Winchester .350 Legend – 2019 Ammo of the Year

Increasing interest in hunting with a straight-­walled cartridge led Winchester to develop the .350 Legend. When compared to other cartridges, it effectively combines energy and penetration demands while producing less recoil for similar performance.

The .350 Legend offers more energy than the .30-­30 Winchester, .300 Blackout or the .223 Remington. To keep costs affordable for the consumer, the .350 Legend utilizes manufacturing capabilities that combine Winchester’s ability to make .223 brass with its ability to make .35-­caliber projectiles. (The .350 Legend features a tapered case.) It proved shooter friendly and exhibited less recoil than straight-­walled cartridges popular in states that require use of a .35-­caliber or larger load for deer hunting. The Legend even features 20 percent less recoil than a .243 Winchester and penetrates deeper.

Since the 2018 whitetail season began, G&A staff have backed up these impressive numbers. Winchester’s initial 150-grain Deer Sea-son XP features a polymer tip that improves the bullet’s ballistic coefficient and ensures expansion down to an impact velocity of 1,550 feet per second (fps). With a muzzle velocity of 2,290 fps out of a 20-inch barrel, the .350 Legend also offers hunters longer effective reach.

Since its introduction, Winchester has also developed five additional loads while shooters are finding popular makes of rifles that take the cartridge beyond the bolt action. We are now seeing popular semiautomatic AR-15 platforms and barrels such as those from CMMG and Ruger chambering the .350 Legend.

For more information: Winchester, 800-356-2666, winchester.com