48 SEPTEMBER 2019 AMERICAN RIFLEMAN
WINCHESTER 350 LEGEND
Compact, a CMMG Resolute 300 and a Ruger American Ri e
Ranch. At the time of my testing, Federal (160-gr. Fusion,
180-gr. Power-Shok and 180-gr. Non-Typical) and Hornady
(170-gr. American Whitetail) had both announced their
respective loads, but none arrived in time to be included in
the evaluation.
Velocities of each load vary by bullet weight, but according
to Winchester company literature, all four supersonic options
generate a bit less than 1,650 ft.-lbs. of energy at the muzzle
through a 16" barrel and a bit more than 1,750 ft.-lbs. of
energy at the muzzle through a 20" barrel. Both my CMMG
and Ruger test guns had 16" barrels, while the XPR has a
20" tube, and my own chronograph testing more or less
coincides with Winchester’s numbers—although I did nd
Deer Season to run a bit hotter than prescribed through
all three guns, while the Power-Points and FMJs were a bit
slower than advertised.
Energy-wise, 350 Legend’s closest modern analog is
probably .35 Rem., although the older cartridge operates at
much lower pressures (33,500 p.s.i.), uses 0.359"-diameter
projectiles often weighing 200 grs. or more, and its longer,
bottlenecked case is neither AR-15-friendly nor viable for
use in straight-wall states. The ballistic performance of 350
Legend doesn’t approach that of .35 Whelen or any of the
various magnums, but then again neither does the recoil—
the larger .35 cals. being known for smacking the hunter
nearly as severely as the hunted.
Given the long-range craze that has seized the gun
community in recent years, we typically talk a lot about
ballistic coef cients in cartridge stories, but this is not a
long-range chambering, and it shouldn’t be employed as
such; G1s are listed on the boxes, and for all supersonic
options the gures are sub-0.225. Winchester designed
350 Legend to be an effective hunting cartridge out to
about 250 yds. and no more—trajectory (and energy) falls
off pretty precipitously beyond that.
The Deer Season XP and Power Max Bonded options are
primarily intended for the pursuit of thinner-skinned game
such as deer and antelope, with the 180-gr. Power-Points
also being up to the task of harvesting tougher critters
like feral pigs and black bear. A 150-yd. zero is pretty
much perfect for 350 Legend, using any of the three above
hunting loads, and either a 16" or 20" barrel; impacts will
be between 1" to 2" high at 50 yds., between 1.5" to 2.5"
high at 100 yds. and between 4.5" and 5.5" low at 200 yds.
These numbers mean the hunter is assured a point-blank
hit to the vitals at all but the outer fringe of 350 Legend’s
entire effective range.
Far more pertinent to a discussion of 350 Legend than
ballistic coef cients are sectional density values. Sectional
density (SD) is a gure that conveys how well an object’s
shape allows it to overcome resistance along a given axis.
Found by dividing the weight of the bullet in pounds by
the square of its diameter in inches, within the context of
terminal ballistics, sectional density is used as a measure of
a projectile’s ability to continue penetrating after coming
into contact with its target media. In light of the formula,
heavy-for-caliber projectiles of a speci c diameter will
naturally have higher SDs than lighter bullets.
Conventional wisdom states that projectiles with SDs
above 0.300 are superb penetrators, while bullets with
sub-0.200 values are generally not suitable for anything
thicker and more resilient than varmints—which is a
helpful basic rule of thumb in many instances, but it’s
also misleadingly simplistic. In the past I’ve heard bal-
listicians talk about how sectional density provides an
incomplete picture of a cartridge’s ability to penetrate,Fired into 10-percent ordnance gel through a 16" barrel, the lighter
Deer Season load (shown below) traveled 17" before stopping, while
the heavier Power-Point tunneled 29" before coming to a rest. Despite
this impressive penetration both loads expanded properly (r.).