I finally got a 358 STA!

NIB USRPA Winchester Model 70 Custom Shop
24 Inch Barrel, CRF.

It has all the papers including the Art Alpine/A Square Gift Certificate for a free box of A Square Ammo that came with the production.

I also have an elk tag.

So blessed.

Congrats!

Well that's certainly a happy friday find! Stainless or blued? I've secretly lusted after a 7 STW/358 STA matching Custom Shop stainless set for a while.

Stainless Steel.

A gun that size really should have a 38" barrel!

I had a .358RUM built with a 26" Douglas, .750" at at the muzzle.
Kicks like as damn mule and the blast is much like being too close to stick powder (dynamite) when it goes off.
Loaded the rifle weighs a flat 15 lbs.
Butt is: 2" wide, 7 1/2" tall, has two 13oz mercury tubes.

Try some 4831sc, after you try about 99gr 7828 and see what I'm saying.
That load turned 250gr out a 3260fps.
Don't know what you're looking for.
To me, this was too much coal in the fire.

Best wishes. Let's hear some of your loads and results

George

With a 24 inch barrel, All I want is 275 grain Weldcore PP at 2700-2750 fps.

The top of the line velo has always been 2850 with the 275 grainers.

Congrats on your 358STA! They’re hard to come by these days.

I too own a Winchester Model 70 Custom Shop 358STA in stainless steel, with a factory black synthetic stock. I’ve owned this for years, and never shot it! Maybe some day…

I got a Leupold VX-3Hd

30mm tube, 1.5x5x20 with Firedot. I bought it for a Muzzleloader.

What do you guys think of that scope on her.

Being that you are able to reach out quite a ways with the is cartridge (I have a custom 358 STA on an A Bolt action and you can get 225’s around 3200 and 250’s around 3000 you really need more glass.

Mine wears a Zeiss 3-15.

I do lot anticipate shooting anything but 275-280 grain bullets.

However, you are certainly correct. Will look to step up glass.

I do not anticipate being able to hot top velo for any bullet.

Hasher makes a good point on the distance. I put Leupold 2.5-8 on about everything these days.

Depending on the distances you anticipate shooting in the field, you may want more, but a 358 STA is probably not being used for varmint hunting, so I suspect the animals you’ll be using that caliber on present large targets.

For the average distance hunters shoot big game 90% of the time (0-300 yds), the 2.5-8 will serve you well. It’s small and light weight to boot, compared to larger scopes. If you plan to hunt/shoot game out to 500-1,000 yds., which some folks are doing these days, then more will be needed I suppose.

I am curious as to your choice as to only shoot 275-280 grain bullets.

I can think of nothing you would shoot with a 358STA that a well constructed 250 grain bullet would not be more than adequate and not as punishing on the you the shooter.

It is just a cartridge, bullet, balance qurick I have.

I do not like light bullets in general. I love the 225-250 grain bullets in the .338. I have come to accept the .225 grain bullet in the 35 Whelen case. It provides good energy, good velo, and drops less than a much media praised 6.5/140 grain.

I have shot 275 grain bullets in my Whelen. They were very accurate. However, the velo was 2150 odd fps.

The idea of a magnum 358 was to be the USA version of the .375 HH. The articles are well known that James Howe was trying to reach the 35 caliber, 250 grain )some articles Souter 275, I have never seen the letter) 2700 fps.

Three cartridges that predate the 358 STA meet the real intent of the bolt action 358. The 358 GH and the 358 Mashburn. I think the Mashburn had two case length being a shorted 375 case (Norma protocol type like) and a full length 375 case (STA prototype like. I would have to look it up. The last is the 358 Norma. The 358 GH and the 358 Mashburn were developed around 270 plus bullets at 2700, in case of the Mashburn, plus fps. The Norma was designed and marketed around 250 grain bullet. However, 2700 fps with a 270 grain bullet is a true velo from 26 inch barrels. The 24 inch barrel is still a 2600/2500 270 bullet thrower.

I posted a write up about the list Magnum or true dangerous game 358s that were killed by Olin’s adoption of the .375 HH.

Now, we come to the STA. Until the wildcat (and still wildcat) 358s based on the RUM case came along the biggest snd most available of the true magnum 358s. I see it for what the class of cartridges was always meant to be. The American better of the 375 HH.

Looking at traditional lead core and bonded bullets:

Sectional Density: .275 grain grain bullet has an SD of .304, the 280 grain bullet has a SD of .312, the 310 grain bullet if you really want weight and momentum or love big SD has a SD of .346. Unlike the 375 HH, Rigby loaded a timed 358 cartridges with plus .340 SD.

The Case itself: The case is a big case. I believe a big case is better used throwing more bullet weight or new longer monos over throwing lighter bullets extra fast. Again, my quirk. The 358 DTA has the case volume with those 3 big bullets above to deliver 2700-2850 fps and 4,900 fps. That is what the magnums or large case American 358s were historically meant to be and do. The 358 STA does that. If we want to be technical about bullet for bullet profile, 358 STA does it shooting flatter with all bullet weights than the 375 HH. Even the 358 GH, the smallest and most sedate of the big, true magnum 358s shots 270 grain bullets faster than traditional 375 HH velo of 2690-2700 fps.

Top line velo: The 250 grain bullets in the 358 STA are loaded looking to maximize trajectory over 400 yard shooting distance for medium game to light game caribou or inner costal bear topping 400-600 pounds and deer weighing 200 poundsish max. This 24 inch barrel will not reach those top line velos. I consider them a waste. I am not a past 400 yard shooter. The 275 grain Weldcore PP has a BC G1 of .45. The 180 grain .308 Accubond has a published G1 BC of .507. The 358 STA at 2700 (theoretical limit of my 24 inch barrel) will shoot just a flat if not foster than a 30/06 with 180 grain bullets, 375 HH with 270 grain bullets, most 6.5 Creedmore 140 grain bullets. If I want or need to shoot a lighter bullet. I want less recoil for the velo, and will shoot the .225 grain bullet in a 35 Whelen.

Me: I have always lived firearms, the cartridges that fire the bullets, their history of development from a technical standpoint and a why standpoint. I did not have access to a lot of them new gun media (magazines) in the 90s and mid 2000s. In college, I started to design on paper because I had no rifles or mechanical access the Perfect North American Answer to the 375 HH.

I knew about the bigger, improved version of the magnums 375. I knew about the advantages of removing the 375 HH tapper. I did not know about early American attempts at a true magnums 358. I knew about the 416 Rem. Working back from the 375s. I decided a blown out, 358 firing a 275 grain bullet at 2750-2800 fps to be the Ultimate, Answer, take that 375, anything the Weatherby mine did marginally better or more balanced. I also loved ling cases, knowing about the 8 Rem Magnum, but not the Newton cases, I wax very proud of myself. This was before the 375 Ruger case.

I took it to my Major Professor who was mechanically inclined. He used a brother who was an engineer, he told me, who worked for CZ and now Sierra Bullets. He took it to his brother. I was proud to learn it had all been done before.

That is why I am not keen to use the 225-250 grain class of bullets in the STA.

Congratulations on purchasing one of the best rifles chambered for the larger game animals we hunt. I have been out of town on vacation and did not have my data handy to reply. I have shot two Shooting Time Alaskan custom rifles for several years now along with my son and grandsons. We are Deer hunters that have hunted Elk since the early 90’s. One of them is identical to yours produced at the behest of Art Alpin and part of the 58 built in that run. Mine is stainless with a beautiful red walnut stock that glows when in the bright sunshine. I installed a Weatherby Accubrake muzzle brake that tames it to .300 Win Mag recoil. It wears a Leupold 4.5 X 14 vari-X III matching stainless scope with fine Multiplex crosshairs. My second rifle is a custom by an excellent gunsmith from Cheyenne Wy. It had a thumb hole stock the punished mu trigger hand fingers so I mounted an H&S Precison stock on it. It is a post 64 Model 70 Winchester that has a Lilja barrel that is equally as accurate as the Winchester Custom Shop STA. It is stainless with a the same scope as the first one and has a Vies Muzzle Brake on it. My magic powder is RL-22 powder with Fed 215M primers. My magic bullets are Northforks from 225 grains up to the 270 grainers. The 270 grain bullet is the all star of them all, I have used it on Elk plus African plains game with astounding results. My son shot a Bull Elk at 125 yards threw the shoulders and the bullet killed a Cow Elk 25 yards beyond sleeping underneath a cedar. At that distance in a snow storm the Cow was unsighted by him. We Doug the Northfork bullet out of her head the next day and we were the only hunters on the mountain shooting them and I was 5 miles away. It still had 94% of it weight, I sent it to Mike and He measured it and used it in advertising. We get 3100 plus fps with 225 grainers, 3000 plus fps with 250 grainers, and 2850 plus fps on the 270 grainers. We have shot all bullets offered including the 280 grain A-Frame which is also very accurate but the Northforks stand out in accuracy and retained weight and perfect mushrooms. Enjoy your rifle it is utterly fantastic for the larger animals. Good Shooting.

phurley5: I was hoping you would respond and thank you.

quote:

Originally posted by LHeym500:
I finally got a 358 STA!

NIB USRPA Winchester Model 70 Custom Shop
24 Inch Barrel, CRF.

It has all the papers including the Art Alpine/A Square Gift Certificate for a free box of A Square Ammo that came with the production.

I also have an elk tag.

So blessed.

Just to be clear here:

.358 is not a big bore. Period. .375 maybe

Enjoy your new rifle and fill the elk tag!

Jiri

Large Medium producing 4900 foot pounds.

I shall enjoy her. I sure hope she gets her first elk this winter.

I appreciate the well wishes and technological humor.

I am providing some of my loads from both rifles to show what they achieve. All these groups are three shots and are all touching each other either clover leaf or side by side. First the Winchester Custom I named Big Red because of it’s beautiful Red Walnut stock. 92 grains RL-22 250 grain Northfork 2940 fps. After this all powder is RL-22 and primers Fed 215M. 90 grains 270 grain Northfork 2848 fps. 90 grains 270 grain Northfork 2865 fps. 250 grain Northfork 90 grains 250 Northfork 2923 fps. Now the post 64 Winchester with the Lilja barrel and I call that rifle simply The Lilja. It shoots all loads 50 plus fps faster on most loads. 90 grains 225 grain Sierra Gameking 3041 fps. 92 grains 250 grain Northfork 3033 fps. 92 grains 250 grain Northfork 3033 fps. 89 grains 270 grain Northfork 2943 fps. 89 grains 270 grain Northfork 2927 fps. I shot other bullets but seemed to get the one hole groups with the Northforks so I finally shot them exclusively. This illustrates what my rifles do, good luck with yours. I use an Oehler 35-P Chronograph on 90 per cent of my shots. Good Shooting.

I sm sending mine off to McMillan to build a PRE64 McWoody with magnum fill and red pad.

Thank you for the data.

Thank you for the data.[/QUOTE]

I find it amazing you are getting the 2850 with 270 grain bullet.

You are the fourth person to tell me RL-22.

How does RL-22 do with temp sensitivity? It can be 90 plus degrees here in October and damn cold in WY.

I have been using Rtumbo in my STW.

I tried several powders and always came back to RL-22 because of the accuracy it got. I have used it at 95 degrees in Africa and minus 22 degrees with no discernible differences in accuracy or anythIng else. I will say get all you can of a particular lot because there can be small differences but never more than one grain per load. When changing lots work up uasally .5 to 1.5 grains. You will notice the Lilja barrel is faster than the Winchester. The chamber of the Lilja barrel is ever so slightly smaller than the Winchester. I have to keep the shot brass separate because the resized brass of the Winchester will not always chamber in the Lilja chamber. I get my best accuracy in once fired brass. I included a 225 grain Sierra load because I shoot that bullet to get the once fired brass to then load for accuracy loads. Those Sierra loads are quite accurate on their own and a joy to shoot. My grandsons are looking forward to those rifles when I am done. My son is addicted to my 340 Wby and .338 Lapua. Hope you enjoy the STA as much as we have the accuracy is amazing when the trigger puller does his part. Some days I can shoot consistent one holers then some days I can’t buy one. Good luck with yours. Good Shooting.

On the scope, I have decided to go with a 2x10 VX5, 30 mm tube with the fire dot.

quote:

Originally posted by Jiri:

quote:

Originally posted by LHeym500:
I finally got a 358 STA!

NIB USRPA Winchester Model 70 Custom Shop
24 Inch Barrel, CRF.

It has all the papers including the Art Alpine/A Square Gift Certificate for a free box of A Square Ammo that came with the production.

I also have an elk tag.

So blessed.

Just to be clear here:

.358 is not a big bore. Period. .375 maybe

Enjoy your new rifle and fill the elk tag!

Jiri

Big Bores start at .500



Sounds like a great rifle btw, when do we get to see pics?

I am picture posting illiterate. However, if you pm me an email address or text cell, I will send pics.

The barrel has an additional recoil lug just behind the rear sight island.

Rifle is off to McMillan to be stocked in a PRE64 McWoody (yes, the pre 64 stock works it is a shape that makes it PRE64).

Question should I have the barrel free floated in front of the second recoil lug and then free floated between the 2 recoil lugs.

I agree now that you have placed the 358 in perspective. It is no where near a big bore compared to a 500. The 358 is so much more versatile to be pigeon hold as a big bore. I mean that is good natured soft ribbing.

One question, how are you going to get the free box of ammunition?

I have 100 rounds of 275 grain Weldcore, PP.

I would love to find a box or loose A Square, 358 STA ammo.

If anybody has any let me know. I will give you cash and keep the certificate.

I still have my certificate for the box of ammo from A-Square I got when I bought my STA. Been hoping to some day to redeem it, now I understand A-Square established by Art Alpin is no more. Would appreciate anything new on that if it exists. Good Shooting.