I recently had two reamers made up for the shop and was surprised by the reamer makers responses. My initial question was: "Do you have reamer spec sheets for the 8x57 Ackley Improved and the 338x57 Ackley Improved?
The answer from both reamer makers was--"No, nothing on file". I had previously gone thru all the spec sheets from JGS reamers on Wildcat cartridges and Ackley Improved cartridges and could find nothing there. I could not find any references in your excellent book "Designing and Forming Custom Cartridges for Rifles and Handguns"
Since no information was available I requested that they be named:
8x57 MAI (Mauser Ackley Improved)
338x57 MAI (Mauser Ackley Improved)
Ken, surely someone has done this before so please inform me who/when if you have the info available.

Best regards,

Ol' John... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

John, you've found yourself in the middle of a situation that's only too common with wildcat cartridges. For my book, I did not use any "hearsay" dimensions. I couldn't find any paper trail for a lot of well known wildcat cartridges. The most discouraging was the absence of reliable dimensions for entire lines of classic wildcats -- especially these:

� Saturn's line of ICL (Improved Cartridge Loading) cartridges
� the PMVF (Powell-Miller Venturi Freebore) line that inspired Roy Weatherby
� Rocky Gibbs's cartridges
� the Mashburn cartridges
� the three lines of Fred Barnes's cartridges (the Barnes Supremes, the Barnes-Johnson Express cartridges, and one other line that I can't remember the name of).

... and these are just the ones that I can think-of, off-hand.

John

As you suspected, it has been done before. There is an article in Handloader's Digest, 15th Ed; circa 1996 by Thomas Smith on the 8x57 Imp. Very interesting article, something I've thought long and hard about duplicating.

The problem of the 57mm case length is that unless you are simply rechambering an 8mm Mauser, there is no logical reason to use that case. It is too long to fit in a short action, and if you use a long action, you might as well use the .30-06 case. Much more data available and dies are cheaper.

Thomas Smith used a Ruger No: 1. That is really the only logical action to build one on for the aforementioned reasons.

Hope this helps, the9.3Guy

Ken & 9_3Guy,

Thanks for your replys and the info provided. I could't agree with you more that it doesn't make any sense to rebarrel to a long action,9_3 Guy. My idea along these lines was to be able to work with all the surplus Mauser actions that have come on the market over the last few years. And to 'pep' up the 8mm Mauser a bit without going overboard on expense. First you must be a reloader to take advantage of the increased capacity on the standard 8. With the addition of all the new powders available, pressures could be kept to no more than 55,000psi, better load density and much better velocities. Using the standard Mauser actions very little if anything would be required to assure cartridge functioning thru the magazine.
The 338x57 MAI is the one I will really be concentrating on when the barrel is finally here. I will be doing the initial testing here and the rifle will be forwarded to a co-conspirator in Alaska who will do the final load development using the Oehler 43 chronograph with the pressure test capability. He will then use it this fall for Caribou and what ever else he can find and compare with his favorite go-to cartridge, the 338 Win Mag. Perhaps it will go nowhere but, then again, might be enough folks out there that might find it useful. Just have to wait and see. Thanks again for the replys.

Ol' John