New 270 boondoggle wildcat testing

[aushunter1]

Hi Aushunter, I am not familiar with Australian gun laws, so please bear with me. Curious if it would be possible to have a rifle built here in the U.S. and then have it shipped to Australia. Or would it be possible to order parts/dies here in the U.S. and have them shipped. I thought that I read that your gun laws in Australia are really strict and don't allow or the laws limit firearms. Again just curious about another country?

You can import a rifle, you need to apply for an import permit & the rifle has to be legal town under your licence category.
Some parts require the same process like magazines, triggers, barrels, actions etc, dies are easy with no restrictions
We just have a lack of gunsmiths here, people get a rifle built here & its a 12 month wait & super expensive!

 

[PROBERTS08]

Threads like these blow my mind! I'm a simple guy who like to shoot a little. Just now starting to reload. As I read through these threads a lot of stuff goes right over my head, but I am absorbing it little by little. Thanks to all the serious reloaders and builders on this site for slowly helping me through the process! Btw- who's Rich? LOL!

 

[djfriesen]

Rich Sherman is the inventor of the Sherman line of wildcats. Although head stamped brass starts to pull him out of that category.

 

[MudRunner2005]

I like this discussion because I too am a bit old school. I would like to see Nosler or Someone pickup the 25-06 and improve it with 130-150gr cartridges.

Blackjack is going to be releasing a reamer for .25-06 AI for their 131 ACE bullets in the near future.

https://blackjackbullets.com/?v=8f2564d40946

 

[PROBERTS08]

Rich Sherman is the inventor of the Sherman line of wildcats. Although head stamped brass starts to pull him out of that category.

Thanks djfriesen!

 

[Frog4aday]

OP, this is interesting to me. It seems not many people 'play' in the .270 world, which is a shame, but I understand the limited bullet selection can be a turn-off. I wanted to thank you for posting the picture of the different cartridge cases as I'm a very visual person and seeing the size of your 'wildcat' case compared to the standard .270 Win and 7mm Rem Mag was eye opening. Then you posted pics of the bullet options you were pursuing and - again - seeing the length of that 168 grain projectile compared to it's 'mates' put things into perspective. It seems your cartridge has tremendous potential to be an impressive long-range performer and should be absolutely deadly on any North American game you might come across. All part of the fun, I suppose, creating new toys then getting to play with them. I look forward to the updates.

 

[Alibiiv]

OP, this is interesting to me. It seems not many people 'play' in the .270 world, which is a shame, but I understand the limited bullet selection can be a turn-off. I wanted to thank you for posting the picture of the different cartridge cases as I'm a very visual person and seeing the size of your 'wildcat' case compared to the standard .270 Win and 7mm Rem Mag was eye opening. Then you posted pics of the bullet options you were pursuing and - again - seeing the length of that 168 grain projectile compared to it's 'mates' put things into perspective. It seems your cartridge has tremendous potential to be an impressive long-range performer and should be absolutely deadly on any North American game you might come across. All part of the fun, I suppose, creating new toys then getting to play with them. I look forward to the updates.

Just curious, "It seems not many people 'play' in the .270 world, which is a shame," would you tell me what you mean by this?

 

[smack]

Blackjack is going to be releasing a reamer for .25-06 AI for their 131 ACE bullets in the near future.

https://blackjackbullets.com/?v=8f2564d40946

No thanks. Throated for the 131gr ACE and Dan Janzen's 140gr VLD.

 

[wilkup]

Not to nit pick, but the 480 Ruger came out in 2003 and was a Hornady backed chambering that's doing very well in the handgun hunting community. Also, the 6.5 SS beats the PRC in every way, except for factory ammo, mass market support, affordable and readily available brass and dies, pressure tested load data and production guns. Other than that, the 6.5 SS wins every time.

I'll also point out that the Sherman line of wildcats stand on their own merit without the help of a supporter who, if I'm not mistaken, has yet to actually financially support the development of the Sherman line of wildcats by purchasing brass, dies or a reamer for any of them. At least I have a set of his 300 PRC S.I. dies on preorder and will rent or buy a reamer when the time comes.



I'm starting to think that 3800 is very possible. I have a handfull of 117gr Hammer Hunters left over from my 270 AR project a while back, so I'm going to see how fast I can get those moving. These are the bullets I have on hand:

117 Hammer Hunter, 140 BT, 140 Sierra TGK, 145 ELDx, 168gr Hammer Hunter

That 117gr Hammer looks like a beast standing up there next to the 140gr BT and 145gr ELDx! The 168gr Hammer looks like a spear lol

 

[tbrice23]

OP, this is interesting to me. It seems not many people 'play' in the .270 world, which is a shame, but I understand the limited bullet selection can be a turn-off. I wanted to thank you for posting the picture of the different cartridge cases as I'm a very visual person and seeing the size of your 'wildcat' case compared to the standard .270 Win and 7mm Rem Mag was eye opening. Then you posted pics of the bullet options you were pursuing and - again - seeing the length of that 168 grain projectile compared to it's 'mates' put things into perspective. It seems your cartridge has tremendous potential to be an impressive long-range performer and should be absolutely deadly on any North American game you might come across. All part of the fun, I suppose, creating new toys then getting to play with them. I look forward to the updates.

Maybe we can talk Blackjack bullets into a new venture. He's pulling .25 cal from the grave.

 

[Gregory K VandeDrink]

The 25-06 is my go to rifle for about every hunt. I have 15+ handloads worked up for it......none are more than 1/2 moa.

 

[yorke-1]

@yorke-1
Man those Hammer bullets look impressive. That 168 gr Hammer looks like an ICBM. Wish I could get my hands on some of his bullets. Have you had a chance to hunt with the 168 gr Hammer yet.

I haven't used them before and I'm not sure that there are many people who have played with the 168 since they need such a fast twist. Maybe @RockyMtnMT can chime in on this one. Based on what I've seen from all the other Hammer bullets I've shot though, I expect them to perform really well. This is only the second time I've built a gun around a bullet, the first time was when I saw that Sierra made a 350gr MK in .375 and I made my 375 BME. I don't need to get pushed to hard come up with an excuse to waste money on a new wildcat. LOL

The reamer that was used to cut these chambers has a .170" freebore which works out so that the 168gr Hammer Hunter touches the lands at 3.720" OAL. This is perfect since the 1-7" twist barrel I have is the 25" magnum sporter contour that I plan to use as a hunting gun. This means that I can just load the 168gr Hammers to mag length and be good to go. I'll probably lengthen the throat a bit on the 28" barrel with the 8.5" twist since that's going to be the "plinking" barrel. I don't have any 170 Bergers on hand but I'd bet the OAL with the Berger seated to the lands will be closer to 3.600" right now. I'd like to stretch that out to about 3.720" just so that it takes full advantage of a CIP length magazine. I promised a buddy of mine that I'd come shoot a local PRS match with this gun once I got a load worked up with the 170s. I'd be happy if I got more than 800 rounds of target level accuracy from either of these barrels, so I won't go shooting a bunch of competitions with them but I may try a couple of the ELR matches just for fun. As hunting barrels though, I'm sure I'll get bored and move on long before the stop shooting MOA at reasonable hunting ranges.

How are you liking the brass? Have you had any blow ups shooting the bullets that fast?

This is my first time working with the ADG brass and so far I really like it. I don't do any weight sorting, uniforming primer pockets or anything like that but the cases were all in excellent condition with no dinged up necks. I guess that the advantage of them shipping the brass in very nice and usable cartridge boxes. I bought the last two boxes of 338 RUM brass that they had at the time and I've got one box of 50 that I'll use for the 27 project and the other one is set aside for the 6.5 Badger (6.5x338 RUM Imp) when I get back to that project. I'll be sure to post updates on how the brass holds up. I don't plan on pushing it too hard so I'd be happy to get 6 firings per case.

 

[yorke-1]

"So far I'm able to get the same performance but with different powders." I have only used US869 in my .270 AM, so far. It does "good" but I feel there are better powders out there. I am leery to try any due to the "powder bridging" issues I have read about. Have you found this to be an issue with your 270 BD?

"The Berger 170 wasn't out yet" Shoots great! "Wildcat was gone" I have a little over a hundred left! "I don't think Chinchaga was making bullets yet" I've never even heard of this one? "and Matrix bullets were tough to get" Got to try them.

"The full length RUM case was really too much case capacity for most of bullets available"
What is your case capacity?

I used US869 in the 270 RUM and it worked alright, but it's so temp sensitive that I'd get 100 fps swings between summer and winter. In the 6.5 Badger (6.5x338 RUM IMP) I have the same concerns about powder bridging so I stick with US869 in that as well. I tried H50bmg in the 6.5 but stopped very early on because of some erratic pressure spikes that I attributed to bridging issues. It probably wouldn't be as much of an issue with the 270 because of the larger bore but I'd still test it out slowly. That's why I kept the 35° shoulder on this project; otherwise I would have gone with a more aggressive case. Besides, this case already holds 110gr H20 which is more than enough in a 270. I haven't checked yet, but that probably gives a usable case capacity of about 100gr with a bullet seated to 3.600". Right now it looks like Retumbo and simlar powders are just about perfect for the 140-150gr range, so I'm fine with that.

View attachment 126500

No thanks. Throated for the 131gr ACE and Dan Janzen's 140gr VLD.

That's a good looking reamer! I think I have a Model 70 in 7 WSM tucked away somewhere that would make a great donor action for one of those.

 

[PhilMW]

Yes, but they were still fails, regardless of who designed them. Hornady has never had any cartridges until recently. The 6.5CM (2007) was the first one they got behind exclusively, and now with the PRC line, they are entering the cartridge designing game. Personally, once the hype starts to die with the 6.5 PRC, I see it going the way of the Dodo bird, too, other than small niche groups of shooters.

Rich's 6.5 SS beats the PRC in every single way, unfortunately no major manufacturer has gotten behind him to start chambering rifles in it. If they did, it would destroy the PRC's sales. Everyone wants to chase horsepower, and the SS is 100-150 FPS faster.

As much time, work, effort, and money as Rich has put into his wildcats, I would love to see them hit the mainstream. It would change the game for factory rifles with real world functional cartridge design upgrades over the standard same-ole, same-ole everybody has been using for 100 years. Old school still works, but improved design works better, IMO.

Hornady had the 300 and 338 RCM Before the 6.5 Creedmoore ~
They out performed most of the Short Mags out there.
I'm Building a 338 RCM on a Mega Maten 308 chassis ~ I'll be using a custom 25" Bull Barrel with Polygonal Rifling. That should improve accuracy, and add more velocity.
I will be working with 185 - 208g bullets - ELD, SST, and VLD Berger Hybrids to find the best performance at extreme ranges.
The new PRCs are using the RCM case design (probably just renecked to 6.5).
It's possible the 300 PRC is using the 300 RCM case ?? The big difference is the bullet design...
The Design Reports and Video on the Hornady sight are very interesting. It is rocket science.