Interesting Ruger Hawkeye Hunter in 358 Winchester

[Macchina]

Ruger® Hawkeye® Hunter Bolt-Action Rifle Model 67107

ruger.com

16.6" threaded barrel
Stainless barrel, action, and floorplate
Walnut stock
Mauser-type controlled round feed
6.7 Lbs
4 round mag and 3 position safety.

I can't say I would change much about this rifle. Very tempted, especially because I have a Rex Silentium 358 can already...

Trying to decide between the 308 Winchester (I would buy factory ammo) or 358 Winchester (I would reload everything)....
Looking at the numbers, 358 Winchester seems to be a hammer up close and match 308 at distance.

Hornady lists loads for a 358 Win with the 200gr bullet going 2700 FPS (same speed as the 308 pushes a 165gr).

 

[Steve300xcw]

Looks like a neat rifle. Been eyeballing those things. One in a 6mm-08 would be a handy thing to have.

 

[Treeman_MG]

They are neat, it's nice to see the old .358 getting some love. Gonna be awful slow in 16" barrel though. . . Probably about like a .35 rem. My 20" m70 featherweight is a hammer though!

 

[Steve300xcw]

meh who cares? Not every rifle needs to be set up to kill shit at 600+ yrds.

 

[Treeman_MG]

meh who cares? Not every rifle needs to be set up to kill shit at 600+ yrds.

No one said it did? .358 win is the wrong tool for that anyway.

 

[menhaden_man]

I have a 1966 Marlin in 35 Rem that is a hammer on deer… always been intriguing with the notion of a Whelen or 358.

 

[menhaden_man]

No one said it did? .358 win is the wrong tool for that anyway.

Some guys forget how to scroll past stuff they don’t care about

 

[Treeman_MG]

Some guys forget how to scroll past stuff they don’t care about

Lol! I have a sweet little Marlin from the late 50's that I had rebored to .356 Winchester and chopped to 16.5". Definitely a deer hammer!

 

[Macchina]

They are neat, it's nice to see the old .358 getting some love. Gonna be awful slow in 16" barrel though. . . Probably about like a .35 rem. My 20" m70 featherweight is a hammer though!

The larger the bore, the more expansion volume, therefore they tend to be less affected by shorter barrels.

This is easily seen on cartridge pairs like the 5.56 vs 300 Blackout. With very similar cartridge capacity the 300 Blackout looses significantly less velocity as the barrels get shorter vs 5.56.

Of course there will velocity loss, but I’m wondering if the 358 would be a better cartridge than the 308 from a 16” barrel for shots 300 yards and less…

 

[AZ_Hunter]

I like that rifle too. I just posted a thread on it the other day.

I don’t live in the Midwest, so I have no “need” for it, but I think it would be fun to play with and I could find a use for it. Truth be told, even living and hunting “ out west”, 90% of all my kills have been under 350 yards with probably 90% of those under 300… I hunt a lot of thick timber, so I could make a use case for this rifle.

That said, I did a wildcat project on the 358 Yeti years ago, and still have a lot bullets left over. Plus I have a ton of once fired 7.62x51 brass and a SiCo Hybrid can just laying around, so this rifle would give me something to use all that on.

 

[Treeman_MG]

The larger the bore, the more expansion volume, therefore they tend to be less affected by shorter barrels.

This is easily seen on cartridge pairs like the 5.56 vs 300 Blackout. With very similar cartridge capacity the 300 Blackout looses significantly less velocity as the barrels get shorter vs 5.56.

Of course there will velocity loss, but I’m wondering if the 358 would be a better cartridge than the 308 from a 16” barrel for shots 300 yards and less…

Expect to lose 25-30fps per inch either way. 358 can't make 2700fps with a 200gr bullet in a 20" barrel (at least mine couldn't). Probably 2450-2500fps max in a 16" barrel. . . It makes a significant difference

 

[AZ_Hunter]

Cutting Edge bullets makes a 160gr Raptor that would scoot pretty fast I bet.

 

[nm.otter]

The larger the bore, the more expansion volume, therefore they tend to be less affected by shorter barrels.

...for a given quantity of powder.

This is easily seen on cartridge pairs like the 5.56 vs 300 Blackout. With very similar cartridge capacity the 300 Blackout looses significantly less velocity as the barrels get shorter vs 5.56.

Case capacity to bore area ratio again:
.300 Blackout has the same ratio as .22 Hornet -- .223 Winchester ratio is 2.7 times larger.

 

[Luke S]

I would have been all over this a couple years ago. But after reloading for a 358 and a 375 Ruger for a few years I got lazy and went down to a 308 which works well

I did try those 160 gr Cutting Edge bullets on two moose and they did well. I think I got 2700 fps with them. Very accurate too.

 

[CJ_BG]

Probably the most interesting 358 rifle I've seen. I'd give it a go for short range deer and bear hunting probably.

225 partition at like 2400 sounds kinda fun. Pretty similar to the 8x57 load I'm shooting

 

[Treeman_MG]

I would have been all over this a couple years ago. But after reloading for a 358 and a 375 Ruger for a few years I got lazy and went down to a 308 which works well

I did try those 160 gr Cutting Edge bullets on two moose and they did well. I think I got 2700 fps with them. Very accurate too.

That's about where I am at. . . . thinking hard about re-barreling my m70 to .308

 

[Treeman_MG]

Probably the most interesting 358 rifle I've seen. I'd give it a go for short range deer and bear hunting probably.

225 partition at like 2400 sounds kinda fun. Pretty similar to the 8x57 load I'm shooting

A 225 partition or even a sierra game king would be bad medicine for just about anything in North America

 

[Luke S]

I used Nosler Partitions in that rifle till I ran out and could not find more. Then I tried Swift A Frames. Both were fantastic on bears caribou and moose. I shot one moose with a Cutting Edge and the follow up was a Swift A Frame. It was hard to tell much difference between the wound channels. I did the same thing on another moose later but I can't remember if the follow up shot was another Swift A Frame or a 225 grain Woodleigh. In either case it was a similar result. Good wound channel with bullets stopped on the far side.

I might have some .358 reloading stuff for sale later if anyone is interested. Its definitely effective so I won't say its "bad" but I would caution people about getting excited about it. In my opinion the performance gain is not worth the limited range and hassle of reloading. Back in my "bigger is better" days I assumed a .358 would be a faster bear killed compared to my 308 without being as heavy as a .375. With premium bullets I think the extra bore size might help a bit. In a small sample it seemed like teh .358 killed a bit faster then a 308 with Nosler bullets. But after watching a 308 with 168 gr ELDMs punch through multiple grizzlies I think the answer might be a different 308 bullet instead of a wider bullet.

Those Rugers do look sweet in any caliber... I with they would offer a fiberglass stock to save a few oz and I would put iron sites on to make it perfect.