Well said PaulH.
If we chose a cartride like the 358 we must accept a realistic range limit.

450 yards is a long game shot for any cartridge and for that matter any one.

Jamie

Those GRENDEL'S ya'll have/had...Did they have the plastic stock that folds up. A friend of mine had a 308 like that and it sure was a handy backpack rifle.

Here's a horror story for you .358 Win afficianados.

When I moved to the 'States in '82 I brought with me a pre-'64 M70 FW .358, SN 464647. A few years later when I needed some cash, I tried to sell it in Scottsdale, AZ, to a dealer located at the intersection of Scottsdale Road and Shea Blvd. He wouldn't buy it. Tried to tell me that the serial number was too high for it to be original, that it had been reblued, and a bunch of other stuff. He was wrong, but in America that's his right.

Then I took it to the Mesa gun show and tried to sell it. Finally got a young, wet-behind-the-ears dealer from Globe to buy it for $700 (they were selling nationwide at about $1,200 at the time). He also gave me a bunch of crap about it not being original. I told him that regardless what he thought, he should look it up in Roger Rule's book.

Next Mesa gun show I had a Pre-64 M 70 Target in .270 (also from Canada) with me to sell, and the guy I had sold my .358 FW to was there. He had a pretty nice little .243 M70 FW with him, so I traded him the .270 Target for the .243 FW and some of his money.

When I got home, I started to enter the .243 in my dealer log book and it was SN 464647 !!!

He had taken the .358 barrel off of my perfectly original .358 M70 FW...no doubt to put on an action he "thought" had the right SN range, and put a .243 barrel on the #464647 action, then traded it back to me! In other words, he tore up an original to fake one he could sell to somebody for more money.

What does Roger Rule's book say? That 152 Model 70 Winchester FW were made between December 1, 1959 and January 31, 1960 FOR EXPORT SALE IN CANADA. Check out the year SN 464647 was made. 1959.

Altogether, Winchester is said to have made 2,000 M70 FW .358s...1,848 in 1955-'56 for sale in the U.S., and 152 in 1959-60 for sale in Canada. He tore up a "1 of 152" gun to fake a "1 of 1,848" gun.

Some people really ARE twits. Needless to say, I never had any more to do with that fellow from Globe, AZ.

AC

[ 05-31-2003, 11:49: Message edited by: Alberta Canuck ]

AC thats worst than a horror story
Sometimes people just don't realize the great things. Just look at 4x4's now leather and all can't take them out to the deep mud holes
Maybe you should ask that fellow if he still had the 358 barrel.

Apparantly Speer has made some changes to the 250 Spitzer...Back around 196? I picked up a neat 99F in 358 and shot a number of deer with it and blew those Speer 250's up with consistency, they were pudding soft and the rest of the bullets were for the 35 Rem....I became very disgruntled with the caliber due to bad bullets...It should be a dandy with the 225 gr. Nosler partition these days, and apparantly the 250 gr. Speers have been toughened up...Have had the same problem with the Speer 270 gr. in the 9.3....

RE-SPEER 250 spitzers in .358 WIn.

Don't know what they did to them between then and now but I have NEVER been able to recover one from an animal regardless of size or angel of shot. I have had complete penetration through the full length of adeer after breaking the largest bone in it's rear leg.

They may not be a "premium" bullet, but now they are REALLY tough.

The guy I bought my BLR from used it for hunting elk exclusively and he used the same bullet and told me the same thing. 5 elk and never found a bullet because of complete penetration. Interesting side note, he sent me his handloads he was using. He used the exact same components as I do and the only difference was he used 1 grain of powder more then I did in my loads. With all the possible combinations in the world, THAT was spooky.

I have a Ruger M-77 RS in 358 with the original scope mounts recut for Len Brownell QD lever rings with a 3X Leupold in them.

It could be the only rifle I own that I've not shot anything with but it's way too cute to trade off.

I SEE by their website that Browning is once again offering the BLR in .358 Win.

sweeeeeeeeeeet.

I have a .358 in a Remington M700 Classic. The late Dick Nichol in WA rebored it for me. Shoots great with 225 Sierras and 220 Speers. Great deer and bear rifle.

I also have several of the following:
35 Rem., .356 Win, .350 Rem Mag, and of course--35 Whelen. However, the .358 seems to be a favorite.

I have a M760 (late model that looks like the M7600) in 35 Rem that I am thinking about having rechamberd to .358 Win. Anyone know of an experienced gunsmith of Dick's caliber that would do this?

WN

WN

I don't know how experienced their 'smiths are but Gander Mountain lists this service on their website http://www.gandermountain.com/tabs/gunsmithing/riflework.html

Also anyone looking for load data, I just got my new Handloader and their is an article on the .358 in a Ruger 77R. Quite a bit of data in that article. Sean