A new cast boolit cartridge?

[bobk]

All things considered, this idea is stupid, at least for me. I have a 375 H&H I'm fond of, and my .405 Win is nearing completion, so I don't have a particular shortage of good cast boolit guns. However, I was just looking at the dimensions of the new 400 H&H, and it seems like a potentially good cast boolit cartridge, albeit probably not with the Holy Black. But I'm just guessing on that. It is 2.85 long, with an OAL of 3.50, and a neck that is .680 long! This means that you could load powder up to the neck juncture,
and COW and the bullet on top of that, with all of the COW+boolit in the straight neck portion. This would prevent having the COW form a plug below the case shoulder. So, why bother? Well, there have to be some shot-out 7MM Magnums out there, that would be good donors for such a project, since they already have the correct boltface. I could even convert my '03-A3, which is presently a 300 Win. Except it puts 190 Hornadys into an inch, so that's not too bright, either.:neutral: Anyway, what do you all think of the idea? Pac-Nor does barrels . . .
Bob K

[Bass Ackward]

Bob,

Bolt face is OK. How about your action length?

Remember, the H&H family require a longer action length. Other than that, I say go for it.

[bobk]

Bass Ackward,
What was funny back in the '50s-'60s was them introducing all these short magnums with 2.5 " cases, in rifles that could all be chambered for the full length magnums. The '03, OTOH, is not quite long enough, but close. I can run them out to 3.48, and the 400 is 3.50 OAL. I can do that. I'd rather pick up a donor rifle. I could live with a later post '64.

Bob K

[Bass Ackward]

Bob,

I remember. But you know what? When it comes to cast, even if I was chambering a short cartridge like say a 358, it would be on a long action.

Built that way and modified to feed well, you have plenty of room in a magazine box to do anything you need to do to get any bullet design your heart desires to feed. You can also chase your throat as the life of the rifle progresses. Box too long for conventional weights? Put in a block. But at least you have options.

I had a Matheau action for my 30-378 days back in the 60s and I should have kept it. It morphed into a 378 Wby for another lefty that still owns it as far as I know. That was the smoothest feeling and working action I ever had in my hands.

[bobk]

Oh, I agree about the long action. It just seemed ironic, given all the excellent full-length cartridges available at the time. .300 H&H, .333 or .334 OKH, .375 H&H (my favorite), .450 Watts, .475 A&M Magnum. The factories have made a lot of money legitimizing wildcats. Why they chose the route they did is a mystery to me. As for the super short mags, why reinvent that particular wheel?

To be perfectly honest, though, I hate the quick, jabby recoil of the .378. I find the heavy push of a big bore to be less of a flinch-promoter.

Bob K

[Dark Helmet]

If you're interested in that on how about a 411KDF/411Bowman? 458win necked down/338win necked up . Can use 41 mag bullets, or up to 400 cast, BarnesX or standard jacketed.

[bobk]

Dark Helmet,
Actually, that's not a half bad idea. Al Miller did a write-up on it in the Dec 1995-Jan 1996 Handloader. I could probably even convert my not-yet-assembled .405. The bolt face is too big at .561, but I got a blank extractor to be fitted, anyway. I just wish it had a longer neck, which the .400 does. Even basing it on the .300 Win would only give a .500 neck, or there abouts. Miller thought that the 1-14 twist was a problem. That's what my .405 Douglas barrel is. I just got a SAECO #537 mold, a .410 diameter, nominally 366 grains weight. I'm about to do some casting with it. I like the looks of it. The meplat is about .220. I'll see how it does.

Bob K

[StrawHat]

I have a 375 H&H I'm fond of, and my .405 Win is nearing completion, Bob K

So tell us about the 405.

Maybe a separate thread.

I had one built also.

[bobk]

Strawhat,
Well, maybe I'll do that. It's a looooong story, starting in 1971-72? when they imported them, and it isn't finished, yet. Didn't want to rush it. Except for having a new bolt handle welded on, I did all the work myself. Bought the barrel, of course.

Bob K