The short version
The .360 Buckhammer is a .30-30 case with the shoulder ironed out and a .35-caliber bullet on top, built in 2023 so lever-gun hunters in straight-wall states could stop compromising. It hits harder than .350 Legend, kicks less than .450 Bushmaster, feeds like a lever cartridge should, and in 2026 got its best rifle yet in the S&W 1854.
Why straight-wall cartridges exist
A block of Midwestern states — Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, southern Michigan, parts of Illinois — spent decades restricting deer hunters to shotguns and muzzleloaders, on the theory that a rifle bullet flies too far over flat farmland. In the 2010s most of them opened the door to rifles, but only rifles firing straight-walled cartridges within set case-length and diameter limits: the same range-limiting logic, applied to cartridge shape rather than platform. The rules created a market overnight. The .450 Bushmaster and .350 Legend filled it first, mostly in AR-pattern and bolt rifles.
The problem was that neither was a natural lever-gun round. The .450 is rebated-rim and fierce; the .350 Legend is rimless and, for a lever gun's tube magazine and cartridge lifter, awkward. The lever gun — the classic Midwestern deer rifle — needed its own straight-wall cartridge.
What Remington built
Take a .30-30 Winchester case. Remove the shoulder and neck so it's a straight taper. Open the mouth to .358 inches. Load a 180- or 200-grain Core-Lokt soft point. That's the .360 Buckhammer: a rimmed, straight-wall cartridge that fits any .30-30-length lever action, uses a bullet diameter with a century of hunting history, and was accepted as a SAAMI standard in January 2023.
| Cartridge | Bullet | Velocity | Energy | Case | Lever-gun fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| .360 Buckhammer | 180 gr | ~2,400 fps | ~2,300 ft-lb | Rimmed, straight | Native |
| .350 Legend | 180 gr | ~2,100 fps | ~1,760 ft-lb | Rimless, straight | Awkward |
| .450 Bushmaster | 250 gr | ~2,200 fps | ~2,690 ft-lb | Rebated rim, straight | Rare |
| .30-30 Winchester | 150 gr | ~2,390 fps | ~1,900 ft-lb | Rimmed, bottleneck | Native, but not straight-wall legal |
Manufacturer-published rifle figures, rounded; individual loads vary. The .30-30 row is for reference — it is a bottleneck cartridge and does not qualify under straight-wall rules.
The numbers explain the appeal. The Buckhammer gives a .30-30 lever gun's handling with more energy than the .30-30 itself, from a cartridge that qualifies where the .30-30 doesn't. Inside 200 yards — which is every straight-wall state's whole point — it's a better deer round than the cartridge it was made from.
The rifles
Henry was first, with the .360 Buckhammer in the Side Gate lever action and the X Model. In 2026 Smith & Wesson added it to the 1854 — a 20-inch threaded stainless barrel, 6+1 in the tube, rail and ghost ring, M-Lok and a large loop — and that rifle is the best Buckhammer gun made: modern, optics-ready and built for the exact hunter the cartridge was designed for. Our 1854 explainer covers it. Marlin has stayed out so far; a 336 in .360 would be the obvious rifle and everyone is waiting for it.
The honest limits
- Ammunition is Remington and not much else. Two Core-Lokt loads, a Federal load or two. Fine for hunting; not a cartridge to plink with. Availability has been reasonable but thin in 2026 — see BulkAmmoFinder for the market picture.
- It's a 200-yard cartridge. A .358 bullet at .30-30 speeds drops like one. That's the design intent, but it isn't a .308.
- Recoil is real. Less than .450, more than .350 Legend — about .30-30-and-a-half. A brake on the threaded 1854 fixes it.
- If your state isn't straight-wall, buy a .30-30. Cheaper ammunition, more loads, same rifles. The Buckhammer's reason to exist is the regulation.
For hunters in the states it was built for, none of that matters. The .360 Buckhammer is the first straight-wall cartridge that treats the lever gun as the intended rifle rather than an afterthought, and the 1854 is the first rifle that treats the Buckhammer the same way. Our restrictive-states guide covers the other side of the regulation question.
Questions we get about this
What is the .360 Buckhammer?
A straight-walled rifle cartridge Remington introduced in 2023, made by taking the .30-30 Winchester case, removing the shoulder and opening it up to a .358-inch bullet — the same bullet diameter as the .35 Remington. It was designed for lever guns and for states that restrict deer hunting to straight-wall cartridges.
How does it compare to .350 Legend and .450 Bushmaster?
It's the middle option. A 180-grain bullet at around 2,400 fps out of a rifle gives it roughly 2,300 foot-pounds at the muzzle — more than the .350 Legend, less than the .450 Bushmaster, with less recoil than the .450 and a rimmed case that lever guns and single-shots feed better than the rimless Legend.
Which rifles chamber it?
Henry (Side Gate and X Model), the Smith & Wesson 1854 as of 2026, and a handful of single-shots and bolt guns. Marlin has not announced one. It's a lever-gun cartridge by design, and lever guns are where it lives.
Is it legal in my straight-wall state?
Most straight-wall regulations set a minimum bullet diameter and a case-length range, and the .360 Buckhammer was built to fit the common ones — Ohio, Michigan's Limited Firearms Zone, Indiana, Iowa and others. But the rules are set by each state and change; verify your current regulation before buying a rifle for it.