358 winchester/338 federal

[wvfarrier]

Anyone have experience with either caliber? I'm thinking of building an AR10 in one of these.

[BenT]

Not sure what you are going to use it for. But I find my 356 Win AND 338 MX equally good on deer. The 358 and 338 fed would have a little more velocity. Either caliber is a fine choice for deer.

[Pete44ru]

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Once upon a time (1971), I had a .243Winchester Model 100 Carbine auto-loader bored out to .358" by P.O.Ackley (Colorado), so I could have a .358 autoloader for hunting deer in Maine.

I sold it after I lost a couple of nice bucks, that I couldn't trail due to just about no blood loss - the factory ammo's boolits were too heavily-jacketed for deer - just "penciling" through the deer w/o any expansion.

I didn't handload for the .358 Win, but I now suspect that the .358 would do better on deer if it were loaded with bullets of a lighter construction.

IMO, the .338 Federal is the kissing cousin of the .358, and due to barrel wall thickness limitations (.125") might be a better idea for converting an AR.

Ammo for both chamberings is most likely (today) to be a mail-order proposition, since I've not seen much of either in stock @ funshops but cases are available for forming to anybody with access to .308 Win empty brass. (N.P. for handloaders, of course)


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[Thunder50]

I am building an AR10 in 358win, just waiting on the barrel from x-caliber

[tman]

The .356, 358, and 338 are all excellent short action, short barrel rounds. My experience is with the .356, the most useful round to be chambered in the Winchester 1894. I like it so much, that, if the ammo wasn't obsolete, it would be my only big game hunting round. The other 2 use pointed bullets and will provide much better down range ballistics. Either of those two will do everything you will ever need to do. Sounds like an interesting project, good luck.

[FWiedner]

I have both .356 and a .358 and load for both of them.

The .356 is, of course, a levergun, and the .358 is a bolt-gun, a re-barreled Savage Model 10.

So far I've only loaded 200gr, 220gr for the .356, and 220gr and 250gr for the .358. There seems to be a drought on some .358 bullets, so all I've been using is the Speer 220gr HCFN and the 250gr Hornady RN bullets. The only powder I've been using for the last couple years is Win748.

The .356 has dispatched numerous large hogs and a few elk, and I plan to blood the .358 on a large hog a few days from now. I've no doubt that it will be a killer.

I have an AR-10 (LR-308) that I use for hog eradication. I thought about setting it up in .358, but it's just perfect in .308 and I doubt that I'll change it. Shooting Winchester factory 180gr PP's out of that one.

[tman]

I have both a .356 and a .358 and load for both of them.

The .356 is, of course, a levergun, and the .358 is a bolt-gun, a re-barreled Savage Model 10.

So far I've only loaded 200gr, 220gr for the .356, and 220gr and 250gr for the .358. There seems to be a drought on some .358 bullets, so all I've been using is the Hornady RN bullets in either weight. The only powder I've been using for the last couple years is Win748.

The .356 has dispatched numerous large hogs and a few elk, and I plan to blood the .358 on a large hog a few days from now. I've no doubt that it will be a killer.

I have an AR-10 (LR-308) that I use for hog eradication. I thought about setting it up in .358, but it's just perfect in .308 and I doubt that I'll change it. Shooting Winchester factory 180gr PP's out of that one.

If I had an AR 10 in .308 I doubt that I would go the extra effort to rechamber it for the .358 or .338. Not enough difference to matter. The .308 with a hot loaded 200 grain bullet is enough, I doubt if the 2 other chamberings would be worth the difference. But, if this is what you want, good luck and have fun with it.

[6pt-sika]

I had a 358 WIN in a Ruger 77R tang safety gun , the 338 Federal in a TC Encore , a pair of Marlin 336ER's in 356 WIN and a pair of Marlin's in 338 Marlin Express .

Let me begin by saying all six rifles performed fine for their intended purpose .

Of the group I gotta say I liked the 338 Federal the most . In the rifle I had factory ammo and handloads shot well . Now some guy in AK has it . My second choice would have to be the Marlin 336ER's in 356 WIN I liked it shooting factory jacketed , jacketed handloads and home cast bullet handloads . The 338 Marlin Express worked well with factory although I had dies I never reloaded a round for either rifle . The one I liked least of all was the 358 WIN , I suppose you could say I'm not a 35 cal person although I've owned a good many rifles for 35 cals' from 357 all the way to 35 Whelen/350 Rem Mag .

A lot of folks might say the 356 and 358 are virtually the same thing at I suppose that has merit , however the 356 in a Marlin 336ER I kinda liked .

In that Encore 338 Federal I shot some very decent groups with two different factory loadings . Also did nicely with Nosler and Hornady polymer tipped reloads as well as the Nosler 210 Partition .

In the 338 Marlin Express I had a blued walnut one and a stainless laminated one . The stainless one shot a smidge better but the blued one with the 2" shorter barrel carried a touch better . Wish I had tried reloads in them both , but I let them both go before going that far .

[6pt-sika]

Seems to me there's already a AR plumber/manufacturer that makes a rifle chambered for the 338 Federal . And I know there's a guy in AZ or NM that will make you an upper for 338 or 358 !

[wvfarrier]

DPMS used to make a 338 Federal bit no longer. It is pretty much just a barrel swap. I already have an AR10. I like 338 projectiles and let's face it.....a 358 cal projectile has a lovely "smack" on impact. KAK offers 358 cal barrels but the 338's are hard to find areas super expensive.