Author Topic: Tikka 308 Whtetail Hunter too a Winchester .358 (Read 391 times)

Buckfever · « **on:** July 18, 2005, 11:36:52 AM »

Would this be possible and if so what is involved? Is it complicated and costly? Any thoughts? Trying to increase thump factor on big Canadian Whitetails without getting a huge increase in recoil. Thanks Buckfever

longgun · « **Reply #1 on:** July 18, 2005, 02:48:24 PM »

I once owned a Tikka whitetail in 308 winchester and it was not pleasant to shoot. I can't imagine someone wanting more recoil than what the 308 will deliver. It probably would cost you in the neighborhood of $ 250-$350 to make the conversion depending on what barrel you choose. Would be cheaper to just sell the Tikka and find something already chambered for the 358. Don

gunnut69 · « **Reply #2 on:** July 18, 2005, 07:16:59 PM »

Since the 358 is simply a 308 necked up to 35 caliber the conversion would be quite easy. A simple rebarrel or rebore. Though I don't believe the gain would be worthwhile. I'd simply alter the load. A switch to a 180 grain round nose bullet will give a lot more thuimp. Perhaps the 150 grain nosler partition.,. My hunting buddy loves his 308. I load the Winchester PoerPoint bullet in a 150 grain weight and he kills whatever walks by...

TreeFarmer · « **Reply #3 on:** July 21, 2005, 05:15:05 PM »

I have this exact conversion. Sent the rifle to Pac-Nor and had them rebarrel to .358 Win. Barrel is a # 4 Contour Super Match finished at 600mm. I get an average of 2520 fps from 225 grain Partitions powered by a healthy load of BL(C)-2. The nice thing about using the Tikka Whitetail is that the clip magazine is long enough so that you can seat the base of the 225 grain bullet at the base of the neck of the case and get extra case capacity. Accuracy is excellent averaging less than .75 moa.