Timber gun

[wilkup]

Not yet. Sent the rifle out to get rebored from 300 WSM and waiting for its return.

 

[Otto6555]

This year I had to hunt some new areas due to fires around me and I found my current setups to be unsuited for these new places.
Specifically, I spent my season in some very heavy timber and the river bottom foothills.
My go to rifle the past several seasons is a little 7mm wildcat set up for chasing bear/bucks in the high allpine areas around me. It has a 4-20x Tract which was actually a step down from the 6-24 it wore last season.
4x is still too much for the areas I found critters this season so opted for my little 6 ARC which wears a 2-10x36 Credo HX. Excellent scope! I just didn't have the confidence to send a round on a monster bear at 150 yards which left me wanting more. A lot more! Like .338+
I considered creating a wildcat or rechambering my ARC in another thread for one of the AR rounds that are fairly new to the industry before my practical side arrested control and pushed me towards the 338 RCM. I thought I successfully had one purchased only to have the sale fall through which sent me back to the drawing board.
Enter this past week the new - Ruger M77 Hawkeye Hunter 358 Win with a 16.6" barrel. Hmm
Compact
Light(ish)
CRF
Medium bore
My buddy would like to buy my ARC for his son and I will be retaining the Credo. Pendleton stocks is one a few companies that offers stocks inlet for the M77 and I think their Classic A would pair wonderfully with this Trapper boltgun. Maybe I buy this little Ruger and send it to DE to get the +P treatment at which point I have my perfect compact timber trapper.
Anyone hunt with this round?
I've got a little custom Marlin Trapper 30-30 that's just too pretty to use in bad weather but it's always a joy to shoot or carry. I can only hope to discover its boltgun equivalent.
Photos of my Marlin, the Ruger, my ARC

I've hunted the hardwoods and Laurel thickets for the better part of 45 years and I have owned or own most every Centerfire caliber known to mankind and I can say the
358 Winchester in a compact setup is the Perfect setup for anywhere that's 125 yards away from your stand be it sitting or stalking
Mine is a Remington 600 custom medium weight 18 inch barrel with a mannlicher stock
With a tip over scope and iron sites with 3 leaf fold up or down rear site
I bought the rifle that way many years ago and whoever did all the modifications was either a frequent visitor to Africa or just knew how to built a package like that
You will never be disappointed in the 358 Winchester and they do very little meat damage as another plus

 

[Alibiiv]

.358 Win. in that package should be a sweet little timber/brush gun! memtb

I do not know if I showed this one to you or not. I may have already posted this on this thread, it is an older thread. Ruger 77, like 1976 vintage (?), .358 Winchester, 20 inch 1:14 XCaliber, featherweight #1 contour barrel, glass and pillar bedded, blueprinted action. put the Ruger stock on a diet, and just got it back from checkering. I'm still working on load data. I got some data from Handloader magazine, however….it didn't like the data, and that needs more tweaking too.

 

[Alibiiv]

Its a better hammer in my opinion than 45-70. Inside 300 yards there is nothing in north america that it cannot safely kill

Certainly a little easier on the shoulder

 

[Bull_Mtn]

I had a .350 Remington Magnum in two different rifles for many years. The .350 was one of my favorite rifles. The first one was only offered one year in a Mod 700 Short action. It was very accurate with hand loads. I bought it as a timber gun, but when I started shooting it at 500 yds and saw how well it shot at that distance. I was convinced it would do a good job on elk at that distance. I finally got the opportunity on a downhill shot that ranged at 525 yds. The first two shots were high the third hit behind the front shoulder and the bull dropped immediately. The shot passed through but did its job inside. I was shooting a 200 gr Partition. A couple of years later my home was broken into and the .350 and a Custom .300 Win Mag that was doing some scope swapping on and failed to return to the safe, were stolen. I tried to find another .350 without any success. So I contacted Remington Custom Shop. They built me a .350 on a then new Model 7 action. I couldn't wait to take it out and shoot it. It weighed around 7 lb with a Burris Signature 2X7 scope. I knew it was going to kick more than the other one, but not that much more!!! I didn't even try to sight it in. My next trip through Bozeman I dropped off the rifle at Gentry Custom LLC in Belgrade. Gentry made a muzzle brake to match the barrel and Cerakote to match the barrel and action. With that and a better kick pad, I ventured out to the range again. l was able to sight the rifle in with very little discomfort and it shot well. I started carrying it more than any other rifle. I shot many elk a couple of deer and a bear with that rifle. When the elk hunting changed for me in later years I started shooting my beloved .300 WSM at ranges beyond 500. I finally sold the .350 to help finance my entry into precision airgun benchrest.

 

[Bobby Bailey]

My go-to brush gun is a M96 6.5x55 with 156 Norma round noses.

 

[memtb]

I do not know if I showed this one to you or not. I may have already posted this on this thread, it is an older thread. Ruger 77, like 1976 vintage (?), .358 Winchester, 20 inch 1:14 XCaliber, featherweight #1 contour barrel, glass and pillar bedded, blueprinted action. put the Ruger stock on a diet, and just got it back from checkering. I'm still working on load data. I got some data from Handloader magazine, however….it didn't like the data, and that needs more tweaking too.

That is a good looking rifle, and should be a great handling little rifle……nice! memtb

 

[98cwitr]

In moderate to heavy timber, where you're shots are well within a 100 yards, my two go-tos would be either a 300blk AR pistol, or a 45LC +P lever gun.

 

[wilkup]

In moderate to heavy timber, where you're shots are well within a 100 yards, my two go-tos would be either a 300blk AR pistol, or a 45LC +P lever gun.

I'm on board if we're deer hunting but would personally feel very uncomfortable challenging a bear with only my Blackout in hand.

 

[wilkup]

I had a .350 Remington Magnum in two different rifles for many years. The .350 was one of my favorite rifles. The first one was only offered one year in a Mod 700 Short action. It was very accurate with hand loads. I bought it as a timber gun, but when I started shooting it at 500 yds and saw how well it shot at that distance. I was convinced it would do a good job on elk at that distance. I finally got the opportunity on a downhill shot that ranged at 525 yds. The first two shots were high the third hit behind the front shoulder and the bull dropped immediately. The shot passed through but did its job inside. I was shooting a 200 gr Partition. A couple of years later my home was broken into and the .350 and a Custom .300 Win Mag that was doing some scope swapping on and failed to return to the safe, were stolen. I tried to find another .350 without any success. So I contacted Remington Custom Shop. They built me a .350 on a then new Model 7 action. I couldn't wait to take it out and shoot it. It weighed around 7 lb with a Burris Signature 2X7 scope. I knew it was going to kick more than the other one, but not that much more!!! I didn't even try to sight it in. My next trip through Bozeman I dropped off the rifle at Gentry Custom LLC in Belgrade. Gentry made a muzzle brake to match the barrel and Cerakote to match the barrel and action. With that and a better kick pad, I ventured out to the range again. l was able to sight the rifle in with very little discomfort and it shot well. I started carrying it more than any other rifle. I shot many elk a couple of deer and a bear with that rifle. When the elk hunting changed for me in later years I started shooting my beloved .300 WSM at ranges beyond 500. I finally sold the .350 to help finance my entry into precision airgun benchrest.

I love stories like this

 

[wilkup]

Looks like I'm building a 358 Winchester [sort of] after all.
I took a hike with my Howa Mini 6 ARC yesterday in case I bumped a coyote or cat during my walk. I have gone back and forth over keeping or selling this little rifle and was just so tickled by how comfortably it carries and points I started thinking about a simplified wildcat.
I've read about the 8.6 Blk, the 375 Raptor, 358 Hoosier, etc and went to work on forming something up in my reloading room when I got home.
I grabbed a Starline 308 Match case and ran it through a 35 cal expander to blow the neck out. Then I trimmed the case neck until my case was 1.89" before seating a 200gr Barnes TTSX. After clipping the blue tip I have a COAL of ~2.4" which fits perfectly into the aftermarket Oregunsmithing extended mag box.
I've ordered:
Xcaliber #4 contour 12" twist barrel
Starline 308 match brass
CCI 450 primers
Hammer 140gr Stone Hammer
And am finalizing my wildcat reamer with Kiff at PTG tomorrow morning for production!

Now I'm going to have a fast/light 35 cal hammer for <300 yard and a big medium range 35 cal for ~600yds
This will be the year of medium bores for me and I couldn't be more excited

 

[98cwitr]

I'm on board if we're deer hunting but would personally feel very uncomfortable challenging a bear with only my Blackout in hand.

Around here, we have smaller black bears. Where you are, I would want something with a bit more thump. You're not gonna go wrong with that .358.