.358 Winchester

[300blk]

I'm considering rebuilding a Mauser action into .358 Winchester.
its velocities seem in the ideal range for cast, with the mass to make a helluva hunting rifle.

talk me into/ out of this

what twist rate would you recommend?

any specific mold for hunting?

[35 shooter]

Would be an absolutely awesome hunting rifle and cast boolit shooter.
Noe 360200, or the noe 360230 should work well in a .358 and are super accurate in my 35 whelen.

Even with the shorter neck of the .358, i would just "have to try" the noe 360009(358009 clone). The check might wind up a bit below the neck, but if it sized on good and tight, i wouldn't be concerned about it...but that's just me.
The 35's are awesome hunting rifles and darned accurate to boot.

Btw, my 1/14 twist whelen handles all three of those boolit weights easily and accurately.
So a 1/12 or 1/14 twist would be my choice on twist rate.

[Mk42gunner]

If I had been casting rifle boolits when I built my Whelen, it would have been a .358.

1:14" works for just about any sane load in a .35 caliber rifle.

Robert

[300blk]

Thanks!

I'm thinking of setting it up in a "semi-scout" configuration.
keeping the original stripper clip guide for use, aperture rear and "winged" front sight post
18-20" med contour barrel, along with an appropriate thread pitch for a muzzle break/form 1 can down the line, the break may prove unnecessary. But I'm hoping to keep this under about 7-6.5# in total.
Might have to hunt down a 1:12 blank somewhere. (Just in case I'd wanna run subs)

Any other opinions are certainly welcome!

This is a far cry from the usual fare for me.

[300blk]

Any recommendations for powder selection?
any experience forming from 308 win?
New brass seems difficult to come by, if an exceptionally difficult process, I may just buy from GRUMPA. Seems like with in the neck lube it could be done in one pass.

[RPRNY]

I like 4895 and 4227 for the 35 Krag, which has a grain or two more case capacity- and a lovely long neck - but loads very similar to the 358 Win.

[Reverend Al]

I only have a small quantity of factory brass for the .358 Winchester I built recently and I need to reform a bunch of .308 brass to fit it. I have tapered neck expanders that I can use to "taper" the necks from .30 up to .35, but I could also fire-form them with cornmeal loads too. Has anyone here had any better success with one method over the other? Some people claim that the tapered neck expanders can leave the necks a little bit off kilter and not true to the rest of the case. Anyone care to comment on that? Personally I kind of like the idea of the tapered expanders and have used them in the past on other cartridges I've reformed since I can expand the original necks to oversize for the application and then size them back down to "crush fit" on the newly created "false" shoulder to headspace the reformed cases correctly in my rifles. What are your thoughts?

[Piedmont]

Reforming .358s from .308s is exceptionally easy, just run a lubed case (including inside the neck) through the sizer die. On this Mauser conversion you may want to take into account its original chambering. It might be a 7x57 or 8x57 and you might want to make your rifle a 9x57 so nothing gets changed with the feed geometry.

[GRUMPA]

Any recommendations for powder selection?
any experience forming from 308 win?
New brass seems difficult to come by, if an exceptionally difficult process, I may just buy from GRUMPA. Seems like with in the neck lube it could be done in one pass.

It's easier to do than you may think. The biggest issue is holding the shoulder (AKA Gauge Dimension) and sometimes dies need to be altered in order to hold it in the right location.

This is how I check the (SHOULDER) gauge dimension.

[Texas by God]

Do it! You' ll love the .358 Win. Best, Thomas.

[MostlyLeverGuns]

Hornady brass has been available recently. I really like Accurate 2015 for 200 grain, used to use 4895 for 225's, now TAC under a 225 Partition will be my elk load. 1-12 would be fine. Feeding in a 98 Mauser may need 'tinkering/adjusting' of the feed rails VERY CAREFULLY. I've fireformed military 7.62, neck expanding works OK. I lubricate cases when fire forming or on first firing to get shoulder in 'right' place. My Savage 99's have 'generous headspace. When rebarreling, an absolute minimum headspace chamber will help when using resized 308 or 7.62. The RCBS 200 Flatnose or the NOE clone work well. The NOE 35XCB works better in the wind, but the flat point is better for hunting with cast. The .358 is just a very fine cartridge, it is far more than a brush buster (whatever that is).

[Bjornb]

Reforming .358s from .308s is exceptionally easy, just run a lubed case (including inside the neck) through the sizer die. On this Mauser conversion you may want to take into account its original chambering. It might be a 7x57 or 8x57 and you might want to make your rifle a 9x57 so nothing gets changed with the feed geometry.

This is very good advice. The .358 Win could be a tad short for perfect feed in a Mauser 98 action. Goodsteel (now unjustly banned) developed the 35 XCB (35x57) which is formed from either 7 or 8 mm Mauser cases (the easy way), or from 30-06/Win 270 cases (the cheap way). The cartridge feeds perfectly, has a little more powder capacity than the 358 Win, and has the longer neck of the 7x57 for better seating of cast bullets.

[NoAngel]

My biggest gripe with the .358 Win is that it took so long to find it's way to me.

It may be the finest cast bullet cartridge ever. It's certainly the finest 'I' have ever loaded.

I use a 230g thor over 3031
Chronographs 1880 fps and it will group under an inch at 100 yards ALL day.

I would LOVE to have a Mauser. My 358 is built from a 357 mag handi rifle barrel on an sb2 frame. A manson reamer and bam, .358 Handi Rifle

You will not regret it.

[Smoke4320]

wonderful cast bullet rifle ..
1-14 3 groove bored by JES . Its as accurate as YOU can hold it still

I will second the 2nd post recommendation "Noe 360200, or the noe 360230 should work well in a .358 and are super accurate"

the NOE copy of the RCBS 35-200 in HP is my favorite (and my rifles)

[Smoke4320]

Attachment 174804

This is the third group fired after developing the load .. all were comparable sizes..
If you notice its slightly left of center
next is the very next group fired at 200 yds .. fired 4 rds... all hit left.. then I reset/zeroed scope for a center shot and called it good

Attachment 174806

[white eagle]

I built a 358 on a model 70 action
so far have used it to harvest elk and whitetail deer
2015 is the powder I like best
I believe mine is a 1/10 or 1/12 twist but all I know is
it is very accurate
I also use a 260 gr.cast from mountain molds
tone it down with a lesser charge of 2400 with exceptional accuracy
a fine cartridge indeed

[300blk]

On this Mauser conversion you may want to take into account its original chambering. It might be a 7x57 or 8x57 and you might want to make your rifle a 9x57 so nothing gets changed with the feed geometry.

That's correct, there will have to be some minor changes to properly feed, but this action was salvaged from a trainwreck of an Israeli 7.62 capture/conversion, all I'm worried about now is the nose width/length, should be fairly straightforward.

Thanks to all for the powder and boolit recommendations!

GRUMPA: thats very informative, I just won a set of .358 Redding dies on eBay, when I get a little closer I will shoot you a pm with specific questions if I encounter any (if that's alright with you)

Smoke: that's some fine shooting, what does 35-200 weigh, once hollow pointed?
i hadn't thought about reboring, I think I've got a 7mm Mauser barrel take off around somewhere... Think that would be a good candidate?

Edit: maybe a good option, but not a the cost of a new barrel, or twice the cost of a blank.

[GRUMPA]

GRUMPA: thats every informative, I just won a set of .358 Redding dies on eBay, when I get a little closer I will shoot you a pm with specific questions if I encounter any (if that's alright with you)

Not a problem, I get more than a few PM's with questions attached.....

And for your sake.....I hope you didn't get LEE dies for that project..

[300blk]

Nope, Redding dies. Have there been issues with the Lee dies in that caliber?

[GRUMPA]

With all the case forming I do the LEE dies are the worst out there. For regular loading for the most part they do just fine, but for forming.....don't go down that road.