Anyone tried any reduced loads in the 350 Legend?

[Calgryphon]

Has anyone here experimented with any reduced loads for the 350 Legend. I have not bought one yet but so far it appears to fit the bill for what I want. Besides replacing my 30-30 as my deer rifle I would like to try out some reduced loads for plinking. I'm retired and my place just about butts up against the State Forest so I can go shooting whenever the mood suits me. The supply of cheap(ish) 9mm pistol bullets has me intrigued. I'm not looking for sub sonic but rather something in the 1200's to around the 1600's with bullets in the 135 to 147 grain weight range. I will be grateful for any info I can get though. I know this is still a fairly "new" round but I'm hoping maybe someone here has played around with some lighter plinking loads. At least to get me started in the right direction. I'm probably going to opt for a Ruger American Rifle with a 20" barrel to pick up a few fps over the 16.38" barrel.

[Stephen Cohen]

From what I know of the 350 Legend it is a rimless 357 maximum, any warm 357 magnum loads should put you in the 1200 range. There are plenty of loads for the 357 maximum in the 1600 range, since your thinking of a bolt gun you can easily work a load to suit. Regards Stephen

[dangitgriff]

No personal experience but...I know a guy on another forum that built and sold one in an AR platform, then turned around and bought a bolt gun in the same caliber to tweak his loads to suit him without the fussiness of the semi-auto. Two things he learned, one being the difference in barrel length between 16 and 20” isn’t enough of a difference to make a real-world difference in m.v. ...second, the 350L can easily be driven to near-.35 Remington performance out of a short-barreled bolt gun.
Like the previous poster noted, find a powder that works and work up to your desired performance level. My friend said he found new load data for 350L on several powder makers’ websites. Good luck and have fun!

[Dapaki]

Reduced loads with RedDot work very well in bolt actions. I have the BCA 350LGD upper and though the reduced load will not cycle, it's a side charger so ejection and rechambering is very easy.

I run 8gr of RedDot under a 200gr LEE 358-200-RF boolit (I know, its too heavy for your specifications) for 1200 FPS. Fun to run, accurate within reasonable distances and a dream to reload. Watch your bullet profile as some will not chamber off the mag in the AR but all should hand feed into a bolt action just fine.

[Calgryphon]

Thanks for the responses. The effect barrel length (16"-20") had on velocity was one thing I was hoping to hear a little about. I guessed that most reduced loads I would be testing would be with faster pistol or shotgun powders so I was curious if 4" of barrel length would show any kind of a marked increase. Researching 357 ballistics versus barrel length 16" actually seemed to be something of a sweet spot. I couldn't help but notice the similarities between the 357 Maximum and the 350 Legend. My thoughts were to start with low level 357 loads and go from there. Any more info or even thoughts on the subject are certainly welcome. That 200 grain bullet with RedDot might be something to try in the future although I don't think Reddot meters through my powder dispenser very well so it'd be a little slower to reload.

[dverna]

This morning I was reading a long thread on the .350 by Oldfeller on this site. He was working with an AR. Worth reading if you plan on loading the .350. There were (are?) a few issues with .350 cases that sounded concerning.

It is nice to have a cheap plinking round. My .38/.357 rifles get more use than any other rifle I own.

Good luck.

[Calgryphon]

I wasn't able to find the thread you're referring to. I have read of some issues but they all involved problems trying to convert 223 brass or using the wrong crimp. It seams that some guys (and Winchester originally) were using a roll crimp instead of a taper crimp. Was there something else I missed?

[fcvan]

Has anyone here experimented with any reduced loads for the 350 Legend. I have not bought one yet but so far it appears to fit the bill for what I want. Besides replacing my 30-30 as my deer rifle I would like to try out some reduced loads for plinking. I'm retired and my place just about butts up against the State Forest so I can go shooting whenever the mood suits me. The supply of cheap(ish) 9mm pistol bullets has me intrigued. I'm not looking for sub sonic but rather something in the 1200's to around the 1600's with bullets in the 135 to 147 grain weight range. I will be grateful for any info I can get though. I know this is still a fairly "new" round but I'm hoping maybe someone here has played around with some lighter plinking loads. At least to get me started in the right direction. I'm probably going to opt for a Ruger American Rifle with a 20" barrel to pick up a few fps over the 16.38" barrel.

I run the Lee 356-125 2R, powder coated and sized to .358, in my Marlin Camp 9, and AR 15 in 9mm. My standard pistol loads run 1350 fps from a carbine, basically mimics the 125 JHP 357 M police load carried by the CHP for years. I know I could get better results using a few different powders, I just load Unique. The Marlin will take any boolit profile, and the AR prefers the RN. I could make the AR perform differently if I changed the platform from Colt stick mags to accept Glock mags as they are double stack, center feed as opposed to double stack, alternating side feed. I am still mulling that over.

The advantage to the 350 is you can use heavier bullets/boolits, the downside is the cost of the rifles. I built 2, wife's and mine, and 5 others with friends and family. The kit (everything but the lower) was $399, free shipping, and lowers were $40-50, plus tax and registration. I know some folks run heavier boolits, I just stick with the first mold I ever bought, the Lee.

I don't know where you hunt or how big your deer are, the '357 equivalent' 9mm carbine will do the job with proper shot placement. Heck bunches of deer have been taken with 22lr, with proper shot placement, but I wouldn't advise it. Oh ya, I also built an AR 15 pistol, also 9mm with a 10" barrel. The loss if 6" of barrel only reduced the velocity to 1325 fps. Fun shooter, broken down (upper and barrel separated, lower buffer tube separated) fits in an ammo can. It only takes a minute to assemble or disassemble.

My carbine with upper/lower separated fits in a briefcase sized locking aluminum case, taking only as long as it takes to align the pivot and take down pins. I went to a range where others were shooting, they were wide eyed when I put the briefcase on the bench, assembled the rifle, and voila, I had a carbine. They had to come over and ask questions. I thought that was pretty cool.

[smokeater]

I know this post is a couple of months old but I to have the 350Legend in a Ruger American Ranch rifle. While I have not shot any cast in mine, our son in law has shot loads of HyTek coated bullets in his 350Legend AR. I have been using PowerBond plated in mine and have run them as fast as 2300fps with excellent results. I have shoot both 124gr plated round nose and a 123gr .356 sized to .355 plated hp with equal results. While not cast, also have shot 147gr JHP to right at 2400fps, also excellent results from all bullets from a range of 25 to 100yds. Excellent eastern woods gun and my personal favorite for carrying when just plundering around in the woods and fields. According to online energy calculators bullet energy at muzzles often exceeds 1700 to 1900 ft lbs of energy with very mild but moderate recoil.

[Harter66]

Where gas isn't required Unique might be good . 38/357 data with it basically butts up with 357 starting where +p 38 ends . I expect the same is true stepping into the 357 max .
4895 perhaps ?
H322 in volumes of 80% + , even where it might be too slow , has been surprisingly good in 45s for faster loads . I haven't used it reduced further .

[colonelhogan44]

I have a 357AR (the cartridge 350 legend copied) with a 20" barrel and I've drilled the carbine length gas port out to 0.120 for maximum gas in hopes of getting moderate loads to cycle reliably. I've installed a superlative adjustable gas block for cranking down the gas for full power loads. I've yet to experiment with reduced loads, but my goal is to make some moderate 158gr loads with blue dot, 2400 or similar that still cycle.

[cwlongshot]

YES YES!!

I am having a BALL With a Accurate 270g (36-270c) and Herco!!!

7-8g is where Im at 8 is transonic. 7 I get a tail wag but 2" 100y accuracy from all. BOLT GUN.

CW

I haven't read posts yet. . Doing so now.

[cwlongshot]

I had near desasterious results with Blue Dot in the 350. LOVE BD, but not in a Legend!!

I have shot resized 125 SP to 2600 fps. Mt 230 NOE cast to nearly 2000. So far every 357 Mag load has proved a good starter for the legend. This makes sense too as the legend has more posder cap and is loaded to 55k where the Maxi is limited to 45k.

I have been shooting the Maxi since about 1986. Just a few years after it came To be. I like it a aweful Lot too!!

My cast Lyman 355637 (i think) its about 152 as I cast but supposed to be a 147 BB bullet ahoots Well For Me as a plinker.

I have a nice warm load @ 2100 with a HP 358429 bullet.

I have the subs above that are a favorite but you say your not wanting a sub. (Your missing out!!)

Its a fun caliber for the caster as dozens upon dozens ir bullets are avalible to you as long as ya have a .356 sizing die.

Good lukc

CW

[colonelhogan44]

I had near desasterious results with Blue Dot in the 350. LOVE BD, but not in a Legend!!
CW

Please explain?

[cwlongshot]

Unsure what happened...

Ran the load thru quick loads. Reduced three grains from 54k. Carefully loaded, carefully researched with bullet weight, diameter and length. That first load was fired in my RARR. Very loud crack. Recoil was sharp and hard. That load was hot enough to make a near large rifle primer pocket... The bolt handle was excessively difficult to lift. When it did open the case head was very tightly expanded into the bolt head enough to swell the brass .013....

I know 800X can jump excessively and QUICKLY. But this was BLUE DOT.

There is always a chance it was me, but weighing and checking all loads showed perfect. Each was exactly what I wanted them to be. There was not room for dbl charge.

CW

[colonelhogan44]

Isn't Quickload's simulation known to be somewhat unstable with straight-walled cases? What did it read out for pressure when the load was reduced by 3gr?

[dragon813gt]

Isn't Quickload's simulation known to be somewhat unstable with straight-walled cases?

Yes it is. I am always very cautious w/ straight wall cases and work up from minimum even if it means more components used finding the load.