Hello.

Some of you may not know, but I own the factory tooling for the Winchester 88 / 100 magazines.

We are currently in the process of making NEW 358 magazines for the Model 88.

In order to do this properly I need some input regarding what ammo is used in these rifles. Now that it appears that Winchester has dropped this amo, most people will be reloading, If they were not before.
This information is needed so we can check the function of the magazine and follower before we offer them for public sale.

Basically I need to know what is the most commonly used bullet, if is a roundnose 200 grain, or a spitzer 225 grain.

We hope to have these magazines available some time the middle of the summer.

Thank you.

Jim Wisner
Custom Metalsmith
www.wisnersinc.com

I load the Nosler 225gr Partition almost exclusively in my M-88.

The only other bullet I use is the 180gr Barnes X

Do you need an overall length measurement of loaded rounds?

Mark

The tooling for these magazines was made in about 1957. These are the common magazine with the deeper two step bottom.

The normal 358 magazine encountered is the old flat bottom one.
Winchester had made a rebumping die to flatten the side divets that the shoulder of the cartidge engages.
Sad to say this die was lost years ago.

With the tooling we have and the 243/308 magazines that the tooling produces. We will have to reach in from the bottom before the cover is attached, and recut .020" from the inside of these shoulders to allow the neck of the 358 to clear properly. Also the current follower is of a slighlty differnet shape than the older stamped follower. So we will have to remachine the new follower slightly to allow better feeding.

This is why the input as to what bullets are being used the most in this caliber.

The inside length of the magazine is 2.875" so the longest you can reload is to about 2.825 and still feed well.

The new magazines will be stamped 358 which the old ones were never stamped.

We are not trying to create any old fake magazines rather a good using magazine for this rilfe and caliber.
What we are seeing is that a good number of the 308's with worn barrels are now being rebored out to 358.
Thus making a steady market for a magazine that we hope to fill.

Jim Wisner
Custom Metalsmith

Nosler 225 Partition