.308 based big bore?

M

Marcus

New member
I`ve been intrigued by some of the Enfield conversions to .45-70 but somewhat dismayed that the normally 10-12rd. mags only hold 3 rounds of .45-70. It seems to me that a wildcat based on .308 case and cut and resized to take .454 or .429 bullets would allow full mag capacity and be an easier conversion too(starting with an already .308 Ish Enfield). If you kept the OAL pretty close only a new barrel should be required, no? So is there such an animal? Marcus
 
At the magazine rack yesterday after lunch, I read about a widlcat based on the .308-- the .338-308

Can't remember if the magazine was Rifle Shooter or Rifle Reloader or some other obscure publication like it...

This would be a straight case? Kind of like short .458???
 
At first I was thinking straight cased but it would probably need some shoulder to head space on. Maybe a shorter version of the .30-06 based .411 Hawk? Marcus
 
The case is only .470 wide at its base, so a .454 bullet would leave you with a straight wall case (and a thin wall too.)

If you go down to .429 bullet you still don't have much diameter left for the shoulder, and you need a little of that unless you are going to put a rim on it to control headspace.

If you want to stay rimmless and have a usable shoulder you probably have to stay in the upper .3's. You might get a .375 wildcat to work well, but the difference between that and the 358 Win might not be worth the effort.

Tom
 
I don`t think I`d want something with a rim on it because it would require bolt mods to work (or maybe a .303 bolt). There was already a .375 cartridge based on the .303 case available years ago. I`d like to see something a little bigger in dia. The .411 Hawk is looking like a better and better place to start. It headspaces on it`s small shoulder and I`m guessing the same case forming techniques used with it`s .30-06 case would work just as well with a .308 case? With the pressures kept sane and no attempt to magnumize it it would probably make a really neat brush cartridge in a short 12 shot Enfield carbine. :) Marcus
 
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