Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats What's your "Preferred" wildcat caliber

There seems to be a ton of calibers for the Contender, especially when you add in the Wildcat calibers.
What would you use or have used, that you'd call the best wildcat caliber for whitetail deer at 200yds or less?
What about the best caliber for coyotes, feral cats, bobcat and fox out to 200yds?

Right now, I use 7mm-08 for everything, including the above varmints, plus hogs and deer on the Encore platform. Only because I never know what will pass by.
I have a Marlin .17 HMR that I shoot stripper necks from the ponds and an occasional beaver.
I've already got 5 G1 Contenders, (4 pistols and 1 rifle) and pistol barrels in .45c and 30-30.
I'd like to explore the other calibers, like a .17 fireball or .221 Rem. and maybe the 35 Whelen.
But I'd like to get your input on your choice, before I start collecting different caliber barrels (you know that's addictive)
and still may not get what I was "looking/hoping" for.
Thanks

I am a reloader, so loading wouldn't be a concern.

There are so few wildcats these days that I think are worth it.

My father used to do pretty well with a 30 Herrett in a 14" Contender barrel.

In a contender, 22-30-30 improved or 219 zipper.
In a bolt gun, 7mmx300 win mag

But I own neither of these cartridges but if I were dreaming...

Well seeing as I've only ever had one wild cat, it's cot to be the 6.5x06!

Shot that round for 10 years. Can't go wrong!

I own or have owned just about all the Standard calibers for the Contender If i had to narrow it down for deer it would be the 7 TCU or the 30-30 AI ( both 14')for varmints the Fireball 10 inch these calibers have ALWAYS given me Rifle type accuracy

Jim

I'd like to have a contender or 1885 in a 225 win

30 "caliber"

My favorite wildcat is the 338-06 but in a contender, I like the 7-30 waters which isn’t technically a wildcat but pretty close.

6.5-06

Contender, .357 Herret

Rifle, 8mm06 AI

XP 100, 7mm INT.

30BR

.257 Roberts Improved and .280 Improved.

Anyone have hands-on experience with the 22 Cheetah or the 6mm PPC ?
Are they really that good as claimed?
I'd like to try them both out as well as the 30 Herrett and 7-30 Waters.

I think the 6br would be the "easy button" for you. No fireforming brass, amazing accuracy, plenty of power for your stated use.

Does this qualify as a 'Wildcat'????

PS: Contenders are ready to go for this one....

The 25-284 has been my favorite the last few years. Maybe a little retro but it has been so easy to load for and kills deer and hogs very efficiently. Next would be the 25 BR AI that kids and women love.

GreggH

That looks to be a good one. Do you have any data on it?

When I hunt a most always go my 243 ackley. Plan to build a 280 ackley. Have a wildcat I designed before Remingtons 6.8 Spc. Mine is similar but in 6.5. Never worked up a load. It’s been almost 20 years, OMG!

Posted here before by the Creator DD.... https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/12061610/29

Let's just say, brass ain't cheap, bullets are, and a pound of powder lasts for almost 9,000 rounds......

Papa.... where ya located in Flahduh??

Any caliber I should avoid using the G1 frame, or at least to load to a lesser pressure? I was looking at that 6 PPC again, and it was mentioned the pressures high for the G1 frame and should be loaded at start powder loads.
Any advice on this?

The upper end. We get some cool air every now and again. But I see you're sweating more than we are here. lol

in a Contender.......either 30 or 357 Herrett in a 10" barrel.

in a rifle.....35/30-30

25 Ackley Krag or a 33-348WinAI seems cool too.
Finding brass for either one might be challenging at times.

Check out the Bellm series of cartridges for the contender frame , based on modified 444 marlin cases for rimmed configuration.

I have the 358 Bellm , it’s a hoot to shoot and will someday take a bear over bait.

Think they were called the Bellm Triad

Good shooting!!

I am a fan of the 41 Cal. small to large.
My hand rifle is a .41x240Weatherbyx 2.170".
Rifle is a belted 400 Whelen, a 405 Win with a belt for bolt guns.

When my self-esteem sinks, I dream up names for my otherwise commonplace rifle chamberings.

I call my

25-06 =====> 25 Niedner
7mm-08 ===> 275 Short Rigby
30-06 =====> 30 Briar Light Magnum

and so on.

My current favorite is the one Follically Challenged brought to deer camp this year. It's engraved as 7X57 Mauser, but Elmer Keith used to hunt with his grandfather and there's a picture of him in one of Keith's books holding a ".285 OKH" in the caption. The OKH comes from the last names of the three guys in the picture.

I have joined the 7mm Mashburn Super Magnum cult.

Invited and accepted by the cult. No one just “joins”

True dat.. Only wildcat I have is a .257STW and it's just a blast to use.. Other than that - the rest are standard chamberings...

I own and have only had two:
25-284
338-06

They are both built ultra light for mountain carry.

Meet my crack dealer Y'all.

I like the Ackleys!

I have .257AI
.280AI
8mm/06AI
.375H&H AI

Thinkin' bout rechambering my .223 to AI.

Hip

20 vartarg, I use it for PDs.

6.5-06

i have lot of 30-40 Krag brass. the 25 Krag is on my list. i am thinking of 9.3 Krag (366/30-40 Krag) to complement my 9.3x57.

I carried a 358 Norma Magnum for 30 years but let it get traded off,, about a week went bye until I shipped my 30 Gibbs to JES to get bored to 35 Gibbs. With it's 4" longer barrel velocity is identical and is a hard hitting perfect rifle for Alaska. My big bores have progresses as well,,425 Express,458 Lott,400 Whelen and finally a 411 KDF.

280 AI

Please give me some more info on this. This is one of the more interesting wildcats I’ve heard of.

Did the wildcat thing a lot, but mostly got over it.

How about Layne Simpson's 7mm STE, sort of the 7-30 Waters Improved?

I thought that thing was a 307WinAI. But I could be wrong.

6mm ai

The Contender platform is capable of many using many different cats. JD Jones did a tremendous amount of work with the Contender platform at SSK Industries, some of his most useful were based on the 225 WM and 444 cartridges just to name two, the 6.5 JDJ, is pretty spectacular as is the 308 JDJ. The hand cannons of 35 plus get to levels where the handguns are the only configuration that will tolerate the recoil levels achieved.
Example is the 357 Herrett in a 10" Contender that can easily reach 36 pounds of free recoil, and is not pleasant to shoot, except with cast bullets at lower velocities. 500 rounds will and does produce enough torque to twist the G1 frame, I destroyed one 3 fidget frame, running 2,000 fps loads with 200 grain bullets. The hand and wrist will tolerate the recoil and torque, the wood and steel will not tolerate the effects.

I found that the better cats for the Contender's size are the mid calibers in the 300 Savage size capacity cartridges in the 225 or Star-Line 30-30 or 38-55 brass which is made at a tested 65k. The 6.5 JDJ is a particularly good performer with a 1-8 twist barrel.

When I finally had to have hand surgery the hand reconstruction surgeon said he had never seen tissue like was present in my right hand, resembled wood, not flesh. So, that is a bit of a warning about high recoil and 50+ years of shooting high recoiling handguns. They can alter the tissue and the nerves.

It could be, I'm not sure what case LS used as the parent for the 7mm STE, but the rifle that I recall seeing it in was a Marlin 336, so probably a rimmed cartridge based on either the 30-30 or 307 case.

If I still lived in an area where I hunted deer at less than 200 yds, I would have stuck with a 7 mm br , Not truly a widcat but also not readily available. In my xp 100 and the remington 700 i had in that caliber , it just killed stuff dead with no theatrics. I usually used 140 gr Ballistic tips and either H322 or IMR 8208xbr when it came out.......

358 wsm - the round winchester shoulda woulda coulda LOL

I sorta agree. But the 350RemMag has about the same case capacity. That mousetrap
has already been invented.

22 K Hornet
7x57 Ackley
300 Apex

I guess they’re not truly wildcats but mine are:
338-06
9.3x66

^^^^^^^^^^Mine Too!^^^^^^^^

338-06 and 6.5-06 imp.

Wildcats don't have to be all that wild to do the deed. My friend Muffin posted on the .22 GTC and it's a useful cartridge IMHO.


And they can be fun!




I've had a couple of .22 K-Hornets and enjoyed them greatly.




But then one day I got serious....




The Loony World is a good place to hang out, but I don't know that I'm as seriously infected as some of you galoots.

Not sure it even qualifies as a wildcat, because properly headstamped brass is available, but I have really been enjoying the .22GT…

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/18339116/re-22-gt#Post18339116


John

My favorite is a 22 CHeetah Mark II.

Just saying.

My long dead Grandmother used to call my brother and I "galoots"... Funny... She'd say "You two GALOOTS are gonna be the death of me"...
Thanks Dan, it made me smile.

22 K-Hornets , 257 Creedmoor ,6mm-284 , 6BRs , 22 BR , 7X30 Waters , i chambered 7mm-08`s when this cartridge was still a wildcat , also 6.5-284 when it was a wildcat , i am in the process of chambering another 17 Hornet barrel. > my preferred target cartridge is just a 6 BR very accurate , low recoil and cheap to shoot.

First off, thanks for the post.
I don't have a 30-30 rifle barrel, but I do have a super 14 pistol barrel.
I've shot 25 rounds thru it not too long back, sighting in the scope, but mainly fire-forming the brass
to that chamber for reloading.

Just curious as to your choice between the two pistol/rifle barrel?
Thanks

Your sense of humor is insufficiently developed to allow your employment as an air traffic controller. If you came face to face with the blond bomb that gave him that name you would wet your pants. Might be when she started laughing at you that you would have a stroke.

😱

Lovely lass, she was..... firm thighs, supple, pouting breasts..... IIRC!!! Or was that the one we called Dairy Queen!?!?!?!?

We rarely got to pick our nickname.

Thanks for the post.

What was the distance you both were shooting, 100yds?

That's a caliber (22 Hornet) that I'd definitely like to get in on. This and .17 Hornet

Early load development, shot at 20 yards. Nearing the end of the journey at 50 yards....
My preferred load is a Lyman 311041 (9 BHN) with 5.2 Blue Dot. Average group at 50 is 1/2-3/4" for 5 shots.

You may be correct, but I was thinking it was the short haired Amazon blonde that likely would put the hurt on the Terminator with a simple glaring stare. She was a "wildcat" to be sure.

At least it wasn't the Wildebeast, or BAM

I built a 375 WSM on a Lone Peak action and have really, really enjoyed it. It is a hammer, even at low velocities.

Pretty benign in the "wildcat" realm but, the one I've shot the most is a 243AI. I had it made for F-Class about 15yrs ago. New Haven "FN" action close-out from CDNN, Brux MTU contour 1:8 in an adjustable A-3 McMillan. I shot it several seasons and let my buddy's kid shoot it for a season then I sort of fell out of shooting the matches. It's got 1400-1500 rounds through it, It doesn't clean as easy as it used to, and the throat has a significant lizard-like quality to it through a bore scope. However, it's still very accurate w/105's @ 3250fps and I haul it along when I shoot steel plates or prairie-dogs.

My other "wildcat" is even benigner, a 700 w/1:8 Krieger Sendero-taper in 223AI.

Before the 6mmC came about I built a 6mmSLR (Super Long range).

Basically a .243 with the shoulder pushed back:

https://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/2015/07/the-6mm-super-lr-243-winchester-made-better/

Works pretty well, like a 6mmC +P

I've also got a .40-70W (M) from my BPCS competition days. Basically a .45-90 (2.4") necked down to emulate the .40-65, but keep a 408 grain bullet fully seated protecting the grease groves:



The guys that put it together designed the reamer using Starline .45-90 brass and a Brooks 408 grain, so the bullets could be slip fitted VS "seated".

My favourite:

.338-06

I've built two.....both long since gone

260 AI & 6XC both 8 twist Pac Nor barrels

For over 20 years my favorite elk and other big ungulate gun was my .30 Gibbs shooting 180 gr Partitions. I've since replaced it with my .300 Weatherby and 180 gr TTSX bullets.

Since the late '70s, my deer, antelope, and sheep rifle has been my .257 Ackley shooting 117 gr Sierra GameKing bullets.

Only one anymore is a 375/350 in a lightweight Mauser carbine. Thumper for sure! No big hand cannons anymore as the arthritis in my hands now won't allow them anymore.

Why limit yourself to Wildcats? Personally For the stated use I would have to go with something in 6mm. With the wildcat criteria I'll lead off with 6x45 with cheep abundant brass in mind. Though 6mm Grendel would allow you to step up the velocity a notable amount.

Though I feel you would do well to consider 6mm ARC if you can buy into the 6mm cartridge. Wide range of bullet options including the all copper choices. Hammer, Hornady 90 grain CX Barnes has some fine offerings as well. If you are stuck on cup & core I think you may find at least a dozen fine options from Partitions up to 108 grain Elite hunter. For your ranges I would give a 90 grain CX hard consideration. Just my 2 cents worth of thought on your question.

I appreciate the info, and I do like 6mm. I built an ar 6.5 grendel but really haven't shot it that much. I've been hooked on the 7-08 for a while. It's kinda like the best of both worlds on varmints and deer.
I liked my .243 but I started having deer travelling up to 20-25 yards after the hit. Before, I was dropping them where they stood. Still hitting the vitals but I guess the main reason was the distance of the shots and not enough umph to do more damage?
My .243 is great for deer and varmints too using 100g sp, but I'm a bit leery of dropping the grain weight for deer, even with the better bullet designs. It was just easier to step-up to the 7mm08. I'd certainly be in on the 6mm-SLR, strictly for varmints with lighter bullets. I believe it'd be a hoot for target shooting too. I have a .204, it's darn fast and flat. But I'm looking to something new (to me) that's fast, flat, accurate and many options on bullet weight. That's why I'm looking for tried and trued personal recommendations from people who have used or are still shooting their favorite wildcat caliber.

I’m sorry, favorite caliber? 7mm. That covers both .284 & .308.

If I didn't have a 257Roberts already, I'd have a 250 Savage Improved built instead.

The 6.5CM is better yet.

I have been dealing with Wildcats for over 50 years, for many different customers and dozens of different shells. In the last 55 years or so I have probably done well over 200 different rifles in wildcat chambers.

Because of that history I have NO favorite wildcat, and if a cartridge is a wildcat, it is by it's very existence NOT a favorite.
I fact such cartridge are on the opposite end of my "favorite" list.

Favorite wildcat cartridge is 6MM-284. Covers a lot of bases pretty well.

For your purposes, the 6BR, 6PPC, 30Harret, 300 Savage, or any other WC in those cases/capacities.
I've got most all the components I need for a 35WHln AI.
Not sure I'd want it in a pistol, but the idea of pistol bullets and cast lead at low velocity and light recoil for plinking or small game has its appeal.

.224”. Hint………..

6x47 Rem is a fun one. (6mm-222 rem mag)
257AI, 6.5-06AI, 338-06, 280AI

These are all good cartridges I have experience with. The 6.5-06AI is a stellar round with 140s. I shoot the 6x47 more than any of the above just because it packs a hell of a punch in such a small chambering.

17 Badger, 20VT, 20SCC, 20Prac, 20PPCAI, 20BRA, 6.5X06AI. 6.5X300WSM, 280AI, 30-28 Nosler.

.25 Souper. Easy Button.

Caliber…

1st. 7mm=.277”

2nd. 6.5mm=.264” or 7.21mm=.284”

I have a .25-35 improved in a Contender - got it from FyrepowrX here on the Campfire. Fun little cartridge loaded with 80 TTSXs.

PennDog

Depends on the application.

Big game - 400 Whelen

Calling/Fur hunting 6mmx222 or 25x222

It's gotta be the .35 Brown-Whelen,I'm on my second one. The first was on a commercial FN 98 with 23" Brownells barrel,it shot quite well.
The current one is a push feed Win. 70 with 23" Lilja SS barrel.This round comes within 5% of a .338 WM and less recoil.
200 gr. bullets for the little ones,250s,280s and 300s for the big ones.

Like Mart said depends

For varmints, 22-250AI

For big game 375 Whelen AI

True wildcat .411 Thornton my fathers doing.

What exactly is it?

30-30 AI {Contender} 250 AI Model 7-- 20 Particle

Jim

In a Contender the 309 JDJ is the best balanced cartridge for small and large game in a 10” or 14” barrel. Case holds 25 grains more H20 than the 30-30 Win and 12 grains more H20 over the 308 Win. Even with its lower pressure Contender loadings it’s not far behind the higher allowable pressures of the 308 Win speeds with 130, 150 and 165 grain loads.

338-06 without question, possibly the Improved version. Both are excellent.

Basically it is a 405 win case but 3.25 inch long. He had Bertram in Australia make the brass for him. I have it in a Ruger #1. Pushes a 300 grain Barns a bit over 2700 and a 400 grain Woodliegh right at 2400. The big surprise is recoil is not too bad.