358 Win & H322 Powder...

[Smokey]

Alright, I have looked for a year now and have not been able to find 1 lb of A2520 anywhere! After working up a great load for my 358 I have went back to the drawing board. Yes, I have a couple that were good also, Win 748 & RL15, but the trick today is finding more powder to reload and practice with! Good Grief...
So, our local Scheels store has had a pretty decent supply of IMR and H powders all year and I decided to play with H322 and see what it will do. I would have liked Varget but alas have not seen that one either!!! I will let you chaps know what it does....

I got in on another deer wrestling adventure today as we had two bucks this time caught in soccer nets - while working on one the second one gave me a good kick in the backside! Ouch!
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10201441761324435

[elmerkeithclone]

forums.nitroexpress.com/show flat=phone?Cat=O&Number=107733&an=O&page=15


Some good info on TAC powder and the 358.

[Smokey]

Thanks EKC, I would have went with TAC if I could find 2 lbs. It has come down to loading what pdr is on the shelf at the time so I will end up with enough to practice with at various yardages! I bought 2 lbs of H322 and there has been a pretty decent supply of that all summer where I shop. Maybe that means nobody else likes it?

[rbuck351]

TAC is the absolutely bestest powder there is for the 350Rem Mag and 225gr bullets. I would think it would work well in the 358 also but, if you can't find any , I guess it doesn't matter.

[drow]

If you have any access to Accurate Arms powders, both A2015 and A2230 work very well in the 358. Use their 338 Federal data as a starting point and work up. With the larger caliber, any load for the 338 will be safe in the 358.

[Smokey]

It sure is hard to believe these powder mfgs have not been able to start getting caught up on some stock. Several of the wholesalers I have dealt with for years are not getting some key stuff. It seems the ones used a lot by ammo makers is what is missing on the shelves? Who knows but it is sure frustrating!
I have a great load of Accurate A2520 if it ever show up again, extremely accurate and very narrow range of vel deviation... H322 is supposed to be an all weather/ narrow spread powder from what I read, we will see. Got a full plate and then some right now so may not get loads worked up for a spell...
Thx for the inputs! Are any of you seeing the Accurate brand powders on shelves? I have only seen a few lbs of what they offer in their lineup in months...

[1Cor15:19]

H322 has been my go to powder for the .358 Winchester for many years. I understand that I may be leaving some velocity on the table, but in my 20" barrel I get 2550fps with 200 grain bullets, 2400+ with 225 grain bullets and 2300+ with 250s with all the accuracy I'd ever expect from that rifle. H322 is small grained and you'll get excellent load density and it meters easily through my powder measurer; pretty good combination. If I need more velocity I just move up to the Whelen or Norma.......

[Smokey]

1Cor, I worked up 4 loads of 3 ea last night to get started. Looks like I can get where I want to be - if your able to get 2300 from a 20in bbl I should be very happy with my 22incher! It was nice to handle and still plenty of room in the case... May sneak in a session tomorrow between a ton of things I NEED to do! Got enough time to site in some new crossbow points tonight before dark. Wow, the skeeters have really come out the last few days..
Season opens for deer next Wed. but I have a surprise trip planned for me and the Mrs on Thursday to Niagara Falls so won't get out till a bit later. I have a really nice buck showing up in one of my plots so getting the fever!

[BrownBear]

Been slow to weigh in because I can't find the particular binder with my 358 load tests in it. That's what I get for reorganizing my library but stopping halfway through the job. :shot:

Anyhoo, H322 shot very well through both my bolt and my 99, but for some reason not the Winnie 88. The latter has always been hard to feed for some reason, and greatly prefers 748. Since the other guns like 748 too, it's been my powder of choice for over 30 years. Back in the good old days I had a chance to pick up several 8lb kegs of 748 at blow out prices. Still have 1 1/2 left, so I won't be changing soon.

Keeping my eyes on all these discussions anticipating another powder search someday down the road, so keep the reports coming.

[Smokey]

OK, I looked at all the important things I had to do today for me and the ones I had to do for the Mrs and omitted the ones she would punish me the least so I could crack off a few rounds! Took one for the team you might say!
The test rounds performed well all right at 1in or under and considering it was 83 degree's and I was not allowing much time for the bbl to cool it was real good on accuracy.
Now the most interesting one was the last three. Shoulda had a one hole group if I had done my part. I had loaded past the book rec max of 42.5 grains on the last two groups of three. However, I changed the col from 2.77 to 2.80 which is what I was running my loads using A2520 and was surprised at the velocity increase... I was wanting a load to settle at 2250fps or higher and this worked well....


Now, 1 cor not sure how you got more vel outa a shorter bbl unless you went on up in grains - not doubting you just curious? I read some authors load data and he went up to 44grains in a like Ruger 77...No real pressure signs - primers flattened some but not excessive IMO.

This was a surprise - bad one for sure. I had 30 rounds loaded with A2520 that I had done a few months ago with the last of my powder. I had also annealed these cases - my first try at that process. Much to my dislike the first two cartridge's did not fire - med dent on primer?HMMM
Got next two to fire but second case hung up in the chamber and had to drive it out... Only thing I can visually see is perhaps a very slight shoulder deviation from new rounds? My first guess is during the resizing, FL, I must have crushed the shoulder some and this is allowing the case to creep forward and reducing the firing pin travel? What do you boys think?