350 legend isn’t that bad.

[snox801]

Ok so I live in the straight wall part of Michigan well 1.5 miles south of the line so straight wall it is.
I have a 450 bushmaster but I'm not that into it. Just doesn't impress me. Plus i tend to hate other owners. Oh I can take a shot at a deer at 400 yards cause I heard you could. So they are very popular in the area. Lucky I have the only decent range past 200 yards in the area. So most these guys get to realize fast that that round has the flight pattern of a rainbow.
So long range can be considered different for different cartridges. So recently I purchased a 350 legend upper. It was very cheap so I didn't expect much. After break I'm and only factory ammo available so far I was not real impressed with the groups at 100. But just for giggles I went to 200 used the first drop hash and bam same group as 100 and perfect for elevation.
So I went 300 and used my bottom hash perfect for elevation again and again abut an moa group. After that I though hmm and tested on water jugs. At 300 it was able to go through all 4 jugs. I was shooting factory 150 grain ammo and the jacket was left in the second just and the lead went all the way through. I thought Awsome it will take a deer.
So as I've been spending more time with it the groups have tightened at 100 and stayed right at 300. Moa or better.
I'm very happy with this round so far and think I found a winner. It seems to outpace my 450 for drops at that range. After season I'll stretch it out and see how far I can get it out before it doesn't go througb two water jugs. Each jug is 6" thick of water. With 2" space between jugs.
Once hammer is done cutting a bullet for it the reload will start and hoping for something Awsome.
Picture is at 300 yards.

 

[snox801]

3 shot groups for above pic and this one. I had a few to many energy drinks today and was in a rush.

 

[Skimbleshanks]

Glad to see its working for you. I was fairly interested in the cartridge until I found out it wasn't based on .358" projectiles. I might still pick up a barrel but really not interested in having to keep 2 different kinds of 35 caliber bullets on hand.

 

[Wolf76]

I've shot about 250 rounds through my AR /350 L. The bulk of it has been my reloads. 140ftx, 158 xtp-deepcurl, 180 Speer, 180 fury, 200 ftx have all been tested extensively.
The cartridge has better balance of power to recoil ratio than the 450 BM.
Most handloads are 1.5-1 MOA.
Observations: the 180s penetrate and shoot will, but are slow 2050-2100 for the accuracy node. 158s shoot great but don't feed reliably. The 140 is a solid MOA and are fast with lil gun powder 2485 fps. The 200 shoots the best, but I'm only getting 1950 fps, which concerns me about expansion. The 180s completely penetrated a 24" box layered with junk mail at 100 meters. The 158s made it 17".
The main issue with the 350 is the throat. Winchester didn't make it to match the 357 max, which leads to resizing bullets down to 356. I'm having the throat redone after the Michigan deer season.
Side note: Hornady just released a 165 ftx .355 diameter.
I'd kill for a 160 partition in a .357 diameter.

 

[snox801]

Good to hear. I knew the issue with size.
Hammer is cutting Bullets for it I. The near future so I am looking at just using those. Should be lite enough to drive fast but still drive is a good depth. That hornady has my attention though.

 

[snox801]

Ok so update. I was able to do a lot more shooting with it. It still is grouping great at 300 yards which still is better than expected when looking at my 100 yard groups. So I set up the water jug test. Did 4 jugs all in a row. At 300 it went through all 3 and ended In The backstop. The jacket was left in the second jug but lead went all the way.
I was also able to get it into a big doe. She was angled towards me so it went in right at shoulder and traveled about 22" through her and left a nice exit on the other side. She went about 30 yards and was done. Shot was at 60 yards. Hopi g to get one at 200-300 soon.

 

[SteelBanger]

Sorry to revive an old thread but I just ordered a 12.5" 350L barrel to throw on my AR pistol and have been reading up everything I can. What bullet did you put through that big doe? And have you tried the 125gr hammers yet? What's the load you're using? I also just picked up a couple hundred new star line brass, and am hitting up the shop tomorrow looking for some lil gun or H110 and I plan to try my win SRP's to start just cause I have so many of them.

 

[snox801]

I believe my testing and that doe was the Winchester 150?
But I have been running the 350 legend with the 125 hammers since and can say they are much better than the Winchester. They are faster and flatter and cause a good amount of damage and are very consistent even on front shoulder.
i
Am currently out of town so couldn't give you specifics on load data. But I believe I ended up around 30gr lil gun in star line brass but as always stray low. I load one round at .5gr increments till I find first sign of pressure then back off and load. A group around that. Always works with hammers.
This one I did not find pressure as I believe I got to compressed load and I stopped I don't like compressed load on an ar of any kind
You will also need to buy a lee collet die and give it a solid 1/2 turn and crimp them if using in an ar.
Pm me later and I'll give more specifics when I'm home.

 

[SteelBanger]

Thanks for the reply Snox, it's good to hear that 125 hammer is getting it done for you! I picked up some Lil Gun yesterday so I have everything I need but bullets and dies and I think I'm just going to pick up the LEE dies + collet die ... seems those are working perfectly fine for a lot of people. I'll shoot you a PM for more load specifics, but I'm hoping to get it to run at least 2,300 fps out of my 12.5" AR pistol. According to my ballistics app that should have it running 1,572 fps with 686 ft-lb at 150 yards and I doubt I'd ever need to shoot beyond that. Would you happen to know the minimum velocity Hammer recommends for reliable expansion? I don't see it listed anywhere.

 

[snox801]

You should be able to get well over 2500fps with them I got 2700fps out of my 16" with no pressure just stopped because compression of load started. I think the minimum is 1600fps but I'd bet a bit lower as the hollow point. Is rather large

 

[jaestridge]

Seen quite a bit of .350 ammo on shelves lately with all the histeria going on other than that most everything is scare..

 

[SteelBanger]

You should be able to get well over 2500fps with them I got 2700fps out of my 16" with no pressure just stopped because compression of load started. I think the minimum is 1600fps but I'd bet a bit lower as the hollow point. Is rather large

I'd be plenty happy with 2,500, that should get me to roughly 180y when it hits 1,600. Looks like Hodgdon says 27.5 is max for lil gun but at a COAL of 2.05. I have to single load to hunt in IL so I could likely load them out a lot further, plus based on your data I may be able to get up higher than 27.5 ... but I'll start at 26 to be on the safe side.

Thanks again for your help, I really appreciate it!

 

[SpectreGunner]

Was in Michigan this year myself hunting, had a amazing trip, shot a great Buck, then had a chance to use my buddies new 350 legand on few doe's. Gun had a nice vortex on it. Nice set up. Very impressive for the money! This 350 with vortex set up was under $750 and it got the job done. Below is a few pics I included.

 

[snox801]

Yes I was over book max with my setup but hammers seem to lower the pressure so that is not uncommon. I know the custom bolt I had hammer do load work on was also in the same arena as mine for load charge. But of course start low. I think I even started at 25gr.
It should get you to 200 yards easy as I tested mine out to 300 on water jugs. And it went through all 4 I had set up 4" apart and went into the backstop. First one exploded second was tore up bad last two just had splits through them. But I was confident in take by a deer at that range if everything was perfect. 200 is not an issues at all.
I never thought about trying me be in Illinois I thought the case length was to long.