350 legend isn’t that bad.

[SteelBanger]

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.

For Illinois only centerfire "handguns" are permitted, and AR pistols are included in that definition. Bottleneck cartridges are required to be .30 cal or greater with a maximum case length of 1.4" ... I think the 300BO is the only bottleneck cartridge that meets that criteria.

Straight walled center fired cartridges also must be .30 cal or greater but have no case length restrictions (only a 500 ft-lb at the muzzle requirement) so the 350 Legend is good to go! The handgun must also be single shot only so you have to use a bob sled magazine in your AR. Automatic extraction is fine, but it's gotta be single load. I'm told if you're caught with a regular magazine on your person, even if it's not loaded and in a pocket in your pack they could throw the book at you if they were so inclined.

 

[snox801]

Yep you are correct. Been a bit since I looked but it was gonna do my blk but now you have me thinking 350. Although my 20 gauge is money out to 200

 

[SteelBanger]

Yep you are correct. Been a bit since I looked but it was gonna do my blk but now you have me thinking 350. Although my 20 gauge is money out to 200

A decent 20ga would definitely be a fairly equal and cheaper solution but I just like shooting my AR's so it's a natural transition to the woods for me. Finding Lee die sets however seems just about impossible right now ... I just found the Hornady Custom 4 die set in stock so I just hit the submit button on that order! My barrel finally shipped this morning as well so now I just need to order the bullets!

 

[snox801]

I already have both so for me it's no problem either way. I think you may get more consistency out of the legend.

 

[SteelBanger]

One other question, what zero are you using on your Legend? I was just comparing some ballistic tables with some estimated data and a 25y zero looks decent ... I don't think I've ever heard much about people using that short of a zero though.

25y zero: +/- 2" out to 180y, about a 3" drop at 200y
100y zero: +/- 2" out to about 145y, about a 7" drop at 200y

 

[SteelBanger]

Hey @snox801, have a reloading process question for you with the 350 legend and the 125gr Hammers ... finally getting around to working up a load for IL deer season. Are you belling the case mouth before seating the hammers? The boat tail makes them go in super easy so I was curious if putting a bell on the mouth makes any kind of sense? If you're not belling the mouth, do you bother using a taper crimp on them?

 

[snox801]

I do not. Just load and standard case prep.
I do just use the standard lee collet crimp on every hammer bullet. Just something I've found works well with them.

 

[SteelBanger]

I do not. Just load and standard case prep.
I do just use the standard lee collet crimp on every hammer bullet. Just something I've found works well with them.

Ok that makes sense. I had 20 cases already prepped with about a .004 bell on them for some flat based bullets I had loaded and when I set the hammers in them it was pretty obvious that belling the case mouth seemed redundant. I need to look into that Lee collet crimp die because it seems like that's the one everyone raves about. I have the 4 die set from hornady which comes with a taper crimp die, but it seems like it primarily just removes any belling, not sure how much crimp it actually puts on the case.

 

[snox801]

The lee is just super simple and very easy to adjust

 

[snox801]

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. View attachment 227131View attachment 227132

Oh man I can't believe I just saw this picture again and literally thought wow that looks like legends ranch woods. Then I zoomed in and saw your shirt. We're you at that ranch? I've spent a fair amount of time up with those guys.

 

[megastink]

I'd love to hear anyone'/everyone's recipes for 125gr Hammer reloads.

 

[snox801]

I have 3, 2 ar and one bolt all running 30gr lol gun either starline which I prefer or hornady.
Hammer donated load work for a Purple Heart project I did and they also ended at the same as me. I was able to get more out of it but thought little gain when one load works for all.

 

[SteelBanger]

I'd love to hear anyone'/everyone's recipes for 125gr Hammer reloads.

I let firearm season sneak up on me so my load work up was pretty short and to the point, but I settled on 29.7gr of H110. They leave my 12.5" barrel at 2,556fps with no pressure signs. So far all have been loaded in virgin Starline brass with WIN SRP.

I believe that load is over all the book max loads so do NOT start anywhere near there! I started at 26.0 and worked up.