358 Win - Pistol Bullet Plinking Loads

And here's a few with trail boss and unique from "The .358 Winchester: Still a Major Contender" by Norman Gray, January 13, 2017

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Shot some 358 Win light pistol bullets for high velocity varmints at moderate ranges... 125 gr 357 hp and sp bullets same powder charge of RL7 yield average velocity of 3088 fps ...the HP 125 gr were more accurate of the two. Added a little more powder to the 50 gr copper with deep HP made for 9mm pistol had a velocity of 3840 fps up from 3766 fps on last outing, from a 16" barreled AR 10 in 358 Win ...220 Swift velocity when the 16" barrel is considered...a fun load no recoil.
 
All this sounds like great fun. I have always liked the the 358 Win so maybe I will start looking for one.
I learned about reloading from a buddy's farther who rarely hunted deer with full power loads.

I use 5744 in my reduced power 375 Ruger loads for pigs and deer. Really fun to shoot and accurate enough out to 200 yards.
I use the Speer 235gr Hot Core for these loads. 5744 seems to burn well in cases loaded to less than 50% capacity.
Had had not considered going even lighter, but if I can find the right bullet it would be fun to try a few loads.
 
Here are 180gr to 250gr but .358 Pistol bullets are less documented.
Can you imagine the classic semi-jacketed, truncated cone, 125gr, flat point in a 35 bore carbine? Rifle?! How about the huge variety of defensive, cast , jacketed, even hollow points in 125gr to 158gr?!
Anecdotal:
I had to deal with feral dogs. Although I had a fair collection of hand guns and rifles at the time I favored a Remington 141 in 35 Remington for a "handy rifle" around the yard and immediate property. The first effort with the 200gr round nose on a sizable canine was a pass through without expansion. A second round through both shoulders nailed it down but a cranial shot was needed to finish. Not very humane, not very efficient.

I looked at the rest of the gun safe and although the 45 camp carbine and the .357 lever had some appeal growing up with pump shotguns sealed the deal.

I pulled several 200gr bullets and their powder from 35 Remington cases and seated the 125gr semi-jacketed, truncated cone,flat point.

The next time I was confronted with canine cacophony at the house I grabbed the 141 Remington and went to work. Remember the rifle powder? The muzzle flash lit up the yard and freeze frame illuminated the impact of the 125gr on target. There was a significant spherical spray of pink on the side facing me and an even larger balloon of pink on the far side. In between the dog visibly inflated before collapsing without so much as a yelp. I managed to cycle two more times before the pack had figured out what was going on.

I still own that 141 or at least have visiting rights. I have built .358 on a 788 Remington, a 721 Remington (not to worry it was in no way in collectable shape), a 54 Winchester (again was in salvage condition) and presently creating a .358 AR/LAR .308. So I have some small experience with the 35 bore.

First some bit of data from wiki.

180 gr (12 g) SP 2,700 ft/s (820 m/s) 2,914 ft⋅lbf (3,951 J)
200 gr (13 g) SP 2,500 ft/s (760 m/s) 2,776 ft⋅lbf (3,764 J)
250 gr (16 g) SP 2,200 ft/s (670 m/s) 2,687 ft⋅lbf (3,643 J)
Test barrel length: 24
Source(s): Hornady

These are far from plinking loads.
 
Cat sneeze and mouse fart loads as it applies to the 32-20, 303 British, and any of the .3125" (32 cal)


=======================================================================

First disclaimer should be that I am a retired machinist with a few tools other than a reloading press. In particular a lathe, a small mill, and an arbor press that can swag and size far greater diameter differences so YMMV.

Second disclaimer is this was written for .303 British. There is no reason why the tubing sizes can not be scaled up to work with the .358 case.

Here the parent ball is from the .36 cal percussion revolver. For me this was a 3" taper with the bore turned on a lathe. 17 Thousandths swag on an arbor press is no big deal. On all but the most robust reloading press it can be a three stage deal.

Since this was more about the loading I can provide the construction rather than the load data because not only has that been lost to the ages, I've never felt comfortable sharing load data with the interwebz. There are so many that don't pay attention to the cautions supplied.

I'll happily share the method below and of course, YMMV

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Obtain a case, knock the primer out.
Find a telescoping antenna at the junk store with a section that just barely fits inside the neck of the cartridge. Or...

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You'll need two of these. One will get sharpened and live in a cordless drill. The other will need to be about 4-5" long and have a close fitting plunger inside it.
If you don't have a bullet sizing die then get a 5/16" drill and a tapered hardware reamer. Push the #0 through your "die".

The die is easy. Drill and ream to a minimum of .3125"(5/16 more or less) or if we're on the wavelength already, your max groove diameter give or take .001".
I recommend mild steel at least 1" long. A simple hardware (tapered) ream is sufficient to provide a bit of lead in. Now here is the main issue, some #0 buck will fall through the sizing die.

Now things get a little complicated.

The next step up is #00 buck at .330". There is a big difference between compressing .320" down to .3125" and compressing .330" down to .3125" , .00075" vs .017(5)" . It takes a surprising amount of force to swage 17 thousandths so the length of the die, the taper, and force necessary to force the shot through the die need to be taken into account. Less than a thousandth you can push through with a wooden dowel and your palm.


A piece of egg carton soaked in beeswax or old wax milk carton is needed,
https://ksmetals.com/products/br014-11-32 or a section of antenna.
A sacrificial case. Broken eggs and omelets thing. Cut a case in half lengthwise and measure the ID just above the flash hole but above the web thickness,

Prep cases.
Prime cases
load a couple grains of almost anything, pistol powders are preferred . red dot, unique, bullseye,

Now for the tricky shiznit. Having measured the ID of your case you will have to cut circles out of some kind of paper that are just a bit larger than the measured ID of the case. Moisten a circle with non chlorinated brake clean or"Heet" (methanol),
Place a nail set, finishing nail punch, whatever, in a vice and place the circle of paper. directly on the pointy end while smoothing the edges down so that the 5/16" ish tubing just fits over it. Set aside for a bit to dry.
Once dry, insert the paper disc into the tubing and the plunger from the other end. Insert into the cartridge mouth and nearly to the level of the powder.
Depress the plunger and the paper will begin to expand.
Depress a bit further and the paper comes all the way out of the tube. Move on, nothing to see here for a bit.

Make a "Snot Wad"
Pour about 3/32-1/8" of beeswax in a pan.
Now take the 11/16" tube and cut a disc from the milk carton.
Push the tubing into beeswax, make sure you pick up your 1/8" of goo.
Now take the 11/16" tube and cut another disc from the milk carton.
You now have a beeswax sandwich on heavy wax paper.

Now , remember that loose disc of paper in the bottom of the case covering the powder? Take a dowel and insert into the case mouth. Push the disc of paper up against the powder charge and against the ID of the case.
This keeps the powder up against the flash hole so that gawd almighty will not have to kill a kitten. Trust me here, if the powder charge is not held up against the flash hole an entire litany of failures can and will occur. Now after all this you see that the voodoo in all this is the material this disc is made of. Flexible enough to be folded backwards and inserted through the case mouth and resilient enough to return to its original flat form, kind of.
Ideally what happens is the disc when seated bends backwards, comes in contact with the ID of the casing, and forms an interference fit.

Okay, back to the "Snot Wad" It's what grand dad called it. Not strictly necessary but when shooting lead does keep the bore clean.
When shooting Black powder? Well, you be the judge. ;-)
Place the snot wad into the neck of the case
Place the sized #0 over the snot wad.
A correct size and sized ball will have a bright ring around its middle from sizing.
try to get this ring level with the case mouth.
Seat the ball and if at all with a light taper crimp.

Some advice.
You can get this done with a single piece of tubing sharpened on the inside and on the other end the outside. You'll tire of this quickly.
Try to recover a ball or two from a water trap. See if they are being fully engraved. If not , open the sizing die a bit until they do.
In the case of the .303 that silly little 85gr 32-20 or 100gr pistol bullet works great.
Also in the case of the .303 I found that the magic paper was the green hanging file divider stuff.

If this all doesn't seem worth it, look at it again. It's an awful lot of words for actually very few steps. When any reloading project makes you look at primers as the greater cost you have to pay attention. Add to this that the cases last literally (nearly) forever (neck anneal every x number of cycles) and the powder used is minimal.

DO NOT USE 296 IN REDUCED LOADS. Just an opinion but it's mine.
This is a recipe for disaster that other than the "tamping card" that I place over the reduced charge, In any case I don't use reduced charges of 296, ever.

So yes, it works. It works for most anything around or just over 30 cal. Velocities can be adjusted for 500 fps to about 900 fps.
BEWARE OF THE LOW END, ANYTHING SLOWER THAN 500FPS IS INVITING A SQUIB.
Oh? faster than 900 fps you ask? Go ahead. knock yourself out, but reflect for a moment on the near nonexistent gas seal formed on the narrow ring formed in the sizing die.

All for now ...
 
Shot some 358 Win light pistol bullets for high velocity varmints at moderate ranges... 125 gr 357 hp and sp bullets same powder charge of RL7 yield average velocity of 3088 fps ...the HP 125 gr were more accurate of the two. Added a little more powder to the 50 gr copper with deep HP made for 9mm pistol had a velocity of 3840 fps up from 3766 fps on last outing, from a 16" barreled AR 10 in 358 Win ...220 Swift velocity when the 16" barrel is considered...a fun load no recoil.
Can I like this several times?
Did you have any cycling issues with the light, fast bullets?
 
he wouldn't believe me! Followed me about 30 miles to visit a very unhappy judge.
Oh does this sound familiar!

"If you don't believe me, open up a cartridge!"
This produced a swagged ball and minimal powder.
Case dismissed...
Although not without a stern warning and some skepticism.
 
quick aside...

Are we all just weirdos with our affinity for the versatility of the 35's?
Every time I bring this up when "bench hunting" over a beer I mostly get
"deer in the headlights" (pun intended) looks from all in attendance before one of the zoomers gets out a glass phone (modern version of a reloading manual) and sees I'm not the only one.
 
Here are 180gr to 250gr but .358 Pistol bullets are less documented.
Can you imagine the classic semi-jacketed, truncated cone, 125gr, flat point in a 35 bore carbine? Rifle?! How about the huge variety of defensive, cast , jacketed, even hollow points in 125gr to 158gr?!
Anecdotal:
I had to deal with feral dogs. Although I had a fair collection of hand guns and rifles at the time I favored a Remington 141 in 35 Remington for a "handy rifle" around the yard and immediate property. The first effort with the 200gr round nose on a sizable canine was a pass through without expansion. A second round through both shoulders nailed it down but a cranial shot was needed to finish. Not very humane, not very efficient.

I looked at the rest of the gun safe and although the 45 camp carbine and the .357 lever had some appeal growing up with pump shotguns sealed the deal.

I pulled several 200gr bullets and their powder from 35 Remington cases and seated the 125gr semi-jacketed, truncated cone,flat point.

The next time I was confronted with canine cacophony at the house I grabbed the 141 Remington and went to work. Remember the rifle powder? The muzzle flash lit up the yard and freeze frame illuminated the impact of the 125gr on target. There was a significant spherical spray of pink on the side facing me and an even larger balloon of pink on the far side. In between the dog visibly inflated before collapsing without so much as a yelp. I managed to cycle two more times before the pack had figured out what was going on.

I still own that 141 or at least have visiting rights. I have built .358 on a 788 Remington, a 721 Remington (not to worry it was in no way in collectable shape), a 54 Winchester (again was in salvage condition) and presently creating a .358 AR/LAR .308. So I have some small experience with the 35 bore.

First some bit of data from wiki.

180 gr (12 g) SP 2,700 ft/s (820 m/s) 2,914 ft⋅lbf (3,951 J)
200 gr (13 g) SP 2,500 ft/s (760 m/s) 2,776 ft⋅lbf (3,764 J)
250 gr (16 g) SP 2,200 ft/s (670 m/s) 2,687 ft⋅lbf (3,643 J)
Test barrel length: 24
Source(s): Hornady

These are far from plinking loads.
Remington 141 in 35Rem is one of the sweetest pairing ever.
 
Here is one page from the old Lyman cast bullet manual for a guide on pistol powders in the 35
 

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Can I like this several times?
Did you have any cycling issues with the light, fast bullets?
I have an adjustable gas block, no trouble with the 125 gr but the 50 gr bullet and fast powder wouldn't cycle the action at the 125 gr 52 gr powder with 3100 fps, setting. it might if I tryed, or drill out the gas port ...but it's a bunny load...fire, pull the charging handle, release bolt, fire, repeat. They are fun to shoot and ridiculous fast at 3840 fps from a 16" AR 358 Win. And would hit 4000 fps or so, in a 20" Bolt or BLR, where action function is manual.
 
I inherited a model 7 in 358. I helped my friend make a top velocity load with the 225 gr Sierra @ 2400 fps many years ago. I shot some of the last rounds that came with the rifle and decided no reason to beat myself up as I had a great lightweight elk rifle in 338 RCM.

I considered using pistol bullets but ended up getting a great deal on some 180 speer hotcore bullets. It is fun to shoot with far less recoil that the brisk load with 225 sierras. Load: 180 gr Speer BC .245 40 gr of H4895 velocity 1990 fps


After reading this thread I am considering making a 125-158 gr bullets just to see how the model 7 will perform.



A comparison of the XTP and Gold Dot taken from link:
https://www.ballisticstudies.com/Knowledgebase/.358+Winchester.html

For hunting very light bodied deer species, the .358 can be loaded with .357 Magnum bullets. Hornady's 180 grain XTP bullet can be loaded to 2700fps; however, this bullet and the 158 grain XTP are better utilized as youth loads, down loaded to between 2200 and 2400fps, so as not to inhibit penetration.

The .357" Speer 158 grain Gold Dot hollow point and 170 grain Gold Dot flat point at .358 Winchester velocities are more reliable than the XTP on light game up to 60kg (132lb). The 170 grain Gold Dot used at close ranges performs well from muzzle velocities of 2400fps up to 2800fps.
 
I wouldn't recommend pistol bullets on deer. But the lighter 160gr 350 Legend bullets would work. I shoot them at 2800 fps in 16" AR 10.
Ran a bunch of loads.
50 gr copper 9mm HP 3840 fps, 36.7 gr H110 excellent short range 50 yds accuracy with 35 gr H110 at 3766 fps. Not for the average reloader, and only safe in my AR 10..but a start place for those who can obtain the bullets.
125 gr Speer .357 pistol bullet 52 gr RL 7 3088 fps average.
147 gr HST 9 mm pistol bullet 48.0 gr RL 7 2857 fps average.
160 gr 350 Legend 48.0 gr RL 7 2800 fps.
200 gr Hornaday SP 51.6 gr Leverevolution 2400 fps went a bit higher but velocity flattened out in the 16" barrel.
250 gr Hornaday SubX for 350 Legend subsonic loads ...46.0 gr TAC 2247 fps. Do not know how it will preform on game at supersonic speeds, but it was accurate, in the AR 10.
250 Hornady SP TAC did well, same load, but a bit more velocity was had with Leverevolution up in 2300 fps in 16 " barrel, at 49.0 grs but larger S/D, probably don't matter much on a mid range cartridge.
2000MR and CFE 223 were also tried, but these powders were too slow to reach maximum 358 Win velocities of the normally used powders, for that cartridge...so, no help with those powders.
Anyway my recent loading endevors with the 358 Win in 16" AR. Use for informational purposes, all reloading is dangerous...work up carefully as components and firearms vary in dimensions and uniformity of components.
Note for AR user's: An adjustable gas block is necessary for light and heavy bullets, for tbe AR, the fast 50 gr bullets would not cycle the AR 10, in the 125 grain position, not really a surprise, but the 125 gr pistol at 3100 fps would, cycle there.
 
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