.358 Winchester

[getitdone1]

I have spent a lot of time with the Cartridges Of The World book. Noticed something this evening that caught my eye. They show the .358 Winchester shooting a 300 gr Barnes bullet at 2200 fps and 3225 ME. Wow! Talk about an efficient little cartridge. That load would definitely be a penetrator.

Have any of you guys shot this load?

The real speed, often at least, of the 30-30, 150 gr load is not much faster than this and with this .358 you're shooting a bullet twice as heavy. Perhaps those .358 numbers are a little "optimistic." Anybody know?

Don

[6pt-sika]

I did the 358 WIN a number of years ago in a nice old and then brand new Ruger 77R . And I gotta say the 358 WIN has never been one of my favourites however I do like the rimmed version (356 WIN) .

I do however really really like the 338 Federal with the 210 grain Nosler Partition !

[Jayhawker]

Those numbers seem pretty optimistic to me. From my BLR with a 20" barrel, I was only getting around 2200 fps with a 250 Speer. I don't recall the powder right now. A longer barrel should boost the velocity up some, but I'd bet not that much.

That was just under my 444 load (270 Speer @ 2225 fps). Out to about 150 yards, I considered them pretty much equals.

[86er]

I used the Woodleigh 310 grain bullets in a 22" barrel. In spite of data that said 2200 fps I could get 2000 fps with the specified charge, and I had no interest in trying to get more out of it. The rifle was 8.5 pounds and recoil was reasonable. The lower velocity and heavier bullet is offset by other loads with a higher velocity and lighter bullet. Give and take so to me the felt recoil was actually higher with the 250 gr @ 2350 fps. I did not intend to use the cartridge/bullet combo for any hunting so I saved the rest of the bullets for my 35 Whelen. Now there you can get a solid 2250 fps with that bullet and more is possible. It is often said that there is a point of velocity for a bullet weight where you get diminishing returns. I think the 300/310 grain .358 sits squarly on the sill of this window when comparing 358 and 35 Whelen, then moving up to 358 Norma, (STW, WSM, etc). On medium sized bovine the expanding bullet at 2000 fps (from 358 Win) did not open up much with about 1/4 of the length deforming. At 2250 fpd (from the Whelen) it expanded to a greater diameter with 1/3 of the length deforming but the penetration was actually more than the slower speed. At 2400 fps it expanded to just shy of 1/2 of the length but the diameter was the same as it was at 2250 fps and the penetration was actually less. Solid bullets of the same weight showed behavior. At 2000 fps and 2400 fps the solids penetrated within 3 inches of one another, however the bullet at 2250 achieved 5 " more penetration that the best of the slower velocities. I like messing around with heavy bullets but in the 358 Win I did not confirm any advantage to the 310's nor did I appreciate the recoil, and I couldn't think of any specific application where I'd actually use it. Once this bullet is moved to the 35 Whelen it performs better. One use I can think of is a buffalo, eland, or other large game rifle for a recoil sensitive client to use. With similar weight rifles the 310/.358 had less recoil that a standard 300/.375. Of course you could slow the 375 down to 2250 fps, but I think there is a psychological factor with a recoil sensitive shooter that is passified by it being "only" a 35 Whelen. Great caliber (.358) and useful and versatile cartridges across the board (358 Win on up) but the 300 or 310 bullet doesnt achieve what it should in the 358 Win and really leaves you scratching you head to find a reason to use it in that cartridge.