Who here forms Wildcats

[coopermania]

Me i like those little calibers,

17 squirrel
17 Heebee
19 Calhoon
22 K hornet
And a 19 Badger on order

 

[jimbobborg]

I shoot one caliber that used to be a wildcat but was legitimized by Remington (7mm-08). I'll snag .243 brass and neck them up for my 7mm-08, but that's the most I'll do with that kind of reloading.

 

[boule]

Me i like those little calibers,

17 squirrel
17 Heebee

What are you using to neck those down?
Currently got a 17-223 on order...... oh yeah, and a 30-30 AI in my rack.

 

[byf43]

7mm TC/u
.30 Herrett
7mm International Rimmed (Sold this a while back.)

 

[Eddie Van]

A Noob question: do wildcat rounds also imply some sort of chamber reaming/machining in order to accept these "non-standard" rounds?

 

[4g64loser]

I make my own 308 Norma mags. Usually from 300WM. I've used 7mm mag before, but I don't like having short case necks. Thats why I have a Norma and not a Win mag. More seating flexibility.

 

[coopermania]

Parent case's

What are you using to neck those down?
Currently got a 17-223 on order...... oh yeah, and a 30-30 AI in my rack.

17 Squirrel is a 22 Hornet case necked down with about 5/16th of a inch cut off. and fire form to blow out the shoulder. its a cute little case.

17 HeeBee is a 218 Bee case necked down and the shoulder blown out

19 Calhoon is a 22 Hornet necked down and blow the shoulder out

19 Badger is a 30 carbine case necked down and blown out

 

[coopermania]

Yes and No

A Noob question: do wildcat rounds also imply some sort of chamber reaming/machining in order to accept these "non-standard" rounds?

The quick answer is, All of my wildcat calibers have been ordered as new guns from small or custom gun makers. Some wildcats like Ackley improved calibers just have the shoulders blown out. So with most of them i believe the standard chamber can be reamed out. Theres lots of books on the topic
and lots of people here that play in that world. Its a mystery to most but its really not that hard to do.

 

[coopermania]

Question Sir

I make my own 308 Norma mags. Usually from 300WM. I've used 7mm mag before, but I don't like having short case necks. Thats why I have a Norma and not a Win mag. More seating flexibility.

In reforming 300 win mag to Norma Mag have you ever used once fired case's ? I need to do some for a friend and i was thinking about annealing some once fired 300 Win cases that i have already.

 

[tech24]

I'm in the process of forming 6BRX brass but aint much to that so not sure if it counts.

 

[Eddie Van]

The quick answer is, All of my wildcat calibers have been ordered as new guns from small or custom gun makers. Some wildcats like Ackley improved calibers just have the shoulders blown out. So with most of them i believe the standard chamber can be reamed out. Theres lots of books on the topic
and lots of people here that play in that world. Its a mystery to most but its really not that hard to do.

Thanks for the answer and apologies for the minor threadjack, just sounds like and interesting and cool thing to do...

 

[Billcw]

30 .06 ackley here

 

[Biggfoot44]

Wildcat at the simplest simply means no established Industry Standard for the round. "Usually" this also means no factory ammunition. "Almost Usually" means no factory chambered guns (at least from semi-major mfg).

As alluded to above certain "orphan" ctgs have had established SAMMI or CIP standards, but are so uncommon in commerace they are defacto wildcats at present.

A suncatagory is Improved rounds ( frequently in an Ackley verson , or RCBS version) you are able to safely fire a loaded ctg of the parent ctg in the Improved chamber.

 

[vafish]

.25-223 ar15 for deer hunting.

 

[Mt Airy]

280 ackley here

 

[jimbobborg]

As alluded to above certain "orphan" ctgs have had established SAMMI or CIP standards, but are so uncommon in commerace they are defacto wildcats at present.

Kind of like my 7.62x45 for my Vz-52 I will eventually have to do this since no one is making the round anymore and all I have are steel cased.

 

[vafish]

Kind of like my 7.62x45 for my Vz-52 I will eventually have to do this since no one is making the round anymore and all I have are steel cased.

My .300 Savage almost falls into that category too.

 

[lensman]

.17 Mach IV

I've been shooting the .17 Mach IV in a Cooper rifle for over five years. Forming the brass from .221 Fireball is easy but requires multiple dies (I use Redding).

Remington has followed the wildcatters by introducing the .17 Fireball rifles and factory ammo. At one point Cooper offered to re-chamber my rifle to the factory chambering but I declined since I already have so much $$$ tied up in Mach IV dies and Redding says that practically nothing is interchangeable. I don't know if this is true or just a CYA on their part or perhaps they're trying to boost their sales.

Anyway, the Mach IV shoot up a storm...1/2 MOA at 100 yards on a good day.

Lensman

 

[Maryland Hunter]

Getting ready to form some .357 Herrett soon, and I've got my eye on some 7-30 Waters, if that counts.

MH

 

[Maryland Hunter]

Okay, I just got my .357 Herrett dies in today. Someone here get me started on the fireforming process. I'm assuming that I use a reduced load? Will these loads be worth shooting for any kind of accuracy or is the shooting of them strictly for the forming of the brass?

MH