>350 Legend Winchester XPR

[ds-10-speed]

I live in lower Michigan where they just recently changed the deer gun laws for the shotgun zone. I can only use my Winchester model 70 Featherweight .308 and model 94 30-30 up north, but lately I have been having better luck at home on my own property with a shotgun, crossbow and muzzle loader. We can now use certain .35 cal or larger straight wall rounds in a rifle like .357 Mag, .44 Mag, 45 Colt, .460 S&W, .350 Legend, .450 Bushmaster and maybe some others with a case length between 1.16" and 1.80". I used my buddies Ruger American .450 Bushmaster last year and took a buck with it, I thought I would give the .350 Legend a try this year. I just bought the .350 Legend Winchester XPR to use this deer season.

The gun was made in Portugal at the Browning Viana factory, this is the Sporter Titanium model and it is not on the Winchester web site for some reason, I was surprised to see it at my local dealer 5 miles down the road. You can also get it with a blued barrel if you prefer. It has a recessed crown and adjustable trigger pull and trigger stop, factory set at 3 1/2 pounds.

There are several variations of the .350 available but I like walnut stocked guns, most are composite plastic. The .350's and .450's are selling like crazy in my area. I got a Leupold 3x9 Freedom scope mounted and got it zeroed in. I'm quite happy with the results, I can get sub 1" groups at my 90 yard range, same as my .308.

After adjusting:

 

[stagpanther]

Congrats! I think I like winchesters about the most for the "classic wood stock rifle look." I look forward to your experiences with this one. I just ordered a model 70 sporter in 270 wsm after lusting after one for a long time!

 

[jetinteriorguy]

Niiiccce!

 

[reynolds357]

I live in lower Michigan where they just recently changed the deer gun laws for the shotgun zone. I can only use my Winchester model 70 Featherweight .308 and model 94 30-30 up north, but lately I have been having better luck at home on my own property with a shotgun, crossbow and muzzle loader. We can now use certain .35 cal or larger straight wall rounds in a rifle like .357 Mag, .44 Mag, 45 Colt, .460 S&W, .350 Legend, .450 Bushmaster and maybe some others with a case length between 1.16" and 1.80". I used my buddies Ruger American .450 Bushmaster last year and took a buck with it, I thought I would give the .350 Legend a try this year. I just bought the .350 Legend Winchester XPR to use this deer season.

The gun was made in Portugal at the Browning Viana factory, this is the Sporter Titanium model and it is not on the Winchester web site for some reason, I was surprised to see it at my local dealer 5 miles down the road. You can also get it with a blued barrel if you prefer. It has a recessed crown and adjustable trigger pull and trigger stop, factory set at 3 1/2 pounds.

There are several variations of the .350 available but I like walnut stocked guns, most are composite plastic. The .350's and .450's are selling like crazy in my area. I got a Leupold 3x9 Freedom scope mounted and got it zeroed in. I'm quite happy with the results, I can get sub 1" groups at my 90 yard range, same as my .308.

After adjusting:

That is a nice looking rifle. The legend, just like the Bushmaster, amazed me with its accuracy. My Ruger ranch shoots the Hornadays about 1" at 100. It shoots the deer season xp in a single ragged hole. So, if you ever run up on a box of em.......

 

[ds-10-speed]

I really like walnut stock guns and the only other gun I considered for down state hunting was a walnut Mossberg .450 Patriot, my buddy bought one, they don't offer a .350 Legend.

https://www.mossberg.com/product/mossberg-patriot-walnut-28043/

I really liked the Patriot Revere stock much better and I contacted Mossberg if I could get a .450 with that stock and they said they wouldn't do it, so I bought the XPR, I kinda wanted a .350 anyhow.

https://www.mossberg.com/product/mossberg-patriot-revere-27983/

 

[reynolds357]

I really like walnut stock guns and the only other gun I considered for down state hunting was a walnut Mossberg .450 Patriot, my buddy bought one, they don't offer a .350 Legend.

https://www.mossberg.com/product/mossberg-patriot-walnut-28043/

I really liked the Patriot Revere stock much better and I contacted Mossberg if I could get a .450 with that stock and they said they wouldn't do it, so I bought the XPR, I kinda wanted a .350 anyhow.

https://www.mossberg.com/product/mossberg-patriot-revere-27983/

You made the best choice. Mossbergs are by far NOT my favorite rifle

 

[ds-10-speed]

I would have preferred a high end Winchester model 70, Remington 700 or Ruger 77 but it seems gun makers only make .350's and .450's in cheaper entry level models. I guess I can see the reasoning because they're not the most popular calibers. I also would have gone with the Ruger American if they offered a walnut model. I think the XPR was the best looking of the bunch.

 

[ds-10-speed]

My .350 Legend did the job, one shot drop at 125 yards.

 

[jmr40]

I wouldn't have any use for a 350 Legend, but understand that for where many people hunt it is a good option. Those XPR's intrigue me though. I've handled a few and like what I see for a budget gun. Congratulations on a successful hunt with a nice looking rifle.

 

[taylorce1]

Nice shooting! I do like the looks of that rifle, not interested in the cartridge though.

 

[Erno86]

350 Legend blown primers

I was at the outdoor range last Friday, when a fellow shooter next to me was experiencing case head expansion and blown primers from Winchester factory loads with the 350 Legend round.

It occurred with his brand new Savage bolt gun. So I warned him that bits and pieces of the blown primer could jam the firing pin and a slamfire might possibly occur.

So I just recently did a search on the 350 Legend on the internet, and found that quite a few 350 Legend shooters are experiencing the same problem with factory loads of that same round.

 

[Nathan]

Great rifle and cartridge.

While Winchester hasn’t come clean, they have had brass issues. The loaded ammo was all goo, IME.

For reloads, Starline brass has been trouble free to me.

 

[stagpanther]

So I just recently did a search on the 350 Legend on the internet, and found that quite a few 350 Legend shooters are experiencing the same problem with factory loads of that same round.

I was an early adopter and found quite a few problems with the initial roll-out of the legend, if you search this forum you'll find my trials and tribulations, which included a kaboomed AR.

 

[NoSecondBest]

I still don’t understand what “niche” this was supposed to fill. My best guess is a repeater where the .357max didn’t fill the bill. Having owned three single shots in 357max, and harvesting several deer a year with them without any problems, I just can’t find any allure with this new cartridge. It really does fall short of just about everything that can be done with the .357max. I don’t know why the gun companies didn’t invest a bit more time and effort into developing guns for the Max. FWIW, I just shot two deer with my .357max two days ago at a measured 189 yards. Bullet selection is much better with the Max and ballistics are better.

 

[Nathan]

I still don’t understand what “niche” this was supposed to fill.

Let me clarify:
-Passes some political test of straight wall deer round for lawmakers to adopt....often by name......I know this is BS.

- Case design provides good fit to AR15 and bolt action rifle cartridges....rims don’t work in these actions.

- A semi pointed bullet in a nice deer weight 150-180gr......launched over 2200 fps.

- Super low recoil for kids and people who don’t like 12ga slug recoil

-All in an economical package of $400 rifles and $15 boxes of ammo.

 

[NoSecondBest]

Agree with the AR comment, the rest is some hype and BS. Very little recoil with the Max, and if you own a chronograph let me know how many of those bullets will hit 2200fps...the 180’s won’t. It’s not that it’s not an effective cartridge, it’s just not as effective as the Max. I can easily and safely get a 158g bullet to actually chrono 2600fps out of my Encore and Low Wall. That being said, I don’t think you need to hit those speeds to kill deer. One other advantage to the Max is that you can shoot Mag ammo out of them also.

 

[Blindstitch]

I still don’t understand what “niche” this was supposed to fill.

I'm pretty sure they just looked at the way the rifle rules were written and made something that fit. A straight walled case of 35 caliber up to 1.8 inches long and ran with it.

"The Michigan United Conservation Clubs supports reauthorizing the limited use of certain rifles capable of using . 35 caliber or larger ammunition, with a straight-walled cartridge that has a minimum case length of 1.16 inches and a maximum case length of 1.80 inches to take deer in the limited firearms deer zone."

At the same time this new acceptance was being written I had relatives in the zone using modern muzzleloaders for accuracy because they were fed up with shotgun slug accuracy. Since passing they have all upgraded to 450 Bushmaster.

I could have swore I also read at the time of people reloading 444 marlin but trimming the case down to new legal length to skirt the rule.

 

[Blindstitch]

DS-10-Speed
congrats on the deer.

 

[GeauxTide]

Not a Fan

I put my money on a 450 Bushmaster AR. 6# of Thunder and kicks like a 20ga shotgun from a 16" barrel. My niche cartridge is a 300 HAM'R.