New carbine chambered in 350 Legend makes an awesome southpaw truck gun
The worth proposition for each straight-wall cartridge I can title is that it mates properly with a lever gun. The venerable 45/70? Give it to me in a Henry Large Boy or perhaps a Winchester Mannequin 1886. How do I need to shoot the .444 Marlin? In a Marlin Mannequin 336 lever gun, after all. A .357 Magnum? Give me The Gun That Received The West, the Winchester 1873 carbine.
So when Winchester debuted its scorching new 350 Legend as a contemporary, spiffier model of the .30/30, I totally anticipated it to be chambered in a profusion of lever weapons, perhaps even Winchester’s personal Mannequin 1885 Low Wall or that traditional Mannequin 94 that’s despatched downrange extra .30/30s than every other mannequin.
However not solely is Winchester not chambering the 350 in a lever gun, no person else is both. As a substitute, it’s turn into fodder for a few of the least inspiring fashionable bolt weapons, together with Mossberg’s Tremendous Bantam, Savage Axis, Ruger American, and Savage 110. These are all immensely succesful rifles, however they don’t essentially stir the center like a lever gun can.
After all, there’s good cause the 350 Legend is displaying up in these rifles which are lengthy on expertise and adjustability however brief on value: the spherical is a superb selection for starting shooters of any age. It’s correct, lethal on deer-sized sport out to 200 yards and has little recoil. In different phrases, it’s a beautiful first-deer cartridge.
With that in thoughts, and with solely brief, nostalgic seems over my shoulder at lever weapons, I could make the case that the 350 needs to be obtainable to hunters and shooters of any age, stature, geographic location, and handedness. That’s proper, I simply threw the left-handed flag. Although we’re solely 10 % of the inhabitants, southpaws like me are disproportionately represented in capturing and searching. And we’ve seen the paucity of left-handed rifles to serve our incapacity. Fortunately, Winchester simply modified that with the introduction of its XPR in a left-handed mannequin. And chambered, very fortunately, in 350 Legend.
I spent most of final deer season with the brand new rifle, on the time nonetheless beneath wraps. It’s a quick, quick, correct and hard little carbine, and really well-suited to affix its friends as a primary rifle for deer hunters.
The place To Purchase
LEFT-HAND XPR DETAILS
In most methods, the lefty model of the XPR is a mirror picture of the standard right-handed model. The identical adjustable M.O.A. set off of the unique. Identical removable field journal. Identical black polymer inventory with its very responsive Inflex Know-how recoil pad. Identical two-position thumb security, on the proper (I imply left) aspect, this time. Identical outsized bolt deal with. And identical wonderful barrel.
I ought to notice that the XPR Left-Hand mannequin can also be chambered in .308 Win., 6.5 Creedmoor and 400 Legend—all with 22-inch barrels—in addition to 24-inch barreled variations in .30/06 Spfld and 450 Bushmaster and the 26-inch .300 Win. Magazine.
And I ought to add one other notice about that crisp M.O.A. set off. It’s the identical set off Winchester makes use of for its Mannequin 70, and among the many greatest you’ll discover on a rifle at this value level, which retails for proper round $700.
The rifle is drilled and tapped for a scope base, and I opted for Talley’s light-weight one-piece mounts to just accept Leupold’s Patrol 6HD, a 1-6×24 low-power variable optic with an illuminated middle dot that has a large sufficient subject of view at decrease powers to offer me nice situational consciousness, and sufficient bullet-placing magnification at 6x to succeed in out to 200 yards, even in low-light deer-hunting conditions.
I missed the 350 Legend when it was launched in 2019, so I used to be desperate to make up for misplaced time final fall. I had a handful of Montana antlerless whitetail tags to fill and deliberate to take the XPR to Kentucky for a rut hunt within the hardwoods.
The worth proposition of the straight-wall cartridge revolution, which incorporates throwbacks just like the .45/70 Govt and .444 Marlin together with newcomers just like the 360 Buckhammer and Winchester’s 350 Legend, together with Winchester’s 400 Legend, launched final yr, is deer-thumping power from center-fire cartridges which have flatter trajectories, extra accuracy, and fewer recoil than shotgun slugs. However they don’t carry so far as high-velocity necked cartridges with lighter bullets. States, together with Iowa, Ohio, Indiana and Michigan, which have beforehand been closed to rifle attempting to find deer now permit straight-wall cartridges of at the very least .35 caliber.
After all, one other attribute of the 350 Legend cartridge, past its straight-wall case dimensions, is its rebated rim that matches normal AR bolt faces and a wide array of bullet weights and kinds.
BULLETS AND TERMINAL PERFORMANCE
To arrange for the Bluegrass State hunt, I field-tested a trio of masses on Montana whitetail does. I settled on the 160-grain Winchester Energy Max for its mixture of accuracy and terminal efficiency.
My XPR truly shot every of three masses I fed it pretty properly. Winchester’s 180-grain Energy Level, a conventional cup-and-core mushy level, might be the thumper bullet I’d go for at nearer ranges, however I struggled to get it to group tighter than 1.5 inches at 100 yards. Winchester’s 150-grain Copper Affect was essentially the most correct of my take a look at masses; I punched 1.1-inch 5-shot teams at 100 yards. I totally meant to take this load to Kentucky, however then I shot an enormous Montana whitetail doe, making a double-lung hit at 165 yards. As a substitute of going proper down, she went about 200 yards earlier than tipping over lifeless. Based mostly on that terminal efficiency, I opted for the bullet that gave me the very best mixture of drop-dead efficiency and accuracy, the 160-grain Energy Max.
After zeroing my XPR at 100 yards, and confirming a muzzle velocity of two,185, I shot metal plates out to 300 yards to evaluate the drop of the 160-grain bonded jacketed hole level bullet. Whereas it’s no pumpkin-arcing .30/06, it does have a rainbow trajectory. Simply as considerably, it shed power fairly rapidly, which is perhaps why I didn’t dump that doe in her tracks.
On the vary, I famous that my bullet dropped simply over 8 inches at 200 yards and totally 33 inches at 300 yards. Based mostly on that elliptical arc, I stored my photographs inside 150 yards in an effort to keep inside the vitals of a whitetail with a point-blank goal. Deer shot inside that vary dropped rapidly, and I used to be happy to see little or no meat harm, an essential consideration for us doe-tag hunters.
Kentucky’s expertise was as pleasing as I anticipated. The climate was heat, which was throwing off the rut a bit, however I encountered loads of whitetails from my treestand perched on the slope of a excessive ridge that linked a deep creek minimize with a hay subject. It was the proper transition zone, and given my visibility by means of the woods, I had confidence of creating a 200-yard shot on the buck of my selecting.
When the treestand failed to supply, I obtained on the bottom, deployed my rattling antlers, and ended up rattling in a advantageous hardwoods buck. I shot it on a trot at about 40 yards as he angled up the ridge. I stabilized the rifle in opposition to the trunk of an outdated oak, snapped off the protection, and adopted the buck in my scope till he cleared some limbs. He went straight down on the shot, however one way or the other kicked up and went about 50 yards, guttering blood the entire time, earlier than he was down for good.
CASE FOR A TRUCK GUN
My expertise with the Left Hand XPR in deer season confirmed its delicate, lethal nature. However now I need to make the case for the carbine as an all-around truck gun. I’ve a few these, from the Ruger Scout Rifle (in left-hand motion, no much less!) to the Browning BAR MK3 Stalker.
They each exhibit attributes of what I think about an appropriate truck gun. They’re brief (20- to 22-inch barrels) and straightforward to maneuver. They’re sturdy and may take all of the bumps, mud, and temperature differentials that outline my experience. And so they’re outfitted with low-power scopes that may deploy targets inside 50 yards and out to some hundred yards. And mine, each chambered in .308, are beefy sufficient to dispatch livestock (which I’ve to do greater than I need), take out varmints and interact targets for enjoyable.
The XPR is a welcome addition to this roster. The 350 Legend has each close-range and medium-range attributes. The general size of 42 inches is about proper for stashing behind a seat or for maneuvering inside a pickup cab. The removable field journal is good for storing within the console till I’m able to pop it in and run the gun. Whereas my pattern wasn’t threaded to obtain a suppressor, Winchester has a model of the XPR (it’s the XPR SR, which stands for Suppressor Prepared), with a 20-inch barrel that’s good for truck-gunning.
The Winchester’s all-weather construct is ideal to take all of the abuse I dish out. The Perma-Cote receiver is impervious to scratches and rust. The polymer inventory is constructed to take all kinds of sudden punishment. And the textured grip panels make it straightforward to deal with, even in moist climate or if I’m carrying gloves.
Lastly, the snappy motion is apparent enjoyable to run. As a lefty, I can work right-handed bolt actions simply advantageous, however as a result of I’m both reaching over the receiver to run the bolt or I’m dropping the gun from my shoulder in an effort to run the bolt with my off-hand, they’re frankly awkward. So it’s an actual pleasure to get the prospect to run a mild-recoiling rifle with my “proper” hand whereas maintaining the inventory in my shoulder and the scope at my eye. The outsized bolt deal with and the 60-degree bolt floating on Nickel Teflon coatings merely coaxes the bolt open and closed, making follow-up photographs quick and sure. Not that you simply’ll want them.
Last conclusion: I argue that Winchester is our authentic purveyor of left-handed rifles, based mostly on its catalog of ambidextrous lever weapons. Whereas I look forward to the proficient 350 Legend to indicate up in that platform, I’m very glad recommending the succesful XPR as a superb selection for a left-handed shooter on the lookout for an inexpensive, correct, versatile and snappy rifle chambered in a wide range of game-getting calibers.
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