tell me about your 358 winchester

considering ordering a barrel in 358 win. I originally wanted a 375 raptor and havent kicked that project to the curb yet. want to stay with a 308 parent cartridge as I have a lifetime supply and it seems you can load everything from 158 grn pistol bullets all the way up to the heavies. from mild to wild. it also seems like the load data is antiquated and this cartridge can be loaded to it's full potential in the encore with the newer powders and running the pressures up to the upper levels making this a cartridge that would be able to handle the biggest critters. lets hear what what the 358 win shooters have to say.

I have two MGM Encore barrels. A full bull 14in pistol barrel and a 24in Sporter barrel. Love them both. A favorite cartridge of mine.

Zee,
what kind of performance are you getting from the 14"er. seems like a hammer for just about anything that has 4 legs.
deer, hogs, bear and elk are on my list to use it on.

I have had three. One 22? rifle, one 15? pistol with the brake and a 14? without the brake.

All of mine were 356 not 358. I preferred the rimed case.
I did have 358 extractors for the last two if I ever could not find 356 brass.

The 14? pistol without the brake was super accurate. Shot several things with it.

I never could get the rifle barrel to stop vertical strings. Not sure what caused it but I believe it was the encore stock and forend.

180 Speer hot core bullets work great

good to hear, what did you kill and what kind of bullet performance did you get?

http://www.handgunhunt.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=3590

http://www.handgunhunt.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=2342

http://www.handgunhunt.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=3472

No deer has walked away from the 200gr Hornady FTX handload.

thank you for the photos and replies. how hot are you running your loads?

48.5gr H4895

That is scooting for a 200 grn bullet. thanks for the info

It?s only .5gr over Hodgdon book max and a compressed load or right at touching if I remember correctly.
I seat long which gave me a little more room.

Zee,
is that the same load for both guns? how much velocity do you lose from rifle to pistol barrel?

I was incorrect on the pistol length. I just checked and it?s 12 inches instead or 14 inches. The rifle barrel is 24 inches.

The 200gr FTX load with 48.5gr H4895 gets 2,646 fps out of the rifle and 2,326 fps out of the pistol. So, 12 inches difference in barrel length equates to 320 fps difference in velocity.

I also have a 200gr Hornady RN load using the same 48.5gr powder charge that moves at 2,271 fps from the paltry 12in barrel.

thank you zee- i was hoping to be able to get 2400 fps out of a 15" and it seems like it would make it.

Zee,

Are you running your 358 win on dedicated brass or are you resizing 308?

Resizing Hornady Match .308 Win brass of which I have a plethora.

He runs 308 Hornady brass on all of the 308 family of cartridges...

Good to know.
Thanks. I found a factory box of hornady 358 win in a gun/pawn shop in my travels. I plan on resizing 308 for the bulk of my ammo.