Hello all,

In my quest for the next levergun I have located and bought a NIB 356 Winchester. My Marlins are not happy, but I would like to see what this gun can do. Any reloading advice would be much appreciated. I noticed a couple of warnings about not using any round nose bullets. Why is this? I have a slug of those 200gr. Remington round nose itching to be used. Flat nosed are recommended. I still have not looked at the owners manual, so perhaps this is just heresay. Looks like some of the alliant powders may be the best. 2015 as well as 2520 stand out as good possibilities. Any experiences?

Looks like we both scored today. My 336 SC in 30-30 came in today. Got to get hot working up loads. I had heard through the grape vine that you had gotten a 356 ;) I will probably live to regret it. Let us know how it shoots.

PS,
I have spoke with Greg, and have started on some loads, not looking too bad so far, what a difference!!

Dr. A,

Congratulations on a great gun and cartridge. I have not used the Remington 200 grain, and shoot only factory and cast in this caliber. One thing...the crimp groove may not be in the proper place on the Remington 200 gr. bullet. I think that is why the Speer 220 Gr. became popular with this caliber...it is correctly located. Can anyone elaborate? Does it matter? In regard to bullet nose profile, I wouldn't use anything but flatnosed bullets in this caliber, but that is just me. That subject is fodder for hours of debate. I would err on the side of caution, but this is apart of my personality. The 356 in the Model 94 is pretty stout on recoil, and the thought of those cartridges slamming around in the feed tube is unnerving to me. Deerdown444...those loads are coming! I am in the process of moving 10 miles south of where I live now. Good shooting fellas.

Dr. A,

Sorry I should have been more clear. The warning about round nosed bullets is because of the chance of the nose of one cartridge setting off the primer in the next cartridge in a tubular magazine. Take care and let us know how she shoots. These are great cast bullet rifles too.....haven't heard of a rough bore in one of these yet.

You bet, Alan, you won't believe your attitude after you have played with them for awhile. Hard to go back to jacketed. You truely will find the potential of the gun because your error will decrease so dramatically. No flinching or straining. Pure unadulterated concentration on the target.

Back to the subject of the 356. I know the crimp maybe a tad off. I got the Lee crimp die to remedy this. Also, in reading quite a bit of the 45-70 man (Paul Matthews), he advocated leveling off the top of Hornady round noses so they would not chain fire. I tried out a couple tonight and was able to uniformly flatten the nose without squishing any of the rest of the bullet. Nose is much flatter and somewhat larger than the Speer. I suppose I will continue to load up 2 at a time, but these bullets have been around long enough to get used up. Got to find a place for them. I will also use cast in this gun. Chris, what do you use to load a cast bullet? I didn't see any Lyman M die where I buy mine. Are they available? Thanks

Also, Chris, do you cast your own bullets? I have 158gr. and 180gr. in this cal. already. I'd like a 220 or 250. Do you know of any around? (Molds that is)

With the Speer 220gr FLAT-SP and manufacturer load data for AA2520 I've gotten over 2300 fps safely with decent accuracy. Have also tried H4198 with Sperr 180gr FN with pretty good results but my chrony was out of order at the time so don't have that information. Sticking with the flatnose bullets is probably a good idea but don't know for sure that it's required. Seems like Winchester recommends that practice though.

Good cartridge that didn't catch on. Too bad. Good for you (and me).

bartmasterson,

Do you have a scope on yours? I also just ordered some 210gr. from Marshall. MARSHALL: do you have loads for this bullet?

Dr A,

I was thinking that Lee crimp die might help, but wasn't sure. I like the 210 Grainer from Beartooth. It has shown accuracy on par with the RCBS 200 FNGC(1800 fps) at higher velocity(abt. 2200 fps). There is little leading from either. I have used IMR 4350 for the slow loads and IMR 4320 for the higher speed loads with good results. Marshall has a couple of loads posted for H335 on this site. I typed in "Bore" as a search term and came up with the string of posts. I have tried my hand at casting, but I have gotten mediocre results in the short time I've had to perfect my technique. The clincher is that I have two small boys who put their hands and mouths on nearly everything, so everytime I get out the casting stuff I get really unnerved by the potential for lead poisoning. Otherwise, they might end up like me! So, I rely on Beartooth's fine bullets, sized .359 for the time being, and feel no need to change. I do want to play around with a 250 grainer as soon as I get set up in my new house. Stay away from the WFN designs as they have to be deepseated and will not feed correctly. The only piece of additional equipment I use for loading the cast bullets is RCBS's kneck exanding(more like flaring) die. Just a tiny little flare works pretty good for the Beartooth bullets. At about 60 yards, they go into a 1.25" circle all day long(if I am up to the task). Hello Bartmasterson. Good to hear your still alive out there in beautiful Colorado. Good shooting fellas and keep us posted.

These are from Marshall's post about 3 years ago. I assume they are Maximum so I would check with him at to how much to reduce these loads to start loading for them. I would most definitely work up to these loads:

For loads using the 210g LFNGC in the .356 Winchester try these:

BTB .359"-210g LFNGC/50.0g H335/WLRP/Win Brass/2310 fps

BTB .359"-210g LFNGC/47.3g IMR 4895/WLRP/Win Brass/2446 fps.

BTB .359"-210g LFNGC/40.8g H4198/WLRP/Win Brass/2487 fps

Dr. A, for this same bullet, I use:

BTB .359 210 g LFNGC 42.0 gr. IMR 4320

Thanks Chris. Just ordered 200 of those babies today. Do you have a scope on your gun? I didn't realize it was as easy to scope as it is. Should come in handy for the pigs.

Dr A,

I have a Williams FP on my 356. The rifle is probably more accurate than I can shoot it with my eyesight. Even with me driving it's plenty good for anything I might hunt with it. Compared to my other BB's this is the most accurate (so far).

Chris,

Yeah, still in CO. Due to my wife's health I've got our place on the market right now. Plan to move into Woodland Park, or (God forbid) Colorado Springs. Not that there's anything wrong with The Springs per se, but after being secluded in the country for over 3 years it'll take some getting used to. However the doctors are in The Springs.

The 356 is one that I'd love to get back into experimenting with but with all that's been going on I haven't had a chance to load/shoot hardly anything. I think the next thing I'm going to try are some of these BTB 210gr that you talk about. Haven't shot any CBs through it all yet but have high hopes.

Dr. A,

Like Bartmasterson, I have the Williams Fool Proof as a rear sight. I think it is the best of iron sights for this gun.. I don't like the large winchester front site beads, and hacked mine off in attempt to better accuracy and raise the point of impact for my lower velocity cast loads. It worked but still would like a more robust front site. I like the sleek lines and handling of an unscoped 94 Win. That is just me and you must realize I am more of a shooter than a big game hunter. So, take that for what it's worth. I was hoping to get to use my 356 for Arizona Elk this year, but my dad and I got skunked in the draw system. Hopefully, I will have something to report on this years deer season with this round.

Bartmasterson, Sorry to hear of your wife's troubles and your forced move into the Springs area. I hope all goes well there amigo. I wish I could be back in that area and hope to be there or somewhere close in the near future. I have good(but cold) memories of the Springs and Fort Carson. Ahhh...to be young and dumb again............! Take Care fellas.

Thanks a lot guys! I do a lot of plinking, but will certainly will use the scope for hunting. I already have the foolproof here and will use it, but want a scope available for twilight hours. It is absolutely necessary for pigs, as most of my hits have been at a time that the sun is long down. Aperture sights cut down on available light and definitely make it more challenging. I also will hunt some fairly large fields. I do have longer range guns, but the levers are my favorite, and am slowly switching to them exclusively.

I do have longer range guns, but the levers are my favorite, and am slowly switching to them exclusively.

Levers ARE adicting aren't they? I'll be using a 270 Win and 7mmRemMag this season for the long shots only...and am hoping for woods shots exclusively.

I will add that my Win 94 in 356 is perhaps the nicest levergun I currently own.