Jeff/1911 said:
OK. You talked me into it.
When I was last at Wholesale Sports in Edmonton they didn't seem to have any .35 cal bullets...but I'm sure they'll get more in.
Ask them to bring them in for you - or just order them from their online store. Two bags of brass and a couple of boxes of the cheap 180 grain Speers will get you going until you have everything settled in. Then you can pick a good bullet to work up a long term hunting load with.
Everyone seems to have a really good 225 grain bullet, except Sierras, which have a lot of reports of coming apart. Barnes also has the 200 gr. job. Decide what your working ranges will be, look at some reloading manuals, then run the numbers through one of the ballistic calculator programs to see what you're looking at. Except for grumbly bears in the bushes, I think a 200 grainer at around 2750 fps has got more than enough swat for anything out to 300 yards and a bit beyond. However, most .358 Winchester users seem to prefer the 225 and 250 grain loads; they might be right.
As far as the heavy bullets go, personally, if I decided it was going to be a 250 grain day, I'd stick with the cast bullets. Cast or jacketed, 2500 fps is all you're going to get in that weight out of a .358 Win, unless you start really pushing pressures. A cast bullet with that big flat meplat is not going to come apart, it has no jacket to lose, it is going to expand if the alloy is the right hardness, and it will perform every bit as good as a jacketed bullet. Plus, the price is right...
In fact, if I was pretty sure it was unlikely I'd ever be presented with a shot over 250 yards, I'd get a good 250 grain cast bullet mould custom made for my rifle by Mountain Moulds (that's where I got my mould) and call it good. But... you will get more recoil with a 250 grain bullet, no doubt about it. The pistol bullets will always be around for fun and as cheap shooters.
There is a bit of a learning curve as far as how to develop and load cast bullets for hunting - but that's part of the fun, not a handicap (at least for me - I like shooting).
That is a wicked looking cartridge when loaded with those cast bullets! Thanks for all the GREAT pictures Rick.
Well, the looks really have nothing to do with it. For hunting with cast bullets, in any caliber, you want a big flat meplat. You can adjust Brinell hardness to get expansion, but I don't know anyone in the Cast Bullet Association who has had any luck at all with developing moulds and loads that will shoot a cast spitzer at anything above pedestrian speeds. The combination of a big flat meplat, the right alloy, a bigger bore, and decent speeds make .35's and above very lethal killers with cast bullets.
Yes, I really want a .358 BLR. It will be mine.
if you're fussy like me, there is now a problem.
Browning, in their infinite wisdom, has gone to alloy receivers on the latest BLR's.
http://www.browning.com/products/catalog/firearms/detail.asp?value=003B&cat_id=034&type_id=006
I guess it does save some weight, but personally, I HATE aluminum alloy on a rifle - unless it is an AR-whatever. It doesn't have the same look as finely blued steel, and wears off and scratches relatively easily. Then your rifle looks like crap and your local gunsmith can't properly refinish the aluminum. Don't even get me started on that ugly pistol grip they put on some of the BLR's - that's a none starter right there.
Of course, if these things appeal to you, you don't mind alloy, you like the weight, etc, then a new-in-the-box BLR will have you good to go.
But if I was in the market for another BLR right now, I would be haunting the gun shows, gun stores, for sale pages here, etc., looking for a late model, straight gripped BLR made prior to the change to aluminum. In .358 if I could find it; in .308 if I couldn't. A .308, of course, would then give me an excuse to have Bill Leeper put a custom Ron Smith barrel on it with a throat specifically cut for my bullet mould - the jacketed bullets won't care either way.
Oh wait... I already did that. So... does anybody want to buy a Model 81 barrel in .308 Winchester; upgrade your .243? Hasn't had a single shot fired through it since leaving the factory and being promptly taken off by Bill.
