Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats What Is Your LEAST Favorite Wildcat(and why)..........

The only one I sorta disfavor,I did TWICE.
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<br>It is the 22CHeetah Mach One. Nothing wrong with the design and it is,as billed(both very fast and extremely accurate).
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<br>In hindsight,it served me no useful purpose. I was quite familiar with the Swift and was fair with one,as I leaned on it pretty heavy. In fact,I had a herd of Swifts for a while. My penchant for more speed,was due to a sole reason. I had no means to accurately range distance. So faster,meant flatter,which meant more better(Technical Term). That hopefully would equate to fewer misses,due to trajectory error. It very much worked. Flattened trajectory,means more hits,when you are guessing at range(at least it does,when I am guessing at range).
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<br>I used reticle subtention and it was OK. But I had no means to effectively correct,ranging errors,to really hone my subtention skills. That is the beauty of today's laser. You can range with the reticle,or take a wild guess,but can have immediate confirmation. That is a powerful learning aid in my opinion and a feature underestimated,by folks who don't have access to one.
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<br>So if I were granted a "Wildcat Makeover",I'd abolish the CHeetah's. In their place,I'd have a 223Ackley and a 243Ackley.
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<br>Another regret,in regards to that chambering,is my choice of twist rates. I wish I'd of twisted at least one of them faster,to play the VLD game. I could have done a more flexible twist,than the 1-14". Live and learn.
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<br>No flies on the cartridge,just the fact that times have changed(for me). The laser has given a new lease on life,to a whole new generation of cartridges. Some of them Old Timers,others New Kids and in a myriad of twists and minute variations. They share a single trait and that is raw accuracy potential. Accuracy is more important to me now. Before the laser,I'd of traded a slight accuracy loss,for a performance increase.
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<br>I think the next generation of lasers,will even further rewrite the books,regarding a "proper" varmint cartridge. It would very much suprise me,if anything of more capacity than the 22-284 took hold(in that diameter). I'm thinking the trend will be towards more moderate capacity cases,quick twists and higher BC projectiles.(Any thoughts on that?)
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<br>Guys are doing stuff now,with the 22 and 6BR's,that NOONE would have believed,not that many years ago. So I continue to scratch my head,as to why I've a couple CHeetah's in the stable?
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<br>What's your "excuse" for the Black Sheep,in your closet?................

I don't know that it is my least favorite, but perhaps biggest dissapointment was a 218 mashburn I had for the contender. I took atvantage of Bullberries stub sale, and ordered a 10" 218 mashburn, w/ ss shilen blank, at the low low price of $175. It was supposed to take 6-8 weeks, deliver was well over 4 months.
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<br>I had high hopes for the combo, figuring I could push 45 grainers 2600+ fps, reality was 2400 was were "accuracy" happened, 2500 cases were getting sticky.
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<br>The real bummer with the accuracy, or lack there of. I figured a custom tube should put em all right in there. I know what a contender can do, and w/ the light trigger and no recoil, figured it would shoot at least as well as my 6.5 GR, but maybe better with lack of recoil.
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<br>I tried 3 different powders, 4 different bullets, and the 3 shot groups under 1" were few and far between! This was to be my pocket 22 hornet, w/ one hole groups, only it didn't happen, never even came close.
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<br>Not sure what caused the problem, but I've not often ahd to fight for groups, and there is a point where I figure, it just isn't worth fighting the darn thing to make it shoot, and so traded it off, and made out pretty good on the trade as well!

30 Herritt. Trouble forming cases, gun wouldn't reliabably fire, poor groups. Need I say more?

Rolly - you sound like you experienced the same thing I did at first with the Herret. Sometimes it went boom, sometimes it went click. Take a look at what Mike Bellm ( Thanks Lott !!) has to say over on Greybeard outdoors.
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<br>More than likely you can sort out the reliability thing, then you are only saddled with the crummy stock Contender chamber.
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<br>As for accuracy, what I eventually did was to take a Wilson straight line die for 30-30, and cut it down and bore it out for .30 Herret. I was then able to seat bullets way out to reduce jump, and still have great concentricity. 5 shot groups went from a very yucky 4" to a much more reasonable 1.5". This was with a 2x scope at 100 yds. Nothing to brag about, but the pistol has at least become usable.
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<br>As for me, I've only worked with 2 wildcats. 6.5-284 and the Herret. Of the two, the Herret is very much the least liked, but I figure that's a matter of bad execution, and not so much a problem with the cartridge.
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<br>Scott

Had a bad experience with the 6x47. Too long to eject a loaded round from the sako vixen. Touchy to load for. Relatively slow, not even close to the results I expected after reading Fadala's article in Reloader Digest some years ago about the 6x222. Sooo, wasted a Shilen stainless barrel, shop charges, dies, etc. But the project kept me off the streets for a while anyway, and made it possible for the gunsmith to make another payment on his condo. Mike

My least favorite was a 338 Gibbs, difficult to make cases, very short neck on case did not hold bullets well but it was accurate. Next to that was a 30 Herritt.
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<br>Bullwnkl.

.17/50BMG
<br>not a vary common wildcat, I think the avrige barrel life is one shot

A 17/50bmg, now that's overbore. I gotta ask, what kind of velocity did you have and what kinda bullets you used. Oh yeah, how well did it shoot.....

I would gess such a gun would be know not as a gun, but as a pipe bomb. Not bad for killing things, but not only things at the muzzle end.

Well, I get about 9,000 fps from that .17/.50 BMG using a 25 grain hollowpoint. Thing is, the bullet explodes the second it leaves the barrel, and barrels only last about 10 shots. Could somebody make me some FMJs?:) Just joking, of course.:)