Reeder Custom Guns - Some strange things today...

My upper came in yesterday and I was very pleased the manner it was outfitted. The MLok forend is slim and goes all the way to the end of the 16” barrel. It is pretty close to the barrel, it might heat up. Personally I don’t like flat tops and usually have to raise the scope base 1”, plus high rings. So it does not hurt my neck. The big hole bored in the barrel livens up the balance. However my main intrigue is toying with the cartridge and handloading. It's longer than my .223 mock up, larger diameter at the web too.

[image]

My LGS had some 145 gr. ball shooter ammo for $11 a box, a nice surprise. Plus I got to hear about his Montana Elk hunt, he and his son, horses, two Elk, great stuff. Hunting ammo was $28, with the fancy projectiles. I have not read much about the specifics so I had to find out myself. The case had 18.5 gr. of some fine ball powder. It makes me think it’s a little on the fast burn rate side with a 145 gr. bullet. My inclination is to stoke it with 1680 or 4227, a heavier cast bullet, and have at it. The bullet was a bit of a shocker, it is actually .353”, what up?! I have a .352” sizer, and a .356”. This is a bit of a puzzle. We’ll see.

[image]

I need to buy a dedicated mag, they are cheap. The 20 rnd military mag seems to be able to hold and feed 2-3 so it will do for a test. The problem areas seem to be the highlighted parts. I read P-Mags mod easy too. Being a rifle pressure round and a lot of bullet surface area performance should be considerable. The factory ball is rated at 2250 fps, seems low. If anyone knows of a more technical article on the .350 I’d sure like to read it.

[image]

Post reply

ammo uses H110/296 powder.

Sean

Post reply

The main gripes with the ball round is mediocre accuracy compared to the $1.50 a round hunting ammo that is said superb. Winchester themselves list the "official" bullet diameter as 0.357". I checked.

Randy hinted that chambers may be tight, perhaps he read something. I have a test round I plan to check today for fitment with a larger jacketed bullet. If that works I'm gold. The throating looks a bit brisk with my bifocal-ed eyeball straining to spy down the bore. I can fix that if I really need to. I'm also going to see if I can reload the round using 9mm or .357 dies, or at least to what extent.

My vote based upon only looks is for 296 on the factory powder. Tiny and really uniform perfect balls. I was a bit surprised at only 18.5 grs. That would be a light .357 Max. load. A normal .357 Max. load using 296 and a 140 gr. bullet would be around 25 grs.! I just can't imagine it's a slow powder like 296, must be some non-canister, faster stuff. I think the round is loaded under the potential for the masses. It's not really ahead of the ancient .351 that was lots shorter and a BLOW BACK action! On a blow-back round you can't really monkey with it too much. High pressures with the action opening is bad ju0ju. I've been there (blew a .41 Rem. case in half 6" from my nose). You can take the new bullets and load them in the .351 easily, that would be a hoot! I sold mine and kept the larger and more desirable .401 M1910. My platform is a gas gun so I will need to paint my bullets to keep the system clean. You can shoot lubed lead out of an AR but it is not pretty.

I'm going to have some fun with this and I'll take some notes.

Post reply

Fondled a Ruger American yesterday. May slug one at the shop and see. Sure it will vary from one to another.

Post reply

On the regular calibers I like the little compact plastic rotary mag too. I should have bought one in .350 rather than a AR, but oh well. My biggest concern right now is will the round chamber with a .356" bullet in it. I know it should by all accounts but I have to know for sure.

Rugers barrel dimensions seem to be very consistent. Lots more than the SA gripframes. lol

Post reply

American. They do interchange...

Post reply

There are so many of the Ruger mags for sale and not a mention of it being all the same thing. The photos "looked" the same and boy did I spy a bunch of pictures. Prices run from $16-$25 for a dedicated 350 AR style mag.

I read some folks are dremeling the internal ribs from Mag-Pul 20 rnd. to get more slick functioning custom 350 mags. Lots of fun to play. We'll see if it sticks around and develops a following. The straight wall states, flatter trajectory (for a straight wall case), inexpensive ammo, and ease of shooting for young shooter's deer guns are points in it's favor.

Post reply

Some strange things today...

bullets are supposed to be .355". I think the factory

I checked with 3 different calipers, the 145 is 0.353".

I'm very interested in bore size..

For a "cheap" gun I really like the feel.

I did swap magazines between the Ruger AR and

Thank you so much for that confirmation.