Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire .257 wildcat?

I am curious why you think I want a wildcat faster than someone else's. I think Swamplord already has one that is faster than the one I want. The one I develop will fit into a Weatherby six lug ultralight. Its weight will be no more than seven pounds with a March 5-50X56. Maybe I have the Nepean complex since I am only 5'7" and 160 pounds. That doesn't change the fact I know what I want and couldn't care less what others like or don't like.

Oh, HELL! Now you've done it.

Decent cheap chronos put an end to a lot of bullschitt. Pressure Trace curves would put an end to most of the rest.

It sure seems to me folks don't know the weakest link in the rifle, cartridge, bullet is the brass case. I won't be using a pressure trace you. I work up a load till the bolt is barely sticky, then back off about a grain to look for accuracy. If is 100,000 or 50,000 makes no difference to me.

P.O. Ackley told me he ran pressure till he popped a primer. I have a friend who does that. He gets one load per brass. And he is still going.

I'm a fan of the SAUM case, so sign me up for a long throat .257 SAUM with 135gr Bergers. Give me a 32 inch barrel to do my load work up in, then rechamber to 28 inches and have a life time of shooting. Not sure at what though.
Now what to build it on? Maybe a Ruger RPR. 14-16lbs all up. Would a can be too much?
Or, maybe I could make use of all these STW cases I've got...

Rich, have you ever heard of accumulated metal stress fatigue in steel?

Did you ever wonder why SAAMI does not place maximum pressure limits at 100K PSI or 120K PSI? Ever wonder why the load manuals today do not list the same velocity for AI cartridges as PO Ackley listed in his manuals?

Yes, I have had my wild and crazy days. And I have set the bolt lugs back enough to create excessive headspace. I have expanded belted magnum brass so that it would not fit into a shell holder after one shot.

100,000 psi might not put a rifle bolt through your brain on the first shot, maybe not the 1,000'th shot. But each round fired at excessive pressure brings that day closer.

I suspect Mr Shrapnel knows something of this subject.

Wildcattin' beats watchin' TV....nuff said

Another good alternative is a 257 WinMag just use necked down 264 WinMag brass or even 7mm Rem Mag. Or you could have it chambered in 257 Weatherby and use 264 or 7mm brass. Mag brass is .50 thou shorter but grows to the full length after a couple of firings. You can load to the same specs as a WBY but the brass does not last as long as WBY brass, or you can reduce the load and extend the life of the brass, if you reduce the load by 10% usually does the trick and is still a very stout load. That is what I have allways done when there was no WBY brass to be found or did not want to pay there asking price.

He said he's trying to fit it into a six lug Weatherby. I believe that's limited to the .473" head size cartridges.

You should definitely do that...repeatedly.

Ive got a custom Shilen built Remington 788 in 257 AI. All the lugs were lapped and it is bull tough but I don't push it. Didnt have it built but got it on a trade and really can't figure out its place in the order of things. Its not quite a 25-06 and outruns the 250 Savage. Doesnt replace the .243 or the 260 Rem class either. However, it will blow 87 gr ballistic tips at 3650 and make tiny near one hole groups so I guess thats something.

I turned the rim down on a .300 Norma and then milled half of it away in the head area. I did the same with a 6.5 RPM. It has more "meat" than the Weatherby 6.5 RPM. My present 8mm Coyle is 7 Rem Mg brass with the belt turned off and the rim turned down to fit the .473" bolt face. It fires Hammer Hunter 198 grain bullets at about 3,054 feet per second.

It blows big holes in these little Western Oregon blacktail deer, so I want something smaller.

Anything a quarter bore can do, a .264 can do better. I have a custom reamer for a 6.5 Rem Mag that stretches the COAL out about 1/4 inch so a 140 grain spitzer bullet can be seated with the base even with the case taper. The round fits the magazine length and bolt stroke of a medium length Mauser action and the powder capacity is slightly more than a 6.5-06 with the bullet moved ahead that far. It's fast and accurate, and the bullet selection is much better than the .257. If I ever run out of the 200+ new cases I have on hand at the moment, 7 Mag brass can be annealed and resized to fit.

If you are limited to a .473 bolt face then my choice would be a 26-06 AI. which would be your best bang for the buck, they will send an 87gr Vmax 3900 fps plus.

Thank you for the suggestion. I want a 95 grainer at 4,000 feet per second. I already have a .257 wildcat that fires a G. S. Custom 88 at 3,900 fps. They are the most accurate bullet I ever tried. I used them in .375, the above .257 and 7mm.