New guy who own's a 358 BLR

[Spot shooter]

Hey guy's,

I'm somewhat new here, I had a account a year or so ago and am trying to learn the trade of how to cast for my BLR.

Waksupi has helped me out a bit from another board, and he even was kind enough to get me some boolits to try in my BLR.

Any tips would be appreciated on building a BLR load.

Thanks,
Spot

[waksupi]

Welcome aboard, Spot shooter.

I do hope some of the guys pipe in on this. I seem to recall there were a couple quirks for BLR's, but not owning one, didn't pay that much attention.

I'm sure you will get overloaded on info here! I'm off to a weekend shoot at daybreak, so they will have a full weekend to corrupt you.

[9.3X62AL]

We'll corrupt him good and proper, Ric.

I have no experience with either the caliber or the rifle, but wish to welcome you here. Now, I damn sure wish I had such a critter--but such is not the case. Someone will come along with some news and views straight away, I'm sure. I tend the Weird Pistol Caliber herd mostly, and stray into the rifle conversations once in a while. My rifle work closely follows my rifle commentary--like a wrecking ball on a chess board--hell for comprehensive, but often lacking in precision.

[MT Gianni]

I have a blr in 308 and kick myself for not buying a 358 used in 89. Mine is the 81 old style made in 1980. It shoots cast as well as jacketed, meaning it heats up and opens up to a 1 1/2" to 2 " group with the best loads at 100 yds. Still knowing its tendencys it remains the last gun I would sell and te first one out of the safe in case of a fire. It wears a trasco 2x8 world class compact and has shot ground squirrels to moose with out ever making me feel that I needed more. That said I have a 356 win that shoots the 358627 215 gr lyman well and a shortened 352 saeco 245 gr to fit through the big bore 94's carrier. The overall length of the 180 gr lbt fn is too short to chamber other than singlely so I have not bothered to load for it. My 356 likes AA 2015 and AA 4064 as well as IMR's 4064 and RL 7. Great gun ya got there. Gianni.

[Buckshot]

..............Spot Shooter, welcome to the board. Any friend of Ric's is, ah, er, in need of help? No wait, that's not it. ah, it'll come to me later.

So what's the twist in that rack-track levergun, 14", 16"?

.............Buckshot

[Ben]

The .358 Winchester will shoot cast bullets just fine, mine is a bolt action .358 that I built on a Mexican 1924 FN short action. I wouldn't trade mine either. See pics attached:

Thanks,

Ben
Alabama

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v494/haysb/Aug11034.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v494/haysb/11.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v494/haysb/Aug11033.jpg

[45nut]

As a owner of a 358 myself I thought this topic most interesting. I havent done that much work with mine yet,but I did bring it to Winnemucca for plinkin. Savage Striker I had rebarreled from 22-250..
http://www.hunt101.com/img/305776.jpg

[onceabull]

S S: Welcome here, & I will be following your work and the comments here with interest as I have acq.one of these rifles for field use to replace my Sav99 358, which has appreciated so much that I can't justify carrying it through any more pole timber thickets... Onceabull

[Bass Ackward]

What I find to be the strangest thing is how they say the American public won't accept 35 caliber rifles. Yet everytime you find a guy that has one, just try and buy it away from him.

Hell, even Kelly admitted he is looking for one these days. Probably already got it, just afraid to mention it for the ribbing he'll take. :grin: I can see him now sitting on a floor in some hotel takin Karabingers and a hammer. WHACK, one 35, WHACK, two 35s, WHACK .........

[Pilgrim]

My BLR is one of the older ones, manufactured in 1979. The original barrel was a poorly manufactured tent peg that Browning declared "good" after lapping and recrowning it. They even claimed it shot one hole groups at 50 yds w/ Win factory 200 gr. stuff. Maybe so...but it musta been a one shot group! I put a Douglas barrel on it. The replacement barrel is heavier and longer (22" vs. 20") so it holds steadier offhand and moves the muzzle blast a bit farther away. Believe it or not, that 2" increase length is very noticable re: muzzle blast. The scope is a Leupold VXIII-1.5 x 5. I removed the barrel band, cut off the bit of forend where the band usta reside, added a piece of ebony to the forend and then bedded ~ 3" of the barrel with the rest floated. I was happier with the accuracy after all of the mods.

My rifle likes the RCBS 35-200 cast of WW + 1.5% 95-5 solder + 5% magnum shot, air cooled, BHN ~ 14. The boolits weigh ~213 gr. GC'd & lubed (LBT Blue or FWFL) after running through a .360 sizer. As cast diameter is .358 or .3585. Sizing only seats the GC and lubes the boolit. A 100% load density of H4895 yields a muzzle velocity of 2430 fps instrument. Groups are 1.5" (5 shot) or a bit less at 100 yds. It also groups well with AA 2015 and VV N135, and I suspect with nearly any of the other "medium burners" I haven't tried (yet). Speer condums (220 gr FP) and Sierra 225 spitzer group about the same as the cast bullets @ roughly 100 fps higher velocity.

It kills right well. One moose last fall. Penetration was significant and damage impressive. The 1st shot exited after ~4' of penetration, hitting the off side ribs and making a 4" exit wound (hole). Amazingly, the critter got up after a couple of minutes and started running. He got shot again for his trouble. Second bullet went through the spine and stopped in the off shoulder under the hide after maybe 3" of penetration. The recovered boolit weighs about 200 gr. Dead moosie. Impressed guides. Happy hunter (3rd try for moosies). FWIW Pilgrim

[Oldfeller]

Now Bass, I don't carry firearms or moldcasting equipment or cast bullets with me when I travel because it would be 1) too bulky and 2) too hard to explain to the airport security people. Heck, I couldn't even explain the hammer you'd have me carrying if it showed up in a suitcase Xray ....

"Excuse me, Sir, can you please come with us ....."

Yes, I am "looking" a 35 something to go with my new soon to be cut 6 banger 180 grain .357 mold. Current best thought candidate is a rechambered Rossi .357 break open rifle (at a miserly $140 or there abouts). Or, if luck brings one my way, a 35 Remington Marlin lever action (I have a sudden fondness for lever actions -- will wonders never cease).

Yes, you may gloat if you wish -- truth is that I have all the 30 something bores now save the .357 and 9.3mm bore sizes. Now, only luck determines what comes my way first (but you will note I am prepared with a mold on the way should it be a .35 caliber).

There is nothing wrong with a .35 caliber gun for short close up work. If I was facing a bear at 5-10 feet I'd only prefer something 40ish or 45ish over it. And, I must admit, even the cognatively challenged amoung us seem to have an easy time of getting the 35s to shoot at any speed that their shoulders can withstand over the short distances the short stubby relatively poor BC slugs will fly before they plow-nose first into the dirt.

Only reservation I have is that the 35 caliber seems to tear game up so drastically without ever killing it -- never did hear so many tales of muiltiple game animals with 4" holes in their necks and torsos and their livers blown out their bodies and their lungs destroyed and hearts cut up and legs broken living so for so long or getting up so many times (less see, 40+ minutes and 3 times now?). Must be a quirk of the caliber.

So as a "no-brainer" short range cartridge, a 35 seems to be a good thing, leastwise to get one and be able to check out all the stories we keep hearing.

Oldfeller


(now newbies -- Bass and I have been trading insults a LONG time now, so don't be taking this serious 'cause neither of us do. He done wrote me a special little hunting story and I'm in the process of storying him back). He's not really cognatively challenged, if he were then he couldn't create such wonderful & intertaining hunting stories with which to amuse me. We can each of us be a bit odd sometimes, so that makes it OK for me to insult him a wee little bit when he asks me to.)

[45 2.1]

[QUOTE=Oldfeller]Yes, I am "looking" a 35 something to go with my new soon to be cut 6 banger 180 grain .357 mold. Current best thought candidate is a rechambered Rossi .357 break open rifle (at a miserly $140 or there abouts). Or, if luck brings one my way, a 35 Remington Marlin lever action (I have a sudden fondness for lever actions -- will wonders never cease).
[QUOTE]

Oldfeller-
That bullet throat engraves VERY hard in the Marlin 35 Rem. leverguns. You almost can't get the lever closed. You won't have any joy with that. Tried it in 4 Marlins that are around/.

[Spot shooter]

Gent's,

Thanks for the warm welcome, I like heavy lead at moderate speeds and the 358 fits that bill like a glove. I tried 4895, and a few others and am currenlty using 225 grain sierra gamekings.

Last fall I found I could use RL7 and get a really tight group, and it does a really nice job on WT deer at right about 2100 FPS. This is was got me interested in what a cast boolit would do and here I am.

I'll have to look up the twist rate on my BLR, she's a new 81 from 2 years ago. Barely breaking her in now, and I'm seeing the pistol grip version :mad: wish I had waited and bought one.

Spot

[drinks]

I have the .358's daddy, a H&R Ultra in .35 Whelen, am using the Lyman 358215, ww's waterdropped, BHN18, LBT soft blue lube.
Best powder , so far, is IMR 4198, 35gr = 2150fps, 40gr = 2380fps,good accuracy and no leading.
This is right up close to .358, 200gr jacketed loads.
Much easier and much cheaper, bet a critter would not know the difference at 200yds.

[Oldfeller]

45 2.1, yeah -- but you know how I like to cheat on things like that. A little firelapping to get rid of the constrictions, maybe followed by a little diamond paste and a rotating threaded rod stuck in the primer pocket of a bullet seated out to the right depth for maxmum length "good feeding case" -- I bet it would fit the rifling engagement point like a glove when I was done.

And then it would ether shoot that one bullet great or I'd sell it ....

Oldfeller

[JDL]

Spot shooter,
Welcome. I think the BLR in .358 is one of the best packages to come along since the '94 and .30-30! No smoother lever have I found, and enough oomph for anything I might come across.
Like Pilgrim, I have the first version of the BLR and, it too, does good work with the RCBS 200 grain boolit. I use 40.5 grains of H-4895 which produces a velocity of 2060 fps and 2" groups at 100. The alloy used consists of 1/3 Lino/lead dropped into water from the mold and expansion/penetration in soaked newsprint is about identical with Sierra's 200 grain.
A couple of years ago, I had Mountain Molds make a 225 grain and it too produces 2" groups at 100 while using 40.5 grains of Surplus 4895 but, velocity is lower at 1971 fps. I'm using plain ol wheelweights that are air cooled with this load and I really would like to try it out on game but, so far, the game hasn't co-operated :-). Jury is still out on whether I have enough confidence to use on elk, although waksupi did a great job on one last year with a slightly heavier boolit.
I have found a really fun load utilizing Lymans 358156 and 10 grains of Unique that does less than 2" at 100. This one can be shot all day with a smile and would probably be a good small game load.-JDL