any interest in a .358 ?

[Greywuuf]

I am working some on my lathe today, cutting down a leftover piece of .358 blank to fit an AR upper. I guess I am starting three subjects ( or four) at once. First off since the blank is only about 11" long I am building a pistol ( subject 1) second I am chambering this thing with a reamer I had made a while ago to accept .223 brass cut down and reamed to accept .357-358 bullets . sort of a 357 rimless mag ( subject 2 ) I expect to be shooting heavy bullets , possibly 220-250 grain same as I shoot in my 358 win FAL. This leads me to think I will run em through the chrony and work on the subsonic end of things as well ( subject 3) and finally I just out of habbit take bunches of pictures whenever I " build it myself" ( subject 4)
Is there any interest in any of it ? for instance loads and performance that I get? making a pistol run ? turning a barrel ? I would be happy to post any thing you would like to see.
I must have to much winter..I keep starting more projects.

[jripper]

Check out ar15barrels.com.

He make a barrel in a ".357 rimless", which is pretty similar to what you are talking about. His sight is pretty informative.

Joel

[sierra one]

Hi there. Absolutely interested in your results. About 7 years ago i had a .38/ 357 built on a little Martini action to shoot .38 Special ammo suppressed. I tried all sorts to get the factory ammo subsonic and ended up with a large suppressor and ported bl to reduce the velocity. Had a generous supply and didn't want to reduce the load if i could avoid it. It has shot many goats with subsonic 129gn Hydra Shok projectiles with amazing results.

Bl twist i think is 16".

I tried some Nosler Ballistic Tip .358 ("35 Whelen") projectiles but they were not stable subsonic and I abandoned them before i blew up the suppressor.

Awesome looking projectile and went promisingly well in the 357 case supersonic.

Your case sounds like the way to go especially as the trend is to modify an upper. Semi-auto gives a whole new realm for subsonic with rapid follow up shots.

I am still struggling along with bolt or single shots which can be frustraing for hunting unless the range is close.

As an after thought the bigger the projectile (diameter) the louder they tend to be subsonic. Big flat nosed pistol bullets obviously are louder than sleek rifle bullets but kill better; though range is limited.

Look forward to your results...

[gt3499a]

Please post anything that you learn. It will eventually help us decide what projects we want to take on.

Dan

[Greywuuf]

Hi Guy's
Sorry for the long quiet time. Summer here in Alaska gets kinda busy ( short season lots to do) add to that I buggered the barrel threads on this thing with a borrowed lathe ( rushed to get it done and turned the threads 1:32 instead of 1:16) anyway, about X mas time I will have MY lathe and should get back to getting this thing up and going. About half tempted to SBR this thing. it would truly look awesome! (I set a unthreaded or chambered barrel into the upper just to get an idea, I have a picture of that if you want, looks like a real AR but the barrel has no extension on it so it wont work)

i am still dinking around with various setups to make inside reaming fast easy and consistant, the few I have done the hard way look truly impressive.

[HHI 812]

What kind of twist would be needed for a .358? My 300 Whispers had a 1:8 twist, and the .338 Whisper had a 1:7 twist. Anyone make a fast twist .358" or what would be an ideal twist?

[Greywuuf]

hmmmm Still have this same barrel stub but have not yet chambered it. decided the inside reaming was too big a pain to mess with and have not decided on the exact chamber reamer to have cut. I would assume that the twist is going to be dependant on the bullet chosen, but for most of the bullets available it wont have to be that fast. (38special shoots 158's subsonic all the time) I have recently played with opening the 223 WSSM up to 357, and man what a slick cartridge that makes! it also fits in the AR mag and with a barrel extension installed on the upper but no barrel ( as I dont have one chambered) if feeds them too! Oh and I used a douglas PISTOL blank with a 1:10 twist.

[HHI 812]

You in Anchorage? I think Teppo Jitsu site has done some of these wildcatts and recall another AR company doing a .35 cal. I just wanted a T/C barrel.
Dennis

[Greywuuf]

Marty at Teppo, used to make or at least played around with the 358 CQB, but it headspaced on the case mouth and used .30 remington brass. He deemed it to finiky and expensive and has moved on to the 338 spectre and also the 30 HRT. (30 herret on 6.8 brass) I dont see why a .35 HRT (.357 herret) wouldn't work as well. Again it is just a matter of the proper dies and reamers. it would likely be cheaper than what I am doing but I am pretty certain I will go ahead with my idea on the WSSM.