.358 Win HELP!!!

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Landro

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Ok, so I just got a Ruger .358 Winchester knowing full well that it's a reloading proposition. However, I don't have dies or any components. Being the lazy fellow that I am, I was hoping fellow CGN'rs could steer me the right direction for 358 stuff...:runaway:

How about it? Anybody got dies in stock? I like Lee (they are cheap and so am I), but would certainly try something else.

What about a secret supplier of elusive factory brass? I know I can form .308, but remember, I'm lazy...

Reliable source of .35 Barnes and Hornady bullets?

Hey, while we are here... What's the biggest critter you've shot with a .358 and how'd it go (yeah, yeah... I'm off topic).

Thanks for any info.
 
Cant help you with gear or components, but mine has accounted for two bull moose and three deer in the past 4 years. All one shot kills.

225grain partitions at 2450fps is a devastating load.
 
shot 9 deer with 9 shots closes was 60 yards and farthes was 235 yards,none went more then 10 feet most droped right there.used the 200 grain hornady and the 225 grain sierra game king.i like to use 4198 for powder.
 
I use it's identical cousin the .356 Win. and 250 gr cast flat points and it's deadly accurate, no trouble reloading or on game.
 
Forget about .358 brass, just run .308 through a .358 full lenth sizer and prim e. Don't bother with expensive bullets Hornady or Speer 250 grain are well constructed for the velocity range you will be shooting them at.
 
Brass is available but not in a regular basis, at times it's eveyrwhere and then it dissapears(usually just at the time you need it)
I have used 308 brass necked up but once I got a supply of 358 brass I put my 308 brass aside.
The bullet I use is the 200 Hornady spitzer, four deer so far one shot drops them and have only recovered one bullet.
I would use it for moose without hesitation but would use the 250 Speer or Hornady.
My rifle likes IMR 3031 many other powders also have worked but it likes 3031 best. It's an easy round to load but it will bulk out before you get the maximum charge in the case so use a relatively quick burning powder if you want to get to the maximum charge.
It's a great round.
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I have seen quite a few tons, literally, of huge bull moose, bear and big mountain caribou taken up here by my buddy, Bert, with his "little" Rem 600 in 358 Win.. Almost all of it was using reformed 308 brass, 250 gr Speer spitzers, 45 gr of Ball C2, and magnum primers.

And, it is not a short range cartridge, as most think. 250 yd is a piece of cake with this load. :)

Ted
 
I suspect you have a very nice rifle there.

My wife has been using a Browning BLR for quite a while now. I couldn't find an original one, so I bought a new .308 when they were blowing them out for cheap to go to the "new and improved" ones with pistol grips and so on a few years back. Bill Leeper rebarrelled it to .358 and my wife has been living happily ever after with it ever since.

So here's some of the loads I've worked up for it:

34hjbr


The 180 gr. Barnes is the cat's ass, but they don't make them anymore so we are hoarding the last two boxes we have left. As somebody already mentioned, claims about the .358 being a short range cartridge are ridiculous, and all the more so with that 180 grain bullet. It seems to tip over elk and one moose just fine. Once those are all gone, the next bullet we will probably look at for that rifle will be the Barnes 200 gr X bullet.

She carries the Nosler 250 grainers in the rifle when we are in the alders hunting elk - we have more than our fair share of grizzly bears around here, and another two guys got chewed up a few miles away from here this year. If you're going to get pushed into an argument with a bear at close range in the alders, having a 250 grain bullet instead of a 180 grain bullet can't hurt.

I've made brass from 308, but it was a lot easier to just buy 500 rounds of 358 brass when it became available. We save the expanded 308 brass for her to hunt gophers with cast bullets and jacketed pistol bullets. After a summer of potting the local gophers with her hunting rifle, she doesn't seem to have a problem hitting the edible critters.

What has she shot with it? Everything from gophers, to grouse, to deer, to moose. The interesting thing is that, because it moves a bullet of the same weight to the same velocity as a 308, it uses significantly less powder to do so (expansion ratio working for you). So in a rifle of identical weight, the same bullet at the same velocity has less recoil. Of course, the 358 will usually take more powder and move that bullet faster, so you end up generating more recoil in the end. But you also get more power...

Nice rifle, nice caliber. I bet you're going to enjoy it.
 
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Ok, so now I have dies, brass and bullets. Loaded Nosler 225 Partitions over Varget (probably shoulda used a different powder since Varget is allegedly hard to find now. Also had IMr 3031, 4064, Rx 7, Rx 12 and assorted others in the bin). Haven't shot it yet, but hope to smack some fallow deer with it soon. Yes, I know 225 NP is waayy too much for little bambi, but want a one load rifle (sorta). But would love to hear about your loads and successes in case there is a better combo ( I really wobbled about the 200gr Barnes TSX as an all arounder).

Ooo Ooo, do you have a reduced "grouse-getter" round? With a .357 pistol bullet maybe?

Cheers

Landro
 
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