AR- 350 Legend Magazines

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  • midnightSGT

    Active Member
    Oct 17, 2013
    756
    Calvert County
    Greetings Gents,

    My Son in law just purchased a 350 Legend upper in 350 legend for the upcoming deer season. What magazines do you recommend? The reviews haven't been that good.

    Any real word experience, or any do's or don'ts with this caliber and feed issues. This is strictly a hunting rifle. Any and all help is appreciated.

    Thanks in advance
    Rich
     

    camo556

    Ultimate Member
    Aug 29, 2021
    2,634
    so I have tried two types (CMMG and Midway "AR Stoner"). I have one more on the way (Duramag). Unfortunately the Wilson Combat Lancer are unobtanium because MD sucks (15 rnds).

    My experience is that 350 legend is finicky. I have had zero feed issues with Winchester (fmj and nickel plated brass 160 gr hollow points).

    I have had feed issues with 2 kinds of Hornady(165 ftx and 170 gr whitetail). The Hornady 170 sp shot best (most accurate) so I went with it despite the feed issues.

    About 1 of every 4 Hornady cartridges would not feed correctly.

    I did fix this. Based on some yt research I tried a few things, but what ultimately worked is basically to remove about 1/4 inch from the feed lips. There is a yt video that suggested this. Removing 1/4 inch causes the cartridge to raise earlier. Edit: some reviews suggest removing material from the front of the magazine. dremeling 1/8 off the front of the magazine does not work as well because the angle of the feed ramp is probably an issue. you want the cartridge to present to the chamber/feed ramp at a better angle.

    Since I've done this I've gone through two mags without a single feed issue.

    Also: I have observed, since this is a straight walled cartridge, feed issues lead to accuracy issues. It seems like the bullet is not seated super tight in these. it's not crimped. If the bullet gets jammed in the brass, the bullet will present to the rifling inconsistently.

    edit: as far as hunting, see the bambi whacking thread. 350 legend is a great cartridge.
     

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    rol716

    Member
    Sep 28, 2010
    14
    Baltimore City
    Thank you for this info. This is very helpful. I have been having feed issues with a 350 legend upper. I also have CMMG 350 mags and think this may do the trick. When I load a single round in the magazine, it feeds from the left side of the feed ramp and successfully loads and fires. With two rounds in the magazine, the round loads on the right side of the feed ramp and when the bolt moves forward, the bullet will press against the flat face of the barrel extension just to the right edge of the feed ramp. Was this similar to the feed issues you were having? Did you need to polish your feed ramps as well or were you able to address these issues just with the magazine modifications? I appreciate any insight you can provide.
     

    camo556

    Ultimate Member
    Aug 29, 2021
    2,634
    I have not polished the feed ramps. I viewed it as a last resort. Many gunsmiths are back up for weeks and months, and I am allergic to having my rifle out of service during the height of the season.

    Shortening the feed lips worked for me so I never went farther than that.

    Mine was hanging up on the feed ramp, not the barrel extension. tbh if yours is hanging up on the right barrel extention (and not the left) your upper sounds out of spec (asymmetric). What upper is it?
     

    camo556

    Ultimate Member
    Aug 29, 2021
    2,634
    that picture worries me. I dont think shortening feed lips are going to fix it, the bullet nose is right against the barrel extension.
     

    rol716

    Member
    Sep 28, 2010
    14
    Baltimore City
    Thanks for the feedback. Here is a photo with the bolt extracted. I thought it did look a bit off but I couldn’t tell if it was the barrel that was crooked or the feed ramp was milled crooked. Something looked off. I appreciate the input from another set of eyes.
     

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    camo556

    Ultimate Member
    Aug 29, 2021
    2,634
    Its hard to tell just from photos. Could be the barrel extension/feed ramp from that angle.

    Either way, I think you are beyond just fixing magazines. I'd have it looked at, or send it back. A gunsmith could widen/fix the feed ramp, which may solve the problem. But there may be a better fix like replacing it with a better barrel extension.
     

    camo556

    Ultimate Member
    Aug 29, 2021
    2,634
    see how much wider my feed ramps are compared to yours?
     

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    camo556

    Ultimate Member
    Aug 29, 2021
    2,634
    from what I have read standard AR mags will work.The 350 is the same diameter as a 556

    yes and no. Box steel 350 legend mags are mostly rebranded 556 mags. The real issue to me is the feed ramps, as you can see from from pictures there are a lot of differences, and 350 legend is not forgiving. To be fair, I have a Faxon with nice wide feed ramps. Mine was having intermittent issues only with certain ammo. CMMG advertises "proprietary" feed ramp angle. They seem to have worked out the bugs more than most.

    This is what a lot of people refer to as "stacking tolerances" everything works independently but when combined, not so much.

    What I think is happening is people are "fixing" feed ramp issues by fixing magazines, since that's the easiest to fix.
     

    rol716

    Member
    Sep 28, 2010
    14
    Baltimore City
    I sent the previous upper back to midway and just got the new upper today. The feed ramp is much wider on this new one. Will probably get to take a few shots this Sunday but anticipate much better results.

    Thank you to camo556 for his input.
     

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    camo556

    Ultimate Member
    Aug 29, 2021
    2,634
    Those feed ramps look a lot better!

    Did they gunsmith those feed ramps, or just give you a new one?
     

    rol716

    Member
    Sep 28, 2010
    14
    Baltimore City
    I think they just sent me a replacement. The return was delivered to them Tuesday the 26th and the replacement out with UPS back to me the same day.
     

    rol716

    Member
    Sep 28, 2010
    14
    Baltimore City
    I don't know. Looking at images online, the previous feed ramp I had looked similar to 308 feed ramps on AR10s. Maybe they just had the wrong barrel extension accidentally put on at the factory?
    I have read that some 350 legend use 300 back out feed ramps, others use the large single ramp like the one I have now and yours. I was hoping that I could find images online from every 350L barrel manufacturer to see what feed ramps they use but couldn't find anything.
    Before sending the upper back, I was contemplating keeping the upper and buying a new barrel and try to dremel the first barrel's feed ramps and keep as a spare. In the end I figured it would be just as much a gamble, not knowing what feed ramps I would get, I thought it best to just send it back.
    Midway's refund/exchange was easy. Hopefully, I don't need to go through it again.
     

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