.358 Hoosier wildcat

[Chase515]

I'm looking at having a mauser rebarreled for 35 rem to deer hunt. Cutting down the brass should be easy for a reloader. The only down side is accuracy seems to be the biggest problem I've read about online. To big of a jump from the brass to the lands. If someone can cut a chamber to only accept 35 rem cut down to 1.7" brass the problem should go away with accuracy?

 

[Hookeye]

Since mine is a single shot I don't worry about crimping.
Bullet seating is to regular OAL.

I would think a repeater to be OK if they employed a crimp and not just relied on neck tension (but maybe neck tension is enough- I dunno).

My little gun puts 'em right at an inch at 100. But occasionally I get a flyer, so will do a hanger system to not make varied fore-end pressure possibly the culprit.

My cases are a couple of thousandths under legal length. That's still close to 1.8, which is a ways from 1.7

I have no idea if my factory TC Super 16 barrel has an out of the ordinary throat dim. I suspect it's stock, shoots good, so I just run it.

IIRC it is a 6 groove, older style. Supposedly TC had some crappy bbls that differed.

 

[Chase515]

With brass expanding I would be afraid of only going a couple thousandths under the min and getting hung up with a case to long. How long do your cases measure after sending one down range?

 

[UncleNorby]

Case length after firing is not relevant. The regs pertain to the ammunition used, which by definition is the loaded case. IIRC, mine are 1.795 loaded, and after firing are still under 1.800. Can't see any reason to waste those 0.095" by beginning with a 1.700 case.

 

[Rock River]

yea, I definitly wish there were still 'chucks' (I assume groundhogs?) around to shoot, i would love that

If your looking for groundhogs to hunt just go talk to any farmer that raises soybeans and they will gladly point you to some and rarely turn you down if you ask for permission to get rid of them. Where there are soybeans there are groundhogs. Coyotes have definitely dropped the population down but they still aren't hard to find.

 

[youngda9]

Easily available ammo that just needs shot and trimmed.

Reloading? I can do it or have somebody do it for me.............like B&K in Peru.

Pretty darn hassle free, using a stock rifle too.

But not the long range stuff of the .358 Hoosier and similar.
Mean little woods rifle though.

What velocity do you get out of that little rascal ? What weight bullet are you shooting ?

 

[Hookeye]

200 grainers, haven't chrono'd them though.
I suspect I'd lose a bit with the 16.25" bbl, but at 55 yards with minor shoulderblade clip, my bullet came apart on the only deer I've tested it on.
Wounds channel was big, so it mostly stayed together during its travel through the goodies. Did find about a 50 gr lead chunk of it.

Load is hot enough (hotter than WW factory) it's on the verge of sticking (Contenders have weak extraction- they should get sticky before your cases show any real pressure sign).

 

[youngda9]

I was just curious because it seems that you invested in an expensive wildcat round, and the reloading components, and then handicapped its potential by using such a short barrel. Was wondering how much velocity you're losing. Since you aren't set up to get the maximum potential out of the round, It struck me as odd to go with a wildcat ($$) and reduce it's potential. Cool gun though.

 

[Hookeye]

It is not a wildcat round IMHO, it's just a regular .35 Rem. To be IN deer legal all I have to do is trim the brass.

Expensive? It eats Hornady 200 grainers. Doesn't get much cheaper than that, esp when my last box of bullets and 100 cases were free (guy getting out of handgunning)

Handicap? It's one for one (brats thawed and going on the grill in a bit). There was bullet upset, enough with minor bone clip at 55 yards to not exit. Up that close.... it might have been going a bit too fast. Pretty wicked wound channel through liver, onside lung was obliterated.

Yeah the 16.25" bbl is short, but IMHO the handicap of that bbl was the lack of fwd weight, which made offhand shooting tough. With added weight to the fore-end hollows that was solved. BTW I get 5 shots around an inch at 100yds.

Yeah, it's not at max V................but does it need to be?

Expense: I paid $175 for this barrel used. Current auction sites show people buying them at twice that. A 21" would probably be better but I aint dropping $400 for such a barrel.

This one shoots good.........learned long ago if it works well, keep it. Probably eventually run this TC as a .22 mag for fox/yote and just keep the .35 bbl as backup............if I ever get a Ruger #1 redone. I'm content with 200 yard and in shooting.

The performance of this cartridge and my platform on paper might be lacking (esp when compared to other hotter 35 cal Wildcats and or rigs with longer bbls), but a deer dead in seconds, cut up and in the freezer, is a substantial measure of performance in my book.
I'm eating venison, not an Excel spread sheet.

It did what I wanted it to do. Yeah it'd be cool to pop a decent buck out at 150 or so.....and maybe that will happen in '14. This past season I was not handicapped by anything other than neighbor kids putting huge pressure on the deer in early bow. They jacked us up. The lack of antlers on the wall had nothing to do with running a .35 Rem or having a short barrel

My rig is maybe a 200 yard max item. But if I blast 140" or larger bucks off and on over the next decade...... at 50-75 yards, I think I'll be able to live with it

 

[Hookeye]

If I get property that offers longer shots at bruiser bucks..............I might get a different rifle.
That doesn't mean the little TC will go bye bye.
It just means I'll buy/build another rifle
I grew up shooting Contenders, like the little cougar on the side, and was not interested in an Encore, so that already limited me on what I could build.
Was going for another .35 Super 14 in handgun (fun rig) but saw this bbl used at a good price and said "what the heck". It's tapered, so doesn't have the look I like (super 14 w no sights is my fave contender HG look). So it's staying in rifle form.

A 1B in .358 Hoosier (or other) might be a neat build.

But then the #1 is available in .460 S&W......have yet to see one. If I do and it's got nice wood on it I might just have to go that route.

To me the platform is as important as the cartridge.

 

[Hookeye]

Finished the shape of the pad, attached with velcro, it's pretty solid.
Now I need to paint it!

imgur: the simple image sharer

 

[Huntinfool]

What keeps that from being a SBR?

 

[Hookeye]

It has a 16.25" bbl. (TC "Super 16").

The lack of any real action length keeps it pretty compact.

 

[Huntinfool]

Thanks for the answer. Cool

 

[youngda9]

I mistakenly thought that little gun was a 358 Hoosier, in which case it would be an expensive little wildcat (dies are $100+ and $$ for a custom chambering, plus custom brass forming/trimming). I now realize it is a 35 Remington with trimmed down brass.

I thought it was a 358 Hoosier out of a short barrel...which would negate most of the advantages of such a cartridge which is designed to achieve optimal long range performance out of a 1.8" max length.

Sorry for the confusion.

 

[Hookeye]

Contenders are low pressure stuff.

For higher P cartridges, one needs to go to the Encore.
Even then they say there is frame stretch when pushing big stuff past a certain V threshold.
For those running .358 WSSM wildcats I thought the V max for an Encore was 2700 FPS.

FWIW BellM says he won't even do an encore bbl on any WSSM or WSM case.

As for the .358 WSM and other wildcats.............IMHO it's not that much $.
Yeah dies are $150...........but I bet some of the places that offer brass and ammo for these beasts also offer a reloading service.
I know if I needed .458 SOCOM I wouldn't buy dies, as one of my hunting buddies runs that

Not every shooter needs his own die set. For many HP rifle users that chase deer, their rigs are a 1 or 2 box of shells per year item.

IMHO Rebarreling isn't too bad price wise if one goes Savage (barrel nut system).

I find that system ugly, so would have to pay more and have something pretty (Ruger #1). Nonneman's I think rebarrels them for around 500.

 

[Pedi pod]

I left in. A few years ago,I would visit martins vile club often usually with a257 bob about 1/2 the time there was a guy shooting a shortened 358 round he was expertinmenting with said he was going to call it 358 Hoosier.I love it when a plan comes together.