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.350 Legend

Hardwood11

It is going to be a good fall!
What is your opinion on this rifle. I’m 1-1 on a buck that dropped pretty fast…but others say they question the killing power of the .350 legend.

I’d be interested in hearing bullet grain discussion as well.
 
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Bought the wife a new Ruger .350 Legend caliber last year 2020. The gun just made sense for her to be a good gun for two reasons. 1) She's 5'1" and petite and after her brothers had her pull the trigger on a 12 gauge at the age of 12 that knocked into the next county she's quite jumpy behind the trigger of big bore or caliber guns. 2) Being so small and the Ruger .350 Legend being so light its nice for her to carry (Especially when her husband drags her deep into the hills).

She didn't get much opportunity to hunt the first year with it last year, but this year she was able to hunt much more choosing second season. She killed a great mature 10pt with her .350 and was a quick clean kill. Sitting with her I watched it all happen as she made a chip shot 18 yard shot as he was quartering in. 10 ringed right in front of the shoulder. I watched him tuck tail and run back the way he came from nose diving twice before piling up all done after only 60 yards.

So after only one kill with the .350 it's hard to have a good feel yet, however under 200 yards from what I have read and what I witnessed with her buck this past season I do have confidence that its plenty adequate.
 
I enjoy the mild recoil and compact size. Every deer that I have shot with it (all does) never took another step. All were calm and feeding when shot. All shots besides one head shot were well placed high shoulder shots.
 
I like the low recoil. I’m not into 200 yard shots anyway. 155 grain Browning ammo.. I like it so far .
 
I have had a .350 for two seasons I believe. I shot a buck with it last year at about 15 yards and it went down in a heap. I shot two does with it this year, to my great surprise the big doe I shot had both front legs broken and made it just a short distance. I think it was about 30 yards away when I shot. The smaller one was shot at about 20 yards and went 30'ish yards on a dead run and piled up in sight.

So my "n" count is small and I really don't take long shots, even though I could, but all of the deer were dead, dead in seconds.
 
I have owned and killed deer with both 350 and 450. I dont notice any difference in killing power between the two. I do notice a difference in bullets. The hornady sst’s seem to kill but very little blood trail. I have switched to pointed soft points and had better experience with blood trail.
 
I've had my 350 for two seasons now. Shot 3 does with it. One dropped where it stood, the other two didn't make it more than 15 yards. Shot two last year with 180 grain and one this year with 150 grain winchester deer seasons. Love the accuracy when compared to my previous slug gun. I have the winchester xpr. Super light gun that's easy to carry all day.
 
I bought a 450 Bushmaster on an AR platform from Farros Lead Farm in Iowa. Awesome gun and great people. The recoil is equivalent to a 20 ga slug gun. My dad shot the first buck with the gun this past season at 80 yards and it never took a step. I like the 450
 
Called a local small one-man gun store and asked if he had an AR in .350 and he said he did. I stopped by and he said he didn't and tried to "up sell" me to the 450 because "him and all his buddies shoot them". I walked out, killed my desire and I never did buy one. I'm kind of stubborn like that, LOL.

My smokeless ML is an exact ballistic match to the .450 Bushmaster, so the only thing gained would be the ability to spray a ton of lead (not my thing either).

I've been handloading 44 Rem Mag lately and might take the Henry lever out of the box one of these years.
 
My son and I each shot does with mine this year and they did not go far. Like others have said we did not get much for a blod trail though. Might try a higher shoulder shot next time, but maybe it was just that I am used to 12ga holes instead of little pencil sized holes.
 
My 78 year old father on December 7th, 2021, shot a 240lbs nine pointer at 160 yards, it went straight down. He shoots a Savage 110, ammo, 150 grain Winchester Deer Season XP. Great accuracy, great bullet expansion and great weight retention. The bullet hit high through the lungs but severely ruptured the heart. I was truly impressed by the round
 
Bullet options seem to be the hold up for me. I borrowed a 350 2 years ago to try out. Long barreled Ruger. Perfect quartering away shot at about 90 yards with fresh snow and a field of 50 deer. The field cleared and I didn't find a speck of blood. Got lucky following the main deer trail and my buck was laying 100 yards away. They were Winchester soft point bullets that he had been using. I went back to the 870 this year
 
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Looking at buying a .350 Legend in AR platform and in looking through the Iowa regs, I can't find anything on minimum required barrel length for rifles used for hunting deer. I swear I read years ago it was 18" minimum, but I'd like to go with a 16" barrel if possible. Does anyone know for certain what the min barrel length requirement is?
 
Looking at buying a .350 Legend in AR platform and in looking through the Iowa regs, I can't find anything on minimum required barrel length for rifles used for hunting deer. I swear I read years ago it was 18" minimum, but I'd like to go with a 16" barrel if possible. Does anyone know for certain what the min barrel length requirement is?
I thought barrel length was more of a Fed thing than a state, but I could be wrong and obviously don't know Iowa's spin on it.
 
I thought barrel length was more of a Fed thing than a state, but I could be wrong and obviously don't know Iowa's spin on it.
That might be what I'm thinking about. Whatever the case, I can't find any minimum barrel length requirements in the Iowa regs, and I've done several keyword searches throughout the entire doc. Unless I hear otherwise, I'm going with the assumption that there is no minimum barrel length requirement for deer hunting rifles in Iowa.
 
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