Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Is Paco on safe .358 Winchester ground here?

Now that article is a good read! Thanks for sharing it with us. Love that author's guts. Don't know if I've ever read his stuff before.
He says he converted a 358Win to a 35Whelen. I trhought we just had a good discussion on here about the impossibilities of such. Seems the 308 family of cases is fatter at the shoulder than the '06 family of cases is at the same height. Appears to me now that you'd need to go directly to the "improved" creature if you decided to move up. Anyone with experience on this?
Still, it's a great article.

The Woodleigh is a flat base.

http://www.woodleighbullets.com.au/default.html

John, I never loaded up the North Forks that you gave me. I see that you mentioned that they may be out of business? Regardless, PM me your address again, and I will send them to you. You gave me some .308's and .358's.

I'll send you the contact info but why not bring you and yours up for a road trip when you are ready for a "beat the heat" weekend? I'd like a chance to play with some of your rifles

Dude, I would love to, BUT it is soooo hard getting away these days with 2 kids that are both in year-round school. Going to Sea World last month took more planning than sending a rocket to the moon. I will keep it in mind though, because we rarely head West.

Tag for later reference. Lot's of good info here.

Here's you some more good info:

W-W brass
200 gr TSX
52 gr H-322
CCI-250 primer
c.o.a.l. 2.695"
velocity 2700 fps

Half inch load when I do my part, from a 22" barreled Ruger Hawkeye stainless synthetic.

Here are some loads I came up with when trying some newer powders in the .358 for an article a few years ago. These were also in a Ruger Hawkeye stainless/synthetic, with Winchester brass:

200 Hornady Norma 201/52.0 2753 .78
200 TSX TAC/52.0 2749 1.15
225 Sierra TAC/49.0 2552 1.47
250 Hornady RN TAC/48.0 2404 .95
250 Nosler Part. TAC/48.0 2423 1.44

That's kicking some serious butt MD, I noticed this thread was from '08 and had figured you to do more load work with some of the newer powders.

Wish like hell I could get the Ramshot powders here.

My .356 has been dormant for a couple years now, maybe its time to bring it back out. Is Speer still making their 180 and 220gr flat points?

Gunner,

It's even scarce in Montana, though the Ramshot people say they are getting some TAC to ship out. It's the most popular of the Ramshot powders, so once the demand is somewhat satsified the factory will switch to the others.

Don't know about the Speers XX, is the lever 356 rated for the same pressures as the loads discussed here?

10-4 John, hope the factory gets caught up and some of the powders become available here.

I don't think I'd want to try any "hot" .358 loads in my 94, although a factory .358 I believe should technically be fine. I found my particular rifle always chrono'd faster than it should, 180 Speers clocked well over 2700fps with H4198. It seemed fine but made me a bit nervous so I backed it down a bit.

I love my 35's. I've too had problems with Speer's not opening up, but in other calibers than the 35. I have not tried the Speers on game with the 35's. They are very accurate though. In my 350 RM the 250 grain Hornady, the 250 grain Speer can group .5 MOA and the 250 grain Nosler's can group 1 MOA or less at 100 yards. I would have been happy with 2 MOA.
The 358 Win in the old steel Belgium BLR is more picky. What a sweet rifle for woods hunting though. I'm still working up / testing different loads for accuracy. It's scope was a POS. I just took off the junky old scope (SImmons 4x) and added a 2x7 Leupold -- I think that may help a lot. My brother's 35 Whelen was also a very accurate rifle. He used it on deer and elk with great success.

I bought a doner rifle that will get either a barrel chambered in 35-375 Ruger or a 35-338 WM. I'm not sure why since the others have been fantastic hunting rifles. Maybe I'll get to use it on one of my bucket list hunts. Retirement is around the corner...

10-4 XX, you know if a man wanted to build a most any game load in that 356 he could order some 225 gr Woodleigh round nosed soft point bullets from Midway, give em a good hard crimping at the proper col with a Lyman factory crimp die and you're all set.

IIRC that bullet expands well down to 1800 fps, started at an easy 2400 fps would take your 356 out past 250 long yards and hammer the HELL outta any critter up close, just a thought.

I read your end question and reply, what is your definition of 'thumper'?

The .358 Win is perfectly capable for use against all game in North America when loaded to SAAMI specs. It is an excellent case for use with cast bullets. The only issue with cast is what velocity you can achieve with proper alloy and fit. Harder alloys will shoot fine, their terminal performance may not be what you're looking for.

Most production guns for the cartridge have slow twist rates which can be iffy for longer bullets. I owned one some years ago that stabilized 250 grain Hornady IL bullets (16" twist) with grace and fine accuracy, but I've also seen the same twist fail to do so. 300 grain bullets of lead may stabilize, or not. 300 grain jacketed bullets of that weight almost certainly will not.

So, if you think the cartridge a little light in the shorts, don't bother with it. SAAMI standards for the cartridge do not leave a lot of room for improvement in velocity for any given bullet weight. If you think 2200-2300 fps and 250 grains is a sissy load, get in touch with your local Weatherby dealer and run with it.

Stock standard issue, it is a great cartridge and in the hands of a capable shooter stands tall.

But it sure is a nice option to run a 250 grain nosler at 2400+ with 48 grains of TAC.

well i have a question relating to a remington 660 which have short magazines. Translated i understand you have to seat the 250's quite a ways down to make them cycle properly. Anybody every do this?

ldid see a deer get hammered in october with a browning lever in 358. I think 225 grain bullet he said around 2300fps.
It sure did a number on the other side of the deer.

I am getting the same results with my Marlin .356. Loads are about 100fps faster than what the book says it should be.