TLDR warning It was too long to type so it's probably to long to read.
Once again I was literally watching paint dry so you, the reader, are my current victim.
Contains portions of brain vomit, as well as esoteric and eclectic information that may cause mental hemorrhaging. You have been warned ;-)
@hrhunter I have a "short" story for you.
A .303 British lover was reduced to living in a straight wall state.
What do you do when you have an excess of 303 bolt, single shot rifles and brass?
303 brass like any other has a finite use life.
The usual failure is a neck split.
Cut off the case at 1.8"
OD is .410, ID is .375 ish
Good selection of jacketed and lead bullets in .375
Expand, trim, chamfer, bell mouth (for lead) to .375 minus (neck tension)
Full length size in a 303 die.
Seat with a modified .303 die.
If you don't know about precision drill bushings now id the time.
Finish by forcing a .410 minus ID bushing over the neck.
Loading should follow .375 Winchester bottom end loadings.
He calls it .303 British "short" .
The chamber was arrived at by placing a .375 bushing over the end of a select bushing 303 reamer.
Instead of plunging the full 2.222" the reamer was only driven to 1.8"
The .422" shoulder setback may seem excessive but these were not bored out from .3125 barrels.
These were .375 blanks.
What does this have to do with owning a .243 and hunting with a 350 Legend? Nothing.
What does this have to do with straight wall? Everything.
The parent cartridge for the .243 is the 7.62x51 or .308 Win (argue amongst yourselves about the differences, I don't need or want to hear it)
Cut it off to 1.56"
Expand to .451-452"
Use heavy pistol bullets.
Seat with pistol die.
Loading should be similar to .454 Casull. The primer becomes the limiting factor before the parent case.
Ream chamber as in the above example and adjust with a .470 straight ream.
Note: This chamber could be cut with a straight .470 reamer if you had some way to center it.
The near nonexistent body taper may pose a problem.
The details are in the case thickness at the 1.56" case length.
Ream, neck size, neck tension, and head space as appropriate.
Of course , YMMV and if you don't own or have access to the equipment it probably isn't worth it.
If you don't reload, same thing.
Magazines will have need of spacers.
The beauty of all of this is the rifle can be returned to original by simply replacing the barrel.
Thinking about a 35 whelen which is now legal.
I'd do more than think about it.
The 35's have the advantage of all those pistol bullets at .358" , the Whelen is no exception.
Just ask any varmint that has met my .35 Remington 141 loaded with 125gr 357 magnum pistol bullets. Oh, that's right, all were turned into baloney mist so you cant ask them.
Suffice to say pistol bullets moving 800 F/sec more than intended have unique terminal effects.
Monolithic solids (redundant?) in the 165-175gr weights should be available and have much better external ballistics than traditional cup and core bullets.
Have I worn you out yet?
