IndySteve
12-24-2013, 05:37 PM
I built the 350Jr for our oddball Indiana regs to hunt deer. Worked "good" but I did learn a little, mostly about how much latitude to give a gunsmith I've never met. Still in all the results were as expected and the round is still in use
However:
For absolutely NO reason other than I want one, a .375 caliber wildcat, also legal here but usable on about anything walking with proper bullets and ranges, is in my head.....and won't leave.
A lot of us "older gun nuts" grew up reading every single hunting article we could get in arms length. No internet then so articles of the "Dark Continent" were only available as they came in various monthly magazines and while I have NO method of affording such a hunt today, the calibers of those hunts, read so long ago, still haunt my dreams. "NEED" has nothing to do with anything on this round.
I read threads here when such pop up on the big to medium bores......I just don't say much so still a newbie to most here. The frequency of the bigger bores mentioned here and the number of those shooting them tipped the scales in this direction when I "picked one" to ask a few questions. (That and most here don't ALREADY think I'm insane so I have some leeway. :grin: )
200 yards is a LONG shot here in cornfield country and opportunity to take one has to just about be set up for to get one so a "flatter trajectory" is not the "goal"......but a 200 yard sledgehammer might be if I had to pin point a single desire other than the paragraph above on articles of my youth.
But onward and upward. The WSM and RUM size brass is in use by a few and following the crowd has never been an ill I needed cured of. The "belted" 350JR was an example. The goal was a certain bullet, a certain velocity.......as cheaply as possible and it was fun as heck especially when it all came together as expected, even with a few less than asked for dimensions.
TWO rounds of many, many articles mentioned years ago (and today) are the 375 H&H and the 416 Rigby and I've spent weeks looking at capacities, pressures, etc and while it will be a PAIN the end round will be based on the .590 rimmed 416 Rigby brass so there is a question that comes to mind right off the bat.
What bolt or even what bolt ACTION? Two options are there and they are reaming out a mag bolt face to fit the .590 on a short action OR.....go the way of the 308 M24 and put a short round in a long action.
I've swapped email with a gent in AU who has built both short and long actions for .590 rimmed rounds.....in a Vanguard actions and suggests highly that I do the same for strength AND cost reasons. ONE of which that he built was a 338LM on a long vanguard action and the 338 is a MUCH higher pressure round than what I have in mind.
So the first question is ......if you were building a "shorter than a 308" wildcat on a .590 rimmed brass what action would you suggest? PTnG makes a 700 bolt with a .590 bolt face but MAN do I get a lot of neg feedback about 700 actions lately so.......just asking.
A LOT of the hesitancy from most opinions I've read is the "bolt thrust" of such a round BUT if you run the NUMBERS of the area of the .590 round times pressures in the 416 Rigby pressure range you will find that the bolt thrust is not an issue as it would be in the 60K plus rounds on the same action. (IMHO).
Anyone built or know of one that has been built successfully and can suggest a choice of actions for such.....that are NOT custom and out of my price range? LOL!
God Bless
Steve
However:
For absolutely NO reason other than I want one, a .375 caliber wildcat, also legal here but usable on about anything walking with proper bullets and ranges, is in my head.....and won't leave.
A lot of us "older gun nuts" grew up reading every single hunting article we could get in arms length. No internet then so articles of the "Dark Continent" were only available as they came in various monthly magazines and while I have NO method of affording such a hunt today, the calibers of those hunts, read so long ago, still haunt my dreams. "NEED" has nothing to do with anything on this round.
I read threads here when such pop up on the big to medium bores......I just don't say much so still a newbie to most here. The frequency of the bigger bores mentioned here and the number of those shooting them tipped the scales in this direction when I "picked one" to ask a few questions. (That and most here don't ALREADY think I'm insane so I have some leeway. :grin: )
200 yards is a LONG shot here in cornfield country and opportunity to take one has to just about be set up for to get one so a "flatter trajectory" is not the "goal"......but a 200 yard sledgehammer might be if I had to pin point a single desire other than the paragraph above on articles of my youth.
But onward and upward. The WSM and RUM size brass is in use by a few and following the crowd has never been an ill I needed cured of. The "belted" 350JR was an example. The goal was a certain bullet, a certain velocity.......as cheaply as possible and it was fun as heck especially when it all came together as expected, even with a few less than asked for dimensions.
TWO rounds of many, many articles mentioned years ago (and today) are the 375 H&H and the 416 Rigby and I've spent weeks looking at capacities, pressures, etc and while it will be a PAIN the end round will be based on the .590 rimmed 416 Rigby brass so there is a question that comes to mind right off the bat.
What bolt or even what bolt ACTION? Two options are there and they are reaming out a mag bolt face to fit the .590 on a short action OR.....go the way of the 308 M24 and put a short round in a long action.
I've swapped email with a gent in AU who has built both short and long actions for .590 rimmed rounds.....in a Vanguard actions and suggests highly that I do the same for strength AND cost reasons. ONE of which that he built was a 338LM on a long vanguard action and the 338 is a MUCH higher pressure round than what I have in mind.
So the first question is ......if you were building a "shorter than a 308" wildcat on a .590 rimmed brass what action would you suggest? PTnG makes a 700 bolt with a .590 bolt face but MAN do I get a lot of neg feedback about 700 actions lately so.......just asking.
A LOT of the hesitancy from most opinions I've read is the "bolt thrust" of such a round BUT if you run the NUMBERS of the area of the .590 round times pressures in the 416 Rigby pressure range you will find that the bolt thrust is not an issue as it would be in the 60K plus rounds on the same action. (IMHO).
Anyone built or know of one that has been built successfully and can suggest a choice of actions for such.....that are NOT custom and out of my price range? LOL!
God Bless
Steve