Using .358 diameter Bullets in 350 Legend (355/357)

Non-PSA Products Ammunition
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I tried the 165 grain Hornady FTX that is officially for 350 Legend.

It had a definite Hook, or Slice.

Shooting straight at 100 yards and curving to the Right about 9 inches at 300 yards.

Every single time.

I think because it’s a flat-butt bullet with a low BC.

So I’m thinking about trying a 358 bullet in 350 Legend.

350 Legend bullets I see with diameters listed at .355 and .357

Basically a 358 bullet has to “squish down more” to fit in the 350 Legend barrel.

And during that time, the pressure is increasing.
So if a person isn’t careful, it could result in an OverPressure and unhealthy side effects.

Normally I would start out with about 75% of the normal load I would use on a 350 Legend, and “see what happens”.

Also I wear 2 layers of eye protection, safety glasses + welding shield, for situations like this.

Anyway, I welcome feedback on this Experiment.

What happens when you push one of these into a 350 Legend barrel ? - if you start out with a 3/4 Load.

Does it get stuck or does it push it through ? … and hopefully act like a high BC rifle bullet.

Length is 1.213
vs. much shorter for the 165 grain FTX.

That’s the challenge, finding a decent BC in a bullet that doesn’t eat up powder volume.

Barnes has a bullet with a BC of about .35, but it’s 1.296 in length.

Does anybody know any other Higher-BC (for a short bullet) bullets for 350 Legend Reloading ?

A fat little boat tail with a BC higher than .3.

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It’ll go through but your pressure will be higher as you already stated. Maybe load a small test group at .358 (definitely mic’ them) and test them for pressure indicators and accuracy.

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Just a suggestion.

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That’s a good idea.

Looks like a tool that squishes bullets down to a .355 diameter.

How much force does that take ?

When it’s 50,000 psi pushing on about 1/25 square inch, that pencils out to 2000 pounds.

Anyway, thanks for letting me know about that, looks like a very useful tool.

I found this -

BC = .282

OH YEAH.

Like in 450 Bushmaster. It headspaces off the case mouth/ leading edge.

If you squeeze a slightly-too-fat bullet into that kind of brass, it expands the brass and SIMPLY WON’T FIT, into the chamber.

I have 2 boxes of Lehigh brass .458 bullets that didn’t work in my 450 Bushmaster for exactly that reason.

Looks like I will have to make do with the Official low-BC 350 Legend bullets.

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I don’t think I would try to compress the Barnes solid Copper bullets.

For that matter even the AccuBond has a fairly thick copper jacket.

And, Your twist rate might not be “fast” enough for the heavier bullets to remain stable at longer distances.

Just my 2 cents.

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I know this is a little old but…

.458" bullets are 6 thousandths larger than the recommended size for 450BM (.452"). .358" bullets are 1 thousandth larger than those recommended for 350L (.357" - .003"). Not the same difference.

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Welcome to the Forums, and thanks for the good information.

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Hello, I realize this is a very old thread.

The biggest thing to look at for using. 358” bullets in the 350 Legend is the neck and throat dimensions. Winchester made the 350 Legend with a. 355” groove barrel, people complained, so they altered the specs for a .357” throat. They also list the barrel as .357” - .002”, so people see 357 and are happy, but it’s still. 355”.

Most US barrel makers use .308” groove barrel stock for the 7.62x39, they just cut the chamber to take a .311” bullet…

So I did a chamber cast of my Legend barrel, then seated a Speer. 358” 180 bullet and measured the difference. There’s. 0015” between the two. So there’s just enough room for the brass to expand and let the bullet go. If it’s too tight, the neck will pinch and the pressure will spike.

The next thing is will the bullet fit in the throat? The Speer 180 fits just fine. Just don’t seat the bullet out to touch the rifling.

I compared the Hornady. 355” 170 and the Speer .358” 180. I used load data from Hodgdon for the 180. The 180’s velocity was slightly slower, but the 180’s actually shot a tighter group.
I’m at the VA right now, but I’ll see about posting some target pictures later.

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Here’s the targets. The Hornady .355” 170 on the left. 10 rounds at 75 yards. That’s how far the berm is from my bench at home.

The Speer .358” 180 is on the right. 10 rounds at 75 yards. it looks like 6 of them could be covered with a dime, the other’s were a little outside. I could have reshot the target and kept the best one, but this is what I got. your mileage may vary…

I’m not seeing an option to insert pictures, so I’ll try an img tag from my website.

[img]

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