This is kind of a strange first post, but here it goes.
OK, here's the general idea and where it started coming from.
Some states only allow deer hunting with straight walled rounds and it's common for people to use a lever gun chambered in 44 Magnum.
That made me remember that you can make 44 Auto Mag cases by cutting down a 308 Win case to 1.298" and reaming out the case mouth an extra .018 or so to fit the 0.430" 44 caliber bullet.
But what if instead of reaming it out you loaded a 180 grain 41 caliber bullet (0.410) instead and left the case at 1.860"?
We already know that a 308 can safely fire a 180 grain bullet, so the weight shouldn't be an issue.
A full to the top case of Varget at that length is about 48.5 grains and leaving out some powder to get an uncompressed load would be about 42 grains.
According to the Hodgdon Reloading site the minimum load on a 308 Win with a 180 grain bullet is 41 grains and a max (compressed) load is 45 grains. So that puts us somewhere in the possible sweet spot for powder.
So you have a straight wall case firing a 180 grain bullet and the Ballistics By The Inch website says that the 180 grain 41 Rem Mag will have a 1,629 fps velocity from an 18" barrel.
Hodgdon says a 180 grain 308 with a 41 grain load from a 24" barrel should be about 2,500 fps. (I know, rifle powder and pistol powder aren't the same, but I'm just tossing out ideas, OK?)
Considering that it's straight walled and will lose some pressure, but will be shot from a 18" to 22" barrel, I'm thinking that it might have about 2,000 fps to 2,200 fps for a muzzle velocity. Let's split the difference and say it's theoretically 2,100 fps
Given the BC of .180, you only have a 100 yard range before you go below 1,000 ft-lbs of energy, but you start out just over 1,000 ft-lbs with a 44 Mag from a lever gun anyway.
With a 41 caliber, all copper bullet with a longer and better shape, that range could be extended out past 125 yards for 1,000 ft-lbs of energy.
Of course, not being rimmed it would have to headspace off the case mouth like a semi-auto pistol, but you could use a 308 rifle with a custom barrel on it.
Also, the total case length would only be about 2.150 which means it could theoretically be fired from an AR-15.
Anyone have any thoughts on it?
This is all just random thoughts and I was wondering what anyone else thought.
OK, here's the general idea and where it started coming from.
Some states only allow deer hunting with straight walled rounds and it's common for people to use a lever gun chambered in 44 Magnum.
That made me remember that you can make 44 Auto Mag cases by cutting down a 308 Win case to 1.298" and reaming out the case mouth an extra .018 or so to fit the 0.430" 44 caliber bullet.
But what if instead of reaming it out you loaded a 180 grain 41 caliber bullet (0.410) instead and left the case at 1.860"?
We already know that a 308 can safely fire a 180 grain bullet, so the weight shouldn't be an issue.
A full to the top case of Varget at that length is about 48.5 grains and leaving out some powder to get an uncompressed load would be about 42 grains.
According to the Hodgdon Reloading site the minimum load on a 308 Win with a 180 grain bullet is 41 grains and a max (compressed) load is 45 grains. So that puts us somewhere in the possible sweet spot for powder.
So you have a straight wall case firing a 180 grain bullet and the Ballistics By The Inch website says that the 180 grain 41 Rem Mag will have a 1,629 fps velocity from an 18" barrel.
Hodgdon says a 180 grain 308 with a 41 grain load from a 24" barrel should be about 2,500 fps. (I know, rifle powder and pistol powder aren't the same, but I'm just tossing out ideas, OK?)
Considering that it's straight walled and will lose some pressure, but will be shot from a 18" to 22" barrel, I'm thinking that it might have about 2,000 fps to 2,200 fps for a muzzle velocity. Let's split the difference and say it's theoretically 2,100 fps
Given the BC of .180, you only have a 100 yard range before you go below 1,000 ft-lbs of energy, but you start out just over 1,000 ft-lbs with a 44 Mag from a lever gun anyway.
With a 41 caliber, all copper bullet with a longer and better shape, that range could be extended out past 125 yards for 1,000 ft-lbs of energy.
Of course, not being rimmed it would have to headspace off the case mouth like a semi-auto pistol, but you could use a 308 rifle with a custom barrel on it.
Also, the total case length would only be about 2.150 which means it could theoretically be fired from an AR-15.
Anyone have any thoughts on it?
This is all just random thoughts and I was wondering what anyone else thought.