358 BLR loads and bullets ?

[FOTIS]

I am working up loads in my BLR. What are your suggestions? I would LOVE to have one load do all (deer/elk bear) etc but not a must. Thanx

Please list all details---velocity accuracy etc....... Thanx

 

[JD338]

Pop,

The 225 gr AB will be perfect but it won't be available until Spring '07.
Try some 225 gr BT's, I have a box of them if you want them.

JD338

 

[honkeetonkin]

49 gr. of IMR 4895 with 225 gr. BTs and partitions out of a 15 inch encore barrel. Never cronograghed them but groups about an inch and a quarter if memery serves me right at one hundred yds. Also I just bought four boxes of factory winchester ammo from natchezss.com loaded with 200gr silver tips if your interested, but have had no time to try them yet, good luck

 

[FOTIS]

That is what I was thinking about. Using the 225 Ab's when they become available but I might have to stick with the partitions due to the short cartridge syndrom that also plagues the 350 R mag. Too long a bullet for the shorts. We will see :wink:

 

[Alaska]

I have a BLR that really likes the Sierra 225 Gamekings with IMR 4320.

 

[RickLowe]

I am working up loads in my BLR. What are your suggestions? I would LOVE to have one load do all (deer/elk bear) etc but not a must. Thanx

Please list all details---velocity accuracy etc....... Thanx

One load for everything? That's a job description for the .358 caliber chamberings...

My .358 BLR drives Barnes 180 gr. X bullets at a chronied average of 2930 fps, using 45.0 gr. of H4198. So much for being a "short range bush gun".
Groups are just over an inch @ 100 yards; Scope is a 2x7 Leupold set up by Precision Reticles to be parallax free @ 300 yards, so some of the group size will be due to the crosshairs swimming around a bit at 100 yards. Has a custom barrel on it, throated and lapped for cast bullet use (couldn't find a .358 at the time so bought a new .308 Win and converted it before firing a shot).

It is actually the wife's rifle, she uses it for moose, elk, and deer during hunting season, and for gophers in the summer with commercial swaged pistol bullets or bulk factory blemished jacketed bullets and a few grains of Red Dot.

The 180 grainer seems to be all you need for elk and moose, and certainly, nobody ever accused the 180 grain bullet at slower velocities out of a 30/06 of being anemic for elk and moose. The .358 does the same thing with a lot less powder and recoil - nice to have expansion ratio working for you.

The fly in the ointment is that Barnes no longer makes this bullet. I think Remington still makes a 180 grain .358 rifle bullet, but have never tried them before. Barnes does make on of their new Triple Shocks in 200 grains; it will move a bit slower I imagine, but should still fly flat enough to be quite capable out to at least 300 yards. That's the one I'll be looking at if I ever go through the three boxes of 180 grainers I've got hoarded away. I'll take a WAG and say the 200 grain triple shock should probably be able to make about 2700 fps or a little better, staying within Barnes recommended loads and using good common sense.

One can play with ballistic programs while stroking one's beard and going "hmmmmm...", but I think the 180/200 grain offerings are more than enough for all the ungulates in North America. Most people do seem to prefer the 225 and 250 grainers, but I have no idea what shortcomings they have encountered with the 180 and 200 grainers that have caused them to do that. They seem to do all one could expect for us.

I do fill the magazine with 250 grainers ahead of a really stiff load when we start tromping the trails through the alders while calling for elk and moose. Accuracy isn't anything to write home about, but if a grumbly bear shows up in the alder jungles instead of an elk or moose, minute of angle accuracy isn't going to be what's required. As the bears seem to be getting a lot "friendlier" around here of late, this strikes me as a reasonable precaution - two hunters were killed by a grumbly bear only a few kilometers from here just a few years ago.

Anyways, works for us; here's some of the loads that we use in that rifle:
http://www.lowe.ca/Rick/Firearms/Images/358WinLoads.jpg

 

[JD338]

RickLowe,

Nice write up on your wife's 358 Win. Sounds like you have done your homework. What part of the country are you hunting? Good luck this hunting season.

JD338

 

[RickLowe]

RickLowe,

Nice write up on your wife's 358 Win. Sounds like you have done your homework. What part of the country are you hunting? Good luck this hunting season.

Well, I came to the conclusion about 30 years ago that if you live where you hunt mostly big game (as opposed to deer sized critters), the .35's seem to be about the only way to go if you want to hunt AND do a lot of shooting with the same rifles as well. The .35's won't do anything a .338 can't do as well, but the big advantage they do have is being the same size as the common pistol bullets. I don't know how many pistol bullets are shot out of assorted .35 caliber rifles each year in this house at gophers, tin cans, rocks, etc, but it is quite a few. Most of those loads are doing less than 1000 fps, so it is a good way to "heavy up" for gophers with really quiet loads at about .22 rimfire ballistics.

There is also a huge assortment of high quality .358 moulds as well out there that will make a cast bullet in a .358 the equal of any jacketed bullet in the same gun if the range is within 200 yards. I do enjoy high end cast bullets in my rifles, but I am too lazy/time stingy to spend time casting "shooters" when plinking bullets for .358's are so cheaply purchased in bulk if you know what you want and keep your eyes open.

I guess the other thing is the ability of the .358's to emulate just about anything else out there. My wife started shooting and hunting with my .358 Norma Magnum using a 158 - 170 gr (can't remember which bullet exactly) pistol bullet designed for handgun hunting loaded to about 2000 fps - basically the same as a 30-30 with even less recoil. The 180 grain bullets can/could be about the same as that same bullet weight in anything from a 30/06 to a 300 Wby Magnum. And in the bigger .35's, the 225 and 250 grainers - and heavier - will give you all the thump you need for anything in North America at any reasonable distance.

We live in the East Kootenays, in the very southeast corner of British Columbia, about three hours north of Kalispel Montana if that helps. This part of the Rockies was once called the Serengeti of North America, although forest ingrowth and human impact has changed that somewhat. However, I can still hunt sheep, goats, elk, moose, muleys and whitetails, blackbears and grizzly, wolves, cougar, etc within an hour's drive of the house - or less. About the only thing we don't have is caribou and antelope. We used to have Mountain Caribou as a huntable species, but over the last 35 years their numbers have been drastically reduced by human activity and I expect to see them extirpated in this area within the next 20 years, sadly.

Anyways, speaking of hunting, we're heading up the Elk Valley for a week of flyfishing and elk hunting soon, so I should get busy with taking care of the chores that need doing beforehand to get ready.

Cheers

 

[JD338]

Yes, the 35's are really under rated. I have had my 700 Classic 35 Whelen since '88. I figured that the 35 Whelen lags about 100 yds behind the 338 Win Mag and is easily a 300 yd elk/moose rifle.
I really like my 338 RUM but I would never sell my 35 Whelen.

Good luck this season.

JD338

 

[WPH]

I just joined the 35 club by purchasing a 350 remmag. Down the road I would like to buy a 358 win.