Can a 358 Winchester Compete with a 375 H&H and a 300 Winchester for Shots on Non-Dangerous Game at Less Than 300 Yards?

“Numbers are important only if they are important numbers.” - GG

The PC answer to the question posed by the article’s title is “it depends.”

Those intrepid guests who have soldiered through previous website articles on terminal performance as well as the 2023 management hunt report and eBook have, no doubt, identified an obvious dependency factor: the bullet. The article on the Guppy Model introduced the notion of over-achiever bullets based on gel-test metric values. As presented in that article, bullets fired from “calibers” (chamberings) considered anemic based on muzzle velocity/impact energy can have wounding, penetration, and meat damage comparable to bullets fired from hotrod chamberings. The implication is that the wounding, penetration, and meat damage produced by a bullet may not depend on the chambering used to launch it and/or its caliber (diameter).

The wildcard dependency factor is hunter bias. Personal performance priorities and preferences can extend comparison-competition boundaries well beyond the fundamental terminal performance parameters of wounding, penetration, and meat damage. Issues such as bullet drop, bullet wind drift, rifle weight, recoil, accuracy, and ammunition cost can considerably influence a chambering/bullet selection.

I have no dog in any chambering- or bullet-competition fight. This website is focused on technical and field-performance relevance, not product, vendor, or manufacturer endorsements/infomercials. This article presents “the numbers” associated with objectively evaluating the question posed by the article’s title. Commentary is primarily focused on explaining how the numbers were determined. This Joe Friday, just-the-facts style enables guests to assign their own preferred relevance/importance to specific data in the personal-decision process needed to arrive at “the” answer.

Values for V(ST) (wounding), L(T) (penetration), I(V) (meat damage), bullet drop, bullet wind drift, rifle weight, recoil, accuracy, and handloaded ammunition cost are provided. V(ST), L(T), and I(V) are defined here. Be advised: the numbers for bullet energy, weight retained, and expansion ratio (mushroom diameter) have not been included for reasons presented in previous articles and the 2023 management hunt report.

Table 1 catalogues nomenclature and abbreviations for bullets considered in this article. Each bullet’s generic design is identified. eBook Chapter 13 describes/defines a cup-and-core bullet; eBook Chapter 15 describes/defines a bonded-lead cell bullet; and eBook Chapter 16 describes/defines a dual-lead cell with a bonded-lead front cell bullet.

Photo 1 identifies the cartridges with the attendant bullets. From left-to-right: a 375 H&H with a 300 SGK; a 300 Winchester with a 200 WWC; a 300 Winchester with a 180 SAF; and a 358 Winchester with a 250 SHC. The cartridges with the 300 SGK, 200 WWC, and 250 SPH are all personal handloads. The cartridge with the 180 SAF is manufactured ammunition.

All cartridges were fired from personal, custom firearms. Photo 2 shows the system used for both the 375 H&H and the 300 Winchester. The barrel attached to the system is chambered in 375 H&H and is 24 inches (61 cm) long. The barrel below it is chambered in 300 Winchester and is 22 inches (56 cm) long. Total system weight with the 375 H&H barrel is 11.3 pounds (5.1 kg), and the total system weight with the 300 Winchester barrel is 10.9 pounds (4.9 kg).

Photo 3 shows the system used for the 358 Winchester. The barrel is 21 inches (53 cm) long. Total system weight is 9.9 pounds (4.5 kg).

Table 2 catalogues the gel-test metric values of V(ST), L(T), and I(V) for each bullet. These values were obtained from personally conducted testing in 20% synthetic gel at a test distance of 135 yards (123 m). Test procedures and rationale are discussed in eBook Chapter 12. Photos of the test setup and gel blocks can be accessed on p. 13 of the 2023 management hunt report.

Table 3 catalogues bullet drop out to 300 yards (274 m); Table 4 catalogues wind drift out to 300 yards (274 m) for a 5 miles-per-hour (8 kph), 90-degree cross wind; Table 5 catalogues recoil for the cartridges using the systems identified in Photo 2 and Photo 3; Table 6 catalogues 3-shot group accuracy at 200 yards (183 m); and Table 7 catalogues the handloaded ammunition cost for each cartridge.

After evaluating the data in all the tables, some will conclude that the 358 Winchester firing a 250 SPH can compete; others will conclude it can’t. Nearly all will likely want to determine a chambering/bullet “winner” based on their particular terminal performance objectives and common hunt circumstances. In doing so, most will probably conclude that such a winner represents compromises where particular values are not the “best” or preferable, but are considered sufficient to “gitter dun” or are tolerable. I suspect nearly all will discover that the bullet selected is at least as important as the chambering used to launch it.

On a recent zero-dark-hundred pilgrimage to the range to refine a 35 Whelen handload, I encountered GG, the club’s resident curmudgeon, gel-testing wonk, and accuracy freak. I was granted an audience and was allowed to pose the article’s question. His response was instantaneous: “I don’t need no stinkin’ magnum!”

There can be comfort in a person’s consistency, no matter how seemingly bizarre.