Browning BLR 358 Win loads

[Blkram]

I have had great history and fun with my 358 in the BLR! Accurate, for a levergun, light and handy, and powerful enough for that marauding grizzly bear, should it ever be encountered!

It is a great camp/truck/backup rifle, and with spare magazines, is ready for action and capable of using whichever spitzer that the rifle shoots well.

Liking my Model 88 rebarrelled to the 338 Federal, and time will tell if I find it as accurate and fun to shoot and use as the BLR. It is not as light as the BLR, as it has a heavy barrel on it. Potential accuracy with the Williams peep sight may be better when utilizing the open sights.

 

[gerry]

Going to update this thread again since I have been able to do some shooting last Saturday and again today.

I went out April 7 on an absolutely beautiful day and sighted in the Browning BLR 358 Win (and also my Sako 85 270 Win which shot it's favourite 150 gr Ballistic Tip load well again)


April 7 2018 target practice

April 7 2018 target practice 2

April 7 2018 target practice 3

Went out again this afternoon to a clear cut near the spot in the above pictures, didn't take any photos there since it was pretty muddy, at least I could drive right up to where I could shoot this time unlike last Saturday. They had plowed the road into there this last winter and harvested some wood.

Other than one fairly decent load with the 200 gr AccuBond it seems this gun may not like boat tail bullets. There was nothing really good so far with the 225 gr Sierra BT but I plan on trying them again with H 4895 just because.

The flat base RN 200 gr Hornady with 46 gr IMR 3031 produced a 1.09" group at 104 yards and the 225 gr Woodleigh also a flat base RN produced a group of 0.790" with 47 gr IMR 8208. I did chronograph the loads but I don't trust the results from my Chrony since my proven 35 Whelen load clocked about 90 fps slower today than it usually does. One day I need to get a Magnetospeed or even a LabRadar, the Chrony is frustrating a lot of the time.

Anyway for whatever it's worth the 200 gr Hornady clocked 2302 fps and the 225 gr Woodleigh clocked 2291 fps but I do believe they are faster.

BLR 358 Loads

BLR 358 Loads 2

And yes the 225 gr Woodleigh with IMR 8208 progressed like this:

46 gr - 3.25"
46.5 gr - 1.9"
47 gr - 0.790"

That's quite a spread for 1 gr of powder but do note that the BLR barrel is very thin. It does show that the gun can shoot and it you take into account DrMike's loads with the flat base 200 gr TSX the gun may have a preference for flat base bullets. I do plan of doing some more work with IMR 3031 and H 4895 next time out and seeing what they can do. Hodgdon and IMR powders are the easiest to get in my town so for the time being anyway I'll stick with them. TAC, RL 10 X and 748 sound intriguing though.

The gun is a lot of fun to shoot and handles very well, love how compact and light it is. Will update again after some more loading............

 

[SJB358]

Nothing much to add, but great shooting with the Woodleighs.

Just what I’ve done with my BLR, I tried RL15, H4895, 3031 and W748 with 225 Partitions. Everything in mine was sort of a dog with the PT but W748 could drive nails. Shot a bunch of deer with it. It clocks 2450 or so.. I never knew it was horrible till this danged internet told me.

I’ve always wanted to try TAC myself. Supposed to be very good, around 2550 with 225’s.

 

[gerry]

Have to say again it's a fun gun to shoot, eventually I would like to try pistol bullets with Trail Boss and even full power loads to see what they do. The 358 Win is enjoyable to shoot, I bet the 450 Marlin I was considering would not have been :lol:

 

[DrMike]

Gerry,

I never tried boattail bullets in that rifle. I always used flat base bullets, and they gave me very good accuracy.

 

[gerry]

Time to do an update on this thread.

Have been doing a bunch more shooting in the last few weeks trying different combinations. The rifle is still fun to shoot and I like it. Have put in a lot of time and have come up with some excellent loads. If this gun doesn't like a load it will definitely let you know :lol: but it is also capable of excellent accuracy. The 225 gr Woodleigh with IMR 8208 is one of the great loads that will group under 1".

The other area of success has been with IMR 3031 around 45.5-46 gr and 200 gr bullets. Tried to go higher but the groups just open up. The 200 gr Hornady RN and 200 gr Sierra RN both group at 1-1.5" depending on the exact load, this afternoon I tried the 200 gr Hornady Spire point with 45.5 gr IMR 3031 and it produced a nice 0.75" cluster at 104 yards. Of course I'm almost out of that bullet now :roll:

Still working with the 180 gr Speer but haven't found "the load" yet so for fun I'm going to try 45.5 and 46 gr IMR 3031 to see what it does. Also want to try some H 4895 as well with it. Really want to get the 180 gr Speer bullet to shoot well since it a tough little slug and opens up well. Will update this thread again in a few weeks.

This gun continues to not like boat tail bullets so I'm officially done with them in it. Besides the 200 gr AccuBond and 225 gr Sierra shoot very well in the 35 Whelen anyway.

 

[SJB358]

Good update Gerry. Thank you. I need to get mine out one of these days and get it warm.

 

[gerry]

Hope you get your BLR out soon Scotty, and give it a good run. Bet you have a great time shooting the old girl again. The 358 Win is really growing on me and becoming a favourite and have been a fan of the BLR a long time.

Went out today and shot the 180 gr Speer with H 4895. Went from 44-48 gr and nothing shot too well until I got up the 48 gr which produced a nice group measuring 0.79". I did notice that a bunch of times in the last year while working up loads that 2 bullets would hit close together and then a third shot would be a flier. Most of the time but not always it's the 3rd shot that is the flier so I'm not sure if it's me or maybe the barrel heating up. I may need to concentrate a bit more when shooting such a lightweight rifle.

It looks like I have been able to come up with a few good loads now using powders and bullets on hand so I'm happy with that. Now I want to turn those 180 gr Speer's and 200 gr Sierra RN's on some unsuspecting deer and bears

 

[Blkram]

Yes the BLR in 358 Win is a lot of fun to shoot and hunt with!
The more you shoot it, the more it grows on you!

The 358 BLR barrel is pretty thin...it will get warm quickly with hotter loads...
Have you tried giving it 2-3 minutes between rounds? Does it still produce flyers then?
I know the trigger on your rifle is better than the one on mine.

 

[gerry]

That dawned on me today as well about waiting between the 2nd and 3rd shots, that's a good suggestion Gil. There definitely isn't much steel in that barrel and it gets warm pretty quick :lol: The trigger is definitely pretty good on this gun. I know you have a good 220 gr load, have you had a chance to work up the 180 gr Speer's yet? The Sierra RN is a nice bullet too.

 

[grry10]

I just had a Savage 99C rebored to .358 Winchester by JES Reboring and I'm really excited to start trying to develop some loads. This posting came at just the right time. Since I also have a 35 Remington and a 35 Whelen I got a good supply of 200, 215 and 225 grain bullets to work with.

 

[gerry]

I just had a Savage 99C rebored to .358 Winchester by JES Reboring and I'm really excited to start trying to develop some loads. This posting came at just the right time. Since I also have a 35 Remington and a 35 Whelen I got a good supply of 200, 215 and 225 grain bullets to work with.

Hope you let us know how it works out. Should be a fun project, have you thought about what powder and bullet combinations you are going to try first?

 

[grry10]

I thought I would start with 200gr and I've got Hornady and Noslers on the shelf. I've got Varget, BL2C, IMR4320, TAC, IMR4895 and H4895, so those are the powders I'm going to work with and maybe in that order.

 

[gerry]

Everyone raves about TAC being one of the very best powder's but it's tough to get here so I stick with Hodgdon and IMR. That's a good selection to work with and I bet you will get some good loads pretty easily.

 

[gerry]

Went out today again to fine tune the scope at 200 yards since the older friction dial Leupold scopes don't zero very easily but seem to hold zero once they get where you want them. It's an older 6x36 fixed power.

Both the 200 gr Sierra RN (46 gr IMR 3031) and 180 gr Speer (48 gr H 4895) grouped well again but what was noticeable was the difference in drop. The 180 gr Speer shoots a lot flatter but it is going faster and has a better b.c. I hope to shoot game with both of them this year but it's looking like going forward I'm leaning towards the 180 gr Speer.

Going to hunt bears this week so hope to report back with some pictures and a story.