Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire 358 Win

Your point is well taken. My interest in the 358 would be cast bullets. I like shooting bullets I have cast myself. I don’t consider cast bullets appropriate for the 243 or 308 due to velocity. The 358 would shoot heavier cast bullets at slower velocities.

One shot kills both with a 358 last fall

I've always wanted one, and I had a Savage 99A brush gun for awhile. I'm just not a lever action guy, and I sold the 99 on here to build my SS M70 .338-06. I have a 24" Shaw Savage magnum contour barrel chambered in .358 Win in the closet, I may use one day. I just know I probably won't hunt with the rifle as it would be way heavier than I like to carry. I don't like to carry rifles that over 8.5 lbs, and the parts I have would put me closer to 10 with optics.

I've often thought of having WTO build a switch lug rifle in .358 Win, 6mm Creedmoor, and maybe toss in a .308 Win barrel for good measure. I'm kind of to the point where I don't want to add a lot more rifles to my collection. However, there are still things I want to try.

I'm surprised there wasn't a resurgance of the cartridge when MS went to break action rifles, with exposed hammers, and .35 cal or larger for primitive season. I have never read the regs, so maybe it requires a longer cartridge and why the .35 Whelen got the nod. I just can't imagine the .358 Win not working just as well as the Whelen in a break action rifle.

I like the mid-bores for woods hunting for still hunting and doing drives. Often under those conditions I can't guarantee a double lung shot. I find the .35 caliber kills well at moderate velocity while not screwing up too much meat. I put this together last year just for our annual late season doe drives, but it works on pigs too:





Rem 7600 in .243Win that I had bored out to .358Win and the barrel shortened to 19"

I came to the 358 Win late, had two but now just one. The reason I’ve one at all is because of Iowa’s eminently logical deer rifle regulations.

Previously, I had 350 Rem mag’s, a 35 Whelen, and a 35 Whelen Improved. “Improved” if you can count star dust and moon beams. Had a yearning a bit for the Norma but already had a 340 Wby.

I liked the 35’s including the 358. Hope to take an Iowa deer with it yet. Also may be doing a NE Sandhills hunt this fall and will probably take three rifles — a 284 Win, a 243 Win (backup and for calling coyotes if I fill my deer tag early) and the 358.

If I happen to be sitting in a shelter belt during that whitetail rut hunt, I may just choose the 358.

I believe it was in the NAHC series of books probably in the ‘80’s that there was one with different essays by different gun writers on different cartridges. I remember the 358 being written up by Clay Harvey whose shenanigans later came to light here I believe.

Anyway, the 358 Win always intrigued me a little and Clay Harvey mildly amused me with his pontifical style and his use of the word “ambient”.

Great caliber...

Wanted the caliber for a while just haven't found the right rifle yet.

Went and shot mine this morning with RCBS 200gr GC powder coated, 1.67g (17.1 gr) AA5744.


I'm rusty so the best were about 2" 3 shot 100yd groups after too much coffee and a walk through the blowdowns to the range.

Time to cast some more of these for the 358, 357max, and 35 Remington. I thik I will try them soft this time instead of adding hard shot for theAs and quenching after baking powder coat.

You go turkey hunting this morning?

I have seen nothing .400 or Buckhammer in my neighborhood. I think I would prefer the Buckhammer but the .400 only takes a barrel change to convert your AR. There are tons of .350's in my area now. It's going to be tough dislodging them to go to the Buckhammer or the .400.

kwg

My favorite Marlin. Now that I got new glasses I will go see if I can see the sights again next.

enjoy hunting with the .356 & .358 Winchesters.

I like the 200 grain RCBS bullet in the Winchester's. Its fits like it was designed for the the Big Bore Model 94.

As to why the .358 Win Hester cartridge failed in the market place my Father and three Hunting Uncles all thought it was because the rifles were stocked poorly and recoil was noticable.

I was always told to Hunt Close. As a young man everyone I knew hunted as close as they could - this was New Mexico in th 1960's. My Father often said that modern hunters had trouble seeing game in the brush and shadows of the forest.


Many good gun writers stumped for the .358 Winchester including Francis Sell, Ken and Edmund Waters, R. Chatworth-Taylor and Rick Jamison. Jack O'Connor wrote good words on page 156 of The Hunting Rifle. 

All my life I have read and listened to a lot of talk about shooting at long range. We are able to set up for long shots but they dont give the same thrill of getting in close.

O'Connor wrote about long shots  on page 261 of The Hunting Rifle.

I don't care one way or the other how far you shoot. The desire for shots over 200 yards certainly had a bit to do with the lack of popularity.


Austrailian gunwriter Nick Harvey died recently. Nick had a gift for communicating.  I enjoyed reading his articles.

Here is a pretty fair Nick Harvey quote:

I started my .358 journey with a BLR but gladly dumped it in favor of a Savage 99. The 99 has taken many deer with both factory WW Silvertips and my handloads. I never felt the need for 250 grain bullets for whitetails, I've only had one 200 grain fail to exit. A couple years ago I turned a rusty M70 .243 into a "proper" deer rifle with the help of JES. I've only hunted it once and put a 200 grain Hornady through an 8pt ghosting through the tamaracks.

I enjoyed all the posts. Mine is a Ruger M77 Carbine. I have yet to take a deer with it. I got 68 pieces of fired brass Friday at my local shop for it. Last week I got some 35 Rem fired brass from the same shop. The 358 win is an awesome cartridge!!!

Never saw a need for one, until I shot one that had been owned by Ken Howell down at the New Mexico/ Arizona Campfire gatherings. Wish I'd know about one of those say 40 years ago.

I like a 30/30, and its a big step up from a 30/30 without much recoil. I thought the one that had belonged to Ken Howell, recoiled like a 243.

If I was a younger guy, I'd have one in a model 70 Featherweight... even if I had to rebarrel the rifle to have a 358.

That sure is one useful little round.

I always thought I’d have JES rebore a SA 700 into 338 Fed. The more I read about the 358 , I’m leaning that way now.

I always wondered why the 358 was a short range cartridge but the 308 was a sniper's cartridge ? ¿ ?

Where would someone get a hat like that?

i didn't have anything that shot .357-.358" calibers, now i do. JES Reboring did a wonderful job on my Winchester m94 in 35/30-30. it shoots 200gr RCBS FN GC with 2400/tuft Dacron that goes 1726fps, it's great for close cover deer.

then i bought a 10" Contender barrel in 357 Herrett. it is still sitting there in my safe, i have to blood the 30 Herrett (10" barrel) a couple of times, before the 357 Herrett comes out.

I have a JES .35 bore rifle, and you can use any .357 handgun bullet as well as .35 rifle bullets if you roll your own. You just have to slow down the handgun bullets.