358 Win - Pistol Bullet Plinking Loads

Good morning everyone,

I found this photo of an old reloading book giving loads for the .358 Winchester using .357" diameter pistol bullets.

I have a Ruger M77 Hawkeye in 358 Win, and a ton of .357" bullets. I figure it would be a ton of fun to load up some plinking Loads and shoot some steel with the rifle.

I don't have any of the powders listed, I'm sure with enough money and time checking stores and online I could find one. But it would be nice to use something I already have. Any thoughts on substituting CFE BLK? Or Ramshot Tac. I don't need as much velocity even as what is shown in the book. Just want a fun, safe, cheap load to shoot.

I have heard some powders do not respond well to low case fill percentages.

Any advice or insight is appreciated!

The 358 loves Ramshot TAC. I run a full case of it with 178 HH's. I would bet it will shoot the lighter pistol bullets just fine. Start low and work up. I recall running out of case capacity before I hit pressure with TAC.

You can run the 357's just like a 358, they will act like a varmint bullet when shot at rifle speeds. FYI I have even shot some 355's in my 358 and 356's, these were toned down a bit.

I ended up trying 8.0 grains of Titegroup with a large pistol primer. 125 gr. JHP. 1346 FPS, 2" group at 100 yards. Pretty happy with the load for plinking around. I may reduce the load just a bit to get subsonic.

For many years I've advocated that anyone wanting to get a somewhat larger bore rifle, to strongly consider one of the 35's! Especially, one of the 35 magnums ( 350 Griffin & Howe, the .358 STA, ect).

As a hand loader, with one of the magnums, you could have a respectable long range cartridge or when using handgun bullets or cast bullets ….. enjoy the same rifle year round for less expensive, lower recoil shooting!

While the thought is considered blasphemy/heresy by many here…..a 35 magnum could be a pretty good "do it all - all around" cartridge candidate! memtb

My 358 Win plinking /bunny load is the 9mm 50 gr all copper high velocity pistol bullet, fired in a 16" 358 Win makes 3766 fps with good accuracy at 50 yds...for small game.

memtb said:

For many years I've advocated that anyone wanting to get a somewhat larger bore rifle, to strongly consider one of the 35's! Especially, one of the 35 magnums ( 350 Griffin & Howe, the .358 STA, ect).

As a hand loader, with one of the magnums, you could have a respectable long range cartridge or when using handgun bullets or cast bullets ….. enjoy the same rifle year round for less expensive, lower recoil shooting!

While the thought is considered blasphemy/heresy by many here…..a 35 magnum could be a pretty good "do it all - all around" cartridge candidate! memtb

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Exactly! Sorry for the late response, but I just stumbled onto this discussion. For many decades, I have loved using 35cals for this very reason, and have used numerous jacketed and cast pistol bullets in them for reduced plinking, small game and even deer sized game loads. My old Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook gives great loads to begin the journey with even fast pistol powders, and some loads can be pushed to approach rifle vels. Good info when times are tough, prices are high and supplies are short.

Even in my various 30 cal rifles and handguns, I use 32 cal (.311-.312) pistol bullets for reduced loads for plinking and small game shooting. Depending on the rifle, sometimes I size these down to .309 with a Lee cast bullet sizer, but many work as is. Having a few 70-85gr reduced loads for my 308, 30-06, 303, 30-30AI handgun, etc while deer hunting allows me to take the occasional small game or varmint when the hunting is slow or if I stumble onto something of interest.

It is a great way to use your larger game rifle and stay proficient in practice during the off season, but insure your state allows this practice of using center fire rifles during small game seasons. Squirrel hunting with a 30-06 may peak the interest of the local game wardens.

del2les said:

Squirrel hunting with a 30-06 may peak the interest of the local game wardens

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Yes it will! I was using my .308 Win.with cast bullets while squirrel hunting about 40 miles north of BR La. I picked a bad morning to get "skunked", and when I got back to the vehicle a local game warden was waiting on me. With no squirrels to show…..he wouldn't believe me! Followed me about 30 miles to visit a very unhappy judge.

Upon much insistence from me, the judge (ready to throw the book at me) finally decided to actually check the game laws! He released me ….but was very ****ed at having to do so!

During the summers……a lot of armadillos, turtles, and snakes were introduced to those 165 grain cast bullets! memtb

memtb said:

Yes it will! I was using my .308 Win.with cast bullets while squirrel hunting about 40 miles north of BR La. I picked a bad morning to get "skunked", and when I got back to the vehicle a local game warden was waiting on me. With no squirrels to show…..he wouldn't believe me! Followed me about 30 miles to visit a very unhappy judge.

Upon much insistence from me the judge (ready to throw the book at me) finally decided to actually check the game laws! He released me ….but was very ****ed at having to do so!

During the summers……a lot of armadillos, turtles, and snakes were introduced to those 165 grain cast bullets! memtb

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My old home state allowed this practice on private land but not public, but one time, I had to show and explain the pistol bullet load and fire off a reduce round into the nearby ditch bank to convince a rather uneducated warden.

Round Ball 308 loads for grouse and small game. Subsonic, will put 3 in one hole at 25 yards. Big advantage to a round ball is it loses velocity really fast, so has far less lethal range than even a 22 RF. Loaded with Trail Boss for powder. I make these for the 45-70, 338-378 etc.

I loaded 158 grain .357s, in my 350 rem mag. Awesome for practice and did the number on deer.

Dean2 said:

Round Ball 308 loads for gruse and small game. Subsonic, will put 3 in one hole at 25 yards. Big advnatage to a round balll is it loses velocity really fast, so has far less lethal range than even a 22 RF.

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Love it. I've used O buckshot sized .309 and lightly tumble lubed, but yours look like hard cast.

Elmer gave a load using H335 for varmints: