Real CGN-wildcat-thread-soon-to-be-forum

I may have already posted these but anyway:
223 ackley: 1 Rem and 1 Savage
22-250 Ackley Parker-Hale/Douglas tube
22 Cheetah Rem 700 s/a RKS barrel
240, 257, 6.5, 280, 30, 8mm., 358 Gibbs: mostly mausers, 1 Rem. 1 Win.
6-284 1 vz24 1 Rem both Gaillard bbl.
300H+H Imp. M17/Douglas tube.
35/404 Imp. 1 Sako, 1 Mauser, both have Douglas bbl.
358STA Sako/Douglas.
35/416 Rigby,CZ action/King Barrel. (Not finished)
375 Taylor VZ24, Ruger #1 barrel.
375 H+H Imp., BRNO 602/Al Pedersen bbl.
416 Taylor H+R action (Mauser) A+B barrel
458x2" vz24/Pedersen bbl T/C handgun,A/B barrel.

May have missed some not being used. For sure wildcats should have it's own forum. The reloading forum here is geared to the high speed Dillon'ers and manual freaks and Fudds. Those who HANDLOAD for wildcats actually understand the concept. Like double basing powders, understanding what your chrono is telling you, pressure signs etc. Pulling the handle on a dillon is 'reloading'. Different deal altogether. Satisfaction gained by getting velocity up while maintaining accuracy and pressure.
Anyway there is a lot of knowledge to share with no place to share it. Something for the future. Mark
 
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I shoot a 338 Gibbs. It's a 1949 Winchester model 70 action. Ron Smith barrel that D. Henry chambered and installed for me. I hand polished the barrel and blued it all a real deep blue. The Super Grade stock was refinished with many coats of turk oil, with all pores filled and Linspeed oiled after everything was done. I make brass out of 35 Whelen by sizing it to .338 just enough to crush fit to the chamber and fireform with the cream of wheat method. It shoots very well.

I also shoot a 7 TCU in a T/C Contender. It's alot of fun, and brass is easy to make out of 223, once the die is set properly.

Many other excellent cartridges were wildcats before they were standard. Such as the 25-06, 7mm rem mag, 7mm-08, 22-250, 35 Whelen, and others that I shoot.

An excellent pair of books are the two books by Ackley. I picked them up at a gun show awhile, and they are a good read. The handloaders manual of cartridge conversions by Donnelly & Towsley is another good book.
 
crandle.jpg
 
I had one in a No4 Mk1* Long branch. It was a great round, but would only feed two reliably from the magazine. H4831 was fifty cents a pound in those days, and I would fill the fireformed case full of powder, seat a 180 gr CIL SP bullet on top, and go hunting.

My 25-303 Imp, would only feed two as well, but was an incredibly accurate cartridge.

Ted
 
It would only feed two because of the sharp shoulder of the case? Or was it a magazine problem?

I've got my 340 gibbs, and I've been watching for another 30-06 to turn into a 30 gibbs. Or a 7x57 in a 98 mauser to turn into a 7mm gibbs. I think both would be great.
 
It would only feed two because as well as a sharp shoulder, the case body is blown out almost straight.

The magazine is tapered to fit the tapered profile of the 303 Br cartridge, and when you load more than two rounds, the Epps case simply will not stack properly in the magazine. I know several guys who have all had the same problem, and none of us were ever able to get them to feed reliably more than two.

Having said that, two 180 gr soft points at more than 2600 fps was always enough! :D

Ted
 
eric2381 said:
Has anybody tried the 303 Epps? I think it would be interesting in a P14.
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I have one in a P14. Leeper did some work on the feedrails and it seems to work quite well right now. It does not give up much to the factory 30-06 with 175/180 grain pills. I also shoot Steve Redgwell's Mark 9 bullet [200 gr] with a fair bit of success. That bullet will go 2500 fps in the Epps. Regards, Eagleye.
 
I've shot a 375 Whelen Improved 40 for about 20 years now. I built it up myself when I took one of those correspondence school gun courses. I've put literally thousands of rounds through it, learned how to Parkerize on it, how to fit a barrel, how to checker steel, and killed a big pile of game with it. Then I loaned it to people who killed another pile of game with it. Although not at all pretty it is a quality piece that goes bang EVERY time I squeeze the trigger.
It's only 200 to 300 fps behind the H&H with sane pressures but none of the Bubbas believe that; case size is what determines power output to them...
I've bought and sold literally hundreds of rifles over the years; it and the Win 94 that I rebuilt into a 44/40 are the ones that people look at and go "wow" over.
 
sahara said:
It's only 200 to 300 fps behind the H&H with sane pressures but none of the Bubbas believe that; case size is what determines power output to them...
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I believe that the 375 Whelen can come within 200 fps of the 375 H&H at similar pressures, why did you then go and ruin that statement?

Case size does determine "power output".

More powder = more energy, so more powder = more power (muzzle velocity X bullet weight).

You can get equal power from a smaller case, but the smaller case will always be running a higher pressure than the larger case at equal muzzle velocities. Then there's a point where the smaller case runs out of room for a powder slow enough that pressures stay sane, which is where the larger case always beats it out.
 
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I figured it was something to do with the magazine. The whole combo of sharp shoulder, straight case, and original design.

I understand a P14, originally chambered in 303 Brit., has the same bolt head size as a magnum case. Has anybody took a P14, and converted it to a 300 mag.? Maybe a 300 Wby, with a .311 bullet. Work would probably need to be done to the feed rails so it fed reliably. And the magazine box.
 
That has been done for many years. At the same time he did my No4 Mk1*, Epps was also rechambering P14s to the 308 Norma Magnum case. He called it the 303 Epps Canadian Magnum.

My, that was a few weekends ago! :D

Ted
 
[QUOTEHe called it the 303 Epps Canadian Magnum.



[/QUOTE]

I like the sound of that. Canadian Magnum. I need to get one of those.

Anybody try a 270 AI? I have a good shooting 270, but I wouldn't mind changing it up a bit.

Is there many 6.5x55 AI's out there?
 
Hey Joe
Let's get serious about Wildcatting. I'm trying to neck down a 50cal case to .223 so I can shoot gophers at a mile away. I figure some Blue Dot to keep my powder costs down and reload them on my Lee handpress so I can play with the loads out in the field.
Any ideas on where I can find a barrel to fit my Stevens 200??
Can you top that??
Henry
 
A few years ago there was a 460-22 wildcat write-up in either G&A or Shooting Times. Velocity was in the 5000 fps neighborhood, and barrel life was a whopping 40 rounds.
 
Henry Nierychlo said:
Hey Joe
Let's get serious about Wildcatting. I'm trying to neck down a 50cal case to .223 so I can shoot gophers at a mile away. I figure some Blue Dot to keep my powder costs down and reload them on my Lee handpress so I can play with the loads out in the field.
Any ideas on where I can find a barrel to fit my Stevens 200??
Can you top that??
Henry
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BLAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh, that alone was worth 40 pages of back-reading!!!

-M
 
Original Winchester Hi-wall in 219 Zipper Imp.
Rem. 700 Ti in 270/08.
Vz 24 Mauser in 338-06.
Ruger #1 in 450/348 Ackley Imp.
Custom Nesika in 338 Lapua Imp.

Keeps me outta trouble... :D
( and broke ! )
 
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