I have a 358 STA on the way. I was wondering what brass and loads you guys used? Do you form your own brass or buy it from MAST?

Thanks

------------------
www.rifleshooter.net/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi

Bill -- I just returned from a good day of shooting my two STA's. I shoot a Winchester Model 70 custom and a Lilja custom.I am still awed by what this round will do and am enjoying playing and tweaking loads for it more so than any round I have ever shot. To answer your question about brass. I ordered 200 rounds from Superior Ammo of Sturgis South Dakota to get me started. It is produced off 8mm Mag brass. The brass is first class, they do an excellent job, and you pay a premium, pardon me but I cannot remember what I paid. I will check and see if I have an old invoice, then report if I do. The phone number is 1-800-67-Super. I fireform with the superior brass with a load of 91 grs. RL-22 and a Sierra Gameking 225 gr. bullet. I get excellent groups, some one holers with this load and about 3050 fps. with the Lilja, which is a faster barrel. I then load 92.5 gr. RL-22 in front of a Fed 215 Match primer and a 250 gr. North Fork bullet. Todays loads averaged 3165 on the Chrony. They usualy run 3125 up to 3175 fps depending on the day and temp. I have shot Nosler Partition, Barnes X, Swift A-Frame and Kodiak bullets. The North Fork is by far the most accurate and fastest. North Fork is researching a 270 gr. bullet as we speak. My Lilja will shoot a 280 gr. Swift A-Frame at an average of 3000 plus fps. I chronograph ever shot fired until just before hunting, therefore I have reams of shot charts by the time I settle on a finished load. You are going to love the STA, it passes the .375 H&H in my opinion and approachs the .378 Wby, with a bullet that has a better sectional density. I have a brake on both mine making the recoil about like a .300 mag. I would like to know where you got your rifle, it took me a year to find one, then found two within a month. Good shooting

------------------

[This message has been edited by phurley (edited 02-24-2002).]

Nosler's #4 manual has load data for 358 STA including 225gr and 250gr Partition bullets. Data is with a 26" barrel. 225 gr @ 3000fps range, 250gr @ 2800fps range. They don't however offer the "plinking" loads for pistol bullets as they do for 358 Win, 35 Whelen and 350 Rem Mag. These plinking loads would be interesting for "pot meat" in this caliber.

------------------
Life is more exitin' when yer stickin' suppositories inta a wildcats behind!

If you are just looking for loading data, try http://stevespages.com/page8c.htm

------------------
http://stevespages.com/page8.htm

I used Win.375 H+H brass and 158gr jhp pistol bullets to form cases for STA. I got 2000 cases from Midway on sale awile back.7828 powder gave me the best combination of accuracy and vel. For hunting I use 275gr. A-Square bullets,which I'm nearly out of. This is a great cartridge,Mine has a 28" barrel which might be a little long for a hunting rifle but I like it. Recoil gets your attention with the heavy bullets.Mark