The 356 Winchester is a centerfire rifle cartridge with a semi-rimmed, bottle-necked neck that was developed for use in lever-action rifles. It was created at the same time as the.307 Winchester, which served as the parent cartridge. Both cartridges were first used in the Model 94 XTR lever-action rifle in 1982. Apart from Winchester, Marlin was the only other manufacturer to use the.356 chambering, producing little over 2000 Model 336 lever action.356 rifles.
At impact velocities exceeding 2200fps, the.358 bore performs at its finest. With any bullet weight, the.356 Winchester performs similarly to the.358 Winchester, giving up just 50–100 ft/s (15–30 m/s). Due to its thicker brass case, the.356 Winchester has somewhat less case capacity than the.358 Winchester. When using factory ammo, the.356 is most effective when hunting in the woods. Beyond 2200fps or 30 yards, the.356 requires more precise shot placement, but the blunt nose bullets still provide enough wounding and free gushing blood trails with back lung hits.
Hand loads for the.356 Winchester are an a different beast. Cases for the.356 are presently only available in small quantities and may readily be made from.307 Winchester brass. Straight.308 Winchester brass can also be used in the.307 and.356 Winchester calibers. When manually loaded with fast-burning powder like Hodgdon's H4198 / ADI 2207, the.356 provides excellent performance. The slightly slower H4895 / ADI 2206H burn rates also perform well in the.356 Winchester and aid to keep pressures down, with heavier rounds proving to be the most successful.
