Talk Show on Wild Catting

[Wolfdog91]

Don't know if anyone else listens to the vortex podcast but I've recently found it and really enjoy it. Found this episode last night discussing how they went about making their own Wildcat 6.5BC figured some one elese might enjoy.
( No I'm not trying to troll promise )

[popper]

Gee, they found the burn rate changes with load density.

[nagantguy]

I also enjoy the show- they do at times state the glaringly obvious but they don’t know who’s watching and what level of knowledge they have.
One thing I like is that they have a military guy; a competitive shooter and a hunter so what ever cartridge or optic they discuss is covered from all relative angles

[rbuck351]

Sounds like they have reinvented the 264 Win mag. Or at least they have a round with similar powder capacity and same bullet. Sounds like it would be pretty easy to work up some loads.

[M-Tecs]

Lots of words with very little specifics on what appears to their first attempt at wildcatting. Kind of like let's both learn as we go, however, they provide very limited details for the viewer to actually learn from. One of the benefits designing a wildcat and designing the reamers and dies is you should develop a much better understanding of case/chamber relationship. I know it did for me.

Apparently, that was not the case here. Starting at 4:50 in the video they start talking about ejector marking on low pressure loads. Yes that is real and they did state it was from the case head slamming into the boltface. So far so good but epic fail on not questioning why the casehead is slamming into the boltface?????????? Higher pressure may or may not mask this as they claim, however, the real issue is excessive shoulder bump and or headspace that they are not dealing with or understanding what is actually causing the symptoms.

What happens when you have excessive shoulder bump or headspace is the firing pin drives the case forward then the primer ignites the powder charge forcing the casehead back violently against the boltface creating false high-pressure signs. This does not happen when you hold headspace or shoulder bump under .002” or 003”. I much prefer the RCBS case mics for this application but since this a wildcat that is not an option. Next best is the situation they have. They own the reamer and headspace gauge so the Hornady Lock-N-Load Headspace Comparator with the headspace gauge will provide actuals direct headspace readings if zeroed to the headspace gauge. They can check if it’s their loading method or if the smith cut the chamber a little deep?

I fully admit the videos moved way to slow for me so after the first 15 or 20 minutes I started jumping around. I did the same for part one and (unless the details were in the parts I skipped) they left a lot out. Part of wildcatting is knowing how to jam bullets or create false shoulders for fireforming if the shoulder needs to be pushed out.

They also talked about neck clearance but no details as to the how’s and why’s. I didn’t hear anything about lead angle or throats? All of that is required for designing a reamer and understanding pressure.

Yes the video was titled load development, test and not blowing up. A large part of that is neck clearance and throating? Same for lathe turned brass verse drawn brass. I was taken back on the comments about chamfering??? but not as much as at the end when he states he would do so many things differently if doing it again but he failed to even comment on one thing that we all could have learned from.

[Gator 45/70]

I thought this was a thread featuring Hannah Barron?

[dverna]

Nearly every wildcat results in spending a lot of money for little gain. The closest I came was building a .30 Badger. After a few weeks of trying to make it an affordable build I realized there were better and less expensive options.

The .22/250 was one of the most successful wildcats and became a factory offering. So some work out.