358wssm

[Scotmak]

I ordered a 358wssm upper from Dedicated technologies. I can’t wait to get my paws on it. My problem,,no ammo. I have never loaded anything before. Does anyone load this ammo? Better yet does anyone sell this ammo? I would like to start stocking up prior to receiving the upper. Dedicated Technologies emailed me a detail drawing to assist in producing the ammo. I also recieved a ok from them to share the drawing if need be.

 

[csmith]

I don't have a 358wssm but do have a 243wssm from DTECH. You will absolutely love the upper when you get it. Reloading for wssm is a bit of a pain. The brass is extremely thick and therefore resizing takes considerable effort to get the shoulder pushed back far enough to chamber. With the 243wssm I've been annealing all my brass prior to loading and plan to anneal again at 3-5 firings. I would suspect you will have a hard time finding ammo so your only choice might be to start reloading. I had a couple of questions about loads for my upper and contacted Mike and he was extremely helpful. He can be hard to catch via phone but when you do is good about answering all your questions the best he can. One other piece of advice is the just pay his price for extra mags any i've tried to modify myself have not been reliable.

 

[Scotmak]

Thanks Mr csmith. I will order extra mags along with anything else he reccomends. I do have a lot of questions but I know he is busy. I'm pretty intimidated by this loading and reloading stuff.

 

[ghuns]

I'm pretty intimidated by this loading and reloading stuff.

Then why did you select an upper chambered for round with no commercial availability?

Not be a smart arse or bash a new guy

 

[Scotmak]

I’m intimidated not incompetent! Lol I want to hunt deer with a AR. Plain and simple.

 

[ghuns]

I want to hunt deer with a AR. Plain and simple.

Well then welcome to the club I personally went with the .458 SOCOM, but whatever trips your trigger.

 

[kludge]

Do you plan to start reloading? What kind of drawing was it, a reamer print?

Go ahead and post up the drawing, it might help give suggestions for reloading.

 

[Broom_jm]

Do a few searches and you'll find some guys, like Kludge, who are already loading for a 358WSSM. One of them lives not too far from you, I think.

Bottom line: You bought an upper chambered in a round for which you are VERY unlikely to find ammo to purchase. If you do, it will be remarkably expensive...you won't care if you own a spare mag, cuz you'll never load that many at a time.

 

[Regnar]

Fire form with their upper. They will loan it to you.
I have the SOCOM. My father in law got the 358 last spring. The 358 is hands down better for anything you may find here.

 

[Scotmak]

Kludge I'm not exactly sure what you would call the drawing. I can email it to you if you would like. I will eventually load my own. Until then I would like to purchase some if possible.

 

[kludge]

Something like this:

Or this:

 

[csmith]

A member on here JGHELTON had a Olympic 358 wssm for sale awhile back with dies and brass. It was sold before I had a chance to get a hold of him but the way I understand it is Mike M. from Dtech designed the wssm uppers for Olympic. If you pm JGHELTON and he will give the persons name that bought is upper you might have a lead on someone that could load a few rounds for you. Just a thought.

 

[Scotmak]

Yes it looks like the bottom drawing! I think it's also the same company in the title block! Unfortunately it's on my work PC and can't get to it until Monday morning.

 

[Scotmak]

Thanks csmith, I sent a PM.

 

[kludge]

Yes it looks like the bottom drawing! I think it's also the same company in the title block! Unfortunately it's on my work PC and can't get to it until Monday morning.

OK, cool. Not all .358 WSSM are the same, but with a reamer print you can order reloading dies, or find some that will work, and detemine what steps you need to take to make/form your brass.

 

[45lcrevolver]

My understanding is that all you need to do is get 25wssm brass and run it thru your die and the you have 358wssm brass. You may need to aneal your cases necks.

 

[kludge]

Depends on the chamber reamer. Some of them require neck turning. Mine does.

 

[jghelton]

Thanks csmith, I sent a PM.

I reciveved his PM , and yes i have sold mine ...Anyhow if he contacts Mike at DT , he will sell you a set of dies , possibly some brass and may even give you some load data ....the 200 gr hornady is your best bet , so you can hold your OAL that is needed for the magazine ...I am still waiting to hear from another friend as to getting you some ammo , but i am sure he doesnt have a bunch and he may be a little leary of selling any because they are hand loads and we all know how that is

 

[kludge]

the 200 gr hornady is your best bet , so you can hold your OAL that is needed for the magazine

Agreed. Either the Interlock SP or the FTX, but given that the FTX was designed for the .35 Remington... yet Hornady gives data for the .356 Win, so it can't be too bad. My email from Horandy said it was designed for a terminal velocity of 1600fps-2000fps. My buddy and I are both shooting .5" groups with the 200gr Interlock SP

The 180gr Speer Hot-Cor will also work well in the magazine length.

 

[Skip]

I have been testing the Nosler Accubonds in my 358WSSM, both the new 200gr and 225gr. I have had some good success with them from the Encore package. I must be honest, nothing to the extent that kludge has had from his bolt gun. With the longer lead of the Encore, and the fact I have no magazine to worry about, I really like that bullet.

I am wondering though, since the Partition is a flat based bullet like the Hornadys, is it possible that a loading could be found that would be able to use the heavier bullet in the AR package?

If so, it might be able to be beneficial to have a faster than 1:14" twist in it. 1:12" could be much better. I also thought about having an upper made for 358Win for an AR-10 of some kind and have it with a 1:10" twist as that data has the same OAL as a 308. I know the shortened neck brings some problems to the table, but, I could use it elsewhere with full length cases that are really easily obtained.

Personally, I really like the 358WSSM and have no plans of changing to another caliber anytime soon but, I am with the OP, I just think it would be awesome to take an AR to the field and bring home some venison!

OP, we will need a full report on how this upper performs!