Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 350 Legend Subsonic Loads

I've been doing a lot of testing with this cartridge being in a formerly shotgun only state the last two years. Winchester made some weird decisions but the '9mm Magnum' is still a useful cartridge and actually very accurate. I've said it before, but it bears repeating, it is the most quirky/difficult cartridge I have ever loaded and most of the published data is HOT. That said, it was an obvious candidate for subsonic loads although there is no published data. No TrailBoss can be found so I have been working with AA5744, Lil Gun, and Unique. AA5744 didn't work well. Maker Bullets makes two of my favorite bullets for the 350 in their 150 Rex and 220 Subsonic. In order to shorten the learning curve for other interested people, here's some loads I have developed and work well in my bolt guns. Again, these are strictly in my guns and using my chrony as my guide. All the loads shoot around 1 inch at 100 yds, but curiously always print a little left of POI from standard loads. Magnum primers (CCI 450) really improve velocity consistency, but strangely actually average LOWER velocity than CCI 400's

220 Maker, 11g Lil Gun, Starline Brass, CCI 450, 2.100 OAL. 1050fps and one hole groups at 50 yds. I caught this expanded bullet in milk jug #5. The edges are very sharp. It's almost like a broadhead, and I will be trying it on deer this fall.


Another load I developed was with the 170 Hornady. 170 Horn, 7g Unique, Starline brass, CCI 450, 2.240 OAL; Great accuracy. I also tested the Winchester Super Supressed and it shot very well averaging 1060 fps.

All these loads are very quiet and blast (pun intended) to shoot with a can. I recently received my YHM R9 and have been impressed thus far. Here it is on a CVA Cascade I had chopped to 17 inches. Total weight is just under 8 lbs, and the total barrel + can length is 22 inches.


Here's a typical target with the CVA pre-can. I backed off the 147 loads a little and these were actually under starting per Hornady data. The 147 XTP shoots even better and should be rather explosive on varmints considering it is a 9MM bullet designed for 1100 fps.

I just stated a similar thread in ASK THE GUN WRITERS...My interest is in AR 15 pistol and carbine length 350 and 358 Legend. Data is hard to find. I thank you. Bill

I just shot my Savage LH Timberline 350 today. I shoot the 150 Makers. Last year I used a Ruger Go Wild 22". That would stack the 150s in one hole pretty much.
I tried loading 147 XTPs but they don't feed or chamber well at all. Shot a few today and groups were not too great.
I load the 150s to 2460 fps. Lil Gun and Rem 7 1/2s in Starline.

Why don't you try some Hawk bullets? Be Well, RZ.

Djb- thanks for the great info! What barrel twist are you using? I'm looking to rebarrel a savage axis .223, any info on barrel length, twist and availability would be greatly appreciated!

The CVA has a 1/16 twist. It was a 22 inch barrel that I cut to 17 inches; I lost basically no velocity.

Maker bullets redesigned their bullet from 220 to 205g grains as a couple folks experienced some key holing at 100 yds. I'm going to give TiteGroup a try too, and am still trying to locate some Trailboss powder.

I think it's rather cool that several companies out there are trying to turn out legitimate hunting bullets or ammo for suppressed use. The .350 Legend looks like a viable candidate, as does the 450 bushmaster. I saw where Hornady was making a 395gr subsonic hunting load for the 450. That's a lot of whump, even if doesn't expand that much.

Jpro,

Yup. I was one of the guys that had some keyholing at longer ranges and contacted Paul at Maker bullets. He let me return the rest of my unused bullets and then sent me new boxes after he worked up the new design. Great guy and I need to order some of their .308 bullets to try in a new rifle.

I could get 3 out of 5 makers to stabalize at 1050-1080fps using lilgun. I tried some CFE black as well hoping for more consistent velocities. I wasted nearly 2 boxes of projectiles before i decided the bullet was the cause. Gyroscopic stability calculators say that the 220 should stabalize in a 1:16. I'm thinking now to shoot anything heavier than 205-210 will need a 1:10 barrel which are expensive. Did anyone have any trouble stabalizing the 255gr win subsonic factory ammo? I cancelled my backorder on optics planet assuming that if the 220 wouldn't the 255 most definately won't. Maybee it's the deep hollow point cavity in the 220 that causes the instability. The back of the projectile being heavier than the front?

The 205 Maker stabilizes well in my 1/16 twist with 10.5 - 11 g Lil Gun.

The 255 Factory load stabilizes just fine. All copper bullets are much longer per weigh than lead since lead is so much denser.

My wife got me a CVA Cascade in 350 Legend for Christmas. I wanted it for a plinker for two reasons, I had lots of 357 cast bullets on hand and a good supply of small pistol primers. I’m just getting started with it and shot it for the second time today. The bullet that’s working the best is 127gr cast truncated cone 9mm bullet sized to .358 and powder coated. They chamber smoothly and are fairly accurate with groups in the 2 moa range. Loaded with 6gr of Unique they averaged 1224 fps. I also used some poly fill to hold the powder against the primer.

I need to cast some more of these as I’m down to about 20… Next loads I’m going to up the powder charge and see if I can get tighter groups. I may try seating them out to get them closer to the lands too. May also try some different powder but the Unique has worked best (by far) in my 450 BM (also a CVA Cascade) so it may be a waste of time. But, I have LOTS of spp’s and as many bullets as I want to cast so I can play all I want

I did try a couple of other cast bullets, 150gr wadcutter and a 158gr semi wadcutter, both sized to 358. The semi wc would chamber but it was work and the best group with it was 1.87” at 50 yards. (Best with the TC bullet was .72” at 50.) The wadcutter was a complete waste of everything, best group was 5.35” at 50 yards. No that’s not a typo. Maybe I could seat them out to the lands but these were practically impossible to chamber, so I’m 100% done with them.

I’d like to have a cast TC bullet in the 160-170 gr range but haven’t seen anything on the market like that. For now, I’ll play with the one that’s working.

I absolutely love the CVA Cascades! Looking to get another in 308 and maybe others…

I don't have a 350 but I know good gun writing when I see it, fine stuff.

So I have a bolt action 350 Legend from Savage... the Axxis..

and was thinking of playing with it.... just using regular jacketed pistol bullets and just work up loads from pistol caliber data....

The one box of Winchester ammo I picked up with it, was labled as .355 or 9mm bullet diameter... and you guys are talking 357 diameter bullets.

am I buying the wrong bullets for it? right now I have picked up some Hornady 9mm 147 XTPs and had a box of 124 XTP ( a partial)...

an interesting thing I also picked up at Sportsmans Warehouse to try, that was pretty cheap.....500 bullets in 115 grain in 9mm, that are not jacketed or lead bullets
but Polymer....figure that will either be fun, or a real disaster....

I bought the rifle for the action, with intentions of putting a 17 Fireball barrel on it... but I figured I would play with it, until closer to varmint season....

But if those 9mm Polymer bullets work out, I may have to try taking 50 or so over to Klamath to try them out on sage rats....wonder tho, if they are strong enough to ricochet or not...that wouldn't do.

I’ve seen bullet diameters recommended from .355 to .357 so I’m not sure what to tell you except to slug the bore and find out for sure. I cast from wheel weights so I know the bullets aren’t that hard. That and I’m loading a light load and have no reason or desire to shoot these any where near hot. So I wasn’t worried about .358 diameter and they should be 1-2 thousands oversize anyways. I loading these with 6.gr unique but getting really low on and can’t find anymore. I guess I’ll have to try some Bullseye, 700x or E3 which I have plenty of. Bullseye didn’t work well at all in the 450bm but maybe it will in the 350.

I’m curious to see how the polymer bullets work, I’ve read a little about them but never saw one in person.

I have a 17 Fireball in a Rem 700. My least favorite cartridge to reload but one of my favorite to shoot - not a good combination… Lol. I bought a bunch of Midway 20gr’s for it but they weren’t too accurate and pretty disappointing. Gave some to a buddy with a 17 Hornet to try but never did find out how they worked for him and we’ve lost touch with each other. Best I’ve loaded is a Hornady 25gr hp. Changed scopes on it last winter and need to sight it in again which means I need to do some reloading.

Has anyone tried Unique powder and with different bullets. Would like to try it with the maker 205 gn bullet for some quiet subs. H110 is ok but I get some big spreads in velocity.

7g Unique with the 170 Hornady, but I never tried it with the Maker 205. Lil Gun is what I use what that bullet.

Did you get consistent velocities with LiL gun. I have the Ruger bolt gun. And spread was as much as 125fps with H110. I use Winchester brass which could be the issue. I’ve seen some things suggesting brass is softer. I have some starling coming.

I got better consistency with Lil Gun than H110 but always had higher than normal swings with full velocity loads than other cartridges. I now only use cci 450’s as the magnum primers give better consistency. My subsonic loads are very consistent.

6g of Titegroup with a 180 power point is another good sub load.

Win brass is heavier than others and factory loaded ammo usually has a crimp. Hornady and Starline is better but I usually use the Winchester for subs since I can pick up so much for free at the range.

I keep my eyes open for some 450 primers. Been hard to find. I do have some federal AR match that I may try. Thanks for info. Been scratching my head. I’ve killed a few deer with 300 blk subs but want to figure out this maker in the legend cause it’s a good sized pill. Just need that consistency in velocity to feel comfortable with the shots. Love that maker bullet he hit a home run with it