When I shot the 358 in a 99 I had, all the bullet blew up on deer. I used the Hornady, silvertips and some Sierras as I recall..but that was some time ago, I think about 1973...

Today I would only trust the Nosler Partition and the Barnes X, preferably the Nosler....

having a bolt action built. Which bullets do you recommend?
How about barrel length?
thanks
wayne

225 Nosler Partition...barnes X

Woodleigh 225 work great on elk.

Avoid the following: Hornady 200 or 250 spire point and speer 250 spitzer because they are too hard and do not expand.

Considering how fast you can push them, the 225 gr Nosler BT or the Sierra 225 gr work great. I've also had very good luck with the Speer 250 gr in all my 35's. - Dan

mr308win



I use 200 grain Barnes X in my 358. It yields just over 2600 FPS, under a stout load of RL-12. My barrel is 22", Sako AII action.



Good luck,



Bob

I think any appropriate bullet for the game being hunted will perform well in the .358. I like the Speer 220g flatpoints for woods whitetails. My .358 is a short action Remington with a 23" Douglas barrel. What action are you using for your .358? Plateau Hunter

I've got a jealously guarded stash of 200gr. GS customs, but short of those, the newly announced 225 Barnes TSX's should be all that's needed. JMO, Dutch.

Back in the 1970's I traded a dog of a Ruger 1b for a Modell 77 in .358 Winchester. It was the best darn deer gun in the Northeast! My bullet of choice was the Hornady 250 grain round nose, seconded by the 250 Speer hotcore. Truth be known any bullet over 200 grains will do well, and the newer 225's might be the best. I still have 300 Winchester 200 grain round nose, and quite a few of the heavies 250 grain Silvertip's etc. in inventory and looking for a home. Some Virgin brass as well. This is one of the most greatly under rated cartridges ever marketed poorly! Enjoy yours.

useing m700 sa what is a great barrel? lilja, hart ,krieger, broughton, or shilen? are you useing .358 brass or .308 necked up?
thanks wayne.

I used to use the 200 gr Silvertip for deer and black bear. Now that I can't get them I switched to the 180 Speer Flat Point.

These bullets perform very well on that game.

See this thread on North Forks in 35 cal.
web page

what twist on barrel? also length?
thanks
wayne

hornady 200 sp......................
woofer

Wayne,

The standard 1-12 twist has been good for me. If I were to rebarrel a bolt rifle I might get it 21" long. It's just an odd dimension I know but "custom". I have a Ruger 77 here in 358 that was cut to 19" and indeed you loose FPS for sure. As to barrel diameter at the muzzle all of my "featherweights" have a .560" dimension. This may be ok but the barrels might want more meat in the middle. I might go to a .600" muzzle and taper back.

Another thing is that I would put the 358 in a CRF action. Save the push feeds for animals that are weaker than you or paper.

I built one on a ruger 77 MNkII with a 22" shilen bbl. but the bbl was too big (smallest diameter shilen said they made) wasn't satisfied so sold it. going to start again if I can find a rifle at a decent price.
Use a 22" bbl I have a couple of blR's and have no complaints with the .225 sierra or Nosler Pt. I use .250 speers for hunting bear and hogs. Plain old factory silvertips do the job on everything else as does the 200 hornady sp

I have read Ray Atkinson write before about the 200 gr Silvertip. This time he is more specific and I still disagree 100% with his comments.

I have shot many deer with the 358 Win using the Winchester 200 gr Silvertips all loaded with 46 grs of IMR 3031 to 2450 fps. None of the bullets blew up in any way. Deer were shot from as close as 10 ft and and one was over 200 yds. Bullet performance could not have been better. The deer were hit just about everywhere. No bullets were recovered and everyone passed thru. None of the exit wounds indicated that a bullet had blown up either.

The comments above go for the 180 gr Speer as well at 2700 fps.

When one considers that the bullets mentioned are just conventional one and that the velocities are well below any extreme.