wildcat rifle cartrages

[baltz526]

going through the 2007 huntingtons catalog. 22-284 wonder how long the throte lasts on that one, 6.5x378 sounds like a screamer shooting molten copper globs may be possible with this one, 17-22-250 some people just have a need for speed and the quest for 5000fps. there are hundreds of obsolete and wildcat dies listed. 22 different .22cf cases.

[Catching Nemo]

Supposedly (read urban legend) someone got Bob Hutton's .22-378 Eargesplittin Loudenboomer to clock 5,079 fps using 118 grains of VV170.

[billc_sbio]

Yeah, lots of crazy stuff available from your custom gunsmith...

I've only got one anymore, a rifle in .17 Saunders Jet, a rimmed .17 cal. cartridge formed from .22 Remington Jet brass, which when totally reconfigured, looks nothing like its parent case, the .22 Jet. Imagine a short, fat, rimmed .17 cartridge with a fairly sharp shoulder formed from .357 Magnum pistol brass (that's what the .22 Jet is derived from). It's actually a pretty good/efficient design.

The idea of something like a .17-22-250 is really gonzo though. Even the .17 Remington, basically a .223 Remington necked down to .17 caliber is way overkill efficiency wise. It ends up being powder pushing powder and not very efficient (as many Wildcat cartridges aren't).

Sometimes really GOOD cartridges come from Wildcats. The .22-250 and .25-06 are just two that made the transition quite nicely. And, of course the Ackley Improved cartridges are really Wildcats too. The really good one of those is supposed to be the .257 (Roberts) Ackley Improved.

I've also got some obsolete cartridges that have to be formed from other cartridge cases. While those aren't truly "Wildcats", they still have to be formed/made out of some other still existing parent cartridges. These days they might as well be called Wildcats. You can't just run down to your local gunshop and pick up a pack of .40-50 Sharps, .40-65 Winchester or .45-60 Win. either.

When you get into having to buy those specialty dies, they get REAL expensive! Especially if you're buying RCBS.

[baltz526]

45-60 winchester case forming die is listed at $160.95 with the group I 3 die set $161.98

[baltz526]

how about a 257stw

[baltz526]

in the bullet section, speer has .224 33gr hp. hornady has a .224 35gr v-max. and a .224 80gr a-max

[billc_sbio]

Originally Posted by baltz526

45-60 winchester case forming die is listed at $160.95 with the group I 3 die set $161.98

Yeah, the "Forming Die" is a single little "slug" of hardened, threaded, die "body" ~1-1/4" long with a hex lock nut on it! $162!!!

Look at something like "Forming Die Set - .17 Javelina from .222 Rem" (another rifle I used to have). I'll bet it's Price wise?

[baltz526]

$303.95

[billc_sbio]

Originally Posted by baltz526

$303.95

Yeah, it's NOT (so much) the Wildcat Die (Reloading) Sets that are EXPEN$IVE (they are!), it's the Forming Sets to get them made from other brass that are REALLY Expensive!

[bait dunker]

there are a lot of great wildcats. i used to love them just for something different. i used to have a .284 that was built before winchester picked up the cartridge, and also a .17 remington, in my opinion one of the most unrespected varmint cartridges. my uncle had a rifle i believe was called a .22 warbird? it was a .308 necked down, all it did was eat throats and burn/unburn a lot of powder.

[billc_sbio]

Yes, I once had a Rem. 700BDL in .17 Rem. It was a really great little rifle and that cartridge never has gotten the respect it deserves.

One thing I used to wonder was WHY did Remington come out with THAT cartridge as their choice (essentially a .223 Rem. necked down to .17 cal.)? That cartridge pushes "powder WITH powder", something the smaller capacity cartridges don't do.

After a while of loading/shooting some of the more efficient .17s, I started to get the feel for why Remington settled on the cartridge/loads they did.

Although I've never read this, I came to realize that they were using MORE of a slower burning powder, where their cartridge wasn't so sensitive to minor variations in powder charge. Any small change was a smaller percentage change of the total charge.

Where the smaller, more efficient cartridge designs could get about the same velocity as the .17 Rem. they were SO sensitive to seemingly minor changes in powder charge that a change as little as .1 g increase could drastically raise pressures and blow primers on the small cases using faster powders.

[GSD]

New and improved .17 Remington Fireball:


The New Fireball. At 4,000 fps, it’ll look plenty big in the eyes of varmints and predators. Tiny powder charges mean more accurate shots between cleanings. And speed? You know what that does. Read More...

[Hunt'nFish]

GSD, I believe that it's nothing more than the .17Mach IV in factory form.
Very exciting stuff there!!!! For years I have wanted an AR upper in .17Mach IV. Run it till the throat erodes, then ream it out to 17Rem and run it some more.
Hunt'nFish

[John in Oregon]

I have just a few wildcat rounds. Looking over my die sets I can see:

17 Ackely Hornet
17 Ackley Bee
17 MkVI
5.7mm Johnson
218 Mashburn Bee
223 Ackley Improved
6mm TCU
6mm-250 Ackley Improved
244 Ackley Improved
256 Maximum
257 Roberts Improved
6.5mm TCU
6.5x300 WSM
7mm TCU
7mm Super Bower
280 Ackley Improved
30-30 Ackley Improved
35 Remington Very Improved
375 JDJ
375 H&H Improved

Once you get enough of them, you can mix and match dies to perform case forming where needed.

John in Oregon

[baltz526]

6.5x300wsm sounds interesting, what bullets are you shooting and what kind of velocitys are you getting.