neck lengthening

[Good Cheer]

Was doing research back about 1980 for my deer cartridge design. As a test bed, took a 7-08 and had the chamber altered to elongate the case neck to allow it to hold more lube grooves without sticking the back end of the bullet into the powder space. Made the brass out of 06's. Looked kinda like a long neck beer bottle. As a concept it worked out very well and lead to the final design, the 375x45-70.
Well, thought about that experiment and began eyeballing a 7.62NATO. If the neck was lengthened it might just be turned into a useful cartridge. And, if it wasn't lengthened too much, it could still be used with those copper colored heathen devil bullets.
Any yall ever tried such a thing?

[Molly]

Try sizing an 8x57 Mauser case in a .308 sizer. You end up with a 308 case and a neck that looks like it came from a 30-40 case.

[Good Cheer]

Yeah, made a lot of 7.62 and 8 brass from other folks thrown away 270 and 06. Before you whack off the top it looks like a V-1 buzzbomb engine. That's kinda the direction my thoughts have taken.

[Molly]

The 308 from 8x57 has the advantage that you can still shoot ordinary 308's in it, and they come out of the chamber looking fine. That means you can still sell the gun easily if you don't like it.

Also, it's an easy 'wildcat' to make: Just run a 30-40 reamer into an ordinary 308 rifle chamber and you're done. No special custom reamers, etc.

Worst case is that you might need to ream the long neck if it's too thick.

[buck1]

Would it not basicly be a 3040 for all practical purposes?

[Molly]

Would it not basicly be a 3040 for all practical purposes?

The answer is both yes and no. In case capacity, it would not be far from the 30/40. In terms of practical utility, this rimless case would be far better suited to modern actions, as well as being better suited to cast bullets than the 308.

In other words, it's a happy combination of the best features of both, in a form that is easily obtained and which will not prevent your modern rifle from shooting factory ammo quite effectively. It's a sort of 'quasi-wildcat' in that sense.