For example, take the most powerful of the factory standardized .35's, the .358 Norma Magnum. Moderate, safe, bland and predictable. The writings of Robert Ruark certainly helped the reputation of the cartridge and the company, as Ruark put his young PH Harry Selby and the .416 Rigby rifle he carried on a pedestal. The .35 Whelen is a powerful medium-bore rifle cartridge that does not require a magnum action or a magnum bolt-face. From the .35 Winchester (1903), .35 Remington (1906) and .351 Winchester Self-Loading (1907) to the later .358 Winchester (1955) and .350 Remington Magnum (1965), there has always been at least one .35-caliber cartridge in use. is a wonderful cartridge, but nobody buys them. Then come the .30s, and now were talking business. Another vote for something different.The 358 STA would be the one. With the best loads, my Remington Model 700 is one-hole accurate. Of course, not all .35-caliber cartridges approach greatness. from the 24" barrel of a Marlin 336XLR rifle. Heeding the advice of American friends, Kvale worked on what would become the .358 Norma Magnum. Heres how to avoid the poseurs and choose the right one. Customer experience was, and still is, the primary focus, a key to the firms longevity and success. Kevin Steele from Petersen's HUNTING speaks to Jordan Egli of Burris Optics about the all-new Veracity PH Riflescope. Im going to rule out short-range cartridges that have the power because theres no sense in making the shot more difficult than necessary. Elk Venison and Root Vegetable Stew Recipe, Best New Thermal Optics from the 2022 SHOT Show, Venison Backstrap with Sweet & Spicy Peach Relish Recipe, Tested Tough - Modern Zeiss Sports Optics. They can take their time and pick their shots. Thats the primary game for many of us, but one size doesnt fit all. Its a decent cartridge, but American hunters just wont flock to it. Theres more to success than merely landing a good one on the chin. The 250-grain .358-inch bulletwith a sectional density of 0.279if properly constructed, has enough length to handle the brown bear and bison, and all of the African plains game species, plus lion and leopard. The .35 Whelen is a necked up medium bore wildcat cartridge that was created by necking up a .30-06 Springfield case which is famously overpowered for the 30-caliber bullet it propels. I think Jack OConnor, the great champion of the .270, would agree. of energy at the muzzle. The ammunition hung on a while longer, but eventually Big Green abandoned her babies and stopped making both cartridges. 35 Whelen. Perhaps thats why it has survived. with a similar 180-grain bullet. Among the .35 caliber cartridges popular in the United States, the .358 offered a definite step up in performance; the .35 Remingtonthat popular woods rifleis much slower than the .358, and though the .35 Whelen has been among us since 1922, it would remain a wildcat until 1988. Equal in importance is that you can hit the elk. Its safe to say that of all the .358 Norma Magnum rifles in existence, there are more custom than factory ones, and this makes it tricky to load for in another way. A monster buck is different from a fork-horn or a fat doe. The most popular cartridges for hunting and even target shooting begin and end with the thirties. The softpoints were used for the various antelope species, dangerous cats and even buffalo, while the full-patch, non-expanding solids would be used on elephant. Hornady has a Superformance load with a 200-grain SP at 2910 f.p.s. and .35 Rem., it was an excellent woods rifle for hunting whitetails. Barnes has a Vor-TX load with a 180-grain TSX bullet and a muzzle velocity of 2900 f.p.s. The .300 Rem. I would never argue that a .243 Winchester with a good bullet placed well, or certainly a .25-06 with a tough, heavy bullet, cant do the job. As a comparison, the .358 Winchester with a 250 grain bullet at 2300 fps delivers 25.4 foot-pounds of recoil from a 7.5 pound rifle. In fact, the recoil of the .358 Norma Magnum, at about 35 ft. lbs. That is quite a few cartridges considering that there is not a single best selling rifle cartridge in the bunch. Released in 1959though there were no factory chambered rifles or factory loaded ammunition available for the new cartridgeNorma offered chamber reamers and new component brass for its new brainchild. And those sentiments can be an awful lot of fun. However, the small bore cartridges from .24 to .32 caliber have proven quite reliable on these smaller animals, so I am not going to argue that anyone needs a .35 to hunt CXP2 class game. When chambered for cartridges such as the .243 Win., 6 mm Rem., .308 Win. The Hornady Superformance load for the .35 Whelen launches a 200-grain bullet at a blistering. Essentially a .338 Magnum with a bigger mouth, the .358 Norma can push 250-grain bullets faster. were to go head to head with the .25-35 Win., .30-30 Win. Moving down a notch and comparing the .35 Whelen (250 grain bullet at a MV of 2400 fps) to the .30-06 (220 grains at 2410 fps), which have nearly identical case capacity, we find that the optimum game range (OGW) on 1000 pound animals is 10 yards for the .30-06 and 100 yards for the .35 Whelen. .50 BMG. My 8mm Remington Magnum was stocked in dense walnut and had a long barrel. Here in North America, you could take the .350 Rigby anywhere youd take the .35 Whelen or .358 Norma Magnum, and that includes north to Alaska for the great bears. Most were intended for .38-caliber handguns, but any bullet made for either the .38 Special or .357 Magnum can be loaded and shot in the .358 Norma Magnum with varying degrees of success. Meanwhile, the .358 Norma fizzled, for lack of a better term, because rifles were not readily available, ammunition was expensive and hard to get, and it found itself in direct competition with one of the great American cartridges of the twentieth century, Winchesters .338 Magnum. when fired in a 7.5 pound rifle. Remington continues to offer factory ammo, and its 200-grain factory load has a muzzle velocity of 2675 f.p.s., while the 250-grain loads muzzle velocity is 2400 f.p.s. The Whelen is a more sensible choice, but the Rigby isnt about sensibility, its about nostalgia and a connection to a bygone age. The bullet went in behind the near shoulder, struck the far shoulder from the inside, and the blue bull hit the ground with a thud. As it was released in the first century of the 20th century, when the common boundaries of cartridge usage were being defined, the .350 Rigby Magnum was considered an all-around cartridge, especially in the more open terrain of British and German East Africa, known today as Kenya and Tanzania. Powders such as IMRs Trail Boss, Accurates 5744 and IMRs discontinued SR-4759 all work with lighter bullets, and sometimes accuracy is very good, even if the gas seal is not. Recoil was completely manageable, and it inspired me to begin the journey of having my own .350 Rigby rifle built. All Rights Reserved. Compare the Queen of the .35's, the .350 Remington Magnum--the original short (.308 length) magnum cartridge--with the new generation of short action magnums. It is a good choice for shooters who are very sensitive to recoil, since its free recoil energy is only about 4.5 ft. lbs. They will also slap down lighter game like deer, feral hogs and black bear with authority, of course. Maybe it's a regular BDL? Why the public abandoned it so quickly is a mystery to me. In cartridges, as in boxing, what goes on behind the scenes often determines the outcome. Heres a look at 10 of the most flexible long-range hunting cartridges. The .35-caliber cartridges usually top out at 250 grains, though if a 300-grain bullet at a slightly faster twist rate were employed, it would certainly be in the same class as the .375 Holland & Holland. Publisher Kevin Steele is in the Beretta booth with Logan Killam, the Shotgun Product Manager, to discuss the all new Beretta A300 Ultima Turkey. The 358 Norma is a sure mag round, but expensive ammo and brass. Its often thought that if they had it would have gained popularity over the .338 Win. Gun guys recognize the potential in the .358. That load has a maximum optimal range on 1000 pound game (like a big Alaskan moose or brown bear) of 151 yards. Can Coolers | An Official Journal Of The NRA, Find More Great NRA Publications Perfect For Every Interest, Discover Everything That The NRA Has To Offer. Shaw rifle's 24-inch barrel.. I am not into the current long-range fad, especially on powerful animals like elk. Opening up a boltface on a standard action is NOT a difficult job for a decent gunsmith and does not affect the strength or viability of the action one WHIT. The Remington Model 600 Magnum rifle, along with the cartridge it birthed, was just such a product. At 400 yds., the .358 Norma impacts 3.1 inches lower than the .300 Win. Back in the late 70's I picked up a custom 1903 in 358 Norma Mag, awesome rifle, very accurate and it put a thump on deer, I bought it hopping to get a moose tag back in MN, never did and sold the rifle. Looks like I'll do a Whelen. The company has chambered several rifles in the cartridge including models in bolt-action, pump-action and semi-automatic. Thats a question I just dont understand. How it would have done on a live animal is impossible to say. it is complicated further by a requirement for different burning rate powders. The origins of the .35 Whelen are controversial even today. From the Green Goblin (a bolt-action rifle I built on a Remington action), both will produce groups that are sub-minute-of-angle. For anyone with an experimental or fanciful turn of mind, the .358 Norma and the many .358-inch diameter bullets are a gold mine. Have all three, and have not shot any of em My medium is a 9,3x62. From limited experience of loading for two different 358 Norma Magnum rifles (a Schultz & Larson Model 65 and a Custom Sako AV) I used to neck up new Winchester 338 Win. Campfire 'Bwana. But there is another Rigby cartridge, vastly overlooked even among rifle cranks, but which was at one time as popular as the .375 H&H Magnum: the .350 Rigby Magnum. A failed product is often said to be ahead of its time, which is usually just a polite way of saying nobody wanted to buy it. Don't like Rugers much had my fill of them and now they are gone down the road. Either of the other two cartridges mentioned will work just fine also. Think of the .358 Norma Magnum as the chunky cousin of the .338 Winchester Magnum; not quite as svelte or popular, but equally effective in a fight. Sierras 225-grain spitzer boat-tail, designed for the .35 Whelen, is a stellar performer in the .358 Norma. Then come the .270s. Heres a look at 10 of the most flexible long-range hunting cartridges. The first time I ever hunted with a .358 Norma Magnum, it was a custom rifle built on a Mauser Mark X action. from my E.R. I've owned several Magnum Mediums338 RUM, 340WBY, 375 H&H, 375 WBY, 358NM, 338WM. Around eight pounds set to go is a good compromise. All in, it weighed over 11 pounds, which is too heavy. The cartridge would be championed by Denys Finch Hatton (of Out of Africa fame), John Pondoro Taylor and Pete Pearson, and would be used by Baron Bror von Blixen-Fineke as well. The big case certainly made its reputation with the 250-grain bullets, as their sectional density gives excellent penetration on even the heavy-boned animals, and the .358 Norma can push them to a muzzle velocity of 2750 fps. Yet, that bore diameter produces some of the best hunting cartridges available. It is, as you say, a thumper. figure of 0.300 is desirable, and comparing similar cartridges, youll see the .350 Rigby comes in a bit behind the other popular choices of the day. It will work in this action with ease and will be plenty cheap to feed and use if one simply sizes up 338 brass and goes along thier happy way. Federal loads the 225-grain Trophy Bonded Bear Claw bullet with a muzzle velocity of 2600 f.p.s. I have one, and I like it a lot. The .358 is vastly underated as the Whelen. Kevin Steele of Petersen's HUNTING is with Dawn Wehunt of Rock River Arms INC. learning about the new Ascendant platform. It has never failed me. From a 12 twist bore, accuracy sweet spots for light bullets include 2950fps with 180 grain bullets, 2925fps with 200 grain bullets, before normalizing with 225 grain bullets at 2900fps.