This is how I see it. Laws changed which recreated a market for straightwall cartridges, and with exceptionally limited modern options, bolt guns and AR’s, the door was open for the .350 Legend. If you want a straightwall bolt gun in Ohio/Iowa/Indiana, what options are there? Leverguns are a dying breed, arguably dead in the youngest two generations of rifle buyers, single shots unpopular and also faltering in the recent market, so the 450 Bushmaster in a couple bolt guns and AR’s was largely the singular option. Most of our straightwall cartridges are low pressure, rimmed cases, not setting the bar very high to supersede in a modern cartridge. The parameter was .357” and straightwall, with a few states requiring cases shorter than 1.8”. We already have a 45cal in the mix, so a 44cal may not have been distinct enough to play, not much interest in 40 cals as a whole - especially in the current environment - so why not go hard and fast with a common bolt face and Mag boxes, pushing a 35 cal bullet?

I might wish they’d made more accommodation for conventional brass neck thickness around the specified bullet diameters, but once cheap barrel makers stop pitching out-of-spec chambers, the Legend’s going to keep doing very well.

It’s not skirting any laws.