Thread: .338? .358?

.358 Winchester.
Something different and by all accounts a hard hitter with usable trajectory to 200 yd. in a carbine setup.

Recoil-wise, the Fed has plenty of heave so the 358 version could be unpleasant in a light gun. I reload a Federal for a guy so have shot his a bit.

I had a newer alloy .358 in a blr for quite a while. Barrel contour is heavier than other skinny tube .308 based rounds so be aware that bit of work on the fore-end will be in order including sourcing another barrel band. Good luck with that now Numrich wont ship international. Hell of a good round though - I ended up using the 180gr Speer which is on the low end of the weight for .358 but worked so well on deer and was a real pussy cat recoil wise. Having said that you are not stuffing enough powder in the case to make any of the bullet weights a problem recoil wise really if your sissy pad is squishy enough.

if you want to have something a lot different based on the 08 case i would look for something like this . . . 45 RAPTOR

i would prefer .458 bullets but i could live with .451

.454" cast bullets are available up to 350 grains should flatten any wee beastie in NZ, I have sized .459" cast down to .452" for a couple of dudes with 460 S&W and 450 Bushmaster
they seem to work ok had no angry phone calls, so it would be possible to got to 500 grains if the throat is long enough to handle them

I'm waiting to see if 358 Yeti makes it. It is to 308Win what 300BLK is to 223Rem. 358 in an AR15. http://www.maddogweapons.com/358-yeti.html

223 vs 358Yeti vs 300BLK

Id go 338 fed personally

I gathered that the BLRs were notoriously difficult to re barrel?

Not to worried about that Bill999 as my gun smith did his apprenticeship with Purdy you don't go through 10 years with them without learning a trick our two well I hope

Older steel ones like the above (pre 81) no different than a normal rifle. Taking apart the gears and levers bit of a pain but once you have done it one time next time is straight forward.

Newer alloy models bolt locks in the barrel different story all together have to buy new barrel from Browning so might as well buy a new rifle.

Bundook year mine is a 73 made in Belgium
I'll be hand loading so don't need to worry about the UK legal requirements friwi as I can step around these with bullet choice etc and pic my loads if I so wanted to take deer in the uk.
I'm liking the look of the 225 partitions in .358.
Can't find much research on the .338 in use at close range work on mid size to biggish animals.
Anyone

@338 man

Had a mate with a winchester 88 in 358,nice rifle but had to seat projectiles deep to fit mag which kinda ruled out the heavier slugs,338 is nice too and can buy hot factory ammo from 185gr up.I've used a 35 Whelen for 22yrs and they take some beating with 225gr SGK's.Think if I was going 358 I would look at 200gr Barnes.

Ok Desert rd I'll look into them. Even though I like lead

I know a gent with a 358 kimber, it kicks ass. Being a rebarrel he got it built with a long throat so he can seat those big 200 grain .35 cal bricks way out. Runs a 20 inch barrel and get pretty respectable speeds with RL17 from memory

Just ordered a new ruger 77 in .358 win,
Gun show on this week in Fort Mac, ( Back in Canada for work).
My birthday pressure to myself,
Picking it up Tommorow, when the gun show starts.
Spring bear hunting has open up, might go try and whack one.