be excellent is the 338 Federal.

So to summarize, the 358 is a good powerful round throwing a big heavy bullet that fits into shorter magazines then the 57Mm Mauser case of the 30-06 length shells. If making a bolt action for myself I'd choose the 338-06, 35 Whelen 9.3X57 or 9.3X62 all before I'd make a 358. But for guns that have "NATO length" magazines the 358 is in a class with the 338 Federal that are pretty much on their own.

Steve,

I am down to one .358, the Savage 99 Featherweight I inherited from one of my hunting mentors, which was made in 1956. The thin barrel is a little touchy, but the rifle shoots well enough for anything the .358 will do in the field--and the nice thing about it for timber hunting is it only weighs 7-1/2 pounds with a later El Paso K2.5 Weaver.

Otherwise I'm pretty of the same opinion about the other cartridges you mention. In a long bolt action prefer the 9.3x62, partly because it's also legal in much of Africa for dangerous, and factory ammo is also widely available if by chance you get separated from your handloads.

You don't say where you're hunting, but I'm assuming Midwest somewhere? Obviously that means whitetail. And of course, we all know they're not especially hard to kill.

The 358 is one of my favorite rounds, even though I haven't hunted with one in over 30 years. It's a perfect choice for your intended use. Mine was a special run 18.5" bbl'd Ruger 77. I put on 2.5X Leupold on top. Poison on deer. All I ever loaded was a 200gr Hdy Flatbase. Insanely accurate, and always had a complete pass through on deer with a tremendous blood trail.

Today, I'd find the SA of my choice (for me that would be a Ruger 77, or better yet a Winchester M70) and put on a 21 or 22" barrel that mic's around .625" or a bit more at the muzzle.

The 358 Win is a great round, and eager to please. I can't see going to a larger cartridge like the Whelen or 9.3x62. It's not like you’re hunting grizzlies (though I wouldn't hesitate to use the 358 on such).

Quite literally a blast from the past:

Remember this would be a whitetail deer rifle only for let’s say 250 yards maximum range. My state requires .35 bullet diameter minimum if I choose to use a rifle vs shotgun slugs. Would you guys that promote a 9.3 or 35 Whelen still choose these over a 358 Winchester with my criteria? I look at a 9.3x62 and think my god I’m gonna shoot a deer with that. LOL! I suppose I could load it down some. I am sticking with a bolt action at this time, even though a AR-10 sounds interesting.

Thanks Brad, we were posting at the same time and you answered what I was asking before I asked!

The 9.3x62 works fine on deer-sized game, killing very well but not ruining much meat. The recoil also isn't bad, especially with original-velocity ammo, partly because like many moderate-velocity rounds (including the .375 H&H) it's more of a slow push than a quick jump.

But it doesn't kill deer any better than the .358....

Why not the .356 Winchester in a lightweight lever gun such as a Marlin 336, 1894, or 1895?

Phil

Mully-my Buddy and I get to hunt Iowa about every other year. I have followed the regs as they went from straight wall (used a 450 BM) to the recent changes to 35 and up bottleneck. I used the Whelen last December; my pard the 35 Rem in an older 760. We both shot bucks the same afternoon with no issues. The 358 would have worked just as well.

Nice picture. I’m using a Savage 220 20 ga. now, and really have no reason to change other than I want to.

Thanks M.

Awesome job Leadminer. Great work and memories

Damn nice!!!!!