I just shot a 178 lb buck with my .358 win (BLR, 20"). Yup, it worked just fine, not the bang/flop I expected but dead within 40 yds. I was using a 200 gr FTX bullet at a chronied 2550 fps and shot the guy at 20 yds in the center of the shoulder slightly quartering toward me. Broke the bone, shredded the heart to pieces and the spleen but did not exit. That bullet is extremely accurate in my rifle but clearly not built for the velocity you can get with a .358 Win. I wouldn't use it again for our big whitetails, although it might have been a different story if the deer was farther away.
Everything said here about it is true, a very nice caliber indeed. One tidbit of advice I've picked up reloading for it is to either stay away from headstamped Winchester brass or use it exclusively. Maybe luck of the draw but both bags I got required much different loads than the .308 RP and Fed brass that I made. I reload many calibers and this is by far shows the biggest variation I've ever seen and the headstamped .358 brass has the shortest life of anything I've ever used. I made a sizing plug by chucking the Lee plug in a drill and putting a nice taper on it and polishing. No problem necking up .308 brass...
Have fun.
