Long Action to a .358 Winchester ?

[JesterGrin_1]

I wanted to ask the thoughts of the esteemed people ok Nutty People lol on this forum about using a long action such as the one I am thinking on the Marlin XL-7 and use it for the 358 Winchester. I know I will have to change the Magazine and follower and of course the barrel of which I found a Shaw Mag Contour in .358 Winchester.

Thank You all for your time.

[Ben]

If you seat the loaded round in the rear of the mag. box when you load the rifle , you may find that it feeds just fine without changing anything.

[Combat Diver]

In my opinion if your going to use a long action than have it chambered for the .35 Whelen. Use a short action for the .358. This would be like having a long action in .308 Win instead of 30-06. If still completing than a filler at the back of the mag should do the trick. Then a new follower and mag spring from a MXS-7. Feed lips shouldn't have to be worked as the MXL-7 are based on the 06 case and the .308 is just a shortend verison. At least that's how I see it. Good luck!

CD

[JesterGrin_1]

Thank You Ben for the info as I need all I can get. And Ben I know how much you like the 358 Win as you are part of the reason for this insanity lol.

Combat Diver I just built a 35 Whelen and should have it in my hands in the next couple of weeks. I figured since I have another XL-7 on hand why spend the funds to purchase another rifle if I can build what I want with this one.

[waksupi]

Try some dummy .308 rounds, and see how they feed. .308 based cartridges are the most finicky of them all on rail design.

[Ben]

JesterGrin_1 :

Yes......I certainly am a big fan of the 358 Win. A great cast bullet round.

Have you tried a few " 358 Win. Dummies " in the long action yet for evaluation on how they would feed ? Might feed just fine without a lot of changes.

By the way, I'm sorry for the problems I've caused...................

Ben

[JesterGrin_1]

Not as of yet since I do not own a .308 win. So what is the best manufacturer of .308 Win brass to convert to .358 Winchester? That way when I purchase a box to try I can still use the brass.


And no your not lol.

[JDL]

I use Lake City brass mostly.
I converted a long action to a .358 about a decade ago and while it worked about 90% of the time, the magazine would let the short cartridges move around a bit. Last summer I bought a short magazine box and now it works 100% with jacketed and 358318 cast however, short boolits such as the RCBS 35-200 FN will pop out of one side of the magazine(can't remember which) when running the bolt home.
JDL

[Ron.D]

One of the great things about the .358 is that it's so easy to get brass for. I've got 300 pieces and never bought any. I've collected .308 range brass over the past few yrs. Any make necks up well. RCBS have an expander built into their .358 dies. I've necked up most brands of brass and hardly ever get a split neck. Fed. Win. IVI all work just fine, and I don't even anneal the necks. Ron.D

[JesterGrin_1]

Good to hear Ron.D. Thank you for your knowledge on Brass and Dies.

[Four Fingers of Death]

The Marlins Bolt Guns are so cheap, why don't you buy a 22/250-243 or 308 and pulle the barrel on that one. By the time you sell the long action rifle and the new barrel you pull off the donor rifle it won't cost that much. Gunsmith work runs up quickly getting rifles to feed, etc if they decide to not cooperate, which they sometimes do.

You even buy a spare barrel nut and weld the nuts to the barrels and have a quick change 22/250 to 358W, or one of the others.

[JesterGrin_1]

The Marlin is no longer cheap sorry to say. As they have removed them from all of the large outlets. So now only the smaller shops can get them which raised the price $100.oo more than what they were.

But I am sure thinking about getting a Marlin XS-7 in .308 for the change over to .358 Win and cut the barrel down to 20 inches. And use a Boyd's Thumb Hole stock in Forest Camo and bead blast all the metal and use some Duracoat in Ruger Silver. He also built the 35 Whelen for me as pictured above.

Something like this one the Silver Fox built by Dangerous Dan in .243 AI.

[gee-gaw]

The nice thing about short action cartridges in long actions is the increased powder capacity, you don't have to seat those long .35 boolits so deep in the case. I think you may need a filler- block in the back of the mag. box to get her to feeding regular.All this is just my .02 worth, you're mileage may vary.
Wayne

[JesterGrin_1]

Wayne I was going to use a short action mag box from the .308 on the long action so solve that problem. But have just decided to wait a bit and start with a short action. And just leave the Marlin XL-7 30-06 Long Action alone. Everyone needs an 06. Especially one that you do not have to worry about scratching the stock. And more especially down in South Texas where everything sticks you lol.

[Char-Gar]

I once had a .308 built on a standard length 98 action and it feed rounds from the magazine slicker that snot on a glass door knob. I doubt it you will need to fiddle with your magazine.

[Four Fingers of Death]

I once had a .308 built on a standard length 98 action and it feed rounds from the magazine slicker that snot on a glass door knob. I doubt it you will need to fiddle with your magazine.

I am glad it worked for you. That has not been my experience, but the problem is fixable. Maybe your gunsmith attended to it before yo recieved the rifle (as he should).

[Char-Gar]

4 fingers.... I was the gunsmith. Back in the late 50's and early 60's we barreled a number of 98s to other calibers. We were flooded with them as WWII souvenirs. The availability of cheap 98 actions gave rise to a fit of re-barreling and wildcat madness. The .243 required a filler block soldered to the front of the magazine box with a tapered concave top to guide the small bullet into the chamber. Without the filler block, it wouldn't do well.

The .308 did just fine without the filler block due to the larger bullet which seemed to make the trip just fine. I fitted the one in question with a 30 caliber US machine gun barrel. These were plentiful and cheap as well. By the time it was shortened from the breech, threaded and rechambered to .308 it was just 20" in length. I would assume the .358 would do as well or better.

About the same time, I have a Remington 30S (commercial version of the P17/P14 action in 25 Remington. Talk about a short round in a long Magazine! Remington used a filler block concave on top to act as a feed ramp. I learned much, studying that Remington.

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