Opinions on rifle for 350 legend?

[JSH]

Seems every time I see a 350 thread there is discussion on bullet performance.
I am on the fence if I want one or not. I have found 35’s very forgiving with cast. When I say 35’s that will include a fairly wide span from 38SW through 350 Remington magnum. Sure I could make a varmint rifle out of a pistol bullet if I were so inclined. I have run some 125jhp through a 35 Remington, it is some what spectacular on small colony type animals.
A little reading and studying goes a long way. There were more options as far as jacketed some years back. There are still some very good ones as well.

Being as this is castboolits, an alloy change will go a long way.

Have to agree on the Savage rifles made in the last several years. I dislike, almost hate the center feed. Matter of fact all have been fitted with single shot followers.
I have some fairly early ones. One was even designed and built to challenge the 40X, forget the model. Then have some 80’s pre accutrigger that are nice. Even a couple of accutrigger SS that are over and above what I see today.
I see plenty of new used in the racks. Try and find one of the 80-90’s rifles.

[Misery-Whip]

I have a savage edge in 308. (They had to rename to Axis) great shooter, harvested 2 black bears 5 blacktails. From 110 yards out to 275. You dont get many opportunities here to shoot farther even at clubs In my area. So i get closer. For target work my smallest group with the rifle is 7/8 on centers 3 shot group at 100yds (Wolf steel case 150gr. It came free from the lgs at purchase) I am happy for the price point and with our soggy pnw weather i wanted something i didnt care about. Barrel came free floated. The factory trigger was heavy but breaks clean. My skill set I was able to succesfully trim a coil and a half (a 1/4 coil at a time)off the trigger return spring to 4lbs. Things i tolerate, you might want to know:

Stock is very flexible in the wrist. So shooting off bags for target work is challenging.
Make sure the mag is seatted correctly. It will seat incorrectly.
Light weight barrel needs to cool down after 3 shots. Groups grow 30% for shots 4 and 5.
Buy a leupold or better scope. Or get an iron sight model. Nikon prostaff will hold a zero for a while but its on a 22 now.
I needed to buy an egw scope base to get my eye relief correct for the nikon and leupold.

Mayb the axis 2 is better? Ive never held one.
Thinking of making a youth single shot stock from a slab of maple i have. My older son will be ready next year.

[shortlegs]

He doesnt cast and only shoots jacketed bullets.

[cwlongshot]

Shooting cast was how I justified the purchase of the 350.
With Winchesters ignorant decision to make it a 355... No rifle bullets have been available till recently.

Cast dosent have that limitation and a few thousandths either way is inconsequential from that stand point. One just needs to size the bullet to the application. Mush like we would when sizing a bullet for a revolver.

Being this is Cast Boolit Forums. Its surprising a poster isnt a caster. Most would assume if your here you are a caster or you make it plain your not.

CW

[jonp]

I've got both Mossberg and Savage rifles in various calibers. Both are well made for plastic stocked guns on the lower price scale, no problems with them and very accurate for hunting. My wife's Savage 243 shot about .87 with my first handloads and a very old 4x Tasco that was cloudy.

[jonp]

I have run some 125jhp through a 35 Remington, it is some what spectacular on small colony type animals.

I bet it was spectacular. What velocity did you run them at?

[grantharris1945]

PSA has an upper for about 300


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[quilbilly]

Since I already have a T/C carbine in 357 max shooting only CB's, I am a bit biased toward the max but if I was planning on putting getting a Mossberg and putting a 350 legend barrel on it, I would pick the Mossy Patrol rifle with the 16 1/4" barrel. I have one in 308. It is a very handy, quick rifle.

[treebeard]

I'm on my 3rd rifle chambered for the 350 legend round. The first was the Savage Axis ll XP and my experience with this gun was negative from the start. Feeding rounds was very inconsistent. Some would get lodged on an angle in the chamber. Then the bolt would not pick up some from the mag. Failure to pick up was due to the bottom of the mag floating--the top clips in and the bottom just loosely sits there. When a round is fired, the bottom of mag pushes out slightly--just enough so the bolt will not pick up. I also had 3 rounds out of 30 that failed to fire due to light primer strike. That gun went back to the gun shop 4 days after purchase. I was originally attracted by package price with scope. I also tried a Mossberg Patriot a friend won and wanted to sell. I could not get this gun to hold a decent group after 40 rounds. Looking it over I saw a lot of cheap features--plastic mag and retainer clip, feel of stock and mushy recoil pad. So I passed on the Mossberg. Third gun was a Ruger American--the camo model with 22 inch barrel and muzzle break. The barrel and receiver are finished with Cerakote and has a nice look. It also comes with a picatinny scope rail. The mag is all steel DuraMag and holds 5 rounds [AR type mag]. The feed of this gun was a little stiff out of the box, but kept getting smoother the more I used it--not an issue now and all rounds feed as they should. I am shooting 1 inch groups with this gun. The Ruger cost more that the other 2 guns I tried but the difference is significant--for me, this one is a keeper.

[rockrat]

I bought the Ruger American. Feeding is still stiff and I seldom get 4 rounds to feed easily or at all. I have been just putting a mag in and using it as a single shot.

Thinking of sending a Rem 600 off to JES to get it rebored and chambered for the 350 and ditching the Ruger.

[charlie b]

There are lemons in every group. Some have fewer lemons than others.

I have an Axis II I bought a few years ago as a cheap truck gun. Walmart special in .223 with a heavy barrel. Stock fore end was a bit flimsy but workable. Shot MOA almost from the start. After a few hundred rounds I noticed it got more accurate. Now it wears a good stock and high power optics. It shoots 0.5 MOA at 300yd and less than MOA at 600yd, so it is not my truck gun anymore (close to 3000 rounds through it now). Never had a problem with the rifle. But, others do.

I would not hesitate to get a Ruger either. I've never had a Mossberg rifle, only shotguns, so can't comment on them.

[charlie b]

I bought the Ruger American. Feeding is still stiff and I seldom get 4 rounds to feed easily or at all. I have been just putting a mag in and using it as a single shot.

Thinking of sending a Rem 600 off to JES to get it rebored and chambered for the 350 and ditching the Ruger.

Why would the Rem feed better than the Ruger? I do love the Rem 600's.

[rockrat]

Figured once JES works his magic on it, after the rebore, it should work a lot better than the Ruger. I figure JES would not send out a rifle that didn't work properly, and if it only feeds one properly, then its as good as the Ruger and I am sure the bolt will work so much smoother.
I do plan to try and different mag than the one that came with the rifle. Will see if that improves things.

I know you can get a lemon now and then, but the last three new Ruger rifles I have bought, one has been a good one.

[charlie b]

I didn't realize JES reworked magazines or worked on actions.

[rockrat]

Don't think he reworks magazines, but he might work on actions. Will have to check things out first

[Norske]

The XPR rifle has an excellent reputation at the range where I volunteer as a safety officer. They are accurate even with comparatively inexperienced shooters. Read David Petzal's Field and Stream Gun Nuts article on the XPR before dismissing it. If price is an issue, look for one at CDNN.com. I bought my XPR 30-06 last fall from CDNN for 1/2 the price at a big local store, and a Weaver 3-9X scope was included from CDNN. It was going to be a "truck gun", but it interlocked 5 bullets at 100 meters at our range.

[fatnhappy]

hornsurgeon,
don't be afraid of the Savage Axis II. Had one in 308Win, was super accurate with factory or cast handloads. My son-in-law has same in 243Win. Only traded mine because I wanted to get back to a rifle with open sights and settled for a current production Marlin 30/30Win which by the way also shoots factory and .309 and .310 dia cast bullets very well even though it is a new rifle. However, on a side note, quality in today's products be whatever category can vary from week to week. Get the one YOU want and I think you'll be happier than someone else making your decision.

I apologize for minor thread drift I wanted to comment on the savage axis. I have 3 friends that own them in 3 different deer calibers. .308, 7-08 and .270

All three of them had problems with fliers and all three of them asked me to take a look at them. All three of them were purchased with scopes as a factory option. Guess what..... all 3 of them had loose bases.

The kicker, all 3 of them were tack drivers after properly remounting, degreasing, lapping, remounting the bases, rings and scopes. I was able to repeatedly produce .5 to .75” groups with select factory loads.

I’ll never buy one, The actions aren’t my cup of tea, but I sure as heck respect how they shoot.

[Static line]

A friend bought one in Savage Axis,had nothing but trouble because of the very poor engineering of the magazine fit. He had to dig into it himself with a Dremel to get the magazine to fit so that it would feed ammo. Still, the accuracy very terrible. I would be ashamed if I was Savage.