350 Legend, Lee 200, and Unique

[DaveOhio]

I'm working up some loads for my sons 350 legend Savage Axis. I have the Lee 200-rf mold and have powder coated and sized them to .356

I have a full pound of Unique and would like to come up with a load for this thing in the 1400-1600 range. From personal experience I think this would make a good deer load for 100yards and under.

Gordan's Reloading tool says:
10gr 1384fps 30k
10.5gr 1421fps 33k
11gr 1457fps 37k
11.5gr 1495fps 39k
12gr 1528fps 42k
12.5gr 1562fps 45k
13gr 1595fps 48k

It all looks pretty good on paper, but I wanted to run it by someone with more experience than I have...Does anyone have any data from Quickload to compare this to?

Thanks in advance!

Dave

[P Flados]

You left out some details. Barrel length and AOL do matter. I threw together a table with the default values that popped up.

Cartridge          : .350 Legend (SAAMI)
Bullet             : .358, 200, LEE C358-200-RF
Useable Case Capaci: 29.828 grain H2O = 1.937 cm³
Cartridge O.A.L. L6: 2.260 inch = 57.40 mm
Barrel Length      : 16.3 inch = 412.8 mm
Powder             : Alliant UNIQUE

CAUTION: Figures exceed maximum and minimum recommended loads !

Step    Fill. Charge   Vel.  Energy   Pmax   Pmuz  Prop.Burnt B_Time
 %       %    Grains   fps   ft.lbs    psi    psi      %        ms

-16.7   56    10.00   1422     898   30545   2091    100.0    1.303
-15.0   58    10.20   1438     918   31625   2127    100.0    1.284
-13.3   59    10.40   1453     938   32723   2163    100.0    1.266
-11.7   60    10.60   1469     958   33839   2199    100.0    1.248
-10.0   61    10.80   1484     978   34973   2235    100.0    1.232
-08.3   62    11.00   1499     998   36125   2271    100.0    1.215
-06.7   63    11.20   1514    1018   37296   2306    100.0    1.200
-05.0   64    11.40   1529    1039   38485   2342    100.0    1.185
-03.3   65    11.60   1544    1059   39694   2377    100.0    1.170
-01.7   67    11.80   1559    1079   40921   2412    100.0    1.156
+00.0   68    12.00   1573    1099   42167   2447    100.0    1.142
+01.7   69    12.20   1588    1120   43432   2482    100.0    1.128
+03.3   70    12.40   1602    1140   44717   2517    100.0    1.115
+05.0   71    12.60   1617    1160   46021   2551    100.0    1.103
+06.7   72    12.80   1631    1181   47345   2586    100.0    1.090  ! Near Maximum !
+08.3   73    13.00   1645    1201   48688   2620    100.0    1.078  ! Near Maximum !

[stubshaft]

Wow, I didn't realize that the Legend only beat the 357 mag by 100 - 150 fps.

[mehavey]

the Legend only beat the 357 mag by 100 - 150 fps.

What data source/load combo are you looking at?

[stubshaft]

Speer manual, 357 Mag w/ 200gr., 14.5 H110/296 - 1392 fps. The same bullet in a Maxi pushes 1882 fps. with 680 and my Herrett will do 2000 with 680 too. I have shot hogs, feral sheep and goats with all three cartridges and they are very effective killers. The velocities are from a 10" barrel.

[fastdadio]

Speer manual, 357 Mag w/ 200gr., 14.5 H110/296 - 1392 fps. The same bullet in a Maxi pushes 1882 fps. with 680 and my Herrett will do 2000 with 680 too. I have shot hogs, feral sheep and goats with all three cartridges and they are very effective killers. The velocities are from a 10" barrel.

The loads posted above are using Unique. W296 in the 350L will get us into the 2200fps range.

[DaveOhio]

You left out some details. Barrel length and AOL do matter. I threw together a table with the default values that popped up.

Cartridge          : .350 Legend (SAAMI)
Bullet             : .358, 200, LEE C358-200-RF
Useable Case Capaci: 29.828 grain H2O = 1.937 cm³
Cartridge O.A.L. L6: 2.260 inch = 57.40 mm
Barrel Length      : 16.3 inch = 412.8 mm
Powder             : Alliant UNIQUE

CAUTION: Figures exceed maximum and minimum recommended loads !

Step    Fill. Charge   Vel.  Energy   Pmax   Pmuz  Prop.Burnt B_Time
 %       %    Grains   fps   ft.lbs    psi    psi      %        ms

-16.7   56    10.00   1422     898   30545   2091    100.0    1.303
-15.0   58    10.20   1438     918   31625   2127    100.0    1.284
-13.3   59    10.40   1453     938   32723   2163    100.0    1.266
-11.7   60    10.60   1469     958   33839   2199    100.0    1.248
-10.0   61    10.80   1484     978   34973   2235    100.0    1.232
-08.3   62    11.00   1499     998   36125   2271    100.0    1.215
-06.7   63    11.20   1514    1018   37296   2306    100.0    1.200
-05.0   64    11.40   1529    1039   38485   2342    100.0    1.185
-03.3   65    11.60   1544    1059   39694   2377    100.0    1.170
-01.7   67    11.80   1559    1079   40921   2412    100.0    1.156
+00.0   68    12.00   1573    1099   42167   2447    100.0    1.142
+01.7   69    12.20   1588    1120   43432   2482    100.0    1.128
+03.3   70    12.40   1602    1140   44717   2517    100.0    1.115
+05.0   71    12.60   1617    1160   46021   2551    100.0    1.103
+06.7   72    12.80   1631    1181   47345   2586    100.0    1.090  ! Near Maximum !
+08.3   73    13.00   1645    1201   48688   2620    100.0    1.078  ! Near Maximum !

Thanks for running this. I was going to use 2.26 as the OAL and his barrel is 18".

I'll load a few at all these ranges and post back with the results. Still waiting on a scope for the gun so it may be a while.

[mehavey]

...didn't realize that the Legend only beat the 357 mag by 100 - 150 fps.

Please see: https://thefiringline.com/forums/sho...5&postcount=27

Note that the contrasts between the Legend at 55,000 psi vs Max's 40,000 . . .
and the Legend's "usable case capacity" almost 1/3 greater when actually loaded . . .
(not to mention we didn't use optimal H110/W296) . . .
make the advantage somewhat stark.
(Groundhog day)
(at least for rifles/J-Word/optimized.
Cast operates in its own/but similar limits depending on bullet/coating/alloy/gas check, etc, etc, etc...)

,

[P Flados]

... his barrel is 18".

Add 30 fps to the previous table.

FYI, I run 9.5 Unique under a PC Lee 120 in 357 Max as a "range practice" / "just shooting" load for a Dan Wesson model 40. IMO Unique makes for nice mid range loads in the Max. It should also work well for a mid range 350L bolt gun load.

[DaveOhio]

We tried the loads out at the range, and they were not terribly accurate. The 10 grain load was probably the best. One thing that might have effected the results is that our OAL was to long, and the bullets were touching the rifling. We got that straightened out and are using an OAL of 2.100 which puts the nose about .030 from the bore.

We're going to try another series of loads using AA9, and I will report back leter

[DaveOhio]

Back at the range again... I'm starting to think this savage rifle is never going to work with these lee bullets. Its shoot a 12" 50 yard group. Factory loads touch at 50 yards.

Not sure where to go from here...

Dave

[garandsrus]

Size the bullets to .358. Make sure they chamber before loading a bunch. My 350 Legend shoots the RCBS 35-200 very well.

[lar45]

I don't have a 350 Legend, but I generally get better accuracy with cast when I seat to just engage the rifling. Also size to fit the throat so you get a good alignment into the barrel to start with.
You might try a slower powder also, but I would try the seating depth first.

[DaveOhio]

We finally had some success this afternoon. We decided to go the other direction and start at 7, 8, and 9 grains of Unique. The 7 grain load shot very accurate...We had 1" and under groups at 50 yards. Any hotter than that and the groups opened up.

We also have been doing a lot of testing using Accurate 9, and 13 grains of that powder is a great shooter as well. This load puts us right at 1500 fps, which should be a good deer load as long as we limit our shots to 125 yards. That's not a problem for us, as we always are hunting in the woods where 50-75 yard shots are as long as we ever get.