The Venerable, but not forgotten 350 Remington Magnum!

So I finally finished my stock repair and restoration of this Remington Model 600 in 350 Remington Magnum I picked up. The stock crack was below the dog-leg bolt and was 3" long. I opened it up the best I could while massaging carpenters yellow glue into the opening. I clamped the repair and let it sit for 24 hours. (crack is solid now)

I refinished the stock with eight coats of Birchwood Casey's Tru-Oil. After a seven day curing and drying time, I dulled the glossy finish somewhat by applying two coats of Birchwood Casey's Stock Sheen & Conditioner. I think it turned out pretty nice.....:)

I spoke with the ole' boy I bought it from today. He confirmed my suspicion it had only been fired three times in 61 years. The original box of ammunition I received with the rifle only had three fired brass in the box, along with 17 live factory rounds......:)

The rifle was manufactured in 1965. (by serial number) Is it true only 1263 of these Rem Model 600 rifles in 350 Remington Magnum (laminate stock), where made?

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I also fired five of the 350 Rem Mag factory rounds today!....:)

The rifle cycled, feed, fired, and ejected like a champ. Accuracy is also good......:)

However, all five factory rounds split the neck of the brass.....:( (small vertical neck cracks)

Here are two of those fired cases....:(

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Now I'm told that 60 year old ammunition can split the brass necks! Powder breaking down and off-gassing of the powder, bullet and brass welding together from time, and some say brass gets brittle with age....:(

Others have said it could be a bad batch of brass? Say it was not annealed properly at the factory? And yet the three rounds that were fired (many years ago), were in great shape!...:)

Should I pull the last 12 bullets and anneal the brass case? Or should I just shoot the last 12 rounds and gamble?

Obviously I wanted the brass for reloading!....:ROFLMAO:
 
Thunderhog said:
I also fired five of the 350 Rem Mag factory rounds today!....:)

The rifle cycled, feed, fired, and ejected like a champ. Accuracy is also good......:)

However, all five factory rounds split the neck of the brass.....:( (small vertical neck cracks)

Here are two of those fired cases....:(

View attachment 1125470

Now I'm told that 60 year old ammunition can split the brass necks! Powder breaking down and off-gassing of the powder, bullet and brass welding together from time, and some say brass gets brittle with age....:(

Others have said it could be a bad batch of brass? Say it was not annealed properly at the factory? And yet the three rounds that were fired (many years ago), were in great shape!...:)

Should I pull the last 12 bullets and anneal the brass case? Or should I just shoot the last 12 rounds and gamble?

Obviously I wanted the brass for reloading!....:ROFLMAO:
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I'd pull and anneal. Yes, brass gets brittle with age. - dan
 
Thunderhog said:
Thanks Dan, I figured that was the issue!.....:)

And I just picked up two more full boxes of ammo at the Chilliwack Gun Show.....:)

I want to keep the brass, so I guess I will be pulling these as well. I will try one round from each box first though!.....:)
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It depends a lot on how old they are and the conditions they were stored in. I'd try a couple. You could be pleasantly surprised. - dan
 
By the way, that is an absolutely fantastic refinishing job on that stock!!

And for your question about production numbers, that is the only production count on the 350 I have seen from many many sources. But its the same number ish for the 6.5, and you see .350s almost "all the time" compared to the 6.5. Maybe its because people actually used and abused the 6.5s so they arent as plentiful? I know the 350 really isnt much fun to shoot more than a few rounds at a time, so I imagine that would help with keeping them more available. Or maybe people just love their 6.5s and dont want to sell?

And aside from the mythical
223 version, the .35 remington was at least for me the hardest and most elusive caliber to buy. Can't remember how many of those were allegedly made, but I have seen only 3 for sale in canada vs 10-20 .350s and less than 6-7 6.5s.
 
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C96 1897 said:
Completely uneducated in this matter, so just thinking out loud. Could the chamber be worn or oversized somehow?
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Not on a rifle that has fired three rounds since 1965, and now five rounds.

I guess it's possible, but apparently old ammunition does crack the necks when fired. I spoke to three different 350 owners now and they all say the same thing. Old ammo can crack the necks......:(
 
Thunderhog said:
Not on a rifle that has fired three rounds since 1965, and now five rounds.

I guess it's possible, but apparently old ammunition does crack the necks when fired. I spoke to three different 350 owners now and they all say the same thing. Old ammo can crack the necks......:(
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I don't recall any necks failing on my 350, but I might have only fired my reloads, and the factory ammo i had wasnt the old green white box with red lettering. It was the yellow and green boxes, so maybe it wasnt that old
 
C96 1897 said:
By the way, that is an absolutely fantastic refinishing job on that stock!!

And for your question about production numbers, that is the only production count on the 350 I have seen from many many sources. But its the same number ish for the 6.5, and you see .350s almost "all the time" compared to the 6.5. Maybe its because people actually used and abused the 6.5s so they arent as plentiful? I know the 350 really isnt much fun to shoot more than a few rounds at a time, so I imagine that would help with keeping them more available. Or maybe people just love their 6.5s and dont want to sell?

And aside from the mythical
223 version, the .35 remington was at least for me the hardest and most elusive caliber to buy. Can't remember how many of those were allegedly made, but I have seen only 3 for sale in canada vs 10-20 .350s and less than 6-7 6.5s.
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Thank you!....:)

It was the most work I have ever put into a gun stock. Over twelve hours labor. I'm glad it was my own personnel stock and not a customers stock.....:)

With materials and labor it would have been a thousand dollar repair & refinish. I'm not sure anyone would want to pay that much for this.:unsure:

I think the 6.5 Remington Magnum Model 600's and 660's do not come up for sale very often as the recoil is very manageable. People must hang onto them. The recoil of the 350 is definitely there, however I don't find it that offensive. In saying that, I would not want to benchrest twenty rounds in a day......:):ROFLMAO:

I believe there were only 123 Model 600's in the 223 Remington caliber. There is a great video online where a fellow is showing off his collection. He had all of them if I remember correctly......:) See post #74.

Not many 35 Remington Models either.....:)


https://gun-data.com/remington-600/
 
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Thunderhog said:
Thank you!....:)

It was the most work I have ever put into a gun stock. Over twelve hours labor. I'm glad it was my own personnel stock and not a customers stock.....:)

With materials and labor it would have been a thousand dollar repair & refinish. I'm not sure anyone would want to pay that much for this.:unsure:

I think the 6.5 Remington Magnum Model 600's and 660's do not come up for sale very often as the recoil is very manageable. People must hang onto them. The recoil of the 350 is definitely there, however I don't find it that offensive. In saying that, I would not want to benchrest twenty rounds in a day......:):ROFLMAO:

I believe there were only 123 Model 600's in the 223 Remington caliber. There is a great video online where a fellow is showing off his collection. He had all of them if I remember correctly......:)

Not many 35 Remington Models either.....:)
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Im still sad that I sold my collection of 600s, I had one in every caliber, minus the .223. I even had a new in box, never fired, 6mm montana centennial. Even had the original hanging price tag for god sake.

But it was for a good cause. I think once some of my stuff sells I will try and get the collection back together. I still have a .243, 6mm, and 6.5. Plus my 30-350 wildcat but I wont count that one lol
 
dan belisle said:
It depends a lot on how old they are and the conditions they were stored in. I'd try a couple. You could be pleasantly surprised. - dan
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Hey Dan,

I fired all 17 rounds of that 60 year old factory Remington ammunition. I saved five brass, the other 12 vertically cracked.......:(

I'm hoping the other factory live ammo I bought, doesn't do this......:( (two boxes)

Some say to pull the bullets and anneal the brass before reloading. Your thoughts?......:)

I guess try them out to see if they too crack?

Apparently buying old factory 350 ammo is a huge gamble, who knew.....:LOL:
 
I love the 350 Mag so much I have two of em in the safe at the moment. I’m left handed so both of them are customs.

LH R700 in a Wildcat Stock, trigger tech diamond flat blade trigger, Wyatt’s 3.100” box and a leupold VX6 1-6 in Talley lightweights. Rifle weighs about 7lb 2oz scoped. Stainless 20” benchmark barrel 1:12 twist. Shoots great.

Loads I am using are:

225 Accubonds at 2675fps with TAC, 215’s or WLRM, and Remington cases.

200 TSX at 2840fps with H4895, 215’s, Remington cases.

The other is a LH M70 in the featherweight pattern walnut stock, timney trigger, Talley gloss steel rings and bases, gloss vxiii 2.5-8. This one has a stainless Ron Smith gain twist barrel at 22”. Weighs about 8.5lbs.

I’m still working on loads for this rifle but so far:


200 TSX at 2885fps with H4895, 215’s, Remington cases(same load as the 700 with the 20” barrel, 40fps difference between the two rifles)

250gr partition is what I want to shoot out of this one but am currently developing this load. So far I am getting just under 2500fps with Staball Match and 215’s, Remington case. So far that load is good for 1.5” at 100m but I think it’ll do better. Looking for 1”, that’ll be fine for me. Will explore some different powders and seating depths. The short M70 has a nice long mag box making it perfect for the 350.

I use these rifles for hunting elk/bears in the thick bush/grizzly country and the 350 is hard to beat for that IMO.


Using factory REM brass in my rifles but I have formed 350 brass out of a few different cases for a friend that can’t find brass.

- Hornady 300wm - no neck turning required
- Nosler 7Rem Mag - neck turning required(I made only one case but it certainly would need to be turned)
- Rem 7Rem mag - no neck turning required
- even formed some old Imperial 7Rem mag brass - was all over the place 😂 some would need turning some not. Just tossed the ones that need turned.

Have 60 HSM 350 stamped cases… I would avoid these if you come across them, cant get anywhere near the velocity out of these cases before I encounter sticky extraction. 225 Accubonds loaded to 2500fps and they get sticky. Not sure what this is about but they’re no good.

-Eric
 
Thunderhog said:
Hey Dan,

I fired all 17 rounds of that 60 year old factory Remington ammunition. I saved five brass, the other 12 vertically cracked.......:(

I'm hoping the other factory live ammo I bought, doesn't do this......:( (two boxes)

Some say to pull the bullets and anneal the brass before reloading. Your thoughts?......:)

I guess try them out to see if they too crack?

Apparently buying old factory 350 ammo is a huge gamble, who knew.....:LOL:
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I'd pull them and annealing the cases. Looks like you just hit a badly stored box of ammo. I'm still running brass in mine I bought 40 years ago. - dan
 
leonard_e said:
I love the 350 Mag so much I have two of em in the safe at the moment. I’m left handed so both of them are customs.

LH R700 in a Wildcat Stock, trigger tech diamond flat blade trigger, Wyatt’s 3.100” box and a leupold VX6 1-6 in Talley lightweights. Rifle weighs about 7lb 2oz scoped. Stainless 20” benchmark barrel 1:12 twist. Shoots great.

Loads I am using are:

225 Accubonds at 2675fps with TAC, 215’s or WLRM, and Remington cases.

200 TSX at 2840fps with H4895, 215’s, Remington cases.

The other is a LH M70 in the featherweight pattern walnut stock, timney trigger, Talley gloss steel rings and bases, gloss vxiii 2.5-8. This one has a stainless Ron Smith gain twist barrel at 22”. Weighs about 8.5lbs.

I’m still working on loads for this rifle but so far:


200 TSX at 2885fps with H4895, 215’s, Remington cases(same load as the 700 with the 20” barrel, 40fps difference between the two rifles)

250gr partition is what I want to shoot out of this one but am currently developing this load. So far I am getting just under 2500fps with Staball Match and 215’s, Remington case. So far that load is good for 1.5” at 100m but I think it’ll do better. Looking for 1”, that’ll be fine for me. Will explore some different powders and seating depths. The short M70 has a nice long mag box making it perfect for the 350.

I use these rifles for hunting elk/bears in the thick bush/grizzly country and the 350 is hard to beat for that IMO.


Using factory REM brass in my rifles but I have formed 350 brass out of a few different cases for a friend that can’t find brass.

- Hornady 300wm - no neck turning required
- Nosler 7Rem Mag - neck turning required(I made only one case but it certainly would need to be turned)
- Rem 7Rem mag - no neck turning required
- even formed some old Imperial 7Rem mag brass - was all over the place 😂 some would need turning some not. Just tossed the ones that need turned.

Have 60 HSM 350 stamped cases… I would avoid these if you come across them, cant get anywhere near the velocity out of these cases before I encounter sticky extraction. 225 Accubonds loaded to 2500fps and they get sticky. Not sure what this is about but they’re no good.

-Eric
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Thanks Eric for contributing to this 350 thread. Your rifles sound real nice.....:)

I bet those longer magazine boxes would really help in the COL restrictions of the shorter 2.825" factory box magazines.

It's odd that HSM brass do not work that well for you. Moving forward, they might be one of the few companies that still make 350 Remington Magnum ammunition and brass.

Feel free to post pics of your guns if you would like. I personally would love to see them.....:)

Thanks for sharing the load data that works in your guns.......:)
 
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