Famae SG 542 re-barrelled to....358 Winchester!
- Thread starter VLT79
- Start date
Sadly, I have not had the chance to shoot it more. I have stock piled 200rds of the Hornady factory loads and hope to do some longer range testing in the near future. Downside is that Sporting Clays season is started so I'm chasing clay disks on the weekends now.
Hi all!
Just a little write up about the Famae SG 542 I had Ian at Herron Arms convert to 358 Winchester for me a while ago...been meaning to do this for sometime now but life keeps getting busy! Big thanks to Ian at Herron arms for accepting to take on this project that is a little out of the ordinary! Anyhow, if reading isn't your thing, there's pictures at the bottom!!!
A few years back I had considered having a Norinco M-305 rebarrelled to 358 Winchester but lack of so chambered barrels and the big dollar estimates given to me to manufacture the barrel, then perform the conversion, caused me to abandon the idea. Still wanting another 7.62/308 semi-auto but without the headaches associated to most Chinese M-14 clones, I took a gamble and wound up placing a pre-order with Tactical Imports for the then new (to the Canadian market) Famae SG 542 in 7.62x51mm. Months went by before it showed up and I had actually picked up a lightly used version that was imported by ERE Systems Inc in the mean time. After shooting a few rounds down range and finding myself disapointed with the results, I started looking closely at the platform and thinking: "Well if you're stuck with a 2-3MOA rifle, thus limiting practical range, you might as well throw the biggest bullet you possibly can within that range!"
The 358 Winchester was back on the drawing board!!!
Having some 358 Win ammo on hand for my Browning BLR, I loaded 5 cartridges into the Famae magazine and manually cycled them thru the action slowly (don't want to slam a 358cal into a 30cal neck/bore) to see if they would chamber...and they did! If it feeds slow, then it should in theory feed at full pace as well...so the mag/feeding had somewhat of a green light! Next I looked at the barrel...it's round its entire length, so throw a 358cal blank in a lathe and spin it to the proper profile then just drill the gas port and cut the pin slots for the gas cylinder...simple enough. Green light again! The search was on for a gunsmith capable of performing the work.
Herron Arms!
Aware that Herron Arms performed various works on the Swiss Arms platforms, which are based on the original Sig 542 and the Famae being a licensed copy, an email was sent. After some discussion with Ian over the phone (and he did question my choice of cartridge considering everyone was getting into the long range stuff) he agreed to do the work. A .358cal Douglas barrel blank with 1-12" twist was located, as was a PTG 358 Winchester chamber reamer. I had by then decided to go with a clean barrel (no tacky flash hider/muzzle brake) of 21" in length. I sent Ian my rifle. That was actually way back on March 06, 2015. It came back to me on July 09, 2015. Now, I would have got it back sooner but we weren't aware that the PTG reamer was cut to match 358 brass formed from 308...it results in a neck with a smaller O.D. and factory 358 ammo or reloads with actual 358 brass would not chamber...so a neck reamer of proper dimensions had to be ordered in. Thankfully, Ian made the right call by having me send him ammo, before everything was completed, so he could function test the rifle before sending it back. He ran 40rds thru it trouble free as far as I know.
Testing!!!
Due to multiple reasons (no really good ones), no serious accuracy testing happened until today January 02, 2017! I know thats rather sad! Haha! But anyway within a week of receiving it way back in July 2015, I rough sighted it in with the open sights. Shot aprox 30rds over the summer. Then in early September 2015, I mounted a Leupold Vari-X III 1.5-5x20 scope to it using the factory Famae detachable picatinny base, and gave it another quick sight in with hopes of taking it back to Quebec for a Moose hunt on the family farm. Plans changed, it remained in the safe for most of that fall and has only been taken out a handful of times since then. In total I have ran 57rds thru it. Today, I decided to bench it to see what kind of accuracy it might have. It was a clear sunny day, no wind, and -16 celcius for temparture. I fired a single 5 shot group at 100yds. The results were a surprising cluster that's a couple hairs over one inch!!! 1.008" C/C.
I'm hoping to start some serious load development for it this spring with 250gr RN and pointed bullets, as well as some 275gr Woodleigh RN. Will try update here as I play with it a little more...hopefully won't take another year and a half! LOL!
Famae SG 542-1 ERE Elite in 358 Winchester
Leupold Vari-X III 1.5-5x20
Hornady "Custom" 200gr Interlock Pointed SP (factory ammo)
Any luck with load development for your Famae SG 542 .358 Winchester with 250gr RN and pointed bullets?
