[Hair smoker]

Bought a new Hawkeye Allweather in .358 Win. today. should be in next week sometime. going to be fun getting ready for deer season this year for sure. Hope it shoots as good as some of the others i've seen posted. Planning on playing hookie from work so i can make sure it kills deer ok.

 

[Tnhunter]

Congrats on buying that very nice rifle! Ruger seems to have now cut the .358 Win from the 77 line. I purchased the same rifle a bit over a year ago and I'm very happy with it's performance with both the 200gr and 250gr loads I've tried. It, thus far, has not shot smaller groups than the .338 Fed I also have in a Ruger SS Hawkeye, but it shoots very well and I'm more than happy with my purchase. If you would like some info on where to purchase some loads for it, simply PM me and I'll send you the companies I have used.

 

[45-70 nut]

The .358 Win has been on my want list for a long time, but unfortunataly that list is just to long. Actually it wasnt until I started handloading that I really wanted one. Its funny how some cartridges like the .35 remington take off while others like the .358 Win. dont.

 

[Hair smoker]

I really wanted to try out a Hawkeye so when my buddy decided he wanted to start deer hunting I had the perfect excuse to get a new rifle. Selling my MKII Allweather .308 to him. Couldn't think of a better all around package then the .358 for the hunting I do plus I have plenty of .308 brass. All I need are dies. Think I'll try 200 gr. Horn. over Varget first since I have that on hand.

 

[beretzs]

That 358 is a great cartridge. I have the Browning BLR, but it is a nice shooting rifle. There is quite alot of load data for it, so you won't find any shortages there. The first loads I made up for my 358 were with 225gr Sierra and 220gr Speers. Both of those shot well with Varget. I have not used Varget since putting a scope on the rifle, since it was a little hard to get enough powder in it to get the speeds I wanted. I may relook at it though. Either way, great grab, I have the Hawkeye in a 308 and wished it was a 358! Good luck with it. What scope are you going to put on top of it? Scotty

 

[Hair smoker]

I'm pulling my matte finish 1.5x5 VXIII off the .308. It has the low rings and the heavy duplex. Not so great for targets but fast target acquisition in the woods. I may pickup some IMR 4895.

 

[beretzs]

Man, that will be a GREAT scope. I have a Burris 2x7 on mine, but if I was to do it again, it would be a VX3 1.5x5. Perfect scope for the 358. IMR4895 should be pretty good too. Never used it with the 358, but it should be a great one. Scotty

 

[Tang]

Nice choice, on a great rifle !

 

[Hair smoker]

My new Hawkeye is in. Picked it up today and it's sweet. The bolt is very smooth and the trigger is crisp and about 4lbs. Now I've got to wait for my dies to come in.

 

[beretzs]

Nice, throw a picture of that rifle up! Scotty

 

[Tnhunter]

My new Hawkeye is in. Picked it up today and it's sweet. The bolt is very smooth and the trigger is crisp and about 4lbs. Now I've got to wait for my dies to come in.

Congrats! My Hawkeye .358 also has a very nice trigger and smooth bolt. As a matter of fact the bolt on that .358 is noticeably smoother than the one on my CZ 550 9.3x62 bought at about the same time. I've read some negative reports on both the trigger and bolt smoothness of the 77 Hawkeye, but the two I've purchased have been more than satisfactory for me.

 

[TMan]

Its funny how some cartridges like the .35 remington take off while others like the .358 Win. dont.

The .35 Remington came into the market when the .30-30 was King, and people with .30-06's and .270's were hunting elk. It looked pretty good to eastern whitetail hunters.

The .358 Winchester hit the gun racks when the .264 Winchester and 7mm Mag were the hottest thing you could own, and looked pretty bland. I can remember reading an article by Jack O'Connor, stating it to be the best woods cartridge ever to show up for use in a bolt gun. Nobody cared.

Neither the .350 Remington Magnum or the .35 Whelen have ever become truly popular, (and I love both of my Whelen's), but the slight gain in performance was enough to keep the .358 on the ropes. I wonder if the .338 Federal will bury it?

 

[MikeG]

The .35 Rem was the most powerful thing you could get in an autoloading rifle for hunting for quite some time. Sorta heavy, a bit homely looking, but an autoloading rifle nonetheless.

Bit of trivia, and perhaps helped ensure it's availability even today.

 

[Tnhunter]

The .35 Rem was the most powerful thing you could get in an autoloading rifle for hunting for quite some time. Sorta heavy, a bit homely looking, but an autoloading rifle nonetheless.

Bit of trivia, and perhaps helped ensure it's availability even today.

I recently had an opportunity to handle a mint Remington M81 in .35 Rem while in Maine. The rifle had been handed down from Grandfather to Grandson. It was equipped with a peep sight and was truly a very fine rifle. I sure would like to run into a reasonably priced one some day, but they are getting tough to find. I'd never thought of the fact that the .35 was originally made to work in the Mod14 and Mod8 and how much that likely did help it's popularity. Excellent point! It was also a very popular rifle/cartridge combination for law enforcement back then as well.

 

[MikeG]

I had one, fooled around with it for a while, then traded it to another forum member for a side by side shotgun that works pretty well for me for casual sporting clays, as it turned out.

Mine had a scope mount and wasn't bad for accuracy with factory 200r. loads.

I think he may have traded it on... don't know.... they do turn up at gun shows. Never did hunt with mine and didn't want to run my Marlin handloads through it. Put an ad in the Trading post and you might be surprised.....

 

[Harry Snippe]

I really wanted to try out a Hawkeye so when my buddy decided he wanted to start deer hunting I had the perfect excuse to get a new rifle. Selling my MKII Allweather .308 to him. Couldn't think of a better all around package then the .358 for the hunting I do plus I have plenty of .308 brass. All I need are dies. Think I'll try 200 gr. Horn. over Varget first since I have that on hand.

Think you will enjoy your rifle . I have a friend that bought a BLR in 358 and sold it , thinking he wouldn't like it after a few trips to the range . Now he wants a 358 W back.

The nice thing about the 358 W is that you can load lead bullets packed with Varget and plink to your hearts content at a lower cost than if you used jacketed bullets .Check out the RCBS 200 gr GC.
To resize 308 brass I just flares my 308 brass with a Lyman M die that I had , then lubed the iside neck before running them through a 358 FL size die , and never loast a case . Sometimes without the flare you could just mushroom the case otherwise .
For deer I usually shot the Hornady 200 gr with Varget . For Bear I doubt if you can beat the 225 Gr bullet .

I personly like a trigger pull just under 3LBs and a good smith can quick tune that ruger trigger for that . I thought it was well worth the buck.
So enjoy your new gun and happy shootin'

 

[beretzs]

A few of us have written Nosler and asked for a 200gr Accubond for our 358's. I think it would be an excellent bear and deer bullet with good BC and really hang together well at 358W speeds. Scotty

 

[Hair smoker]

Just finished floating the barrel, lapping locking lugs and setting the barrel sweet spot. Only one lug was touching when I started. I would like the option of a 200 Accubond. Don't need more than that unless I go west or shoot another moose.

 

[Harry Snippe]

Just finished floating the barrel, lapping locking lugs and setting the barrel sweet spot. Only one lug was touching when I started. I would like the option of a 200 Accubond. Don't need more than that unless I go west or shoot another moose.

I have some loaded but not had the chance to put an animal down with one. My rifle seems to like them at the range - so maybe a moose would try one for me this year , who knows . As far as deer/bear does I doubt if you need anything fancy, as a regular cup and core should be fine .An Bullet with a thicker jacket might not open up as well going straight through . Then a pass through puts an animal down or at least leaves a good blood trail.

I used to thing a bullet had to have lots of speed , but found out for myself a big slow bullet seems to get the job done .

 

[Hair smoker]

Well I got to test out the new deer slayer today, it shoots great. Loaded up with 200 gr. Hornady sp. and IMR 4895 I'm getting 1 in. groups. outside dia. For what I'm going to do with it hear in the East no need to try another load. Settled on 48 grains. Very tight chamber on this rifle. I have to full resize or the shoulder hits and causes the bolt to work hard.