Lets talk wildcats and odd cartridges

Gotta' coupla' them

I shoot a 219 Don Wasp, a 25-20 Single Shot, and a 225-6mm, all on Win 1885 actions, always some interest at the range when I bring them out.
 
30-40 in a Russian

What nonsense. I built a 30-40 on a Russian years ago and it fed perfectly. I made a new bolt head and and if I remember correctly, had to make a wider ejector. I also did one in 8mm-54R. Look in the Finnish powder reloading book and there are a couple of different wild cats mentioned based on the Russian case.
 
One of my favorite wildcats is the 44 Bain&Davis. 44mag cartridge necked down to 357. I have one that is in a Ruger Blackhawk 10" SS with sbh lower and a 4x optic. Total of 3 cyls for the gun. 9mm, 38/357, & Bain/Davis.

I have been toying with the idea of rechambering a lever action for it to get its full potential.
 
Y'all are complete nut cases, totally bonkers.
But, I mean that in a very complimentary way. You are doing things I, and most others, would never do. It is the slightly strange, not in step with others, types of people who create new and better things. Your experimentation seems, to me, very impractical. But, I do admire your inventivness, desire and attempts to build the better mouse trap, or, in this case, better cartridges.
Call me old, stuck in a rut. For modern rifles, I believe the 30-06 is the best thing ever.
 
well im not going to disagree there, i know im completely off my rocker and love it lol. The 30-06 is probably in the top 5 list for the best cartridges ever created along with the 30-30 and the 7x57. Which makes it a great base for new cartridges I had a 270 and loved it, my dad has a 25-06 which ive basically claimed and love it and now im building my 6.5-06 which ought to be the perfect hunting caliber, would like to try a 280 and a 35 whelen sometime as well. I also am very fond of the 30-30 which leads me to being interested in wildcats based on it, 219 zipper, 219 don wasp, 35/30-30, etc, etc. i guess i have a desire to have something that makes people wonder just what it is.
 
I'll play. I have the 219 Donaldson Wasp and a 219 Zipper Ackley improved. Great for what they are. I have a Marlin Model 94 (yeah, Marlin) lever action chambered in 218 Bee with a ventrified shoulder. Brass life seems to be forever now. I shoot a 30/338mag which is the 338 mag necked down to 30 caliber. Remington chambered quit a few of those in the 40X for benchrest. I have an original 40x and a custom Sako in this round. It's far superior to most of the 30 caliber "magnums" in accuracy and adjustment of capacity to bore ratio. I push 150gr pills out of the Sako at 3500'ps and have room to go up but accuracy is under an inch at 300 meters. I have a 6.5x06 built on a Springfield action. I have a Colt 1911 that is chambered in 38/45acp. It'll blow the doors off of the 357 Sig and there are very few loading issues as compared to the Sig. I'm pushing 158gr HPs at 1700'ps with it and that's not max. The chambering is actually easy. Take a 38 Super barrel and run the reamer in it, change the recoil spring and go shooting. You do have to anneal the brass to form. I've got a bunch of the common wildcats like the 8mm06, 257 Ackley, etc. Some are really great and there is actually an improvement and some are just a novelty as there was no improvement. Just because you have more case capacity doesn't mean it's better than the original.
 
One of my favorite wildcats is the 44 Bain&Davis. 44mag cartridge necked down to 357.
I have been toying with the idea of rechambering a lever action for it to get its full potential.
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Yeah, 357/44 B-D is a great round. I found out about it years ago when I had a 357 Herrett, and chambered several Marlins and Winchesters for 357/44 B-D. Best bet is to start off with the Marlin 1894 in 44 Mag, that way all you have to change is the barrel.
Y'all are complete nut cases, totally bonkers.
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Yeah! Ain't it great?:D
 
Y'all are complete nut cases, totally bonkers.
But, I mean that in a very complimentary way. You are doing things I, and most others, would never do. It is the slightly strange, not in step with others, types of people who create new and better things. Your experimentation seems, to me, very impractical. But, I do admire your inventivness, desire and attempts to build the better mouse trap, or, in this case, better cartridges.
Call me old, stuck in a rut. For modern rifles, I believe the 30-06 is the best thing ever.
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I'll admit I built my 6x47 because my 1:10 twist .243 Win wouldn't shoot 55 grain bullets well. I bought a couple thousand bulk bullets, and decided to build a rifle that would shoot them instead of selling them. I probably should have built a 6x45 based of the .223 case but I couldn't get the 6x47 out of my heard.
 
I would like to see the 500 S&W necked down to a 44 or 357, For deer hunting here in In. i think it would be killer.
 
the 500 necked down would be neat. Maybe in like a h and r single shot or a contender pistol or something. Would make a killer deer cartridge out to a couple hundred yards i bet. I think i might start accumulating H&R handi rifles so i can play with various calibers with out tying up a lot of money in donor rifles.
 
Another resonably practical thought,study the product lines of some of the loading die companies and reamer companies.
Fully custom stuff costs way more than the ltd production-semi custom sets.
Lets see,my .375 is a Taylor,I neck down 458's,and I built a nice 30-338.
I did notice my battery was a bit exotic,I'm putting together a 30-06 on a 09 Argentine action soon as the #2 Walther bbl shows up.
 
yea that is one problem with the odd chamberings is finding brass (especially with old outdated stuff) to make them out of and a way to reload them. thats why most of the things i think up are based on a fairly common cartridge and most of them still have dies available or i can make dies out of something else. The H&R are way cheaper than the encore and have the same ability to switch barrels easily. I also have never cared for the encore style.
 
I also like the idea of a 6.5mm-06. How about Improving it?
How about a 6.5mm-30 AI? Or a 375-06 AI?
I have been considering a T/C Contender as a pack rifle and chambering it for either 6.8mm SPC and loading 130 grn boattails, 30-30 AI or the 300 Savage.
Another interesting 30-30 wildcat is the 338-30.
 
yea that is one problem with the odd chamberings is finding brass (especially with old outdated stuff) to make them out of and a way to reload them.
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All your talk of Krag wildcats has had me cringing. It took me nearly 5 months to get my hands on loaded ammo for my Krag. I only bought it, because I couldn't locate brass for a decent price. I think I ended up, finally, getting some R-P brass at about the 8 month mark. (And that was pure luck, since Remington happened to make their seasonal run of .30-40 at that time. Had they not had enough orders to make the run, I would have been paying as much as $2 a case, possibly for once-fired, until next year's "as required" runs were made :()

Until then, I got by with brass formed from .303 British, but the short neck was causing complications with some bullets.

Unless you have brass on hand, or know you can easily source it locally, .30-40 Krag is a poor parent case (in my opinion). It just isn't 1950 any more. The Krag is obsolete, and brass is not as plentiful as it once was.

.303 British is a different story. Think of it as a "Short Krag", and the opportunities open back up. ;)
 
Years ago I started into a Rolling Block project.From the SPG book I found the 40-60 Maynard,made by blowing .303 or 30-40 to straight wall.As time went by,a buddy buit a 40-50 Sharps straight,shortening those.The 30-40 blown straight almost made a 40-70 Sharps Straight.A touch short.Then the Hornady folks came out with .405 WCF.I am saying,for all practical purposes,you may consider .405 WCF really close to being 30-40 Krag basic brass.
BTW,if you come across a SMLE that has been altered and has a bad bore,I think you could have a rebore done on the original bbl to 405.I suspect the round will work in that action.
If the 30-06 had not been invented,some wildcatter would neck down 35 Whelen brass.
 
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A 405 is on my gotta have list but I think the brass are expensive not sure how they compare to other possible parent cases. Lol I read a comical article article about some new wildcat based on necking the 35 down to 30 cal. Was pretty enertaining
 
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