Caliber choice for new rifle

[longhorn]

As I've mentioned, I'm currently selling off several guns to finance the purchase of a new rifle-most likely a Ballard Highwall repro. This is to be a luxury plinker, for want of a better term-lots of targets, tin cans, maybe big varmints or a meat doe up close. No glass-perhaps a tang sight. Has to be very cast boolit friendly, but I wouldn't turn down lots of (cheap) j-word bullets. 98% light loads. First thought was either .45LC or .357, as both can be pumped out on the Dillon. Then I thought, well, it's a _rifle_, get a rifle caliber. ???
.45LC-see above
.357-ditto
.30-30-good cast caliber, never a bad choice
.30-40-ditto, but I already have a Krag pseudo-carbine
.30-06-got one of those, too, good bolt action
.358-why a short round in an unlimited length action?
.350RM-got one, a good bolt action
.35 Whelen-this is an interesting idea
35+ caliber--nope, I already have a Sharps repro in .45-70 and a .458, and I want something real easy on the shoulder
30- calibers--don't need a PITA, want easy to cast, too!
What would y'all do?

[joatmon]

30-30 sounds really good.

[chevyiron420]

348 winchester??:castmine:

[carpetman]

longhorn---you already have a 30-06. It can be loaded down to 30-30 level. You want light recoil. You have other 30's as well as the 30-06. Get a .22 cal centerfire. .222 would be my first pick as my experience with them has been they seem to shoot most any bullet and most any load. My .223 wont shoot cast. The .222 recoil very nice. Despite all the contrary info,casting .22 aint bad and at 120 bullets per pound your lead goes a long ways.

[Blackwater]

A Ballard High Wall in .32/40 could shoot smokeless or black, with the proper rifling, and would be very light recoil even with the "heavy" loads. It's a classic Schuetzen caliber, so it'd be historically correct, and "proper" in the strictest olde English sense, or any other sense for that matter. Bullet moulds would be a real treat to search for, particularly the older ones - maybe even a Pope????

This would be even sweeter if you're going to go with a Schuetzen styled High Wall - a favorite of Pope and his cohorts back in that era. Evoking the memory of those days, and those shooters, should make shooting it even MORE pleasurable, and of course, add in a bit of challenge to see what you can get 'er to do on the paper bullseyes.

Not sure if brass from .30/30's would be short, but Buffalo Arms should be able to fix you up for not too much $$$ on the brass. Shooting offhand with a really accurate rifle at 200 yd. targets would sure give you a feeling of pride when you have a good to great day, too.

For an even easier ctg. with smaller case capacity, and a proven Schuetzen caliber, the .32 Dell (.357 Maximum necked down with straight taper and shortened a bit) would be the only other caliber I think I'd even consider, unless you want to do much shooting at 300, in which case I'd add in the .38/55. It too would be a great black/smokeless choice, IMO.

I think you're going to like it whatever caliber you choose. For a modern brass cal., you may want to consider the straight .357 Maximum as well, but I'd talk to them about this one first.

[wills]

.32-40?
.38-55?

[danski26]

How about the quater bores? 257 roberts? 250-3000 savage? 25-35wcf?

[357maximum]

357 MAXIMUM...it too can be pumped out on the dillon if you so choose, and will kill most stuff that needs killing this side of moose...meese? with the proper boolit selection and the right nut behind the gun..err...proper nut behind the gun...right nut might hurt...


The max needs more shooters also, you would be doing it a huge favor by the placing of a brass order....

[S.R.Custom]

Everybody needs a .405 Winchester... :-D

[Jon K]

One more vote for 38-55

Jon

[Bass Ackward]

I rescently started to again take a "what if" posture. That's why I recently bought a 357. Easier on the arthro too.

Hard to plunk around continuing to expend 250-300 grains of what may be a difficult to obtain resource at some point in the future. Then if primers become scarce, I can utilize anything I can get my hands on too.

With the 357 you have access to brass whether Mag or Special. And if they never manufactured another case, these would be available for a hundred years.

When you put the 357 in a rifle, ACWW expands nicely down to 1500 fps so a 200 grain close range option exists for deer. How close depends on powder selection and powder selection options determined by barrel length.

I am not versed enough to talk the Maximum, which may be a good idea with all areas but brass. But cheap to buy, cheap to shoot, easy to peddle make the 357 an idea to consider.

[Char-Gar]

A few years back, I bit the bullet and laid out the cash for a Browning Traditional Hunter in 30-30. This is an 1885 High Wall single shot, with octogon barrel and rifle buttplate. It comes with a tang sight.

It was one of the best decisions I ever made. This rifle is a sub MOA cast bullet shooter and a true joy to shoot. The heavy barrel hangs wonderfuly off hand.

I would endorse the notion of getting a new single shot in 30-30 for the uses you mentioned.

[Doc Highwall]

I have a browning in 357mag and 30-30win, and a winchester in 38-55. I have 200-210gr. for the 357mag. 190gr. for the 30-30,and 140-330gr. for the 38-55. My reason when I get older I might not want to much recoil so I suggest choose a caliber that you can get light bullets in,even the J kind.

[Bob B]

What about a rimmed version of John Wooters 25 Copperhead?The 357 maximum can be used to make the case.Bob B

[Gussy]

I'd vote for the 38-55 does real well with real powder or the fake stuff. Lots of bullets to choose from. Low recoil and fun to shoot.
Gus

[TAWILDCATT]

I VOTE FOR 30/30-32/40 OR 38/55.115 GR CARBINE BULLETS FOR LIGHT LOADS IN 30/30.THE 32/40 CAN USe pistol lite bullets.and the 38/55 can use lite bullets. and all use standard cases.

[Bullshop]

Well I think by now all the long timers here know I like the 22 hornet. The quality that endears it to me is its miserly appetite for both lead and powder.
Sure other cases can be loaded down but then you run into ignition problems with unfilled case volume.
I have to admit the little boolits are a bit hard to handle. I have no problems with the casting part but just getting them in the lube die with chubby fingers and poor eyes can be challenging.
I am having a current fling with 1/4" bore for a year or so now and that magical charm of new love has not faded as yet. It started with building a 257 Roberts from gunshow parts last year. It does very well with the 85gn Lyman RN and prooved to be an excellent rabbit getter last winter.
More recently I acquired a 340 Savage in 25/222 and it is pure joy for plinking and small game. It has a near perfect powder capacity for boolits in the 75 to 100gn range. The boolits are conciderably easier to handle than the 22's but the cartridge still has the meiserly qualities that so endear the hornet to me. I think Mr. Whooters said it carried more energy than a 30/30 at all ranges past 50 yards and shot as flat as the parrent case. No slouch there!
From my experiance with the 25 copperhead I am wondering what a 25 hornet would be like in a rifle dimentioned for the cartridge. I believe it would be a joy. Not to leave out the 25/20 as a factory offering. I do have experiance with it too and its been all good. The thing is I must admit to having a preferance for straight wall cases for shooting boolits. So there are some more ideas for ya to sort through. If ya want me to spell it out plain OK for me it would be the light sporter model dimentioned about like the Browning low wall chamberd for the 25 hornet. I would put a globe front with incerts. No nead for a bubble as the ranges wont be long. On the rear I would put a hunting type tang sight not a target sight. Again you dont need long range equipment on a short range gun. Something like what comes on the Browning traditional hunter. There ya go! Say I just decribed my 1875 Sharps 22 hornet!
BIC/BS

[Scrounger]

Dan, when you get tired of the .25 calibers, try the .270 REN, a .22 Hornet opened up to .277. It is astonishing what it will do on just a few grains of powder,

[redneckdan]

.32-40 brass can be magled out of .30-30 brass, it comes out like .05" short though. But since it head spaces on the rim, length isn't too critical.

[Bullshop]

HMMMM, 270 REN !?! I have seen referance to it but didnt know what it was. Sounds interesting! The down side is I have a poor selection of molds in 270. There has never been a good selection available. I did just aquire another in the close out purchase. Its the Lyman two diameter target with lube grooves on the nose. HMMMM, 270 REN aih!?! Interesting!
BIC/BS

[onceabull]

Dan: I'm thinking that for the 270 REN,you will be wanting/needing Lyman 280468,AND I have some moulds in both of the prev.offered weights !! Onceabull

[rbt50]

405 or 357 max:Fire:

[HORNET]

longhorn,
That post for the rimmed .25/.222 Copperhead sounds good. Or you could try the 7x30 Waters if you want a factory chambering. I've got a coworker who's shot a couple of deer with 7x30 factory loads from a Contender and says they hit the ground right now. Molds are available from 120 gr to 175 gr and 7mm's are almost as easy to cast as .30's. You could back it off to equal the old .28-30 for fun practice loads.

[1Shirt]

Bullshop, Who makes and chambers bbls for the 340 in 25-222? Thanks in advance for the info.
1Shirt!

[Bullshop]

1Shirt
I dont know about the Savage 340 but we just a couple days ago orderd a pre chamberd barrel for a Savage 110/112 from Pacnor. The total for a 28" stainless #5 sporter contour chamberd for the 6mm 284 with crown was $325.
I am certain they can do it but may need some shank dimention input.
You may also find one from ER Shaw but I wouldnt expect the same quality, although it will likely be about $100.00 less or there abouts.
BIC/BS

[lovedogs]

I'm not sure what all your options are. I'm going to be different than the rest of your suggestions so far. I think the .45-70 is the most versatile and useful of all. Things are more standardized than the .38-55, otherwise it'd be my suggestion. The .45-70 is more fun than anything else I've used. Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

[hydraulic]

Uh, just a thought, you mentioned planning on buying a ballard clone. I think you are restricted as to calibre choice because of the weakness of the action. If I am misinformed I stand corrected.

[hydraulic]

reread you post. A ballard HIWALL you said. Sorry.

[trk]

375 Win or H&H or
38-55

Big bullets, not much kick (with cast).

[Dragoon]

This is to be a luxury plinker, for want of a better term-lots of targets, tin cans, maybe big varmints or a meat doe up close. and I want something real easy on the shoulder
30- calibers--don't need a PITA, want easy to cast, too!
What would y'all do?


The 32-20 is a wonderful cartridge and will do everything you just said. If you got it with a .308 barrel it would be easy to rechamber later to bigger 30 caliber if you decided you needed or wanted more power.

[tom barthel]

I'd go with a .30-30. It's easy on the shoulder and you can find ammo, or components anywhere. It's cheap enough to shoot all the tin cans you want and powerful enough for any of the deer family. Also easy to cast for.

[longhorn]

Thanks for all the thoughts, fellows. I have to say, though, some of these suggestions......32 Dell, .25-222 Rimmed, 270REN? I don't doubt they'd be fun, but I'm more interested in shooting this one than loading! .32-20 is a nifty idea, but I find it a real PITA to load-very fragile. I am concerned about long-term availability of brass (and lead), which makes the .357 Max pretty much a no-go; any experience with how .357mag and .38 Special really shoot in a .357Max chamber? I had a Ruger Maximum for a few months, but it was stolen before I really got to test it. A .22 centerfire seems a bit of a waste in an open sighted rifle, but I'll look at old posts on casting the little ones. The .30-30 is sounding better and better-I'll get 'em to mark it .30WCF! When I decide, I'll let everyone know.

[Dragoon]

What kind of 32-20 brass are you using? My Starline shows signs of lasting forever.

[Bullshop]

Same experiance here, when I started using starline 32/20 brass my crunched cases stoped.
BIC/BS

[Idaho Sharpshooter]

just a little class here...38-90-217 WCF. It can be shot with anything from about 220 boolits to the 375gr I shoot in mine for BPCRS and 1000 yard matches. Brass is easy to make, just neck the 9,3x74R case back up to .375...necking it down .009" is what the germans did about a hundred or so years ago. Smokeless or black, boolits or the J-word stuff equally well.

Rich
DRSS

[HEAD0001]

Here is a crazy idea, but I like it. 460S&W. I think this cartridge would be a great idea. Reasons:
1. The rifle will chamber and shoot 45 LC loads.
2. Lots of moulds and loading data available.
3. 45 LC can be loaded light or hot.
4. Then you have the advantage of the 460 S&W.
5. Plenty of power with the 460, if you want to step up every now and then.
6. I also think you can shoot 454 Casull ammunition.
7. Overall I think this would be a very versatile cartridge.

Tom.

[Idaho Sharpshooter]

356 Winchester...uses 358Win dies and can be loaded with 357/38spl pistol bullets for low cost no-recoil plinking...and loaded up to 358 Win power levels for hunting up thru Elk and Moose and Bears. Do buy a thousand cases when you do it though.

Rich
DRSS

[Marlin Junky]

If you are talking about an 1885 built by the folks in Cody, you're talkin' right up my alley and I will take a Light Hunter in .35 caliber with a 14" twist, a 24" barrel and a single set trigger.

MJ

[357maximum]

any experience with how .357mag and .38 Special really shoot in a .357Max chamber? .

Almost any 357 mag boolit loads shoot real well in mine with the exception of full wadcutters in either the 357 mag/or 38 brass neither are none too impressive with full wc's, 38's will do alright if you are talking a longer/heavier swc or rnfp boolit...I have had the best luck with 38 brass in the max with a stiff loaded 358429 over Elmers load of 2400 or the 358156 seated long with same charge...

I personally do not believe 357max brass will ever be an issue......once/if remington stops making it starline will pick up the ball and run with it....they already have the tooling, besides I have 3K+, and if you keep max loads sane the brass lasts and lasts.


the 358/356 would also be interesting...

[longhorn]

Thanks, 357Max--that info makes the Maximum rather more appealing. As for the .32-20, sounds like I need to order some Starline brass-I certainly like it well enough in other calibers. I tried 3 different brands of dies, and still pretty much planned on a 10% "crunching" loss with both (old) Remington and Winchester brass. Besides, I could get the Low wall chambered in .32-20....