358 Winchester

I've owned and hunted with the .358 for over 25yrs and love the cartridge. I have two rifles chambered in it now, a steel receiver BLR and a SS M77 Hawkeye. I've taken deer , hog and black bear using one or the other of the rifles and using 200, 225 or 250gr loads.

I've pretty much settled on using a 225gr load now by BB at a hair under 2550 FPS at the muzzle. This load carries 1500 FPE to 350 yards. I've also used a 250gr Grand Slam for hogs and my SIL used the Hawkeye with 250s to take a 150" Tn buck. Both the hog and the buck dropped at the shot.

I like the 250 for close ranges, but the trajectories are a bit steep looking 200+ yards. I passed up a shot on a big Georgia boar that was a bit under 300 yards when my quick figuring came up with 15+" of drop with the zero I'd used for a bear hunt a few months prior.

For deer, I'd look at 180gr JFN, 200gr RN or SP, 220gr JFN or the fine Sierra 225gr Spitzer. I've seen companies claim 27-2800 with those 180s and I'm sure they would absolutely do a bang-up job on deer.

The .358 is a great round, try it, you'll like it!

358 is a great cartridge, probably the near perfect round for black bear and wild boar. Maybe even for bigger game.

But if I wanted a deer rifle I'd opt for a 308/7-08/260. the 358 is at it's best with 225+ grain bullets. Deer (at least the ones I shoot) are really not monster creatures and a 120-150 gr bullet actually will kill better; and smaller diameter means better longer range ballistics.

That said, if at a gun show I see a model 99 in 358 I'll buy it.

As I said, other deer rifles are better, and I think that is why it wasn't a successful rifle round. Winchester brought it out as a modern replacement for the 348. It is smaller diameter, rimless, and 35 cal not 348. At the time the 348 was a decent lever action big bore. But after WW-2 levers gave way to bolt guns and the 348 died ( Yes, I got one). Faster smaller bullets were the fad then...and now.

roseman said:

I am considering the purchase of a rifle in .358 Winchester. I have no experience with this cartridge but have a lot of interest in it.
What can I expect for performance from handloads in the 225-250 gr range.

Thanks in advance.

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As a youngster I dreamed of owning a centerfire rifle one day. At first I zeroed in on the 358 Win. in a Win. Model 88 lever action. My hunting would be mainly in Michigan for whitetails but hoped to hunt Moose and Caribou eventually too. I wrote Jack O'Connor asking what he thought of the .358 Win. for my uses. He said the .358 Win. would be just fine up to about 250 yards but beyond this the trajectory would make good hits a difficult. Later I changed my plan to a Model 100 auto in .308 Win. Never did get a centerfire until my mid twenties. By then I had more realistic visions and bought a Rem. 788 in 6mm Rem. for deer and varmints. I am curious what you plan to hunt with a .358 win. which while packing a wicked punch is a medium range cartridge. Some might say it is one of the larger "thumper" type chamberings.

I once had a Winchester M88 in 358 Winchester. Wish I had it back.

I used 200 gr bullets at around 2500 fps and 250 gr bullets at around 2250. WW748 was my powder.

Very accurate. That was back in the 70ties. Today I would probably use the 225 gr, probably a partition if possible.

Brass is easily made by running 308 into the sizing die. So, as long as 35 cal bullets are being made, you can make ammo.

Cast bullets required a bit of work but good loads can be made for practice. You can even make ammo with 357 revolver bullets for varmints or practice.

Squibb loads made with 158 gr cast 38 bullets at 700 fps or so are fun to shoot at close range. They also make almost no noise. That is roughly equal to a 4 inch 38 Special standard load, but really quiet.

From a handloader's standpoint, I cant see too many downsides to the 358 Winchester cartridge.