The ultimate 358 Winchester

[Idaho Sharpshooter]

I swore off of M1's after watching my brother's step-kid blow one up. Springfield charged my brother a lot of Benjamins to repair it. I'll take an AR-10. Especially considering the modularity.

[JesterGrin_1]

so do you suppose a 20" barrel in 35 whelen would limit the cartridge? considering I don't plan on using it past 150-200yards?

As the saying goes it depends. If going with cast I do not feel it will make much of a difference due to the speed that we drive the boolits at. But if using jacketed then you may loose 1OO FPS or so from the 24" down to the 20". But an animal will never know lol.

[MBTcustom]

so do you suppose a 20" barrel in 35 whelen would limit the cartridge? considering I don't plan on using it past 150-200yards?

Not in the slightest. The only reservation I have with doing this to the M1 Garrand is the relatively fragile Op rod. You have to be careful what to feed a Garrand in original 30-06 to avoid bending that very specific part, and I could see making the conversion to 35 Whelen being a tricky situation that would require careful use of the adjustable gas block.

Also, my own tests in 35 caliber show that the gains you get from 35 Whelen over the 358 Winchester are negligible when dealing with cast bullets. I was able to drive faster and harder with 35 caliber using my 35XCB cartridge and bullet, but applying the same methods to 35 Whelen offered no improvement.

I see chambering the Garrand in 35 Whelen for use with cast bullets to be a very touchy proposition with a cartridge that could ruin the rifle if not loaded very close to what the 358WCF offers.
Regardless, you will not fill that case with powder and get cast to play nice, even if you go with ultra slow twist rates. I built bolt actions as slow as 1-18 twist, and could not get a 35 caliber bullet to maintain less than 2 MOA at anything over 2600FPS, and all that extra case capacity just adds a powder position sensitive cartridge to the mix (unlike the 358WCF which is a "fill it up to the neck and cram in a bullet" proposition that seems made for a semiautomatic situation).

Not that I'm trying to discourage anyone, but these are the reasons I have not gone there myself. I see a lot of extra expense, and a more fragile/picky rifle for no real gain considering the M1A/358 combo has proven itself nearly bullet proof, easily handling 285 grain WFN bullets with almost zero feeding issues, and no bent Op rods whatsoever in spite of the fact that a wide range of powders and bullet weights have been used (in fact, it worked like gangbusters before the adjustable gas block was installed, which was done just as an added precaution to make sure a good thing stayed good forever). To say nothing of the fact that the 20 round magazine fits the MO of this rifle very well, while an enblock with 8 seems like a step backward.
That's just my opinion. Take it for what it's worth.

[texasnative46]

goodsteel,

IF I was going to rebore an M1 Garand, it would be one of the "surplus Italian parts kits" that have .308 barrels & it would be rebored to .358WCF.

yours, tex