Topic: The Best .350 Legend Ammo (Read 35 times)
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Average 5-Shot Group Size: 1.87 inches
Standard Deviation in Group Size: .58 inches
Winchester’s Super X line has long been a bread-and-butter ammo for deer hunters, and it’s no different with .350 Legend ammo. In fact, this .350 Legend load is one of the most accurate Super X Power Point loads I’ve tried in any caliber in a while. This simple 180-grain lead-alloy core soft point is a cup-and-core bullet with a notched jacket to aid expansion.
The non-bonded bullet should retain a high percentage of weight at its lower velocities, especially beyond 100 yards. The .355-inch, 180-grain bullet isn’t very aerodynamic, so it sheds velocity fast—part of the reason cartridges like this are deemed less-apt to travel long distances should they ricochet. With a 100-yard zero, this load will drop almost 10 inches at 200 yards. Set your zero two or three inches high at 100 yards, and you can still be effective to 200, but 150 yards is a more realistic maximum point-blank range.
The accuracy of the 180-grain Super X Power Point wasn’t exceptional, but it was adequate for the basic deer ammo that it is. The Winchester XPR Stealth SR averaged 1.12-inch 5-shot groups with this ammo, which was exceptional. In every rifle tested, accuracy was more than sufficient for the effective range of the cartridge. Because the .355-inch bullet is broad and relatively slow, you might be tempted to poke through some light brush with it—don’t. I did some thorough brush bullet testing and despite the old .35 Remington’s reputation as a “brush buster,” bullets are easily deflected by small twigs and brush.
Average 5-Shot Group Size: 1.699 inches
Standard Deviation in Group Size: .409 inches
Barnes Bullets is at the top of the list for quality monolithic bullets, and they include the .350 Legend in their high-quality Vor-Tx ammunition line. This load features a 170-grain flat-base TSX bullet with a large hollow point that’s segmented into six sections. This is similar to the design of some of their muzzleloader and handgun projectiles and will help the bullet expand reliably at the lower velocities of the .350 Legend cartridge.
I tested the Barnes ammunition after the first iteration of this test was published, so I only tested it in three rifles. Its accuracy was good, averaging just under 1.7 inches for 5-shot groups at 100 yards. For a load that should be used at 150 yards and under, that’s perfectly acceptable.
The .350 isn’t a powerhouse, so a bullet like this that expands at lower velocities should be a great option for deer or other medium-sized game. I wouldn’t expect big blood trails, but well-placed shots from this low-recoiling cartridge will allow that TSX to do its job—which it usually does incredibly well.
Average 5-Shot Group Size: 2.02 inches
Standard Deviation in Group Size: .90 inches
As in the name, the Extreme Point Copper Impact bullet is immediately noticeable by its large, pointed, translucent red polymer tip. Part of Winchester’s larger Copper Impact line, this lead-free .350 Legend ammo features an all-copper expanding bullet with that notable tip. The bullet itself is monolithic with a solid base and a wide-diameter hollow point. The large polymer tip sits inside that hollow point, making the bullet more aerodynamic and initiating rapid expansion.
Like other .350 Legend loads, this one is in its prime out to 150 yards. Get beyond that and your trajectory and expansion will begin to drop dramatically. Being that the cartridge is designed for whitetail deer hunting, that’s perfectly suitable. The all-copper bullet will retain almost all its weight and deliver great penetration.
Copper bullets have co*e a long way in terms of accuracy, but they can still be a little unpredictable. In all the rifles tested, the Copper Impact shot pretty well—except for one rifle that averaged 4.5-inch groups with it. Take those groups out, and the average group size was 1.83 inches. Two of the rifles I tested it in averaged 1.3-1.4 inches, and the Henry Single Shot fired sub-MOA three-shot groups, opening up regularly with all ammo on rounds four and five. Because of the copper projectiles, this .350 Legend ammo is some of the most expensive, but the performance can be worth it.
Average 5-Shot Group Size: 1.71 inches
Standard Deviation in Group Size: .63 inches
Hornady’s American Whitetail line is intended to bring good quality deer ammo at an affordable price. In that line, the .350 Legend ammo does just that. There aren’t many frills here, just a soft point and the dependable Interlock bullet which features a locking ring inside the jacket that keep the core from separating during expansion.
One interesting feature of the .355-inch interlock is that it has a secant ogive design—it’s gradually rounded nose profile—that gives this bullet a better trajectory than many other .350 Legend bullets. Even with the same velocity as other loads tested, this ammo gives the shooter a little bit more effective range. If zeroed two inches high at 100 yards, you should only be impacting two and a half inches low at 200 yards.
This .350 Legend ammo’s accuracy wasn’t bad, but it’s middle-of-the-pack. Many loads excelled in one or two rifles, but this one just shot a reliable good average. At only $29 per box, it’s one of the most affordable varieties of .350 Legend deer ammo.
Average 5-Shot Group Size: 1.97 inches
Standard Deviation in Group Size: .70 inches
Federal’s Power Shok 180-grain is another affordable .350 Legend deer ammo that performs well. The soft-point Power Shok bullet isn’t bonded, but it’s designed to give good expansion. It’s heavy enough to maintain weight at .350 Legend velocities. Simple, affordable, and reliable is what puts meat in the pot for most hunters, and this fits the bill.
This .350 Legend ammo has a slightly better trajectory than some of its co*petitors, dropping only about four and a half inches between 100 and 200 yards. That seems to be a pretty accurate claim, and if you sight two inches high at 100 yards, you’ll be about two and a half to three inches low at 200 yards. In other words, you can hold dead nuts and be right in the money out to the .350 Legend’s reasonable effective range.
The accuracy of the Federal Power Shok wasn’t as tight as many of the other loads, but it’s about what I expected from the .350 Legend, so I don’t find it disappointing. Some other loads simply surprised me. Averaging just about two inches for five-shot groups at 100 yards is co*pletely sufficient for any deer or hog hunting you’d do with one of these rifles.
Average 5-Shot Group Size: 1.60 inches
Standard Deviation in Group Size: .74 inches
Like the Copper Impact, this Extreme Point .350 Legend ammo has a large-diameter polymer tip that’s designed to initiate rapid expansion. Unlike the Copper Impact, this Deer Season XP ammo has a cup-and-core lead-core bullet. The bullet also features a notched jacket that guides expansion, and the higher velocity of this ammo gives it a more reasonable 200-yard effective range than some other Winchester loads.
co*ing out of the muzzle at 2325 feet per second, the bullet has about seven and a half inches of drop between 100 and 200 yards. If you zero about 3 inches high at 100, you will be able to hold slightly above middle of a deer’s vitals and hit them reliably at 200 yards. The easy-expanding design of the bullet will ensure that you get good terminal performance at slightly slower downrange velocities.
Although the Deer Season XP wasn’t the most accurate ammo in the test, I was consistently impressed with the accuracy of this .350 Legend ammo, and it averaged 1.1-inch five-shot groups in two different rifles. That accuracy is important when shooting at or near 200 yards because the trajectory of the .350 Legend doesn’t offer much ballistic forgiveness.
Average 5-Shot Group Size: 1.74 inches
Standard Deviation in Group Size: .69 inches
The .350 Legend is already a good cartridge to suppress, and supersonic loads take to a suppressor well. In fact, some of them showed better accuracy when shot through a can in my testing. A benefit of the cartridge like the .350 Legend is the ability to seamlessly handle both supersonic and subsonic bullets. This wide-diameter 255-grain open-tip bullet carries a lot of mass and is very quiet. The open tip isn’t deep, and probably won’t give dramatic expansion, but subsonic ammo doesn’t deliver dramatic terminal performance anyway.
Through the Ruger American Ranch Rifle, the Super Suppressed delivered an excellent 1.33-inch five-shot average group size. The trajectory is anemic, and that slow bullet drops like a rock between 50 and 100 yards. Beyond that, it drops off even faster (as subsonics do). An upside is that this .350 Legend ammo (and .350 Legends in general) don’t seem to heat up barrels and suppressors nearly as fast as other rifle ammo—even .300 BLK.
The 255-grain Super Suppressed would not be an ideal big-game hunting ammo simply because subsonics don’t perform to the same level on game that supersonic bullets do. I’m sure it would be hell on hogs and small game though.
Average 5-Shot Group Size: 2.164 inches
Standard Deviation in Group Size: .44 inches
It’s always nice to have affordable practice ammo, and this offering from Browning allows you to blaze away without burning through a pile of cash. Tthe .350 Legend’s 0.355-inch bullet diameter allows it to use 124-grain 9mm FMJ pistol bullets—or bullets that are very similar—and this ammo functions well in AR-style rifles.
Browning’s 124-grain FMJ load is low-recoiling, affordable, and functions well in a variety of rifles. It’s great for plinking or training new hunters in the use of their rifle. It’s pretty accurate for ball ammo, but is only really suitable for practice.
Handloading for the .350 Legend lets you explore the versatility of the cartridge more thoroughly than factory ammo. You can easily load 9mm FMJ bullets over a light charge of powder for cheap practice fodder, or you can wring more accuracy and performance from the cartridge with purposeful bullet