.358 win?

[Windigo]

Anybody got any real world experience with the .358 win? Got a .308 I use as a brush gun, but rebarreling to .358 seems like fun

 

[DAJtheHunter]

Yeah I have killed two whitetail bucks and a handful of does and coyotes with my JES 3 groove rebore. I have taken it elk hunting but never saw any legal bulls with it in my hands and didn’t have a cow tag that year. Let me know if you have any questions about rebore, cast bullet or jacketed bullet loads.

 

[DAJtheHunter]

Here’s what a 210 grain lead bullet looks like after hitting water jug and two Indiana bucks that fell victim to the 358 win.

 

[marshland_max]

I have gotten Mule deer and Whitetails with mine. Its a custom build off a Rem 700. I run Barnes 200 gr TTSX out of mine. What do you want to know? I love the rifle and everything I shoot it at dies instantly. Its light and hits very hard. Really a nice rig if you plan on keeping under say 300/400 yards

 

[SDHNTR]

I’ve got one too and love the caliber. I’d feel comfortable hunting just about anything with it.

 

[TauPhi111]

I got a lot of experience with 358 Win as well. I have a rebarreled Savage with an 18" Shilen barrel. It is a great brush gun that I use for bear, but I am currently working on lightening it up and taking it out for mule deer and elk. I handload 225 grain TSX for bear and am working up a load with 200 gr TTSX for elk and deer. It is a great round. My 200 grain load will have more energy at the muzzle out of an 18" barrel than a 200 grain 30-06 out of a 24 inch barrel. You can hunt anything in North America with it.

 

[Windigo]

I got a lot of experience with 358 Win as well. I have a rebarreled Savage with an 18" Shilen barrel. It is a great brush gun that I use for bear, but I am currently working on lightening it up and taking it out for mule deer and elk. I handload 225 grain TSX for bear and am working up a load with 200 gr TTSX for elk and deer. It is a great round. My 200 grain load will have more energy at the muzzle out of an 18" barrel than a 200 grain 30-06 out of a 24 inch barrel. You can hunt anything in North America with it.

That’s about identical to the build/purpose I had in mind. What do you figure your velocities look like, and how do those TTSX’s expand at “long” range? Can’t imagine they’re moving too fast when they hit; that’s been what’s keeping me from trying them in .308

 

[SDHNTR]

My load is 180 ttsx and it’s going about 2550. Not super hot but accurate. The Ttsx expands just fine. I’ve yet to recover one. I get caliber size entrance holes and 3/4” exit holes, or bigger. I much prefer the ttsx over the TSX for better expansion. Mine is an Alamo Precision custom build with a 20” barrel on a McWalnut Edge. Super handy brush gun, with a bit of reach if really needed.

 

[Yooper]

I've got a Browning BLR in .358 with iron sights that I hunt whitetails with in thick cover. Yet to kill anything with it, but it's been a fun gun to carry around in the conditions I'm hunting in.

 

[TauPhi111]

That’s about identical to the build/purpose I had in mind. What do you figure your velocities look like, and how do those TTSX’s expand at “long” range? Can’t imagine they’re moving too fast when they hit; that’s been what’s keeping me from trying them in .308

I havent finished load development yet but I think I'll get just under 2600 FPS with the 200 TTSX and 52 grains of TAC in my 18" barrel. There is another member on here that I got load data from to work up a load for my rifle. That should get me out to 400 yards pretty easily at Rocky Mountain altitudes with plenty of velocity for expansion on elk and deer. Haven't killed anything with that bullet or at range with it, but I plan on taking it for mule deer next year in Utah. It should flatten any buck I decide to shoot.

 

[robtattoo]

I've killed a couple of whitetail with mine. JES rebored Remington 700
I'm loading 200gn Speer over 49gn of TAC, for a velocity of 2540. Dead nuts accurate out to 300, but drops like a rock between 3 & 5 (I don't have a 400yd berm) nut that I built it for longer shots.
The bullets, out of an example of 2, have performed as expected.



The real fun starts with 140gn .357 pistol bullets & tiny amounts of fast pistol powder 1900fps, recoil like a .22 mag & absolute hell on close range hogs!

 

[tdot]

I looked at doing this during the summer. But then I found out about the 375 Raptor. I think I'll be going that route with my 308 Rebarrel

 

[Shraggs]

Even 35 Remington hits like Thor for deer. As posted above hand loads above 2550 in 20” barrel very doable and with a partion’s BC very respectable range.

I think the BLR in this caliber is a pretty amazing package, 6.5 lbs and fast follow up, should you miss

 

[SDHNTR]

I havent finished load development yet but I think I'll get just under 2600 FPS with the 200 TTSX and 52 grains of TAC in my 18" barrel. There is another member on here that I got load data from to work up a load for my rifle. That should get me out to 400 yards pretty easily at Rocky Mountain altitudes with plenty of velocity for expansion on elk and deer. Haven't killed anything with that bullet or at range with it, but I plan on taking it for mule deer next year in Utah. It should flatten any buck I decide to shoot.

Work up to that slowly. That’s gonna be a hot round. The TTSX bullets act like a lot heavier/longer than they are. You certainly can’t use traditional load data for a 200 gr bullet.

 

[TauPhi111]

Work up to that slowly. That’s gonna be a hot round. The TTSX bullets act like a lot heavier/longer than they are. You certainly can’t use traditional load data for a 200 gr bullet.

Oh it definitely is. I have worked up slowly to 51.5 grains and am just under 2550 with no bad pressure signs, but it is definitely hot. I'm going to try getting it up to 52 and see where I am at with velocity and if I'm not making much more I'll likely just leave it at 51.5. I have a lot of experience loading Barnes bullets in multiple cartridges. No one really talks about using TAC for the 358 but I learned about it on here and it seems to work really well without excessive pressure.

 

[SDHNTR]

Sounds like you are on top of it. I load 50 gr of TAC. I saw pressure at 51 gr and the 180 ttsx but that’s out of a custom gun with a tight chamber and minimal freebore. Accuracy was best in between 49.5 and 50gr.

I also loaded H4895 with fabulous accuracy but I had a hard time getting decent speed without a pretty compressed load. I wanted some speed given the copper bullet.

 

[TauPhi111]

Sounds like you are on top of it. I load 50 gr of TAC. I saw pressure at 51 gr and the 180 ttsx but that’s out of a custom gun with a tight chamber and minimal freebore. Accuracy was best in between 49.5 and 50gr.

I also loaded H4895 with fabulous accuracy but I had a hard time getting decent speed without a pretty compressed load. I wanted some speed given the copper bullet.

Yeah every gun is different. Mine is a Stevens 200 short action with an 18" Shilen prefit barrel. It was the first semi-custom hunting rifle I built, so I really didn't know much about chambers or freebores enough to specify anything other than their standard reamer. It has turned out to be a great barrel. Even with the crappy Bushnell Banner 1-4 I keep on there for bear drives, i can print sub MOA groups at 100 with it and the Barnes bullets. It seems to be one of those "fast" barrels, because even at 18", I'm never that far off from Barnes' load data with 24" test barrels and I follow their data and don't go over.

Anyway fellow rokslider marshland_max turned me on to TAC and sent me his 358 load data to develop my own. He is topping out at 52 and he says it is hot for sure, but is not getting dangerous pressures.

 

[Shraggs]

its been a while, but john baroness did a great article 5 maybe 8 years ago on using tac in an assortment of 35 calibers. certainly elevates these mid bores in mid length barrels. great guy, spent some time with me talking about my 358 and 350 rm. in my 350 I'm at 57 grains, with 225 partions and at 2670, but haven't been able to finish. my first choice with be the portion in the 358 followed by one of the barnes should i not get what i hope for

 

[journeyman713]

The 358 win is a great caliber! It was my primary go-to for whitetails for 30 years.
Quite dependable in accuracy and put down power! I've easily taken over 50 whitetail with that gun, sometimes in some pretty thick cover, the bullet just gets there. Can't recall losing a single deer hit by that gun.

 

[Sawfish]

The .35 calibers are all superior deer killers in either rifle or handgun. Killed a bear with my .358 BLR, and a group of deer. Accurate 2015 is a great powder in the .35 Calibers.