Another rifle loony joins the .358 Win club.

[tjRoberts]

I picked up an unusual rifle yesterday,
It is aperently an uncataloged version of the savage 99 , in .358 winchester.
It is in good to very good condition, and has a Williams fool proof reciever sight mounted.
I had to Order a part for the sight I can shoot it as is ,But I can't screw an apature into the threaded hole as some genious put what looks like a rivit in there and drilled a whole through the rivit to reduce the size of the hole.
I Found brass and dies at hutingtons and plan to order them tommorow.
I allways liked the idea of tha .358 win but don't like it in a bolt, and prefer the savage to the Browing lever.
Of course I love my Winchester 88 in .308 but to find one in .358 would be almost as hard as paying for it.
I have a Ton of 748 and lots of .358 caliber bullets, as I allredy shoot a Whelen.
I will probably start with some 180 grain speer flat points , that have been in my gun room for some 25 years since i sold a contender I had in .357 maximum.
Oic is next.
...tj3006

 

[tjRoberts]

[/img]

 

[JD338]

tjRoberts

Very nice, congratulations. There is magic in those 35 calibers. :wink:

JD338

 

[bullet]

That is so cool, I had a Savage like that in a take down in 300 Savage and years ago sold the thing and that was one of my biggest mistakes I ever made. My brother has a 358 just like yours. I know you will have some fun. JD338 is right about it when he said, "there is magic in those 35 calibers."

Interesting is the fact that I have already named my 358Win Ruger Hawkeye, "Mr. Magic" because of how the 35 calibers were such killers in Africa and most of those old 35's had the same velocity of the 35 Whelen and some had the velocity of the 358Win in Taylor's book "The African Rifle."

 

[DrMike]

Congratulations. I have no doubt that the 180s will work well for you. The great thing about the 358 is that the 225s are just about ideal, and they work on all sorts of game. Great looking rifle. No doubt it will be a fun one.

 

[FOTIS]

Lucky man. That is a rare one!

 

[tjRoberts]

I orderd brass and dies this morning from huntingtons. So by some time next week , I should be able to shoot the thing.
Gonna order some Weaver basses in the next day or two.
I have a set of QD leupold rings and the williams peep that came on the rifle will hold zero when removed.
I hapen to have a decent old Bushnell scope that will work just fine on the rifle, but I just might suprise myself and be able to shoot it prety well with the peep.
The cartridge is in my mind about a 250 yard propsition for most game anyway so it need not be a tack driver. A decnt 2 inch 100 yard group will sufice.
I will reserch the ,225 grain bullets, But I sort of like velocity up around 2600, and with a 200 grain Hornady i should be able to get there or quite close.
I am prety pumped !
...tj3006

 

[DrMike]

Don't overlook the 200 grain TSX if you are looking at 200 grain bullets. The data in the Barnes Manual is certainly interesting. I'm certain it will be a good shoot for you. I envy the ability to use a peep sight, as my eyes passed that stage many moons back.

 

[buckfever]

Man all this talk about 358 makes me want one and some of the places I hunt it would be very handy if I only had the money maybe next year :grin: .

 

[Savage99]

tjRoberts,

I have used the 358 Winchester as my primary woods rifle since I got a 99F in 1966. I got a second one about ten years ago.

I used to load the 200 gr Silvertip with excellent results on deer when it was sold as a component. About 20 years or so I switched to the 180 Speer with also excellent results.

What model 99 did you get?

 

[tjRoberts]

Well 99,
The barrel is marked 99series A.
I have been told by some collectors over on the 24 HR campfire that it is a somwhat rare version called a saddle gun.
I have a few do dads on order for it. Brass & dies from huntington's , a pair of scope basses from weaver, just cause i might want them later and they don't cost much, and a part for the excelent willams fool proof sight some fool buggerd up.
But it should be a fairly easy fix, and I hope I can shoot it well enough with the peep that the bases stay in the envelope they come in.
That speer 180 grain bullets seems like a very good choice for general purpose.
I used it years ago in my contender .357 max and split some very dry fire wood with it once.
There are lots of good bullets, thats for sure. If I were to take it after say black bear over bait, the bigger 220 grain version of the 180 grain speer might be just the ticket.
I will post shotting results asap.
...tj3006

 

[257 Ackley]

tj -
Nice rifle, I haven't seen one in a Savage since I was a kid. My BLR does everything you could want out to 250 yards with a Leo 1.5X5 20mm scope (got the old man eyes too) :lol: . It loves the old 200 grain silvertips that I have afew of yet! Can't wait to hear how it shoots!

 

[Alaska]

http://35cal.com/loading.html#blr

Good reading

 

[tjRoberts]

Alaska,
thanks for the link,
I already have that site book marked. I wonder why the loads for the 200 grain hornady are so whimpy ?
I have a whole box of the darn them sitting here.
I hope to get 2500 to 2600 out of them.
If I want to shoot 225 and 250 grain bullets i will likly use my 35 whelen.
A 1.5X5 leupold is an excelent scope, but I missed a shot at an Bull elk a few years back with my 1X4 VX2 cause of poor light gathering.
If I choose to scope it ,I may well go with a fixed 4 power, FX2 or somhting similar.
I have 2 of the VX2 2X7s and another would be a good choice. for the .358. can't see myself swinging for a 1.75X6 but you never know.
...tj3006

 

[Alaska]

I have a Leupold 3x on my BLR 358.....not carried it much up here in Alaska.......like my 338 Win to much.

But back home in NC......years ago......have a nice 10 point on the wall that I shot thru the back hips with it......only shot I had at 20 yards.....I was eating Deer susage with crackers looked up and saw a rump of deer....leaned over and seen the rack......it was raining....only shot I had was the rear quarters.....dead center. Shot him and he ran off the ridge dragging his rear quarters.......he went maybe 100 yards.....fishished him off with my buck folding knife.

Also shot a few Mule deer in CO.......I had a box of Norma 200gr SP that were excellent......just a few left now.

With the game I have shot......very impressed. You can make 358 Win brass out of 308 Win also......Enjoy

 

[JD338]

Man all this talk about 358 makes me want one and some of the places I hunt it would be very handy if I only had the money maybe next year :grin: .

The 35 calibers are passed over and ignored by a lot of hunters. For reasons unknown, the 35's never really caught on. But let me tell ya something. The 35 cal is a killer, and a very good one at that. The 358 Win, 350 RM, 35 Whelen class will consistently give you bang flop kills and nice exit wounds with out a lot of blood shot meat. For these reasons, I think that they are ........ magic. :wink:

Get yourself a 358 Win or 35 Whelen and you will see what all the buzz is about. :grin:

JD338

 

[DrMike]

+1

 

[Jeff Olsen]

The 200-gn Hornady SP is a wonderful deer bullet in the .358.

I have a load that pushed them to 2640 fps from a 20" tube, using RL7. It's a few grains over any max I've ever seen published, and WAY over Nosler's published max... and yet it gives round primers and long brass life.

Worth a look... the limiting factor- for ME- when trying to get a .358 to perk has always been case capacity. WIth RL7, you won't have that issue to deal with at least.

Congrats on a nice rifle!!!!!!

 

[Jeff Olsen]

I've posted this over on the 24-hr site enough times that I shouldn't post it anymore.... grin... but here's the exit on a little blacktail I whacked with my .358 and the above load. Yipes.

 

[tjRoberts]

"Get yourself a 358 Win or 35 Whelen and you will see what all the buzz is about. "
I now have one of each.
jeff, What kind of rifle are you shooting, ?
I am not likly to push this savage beyond book loads.
I often do with bolt guns, But this is not a bolt gun. If I can get close 2600 That will be dandy.
thats is an impressive exit would. I wish I had a picture of the Exit on a small Mule deer buck i shot about 2 years back. I shot him with a Roberts and a 100 grain Tripple shock at 100 yards Muzzle velocity was 3125. You could about put you fist in it. But that is good perfromance.
One thing i like about the slower cartridges is that you don't need to use expensive bullets. Just hit them well.
In my High steppers like my STW and my .257 Weatherby mag , I use Noselr and barnes prety much exclusivly.
...tj3006