45 win mag long

[pupsdad]

I have a barrel sitting on the shelf to make a 45 rifle if they changed the Illinois law allowing rifle for deer. Always thought it would be a 45 win mag well the law changed and they are allowing any straight wall case. So I have been thinking 45 raptor but my barrel is 1 in 16 twist kind of fast for that case. Now I'm thinking just make a long 45 win mag 1.5 or 1.6 inch long case. Any thoughts? Photo is standard, 1.5 then 1.6

[pupsdad]

45 Raptor is 1.8 inch case so the 1.6 is pushing it a bit but I will most likely be shooting a 320 gr hollow point at around 1500 fps.

[beechbum444]

Just chiming in, on paper the raptor looks like an amazing round

[Mk42gunner]

Wildcats are fun to play with, not so fun to sell and hope to recoup any money from.

I'm guessing the .45 raptor and all of your cases can be made from most of the .308/.30-06 family of cases, but the Raptor can be had with the correct headstamp.

Reloading dies for a straight walled case aren't too difficult to come up with, you can probably use .45 WinMag dies.

A chamber reamer, probably the least expensive way would be to rent a .45 Raptor reamer and run it in short if you do decide to go with one of the shorter versions.

Good luck whatever you do,

Robert

[country gent]

Using a 308 or 30-06 case it wouldnt be a bad conversion. cut close to length with a mini saw size and expand ream trim final size and load.

The 16 twist is in the fast side but would allow for heavier bullets up to 550 grns and or a lower velocity.

Remember when planning this some body taper is needed to ease extraction. and ease chambering.

[DougGuy]

Make something you can easily get components for. (If you ever want to sell it, THIS could be a deal breaker).

The variations in case length are only so important, you can use a shorter case, seat longer, use a longer case, seat deeper, arrive at the same energy pretty much, you can make whatever case length you use, do what you want it to. Don't make it hard to do.

[pupsdad]

I am really putting a lot of thought into this and have decided that I think I'm doing standard 45 win mag then if it doesn't do the job I'll ream it to the raptor and just keep the loads light.

[racepres]

I am really putting a lot of thought into this and have decided that I think I'm doing standard 45 win mag then if it doesn't do the job I'll ream it to the raptor and just keep the loads light.

My 45 Win Mag Contender does a Darn good Job!!!

[dverna]

Make something you can easily get components for. (If you ever want to sell it, THIS could be a deal breaker).

The variations in case length are only so important, you can use a shorter case, seat longer, use a longer case, seat deeper, arrive at the same energy pretty much, you can make whatever case length you use, do what you want it to. Don't make it hard to do.

Good advice IMO.

[pupsdad]

Made a case expander that goes to .455 works well. I'll polish it down to get .452. Now I'm going to cut to 1.8 & turn necks to correct thickness.
45 Raptor it is going to be I decided why start out with 45 win mag when I'll surely want more.

[OFFSHORE]

There is a fella on the forum named "moleman", he has done this exact idea only in 44 caliber. I liked the idea and contacted him and he is a VERY helpful guy. I would look into his posts for some ideas. I wanted to make one but in a bolt action rifle and learned that finding a 'smith to create such a thing is difficult. They are not too keen on building a cartridge with this amount of pressure on a case that will be head spaced off the case mouth.

[toolz568]

45 raptor uses 460 Rolland dies and load data. They can be made from 308 brass or bought new for a $1/shell. If you make them, anneal the 308 neck first or they may crack. I do it in 2 steps. A little thick but a lot cheaper. 450 bushmaster is a great alternative, a little cheaper and a lot more available. I have both.

[pupsdad]

I finished it yesterday 17.5 inch barrel 1in 16 twist 45 Raptor I'll post a photo once I get the barrel dura coated