[SHOT 2019] Winchester's NEW 350 Legend Cartridge
With the Industry Day at the Range underway at SHOT Show 2019, Winchester is one of the 1st companies to pop off something new! They have introduced a NEW straight-wall cartridge to the shooting world dubbed the 350 Legend! This cartridge could be the next “sliced bread” for hunters because it will be legal in 47 of 50 states for hunting purposes. It also is going to boast some pretty impressive ballistics.
At the moment, only Winchester has firearms chambered in the 350 Legend because they have kept this tucked so tightly under their hat. The 1st rifle being offered is a Winchester XPR bolt-action. The cartridge will be working within a grain weight of 145 – 265 grains. Within that spectrum you have your choice of a 145 Grain FMJ (Full-Metal Jacket), 150 Grain Deer Season XP, and 180 Grain PowerPoint for factory ammo.
The explicit bullet diameter is .357″ with a 1.71″ case length. This cartridge is a true straight-wall round and is not necked up. Because of that it will be serviceable as a legal hunting round in 47 of 50 states. If you are wondering if this cartridge is going to be expensive to shoot like other straight-wall rounds it will not be. Simple FMJ boxes of 20 rounds are expected to sell for $9.99 making them very affordable.
Some of the other enticing points to this caliber are the fact that it has less recoil than comparable cartridges. It affords the shooter more penetration. It also has more energy upon impact to humanely down game. In fact, the men and women of Winchester have successfully harvested over 30 whitetail deer. All of which were downed in 30 yards or less.
So being presented with this NEW cartridge from Winchester, what do you guys and gals think? Is this something you would be willing to entertain on your next big-game hunt? Or do you have some more questions that need answering? Let us know what you think in the Comments below! We always appreciate your feedback.
Managing Editor, AllOutdoor.com Staff Writer, OutdoorHub.com Staff Writer, TheArmoryLife.com Staff Writer, Tyrant CNC Smith & Wesson Certified Armorer Glock Certified Armorer Firefighter/1st Responder Mayor of St. Joseph, MN
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Just google 357AR/357max-ar/357Max-rimless, the posted data over the past 7-8 years for it beats the 350 legend. You can't tell me winchester wasn't also looking at it and changed it just enough to not be identical and not for the better. The rim dia is the same as the 223, but the base diameter is about .012"-.014" larger going off the "SAAMI" chamber print from PTG. Those are going to be some weaker and ugly cases if you fire form 223, so you're locked into 350 legend cases from winchester and forget about using a cheap 357 die set because the case is now tapered. The 357AR was already being run at max COL for 223. The .11" longer case on the 350 legend doesn't gain you any USABLE case capacity if all it is doing is covering up the bullet which can't go any further forward and still fit in a magazine. Since the seating depth is in effect .11" deeper there are going to be certain bullets that no longer will work because the case mouth is now over the ogive. Notice how short the ogive is on the 350 legend bullets? So winchester "improved" the 357AR by locking you into their case and vastly limited your bullet selection except the ones they want you to buy.
Will be a good Low Recoil deer cartridge out to maximum of 200 yards. It's true BC of around .17 for the 150 Spitzer and .2 of the 180 grain will have have it's trajectory identical to the 450BM. The 450BM's 250 FTX bullet is a genuine .21 and carries 900fpe at 300yds.
This caliber barely hold 700 at 200yds with either the 150 or the 180grain bullet.
Where it is a win is it offers .357 Max ballistics in a commercial cartridge and in bolt action rifles. The .357 MAx is a soft and sweet deer slayer to 200 yards...and for most this IS plenty and a great tradeoff vs the 450BM. 100 yds effective range for 1/2 the recoil is a real deal.
The key to this taking off is other rife makers iike Savage and Ruger need to chamber it in their budget rifles. Especially offer a compact version with short LOP. IMHO the XPR is a great rifle but it's more expensive than the Ruger/Savage offerings which shoot as well.