350 Legend, or 300 HAM'R

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Vettepilot555

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Looking for an opinion here.

I am a handloader and bullet caster. I am very seriously thinking of building an AR-15 in either 350 legend, or 300 Ham'r, to often shoot powder coated cast bullets out of for plinking. If I hunt with it, it would likely be for predators, as I have a lot of better guns for deer, hogs, etc. I am not worried about shooting cast out of an AR; many are doing it with no problems.

I've narrowed my list of possibilities down to these two interesting calibers for a good number of personal reasons, now I am seeking input between these two only.

So guys, (and gals?), if you were me, given what I want to do, which of those two calibers would you choose, and importantly, WHY??

Thanks in advance,
Vettepilot
 
350 Legend only because the brass is readily available. I even got a container of pickup from the club already for the 350 Legend.
Here in Michigan, the Legend is seen for hunting because of the straight wall cases which makes it usable in the southern half of the Lower Peninsula.
Last time I went through Cabelas, there was even factory ammo still on the shelves for it.
 
but between those 2, I'd take the 300hammer. if you're thinking 350 legend, do the 350 ar max. it's what the 350 legend should have been.

But I love the idea behind the 358 yeti. also the 277 wolverine. I love the thinking of the mad dog weapon systems guys. I with the were better marketers. Maybe they need to license their calibers to hornady. They can call them the 358 creedmoor and the 277 creedmoor and sales will explode.
 
.300 Ham'r, because the parent brass is free for picking up most anyplace.

I have the .300 Ham'r's unloved identical twin, the 7.62x40WT, and it's about the ideal full-power .30 caliber AR cartridge. Forming brass is as simple (expand to .270, anneal, final size, trim) and I've run everything from 110-180gr bullets through it.

It's a smidge picky of powder burn rate to cycle an AR, but I've had good success with A2230, A2200, and A1680.

The .358 Yeti is interesting. . . but I don't think ye olde .358 revolver bullets will work well in the cartridge, and .358 rifle bullets will never compete on cost with bulk .308 bullets.
 
I really want to convert one of my ARs to a 350 Legend...but the lack of projectiles is killing it. I'm not talking about in-stock projectiles either. I'm talking about actual projectiles that are even made. That I can see, there's only a few, Hornady and Winchester and maybe Barnes? The Winchester projectiles get pretty mixed reviews, I guess they're not sized properly.

Either way, I may go to 350 Legend eventually...but there will need to be more support for the reloading world before I'll do that.
 
Well, I looked up the 277 Wolverine. It's interesting, and had I known about it, I MIGHT not have started my second AR10/.243 project.

But it's a high velocity cartridge. One of the numerous reasons I settled on the choices I did is they are NOT real high velocity offerings; getting the job they do done at lower velocities. That way, if you have to down load them a bit to get cast bullets to work well, you're not so far out of the design envelope, and you're not losing too much.

Vettepilot
 
Actually you can buy the Wolverine in a 1:7 twist that is for subsonics as well as the supersonics
think similar to a 300BLK setup. I have my 277 Wolverine Barrel in 1:7 and shoot 90 grain supers and 160 grain subs out of it. Hornady Dies and Starline Brass.
some factory ammo available as well.
 
For what you want to me it's a no brainer the 350 with heavier powder coated would be very interesting.
 
I like big bullets. I'm going with the 350 if I were to play with another AR 15 Platform.

I honestly have not researched either cartridge.
 
I am going to be doing the same thing with a bolt gun in 350. Even with factory ball it is fun to shoot with minimal recoil. Looking forward to casting for it and developing plinking loads based on either Trail Boss or Unique.
 
Hmm, now you guys have me trending back towards the 350. That was my original thought; that with a big heavy bullet it would work very well with powder coated cast.

E=MC squared. In muzzle loading, or any other black powder shooting, you're limited by the powder characteristics in velocity, so you do your damage with bullet weight instead. Not as efficient as velocity, but it DOES work.

That's my theory for shooting powder coated rifle bullets too in this case. 2000 fps seems to be a threshold for cast bullets. So, a 180 or 190 grain bullet at about that speed could be a good load for a 350 legend AR15. (And not far below design specs for the gun/cartridge combo.)

As I am mentally playing with this, I think either caliber would work, with perhaps a slight edge to the 350. But just how finicky are AR's shooting straight wall cartridges?? I'm guessing they work fine if you case trim as necessary and crimp properly.

Vettepilot
 
Vettepilot555 said:
Hmm, now you guys have me trending back towards the 350. That was my original thought; that with a big heavy bullet it would work very well with powder coated cast.

E=MC squared. In muzzle loading, or any other black powder shooting, you're limited by the powder characteristics in velocity, so you do your damage with bullet weight instead. Not as efficient as velocity, but it DOES work.

That's my theory for shooting powder coated rifle bullets too in this case. 2000 fps seems to be a threshold for cast bullets. So, a 180 or 190 grain bullet at about that speed could be a good load for a 350 legend AR15. (And not far below design specs for the gun/cartridge combo.)

As I am mentally playing with this, I think either caliber would work, with perhaps a slight edge to the 350. But just how finicky are AR's shooting straight wall cartridges?? I'm guessing they work fine if you case trim as necessary and crimp properly.

Vettepilot
Click to expand...

It is the short barrel performance of 350 Legend that turned me on to it. I have a 7.5" AR pistol that has pretty lackluster performance with 223. With the slow burning powders available, there's a ton of muzzle flash and it's extremely noisy. 350 Legend takes much faster burning pistol powders like H110 and IMR4227, which is a big plus.

I watched a video where a guy took a long AR barrel and was running data on the 350L while cutting off an inch at a time. The round performs superbly down past 10".

Also, being a straight wall, I'd rather mess with it vs 300BLK.

Again...I would really like to see better factory projectiles, but that may be a while.
 
Vettepilot555 said:
But just how finicky are AR's shooting straight wall cartridges?? I'm guessing they work fine if you case trim as necessary and crimp properly.
Click to expand...
50 Beowulf and 450 Bushmaster for rifle straight wall here..no issues at all for me
You want heavy- the 50 Beowulf can get into the heavies...they get into 530 grain loads though I am shooting 275 grain Gold Dots through mine currently. I know some of the guy over on CB.com get into some serious lead (465 grains of PC'ed thump). I will slowly get there but not yet.
 
I've not had any issues loading my .450 Bushy. I've considered getting some 300gr powder coated for it, but I don't think I shoot it enough.
 
GoldieMI said:
350 Legend only because the brass is readily available. I even got a container of pickup from the club already for the 350 Legend.
Here in Michigan, the Legend is seen for hunting because of the straight wall cases which makes it usable in the southern half of the Lower Peninsula.
Last time I went through Cabelas, there was even factory ammo still on the shelves for it.
Click to expand...


Must be nice i cant find anything for .350 legend may have to make a trip up that way from north west ohio. There is absolutly nothing around here for the 350 factory ammo or components
 
tjeffords said:
Must be nice i cant find anything for .350 legend may have to make a trip up that way from north west ohio. There is absolutly nothing around here for the 350 factory ammo or components
Click to expand...
running by the store today- I'll look and see what's available - if you are in NW Ohio- I'm swinging through in a few weeks on my way to Youngs Long Shot over in Indiana.
or if you want to drop me a PM with your address, I will throw the 350 Legend Brass into the mail for you.
 
GoldieMI said:
running by the store today- I'll look and see what's available - if you are in NW Ohio- I'm swinging through in a few weeks on my way to Youngs Long Shot over in Indiana.
or if you want to drop me a PM with your address, I will throw the 350 Legend Brass into the mail for you.
Click to expand...
Shooting u a pm
 
Thanks for the answers everyone. Pretty much a "toss of a coin" deal I believe.

I decided on the 350 Legend and have the pieces ordered, as well as a mold from NOE. If Lee Precision ever gets back to production, I might try their 35 Whelen mold too. I grabbed a couple of boxes of Winchester 150 grain from Walmart to break in/check function on the new gun.

Man! I wish this primer shortage would sort itself out, but the way the election went, that might NEVER happen...

Thanks again,
Vettepilot
 
Typetwelve said:
I really want to convert one of my ARs to a 350 Legend...but the lack of projectiles is killing it. I'm not talking about in-stock projectiles either. I'm talking about actual projectiles that are even made. That I can see, there's only a few, Hornady and Winchester and maybe Barnes? The Winchester projectiles get pretty mixed reviews, I guess they're not sized properly.

Either way, I may go to 350 Legend eventually...but there will need to be more support for the reloading world before I'll do that.
Click to expand...

I would argue that aside from the .223 the .350 legend has the most available bullets out there. I make them by the millions. I've got customers loading our 9mms out to 2700 fps. Most AR barrels are just 9mm barrels chambered for the .350 legend casing. I've got a 20" xcalibur barrel that is gonna make the squirrels turn into pink mist this spring. Gonna use some 115 grain RMR MPRs and see how fast I can get them. I'm just waiting on the brass. Ordered some Starline almost 3 months ago. Hoping they come soon. But I've got about three months more before I get too worried.
 
longdayjake said:
I would argue that aside from the .223 the .350 legend has the most available bullets out there. I make them by the millions. I've got customers loading our 9mms out to 2700 fps. Most AR barrels are just 9mm barrels chambered for the .350 legend casing. I've got a 20" xcalibur barrel that is gonna make the squirrels turn into pink mist this spring. Gonna use some 115 grain RMR MPRs and see how fast I can get them. I'm just waiting on the brass. Ordered some Starline almost 3 months ago. Hoping they come soon. But I've got about three months more before I get too worried.
Click to expand...

Jake, what powders are you using?
 
longdayjake said:
I would argue that aside from the .223 the .350 legend has the most available bullets out there. I make them by the millions. I've got customers loading our 9mms out to 2700 fps. Most AR barrels are just 9mm barrels chambered for the .350 legend casing. I've got a 20" xcalibur barrel that is gonna make the squirrels turn into pink mist this spring. Gonna use some 115 grain RMR MPRs and see how fast I can get them. I'm just waiting on the brass. Ordered some Starline almost 3 months ago. Hoping they come soon. But I've got about three months more before I get too worried.
Click to expand...

I wasn't aware that you can load 9mm projectiles in a 350 Legend. That would open up the field for much cheaper range time, that's for sure.
 
Typetwelve said:
I wasn't aware that you can load 9mm projectiles in a 350 Legend. That would open up the field for much cheaper range time, that's for sure.
Click to expand...

Sure can they are the same diameter bullets at .355. I've seen on the 350 Legend FB group people have used the 147gr XTP and killed deer with them.
 
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