350 Legend

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A coworker of mine goes to colorado often for elk. Pegosa springs I think they head out to. His 45-70 works fine. They hunt them in the wooded lots between open areas. Never hunted elk, but bought a few boxes of 350 interlocks for the 450 marlin. They're not sold anymore I believe, just 325gr FTX. Sure they're ok. Gave up on the NH moose lottery too.

Any 45 caliber more or less is a poor long range performer. I wanted a stainless lever gun is 2008, and saw a browning BLR in stainless for $450 or so If I remeber right. Some handling marks, plenty more on it now..... Took the front sight off because in 1.25x, you see the sight in the scope.

350 legend could be a problem round with bullets. Bullets are generally designed with a specific range of velocities in mind. When your cartirdge is too fast or too slow, you get issues. IF they made the round with a proper cup n cone design, you ok. I'd definitely water jug a couple before heading out.

ON a positive note, all I ever saw reguarly in the past year was 350 legend, then in 2nd 308 win. Alays some sort of oddball nobody really shoot anymore like 300 savage.

MY guess is I have about 20 boxes of 450 marlin. When I'm eating worms, that gun will probably be sold with 10 boxes of ammo. Really just shoot 22lr anymore. Don't even shoot trap / skeet. Just too many ticks in NY to bird hunt for my liking........ Moved to a new town with no local shooting range either...... Got a little 25 yard 22 range in my backyard. I do harvest deer on my 8 acre home,

 

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I can't speak to the 350 legend or a 444 or 45/70, but I can say this. I was getting very close to buying a 20 gauge slug gun. I had been using a Benelli SBE 12 gauge, but after some digging, the right 20 gauge can reach out to 200 yards effectively. I'm also considering getting a smokeless barrel for my TC Encore next year. There is another thread on that. I don't know if smokeless is legal in OH, but it is in VA. That can reach to 300 yards effectively. Just some other options to consider...

Thanks,

Jack

Yoderjack,

For 200 yard with some thump 45/70 or 450 marlin will treat you right. I like the fact its basically an acurate easy to reload 20 gauge slug gun with a more flatter trajectory. MY gun shoots cloverleafs at 100 yards.

With a 150 yard zero, your about 4-5 inches low at 200 yards. 15mph wind drift at 150 yards is about a foot. No clue what they cost today, but was paying 40-45 bucks a box before the pandemic. Bullet makers more or less gave up on underpowering the 45-70. They used to make weak 45/70 rounds because of the old trap door guns..... I got a young einstein at work who puts modern 45/70's in his trap door and complains they shoot way high...... Atleast his able to phyiscally see the shot with his eye after firing the gun........ I am concerned they might stop making this round someday, but I got enough ammo for it, have a set of dies laying around, and keep the hulls. I sold my reloading equipment last year.

Looking for a open field gun in 308. I got a treestand where there a 250 yard dip in a cornfield bucks like to follow. Cant deciede what to buy, so Just doing my homework at 250 yards. Painting a few cornstalks where it's 250 exactly and using the 450 marlin this year. Got a small collection of 308 ammo when I deicede what to buy. Thinking of making a copy of mike's M40 in better call saul. Maybe clean up an old 308 rem 700, give her a new barrel if she needs one.

 

[Spike_Horn_Shooter]

I bought my son a Savage 350 Legend. I would not buy it again. 18” Barrel. Super light decent shooting gun.

1) Magazine drops out randomly
2) Not sold on the 350 Legend Cartridge

I shot this deer last year in Ohio from a tree stand. About 30 yards away. Shot was quartering away. Back liver area. Not a drop of blood. No exit wound. I searched for over 2 hours in a grid pattern. Lots of fun in the Ohio Green Briar. I shot again as he was running away. His back leg was blowed off at the joint. I don’t know if I’m the 1st shot deflected or if my second shot hit him.

This might not have happened with a 308. An exit hole would left me with a 100 yard track job.

 

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View attachment 43241I bought my son a Savage 350 Legend. I would not buy it again. 18” Barrel. Super light decent shooting gun.

1) Magazine drops out randomly
2) Not sold on the 350 Legend Cartridge

I shot this deer last year in Ohio from a tree stand. About 30 yards away. Shot was quartering away. Back liver area. Not a drop of blood. No exit wound. I searched for over 2 hours in a grid pattern. Lots of fun in the Ohio Green Briar. I shot again as he was running away. His back leg was blowed off at the joint. I don’t know if I’m the 1st shot deflected or if my second shot hit him.

This might not have happened with a 308. An exit hole would left me with a 100 yard track job.

That liver shot, did it hit a rib good on entry? 308 would of made an exit, but liver shots sometimes take awhile to expire the animal. I had a clean slice through with a NAP thunderhead with aluminum arrow in the liver area. Deer took 2 hours to die. Moved 3 times, couldn't get up the 3rd move, put him down with a 2nd arrow. Square in the liver too. Not a bullet, but plenty of wound channel though.

A few shots I had with a 54 cal flintlock, 44 mag hornady xtp in a 50 cal muzzleloader, and even a 450 marlin didnt produce a blood trail. IF you shoot a bit high in the chest cavity, sometime the blood just pools inside of them, expecially if you damage lung material. That shot lung makes plenty of room for blood. 2 of them didn't go more than 50 yards. One deer sat like a dog under the shrub, almost gave up on finding that deer. Saw some deer running away, through the one I hit was one of them. I took my gloves off to remove the primer from the muzzleloader, and see see a tiny bit of blood. Totally forget about finding a trail, just went with my instincts and walked where the deer might of went. Found him under a shrub, laying down, but upright like a sleeping dog. No white belly.

 

[Spike_Horn_Shooter]

I honestly don’t know if it hit rib bone. I had an Amish man cut it up for me because I was staying in a fancy AirBnB. (Only thing left 1 week before gun season).

But the thing was I was 30-50 yards away. I almost gave up the track job because there was no blood. Finally went to grid pattern and found the deer.

Not super impressed with the 350 Legend.

 

[yoderjac]

There are lots of factors involved in deer recovery. The cartridge is only one of them. Choosing a caliber is also a balancing act. I never count on a blood trail with a firearm. I usually hunt from an elevated stand. Most firearm projectiles are designed to kill from hydrostatic shot rather than blood loss. This means they want to expand and deliver all the kinetic energy to the animal rather than leaving an exit wound. So, depending on distance entry wounds can be high in the chest. Even a mid-chest entry wound is high enough that blood can pool in the chest. With a bow, I focus on exit wound and maximizing blood trail. When it comes to a firearm, one can over power deer. One shot I really like when it presents itself is a scapula shot. There is no trailing needed if executed well. The deer drops in its tracks. I switched to a .300 win mag recently. There are a few places where I can hunt that my offer a 300 yard shot opportunity, but most shots are inside 100 yards. I made the switch for that extra range and better ballistics. I find that if I take a scapula shot with it I lose a lot of shoulder meat as it destroys the shoulder. That is bad, but I found my new smokeless muzzleloader is worse. With the load I'm using it simply destroys the shoulder. I can often put my fist in it. Again, a lot of meat lost.

So, in the end, it is a balancing act. I tend to err on the side of maximizing recovery as the cost of some meat loss. Harvest limits are very liberal in my area so I harvest enough deer that losing a bit of meat is secondary. I really struggle with knowing I hit a deer and was unable to recover it. This goes for both firearm and bow.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[Wind Gypsy]

350 legend is what it is, a low velocity large diameter bullet. To get significant expansion or fragmentation at lower velocity the bullet needs to be relatively soft. Low velocity, large frontal area, low sectional density = shallow penetration. You could make the bullet tougher and get deeper penetration at the cost of less expansion/fragmentation. It's less likely to go end-to-end on a deer like a more powerful cartridge with a tougher bullet. Shot selection should be modified accordingly but when done I don't see why they wouldn't perform sufficiently.

 

[Angus 1895]

I think the selection of a light bullet is the problem.

like mentioned above…..in my 35 Remingtons or a 356 Winchesters I use 200 grain FTX or 220 Speer, or 250 grain ( I ain’t sure what brand as they are old and discontinued).

I have some 180 grain but I don’t plan on hunting big game with them.

 

[bwoods11]

Has anyone tried the 155 grain Browning? That is what I used last year and it worked. Buck dropped within 25 yards.

 

[roymunson]

Has anyone tried the 155 grain Browning? That is what I used last year and it worked. Buck dropped within 25 yards.

I had some FMJ 120 grain brownings that we used to throw lead and have some fun, but my son dropped a doe with a high shoulder shot out of that gun with 170 grain interlocks that I'd reloaded.

 

[roymunson]

I honestly don’t know if it hit rib bone. I had an Amish man cut it up for me because I was staying in a fancy AirBnB. (Only thing left 1 week before gun season).

But the thing was I was 30-50 yards away. I almost gave up the track job because there was no blood. Finally went to grid pattern and found the deer.

Not super impressed with the 350 Legend.

It's a very accurate round. That said, it wont hold a candle to a 308,although you can't hunt with a 308 in Ohio.

I have a 350 for my kids due to low recoil and for if I'm doe hunting and want to neck shoot one and not tear up meat. It's accurate enough to do that.

For buck hunting, my hammer is my H&R HandiRifle in 444 marlin. They don't usually limp for very long there.

My 350 has hunted 2 seasons and killed 4 deer. You just have to be a little more selective on shots, but my 8 year old wouldn't be able to handle a 444, so this is a perfect gun. We shoot when the shot presents itself.

 

[Spike_Horn_Shooter]

It's a very accurate round. That said, it wont hold a candle to a 308,although you can't hunt with a 308 in Ohio.

I have a 350 for my kids due to low recoil and for if I'm doe hunting and want to neck shoot one and not tear up meat. It's accurate enough to do that.

For buck hunting, my hammer is my H&R HandiRifle in 444 marlin. They don't usually limp for very long there.

My 350 has hunted 2 seasons and killed 4 deer. You just have to be a little more selective on shots, but my 8 year old wouldn't be able to handle a 444, so this is a perfect gun. We shoot when the shot presents itself.

That’s about the same with me. I bought the gun for my son, with the plus being I could use it in Ohio.

All my hunting down there is public, and during Ohio gun season if you see a deer it’s running - better take your shot when you can can get it - before their gone or someone else shoots that deer.

I’ve shot multiple deer with gun, just about every one was running or trotting, mostly with a muzzleloader and some with a 308 BLR. The deer I shot with the 350 was the 1st one without a blood trail.

 

[Teeder]

I think the selection of a light bullet is the problem.

like mentioned above…..in my 35 Remingtons or a 356 Winchesters I use 200 grain FTX or 220 Speer, or 250 grain ( I ain’t sure what brand as they are old and discontinued).

I have some 180 grain but I don’t plan on hunting big game with them.

The 180grn Speer FP is a tough bullet and will penetrate better than most 200 grn cup & cores. Great bullet in the .35 Rem & .358 Win.

 

[chaded]

My father in law, brother in law, nephew and myself all used the .350 legend last year and I think we shot at least 5 deer with no issues. Most dropped immediately and none ran very far at all. Two different types of ammo and no neck shots, spines, etc. I’m not worried at all about this caliber on whitetail deer.

 

[Angus 1895]

i like the Speer hot cor 220, and the 200 grain Hornady FTX

 

[Ruffdude]

I would not condem the caliber based on poor shot placement.
I use essentially (ballistically) the same gun in a .35Rem and use 200 grain soft -core hornady bullets. When the bullet hits its mark they don't go far.

 

[bwoods11]

Time to get the .350 Legend out and practice again! Who is planning on a hunt with one this fall ?

 

[bjseiler]

Is that you Mark Drury?

 

[bwoods11]

The .350 ammo can be tough to get right now . The 155 grain Browning is out of stock & back ordered.

 

[Teeder]

I don't have the legend, but one of my .357 mag rifles get to go out atleast one day during deer season. Either an 1894 or a 77/357. Pretty handy little buggers.