Experience with 358 STA
- Thread starter 35 Whelen
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I enjoy my 358 Winchester and know fellows who like the 35 Whelen. I have thought about building a 358/300RUM I have a 300 RUM, 375 RUM and a 416/300RUM. The case is great and available. If I wanted a 358 to go big and fast it would be on the 300RUM case, not a belted case.. I may build one this year before I am too old to enjoy it.
HARPERC
Well-Known Member
There are custom reloader's out there. Hammer Bullets being one. They can help you start to finish with the build and ammo.
Others out there, but Hammer is the one I know first hand.
375 is an awesome round with 300g Gamekings it is is a killer way out there and with 350 Martchkings it is still supersonic out there around a mile. Bigger is better!
Loved mine, for the short time I had it?! Had my smith put it on a Sako Finnbear, for an Alaska hunt that didn't happen. Not really needed for the lower 48.
True, but you can shoot a whitetail with it, I will this coming season.
I was wondering if anyone here had experience with the Cutting Edge 275 or 340 grain?
I built my STA on an A-bolt over 10 years ago when I was planning on attending the University of Fairbanks. I left the barrel at 29" and slapped a cheap brake on it while I decided what finished length to cut it. I made up a bunch of form loads with 250 grain Hot-Cors and (in retrospect, very overconfident-ly) took it on an elk hunt that fall with a 1st gen Burris Laserscope on top.
I killed 2 elk with it that hunt, one at 430 yards and the other at 540, both one shot kills. The gun got tucked away after moving to Virginia and after moving back out west last year I decided to finish it off. The barrel got chopped back to 26", a MBM Lil Beast brake installed, and black Cerakote. It now wears a 4.5-14x40 VX3 Long Range and Seekins low rings.
I left the Douglas "air gauged" barrel long to squeeze as much velocity as I can with the slower powders, and its 1 in 10" so I can stabilize the long bullets. I'm leaning toward the 275 grain, but am happy to hear arguments for the 340.
I built my STA on an A-bolt over 10 years ago when I was planning on attending the University of Fairbanks. I left the barrel at 29" and slapped a cheap brake on it while I decided what finished length to cut it. I made up a bunch of form loads with 250 grain Hot-Cors and (in retrospect, very overconfident-ly) took it on an elk hunt that fall with a 1st gen Burris Laserscope on top.
I killed 2 elk with it that hunt, one at 430 yards and the other at 540, both one shot kills. The gun got tucked away after moving to Virginia and after moving back out west last year I decided to finish it off. The barrel got chopped back to 26", a MBM Lil Beast brake installed, and black Cerakote. It now wears a 4.5-14x40 VX3 Long Range and Seekins low rings.
I left the Douglas "air gauged" barrel long to squeeze as much velocity as I can with the slower powders, and its 1 in 10" so I can stabilize the long bullets. I'm leaning toward the 275 grain, but am happy to hear arguments for the 340.
I am working up a load now for my 358/300RUM with 280g Swift bullets over IMR 4831 in a 1x14 barrel. Will see how it goes today. Great 3200fps round with 225 SGKs but neither will fit in the Savage 110 magazine so it is a single shooter.
I'm excited to hear the report! What length did you end up with on your barrel? I really went back and forth but the gun balances and handles extremely well at 26" + the muzzle brake. I read a lot about how little velocity 358s lose with a shorter barrel but that was always using cartridges with less powder capacity as test subjects.
The only other thing I can't decide about is the contour I chose. It carries well but man does it kick! I don't think I would mind if it had and extra pound or so of meat on the barrel.
The only other thing I can't decide about is the contour I chose. It carries well but man does it kick! I don't think I would mind if it had and extra pound or so of meat on the barrel.
For the 358/300 RUM 26.5" barrel, 1" muzzle brake (my design). I will go with 280g Swift 94g of IMR4831 2907fps. Unrelated to that I have a 358 Winchester with a 200g SGK with IMR4064: lost 100fps when I shortened the barrel from 25 to 20"
Wow sounds like a real hammer! I'd like to experiment with some reduced loads to around 358 Winchester power levels. Do you know if the very light loads using pistol bullets are possible in case capacities as large as ours? I would think not, but I feel like I've read about people doing it with the 358 Norma so maybe there is something there?
