Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles 358 win 250g speer loads?

I'm working on a do it all load for my blr 358 with 250g speer hot cors. I'm starting with Tac but I'm wondering what else I should try to get whatever speed I can with a 250g. I'm thinking 8208xbr might be worth a try and it's one of my favorite powders. Has anyone used it with a 250? What speed did you get? Anything other than tac and 8208xbr I should try?

Thanks,
Bb

Not sure of answers. But I'm all ears for loads in 358 Winchester. RZ.

H4895, IMR4895.

https://reloadingdata.speer.com/downloads/speer/reloading-pdfs/rifle/358_Winchester_250.pdf

AA2015 is a dandy small stick powder.
F01

What is the longest distance you shot/killed game with 358 Win. The reason I'm asking is that I have been thinking of getting one but I hunt out west where typical shooting range will be few hundred yards on antelope, deer or elk. If Speer 250 gr bullet leaves the barrel at 2200 fps will it expand properly, or due to its size it doesn't matter.

I'm getting just over 2400 fps with W748---22" barreled Mauser Mark X.

Hip

Here are John Barsness' fine loads to peruse. TAC = good with many weights, including 250s.
If 250 Speers (fine bullet) is your goal because you have a bunch of them on hand, then go for it. But if not - consider the Barnes 200 TTSX. At 2700 FPS using John's data that's an easy 400 yard load that also hits hard up close. I've put three through elk inside 100 yards.
Cheers,
Rex

I haven't killed anything with this 358 blr yet. I just picked it up a year or so ago and I'm just starting to work with it.

It was too windy for my chrony tonight and the new scope I put on the 358 was bad. It grouped pretty well, after i took the scope off and used the open sights, with 250s over 47g of tac but I didn't get a velocity. I think my 47g starting load of tac is a bit warm for my rifle too so I'm going to back it off a bit.

I'm hoping to get 2350 fps with the 250s but don't know if I'll get there. If I do I think I'll be good out to about 300 yards. That's asumuming the speer 250 will open down to 1800 fps. I'll be happy if I can get expansion at 300. I knew it wasn't going to be a long range thing when I bought it. I'm going for 1 good all around load with the 250 speer just to have something ready for most anything. After that I'll mostly be playing with cast powder coated and gas checked bullets and be shooting them at even closer ranges. I'd like to take a deer or 2 with my cast bullets from it.

Bb

The 20” barrel makes it a challenge to get the velocity you want with a 250gr bullet. .35 Whelen shooters know that a high B.C. bullet has excellent ballistics even at lower speeds. My go-to powder for the 250 grain Speer bullet in the .358 Win is W748. Working between 43 and 46.4 grains fired with LR magnum primers, 44.7 grains put five rounds into less than one square inch at 100 yards..out of a 20” barrel. If I can’t have both, I’ll take accuracy over velocity any day.

Back 25-30 years ago when I hunted elk every year, I loaded the 250 Speer with BLc 2 for a velocity of 2353 fps out of my M.70. Worked most excellent on the only bull I killed with it. No bullet recovered and it may still be going for all I know.

I settled on3031 under 250 gr. Hotcors in my old steel frame BLR. Got to 2250 fps and never had an issue. Wish I hadn't sold it. I also never shot anything further than 250 yards and I always got expansion. I started with WW748 but didn't like the amount of powder compression I was seeing.