Bit by the “Wildcatter” bug!

Yeah I know, “what’s the point”? Well, there really isn’t any? I guess I’ve just become intrigued by the many “wildcatted” cartridges over the years after reading many articles and pouring through my Hornady reloading manual. In the past, it appears as though many of these wildcatted cartridges were derived to fill a void of absent available cartridges in various calibers, AND to produce a cartridge from existing brass which could provide an inexpensive way to go up or down in caliber to meet a specific need. Recently, I purchased Redding dies in .416 Taylor and have been creating that cartridge from my numerous.458 WM brass. NOW, I have been contemplating a .375-.338 Win Mag or .375 Taylor cartridge from my numerous.338 WM brass. I believe these two cartridges are almost identical, but if anyone has any information to the contrary, I would appreciate any input. Redding can make dies for either. Quality Cartridge has head stamped brass for both. A rifle chambered for any of the .458 length family of cartridges (.264WM, 7mm RM, .300 WM, .338 WM, etc) would work with a rebore or barrel in .375. Again, WHY?. Don’t really know, except it will give me something to do during these cold Colorado winters when there’s nothing to hunt and open Pandora’s box to criticism from the many here on AH who think I’m crazy. Ha! Ha! Thanks!

Every wildcat I’ve come up with has already been done,
458 Lott necked to 416 =416 rem mag
8mm rem mag necked to 30= 300 wheatherby And the same for 340 Roy
7x57 necked to 6.5 turns out that already exists
7x57 necked to 25= 257 Roberts
The only one that might not already be done or is a standard cartridge is a 9.3x64 necked to 30 to make a belt less 300 mag but what would there be to gain over the 300 win mag?

Wildcats are fun, even when you have to pay a fortune to purchase dies to step cases down to what you want. However it get old real quick. You soon just want to go over to the store and buy brass for something standard or a easy wildcat or conversion.

I haven't looked at the 375-338 but I bet that it is closer to the .340 Weatherby than the Winchester.

The last one that I thought about coming up with was a 6mm-30 or a 6.5-30 Waters. It is a brother to the 7-30 Waters and would be a great shooter in the Thompson Center Contender. But a couple of years after I started thinking about it someone did it. And as I expected it is a great shooter. Just as a FYI all you need to do for any of those rounds the 7-30, 6mm-30, or the 6.5mm-30 Waters is to run a 30-30 case into a die and then fire form them. It just blows out the shoulder to the new dimensions. The nice thing about these is that you very seldom ruin a case when you are sizing them.

A couple others that I have loaded for are the 30 and 357 Herretts which take a 30-30 case and shorten them about 1/10 of a inch and then fire form them. These were also in a Thompson Center Contender.

So as far as any new ones you might have to look real hard. In the last 100+ years that smokless powder has been with us just about every combination has been tried. But a friend was thinking about a .224/50. Talk about a barrel burner.

if you want a 9.3x64 with readily available brass, the 338 win mag necked up to 9.3mm is a valid wildcat.
an easy way to get dies is to order a chamber reamer, and a min fls reamer, and chamber readily available die blanks with them.
with the fls die reamer, chamber the die first, then use it as a rougher when chambering the barrel.
bruce.

Wyatt Smith said:

Every wildcat I’ve come up with has already been done,
458 Lott necked to 416 =416 rem mag
8mm rem mag necked to 30= 300 wheatherby And the same for 340 Roy
7x57 necked to 6.5 turns out that already exists
7x57 necked to 25= 257 Roberts
The only one that might not already be done or is a standard cartridge is a 9.3x64 necked to 30 to make a belt less 300 mag but what would there be to gain over the 300 win mag?

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Probably a burnt out barrel after 600 shots.

There's beltless cartridges that go faster than 300WM. No need to go wildcat there, unless you really want to.

perttime said:

There's beltless cartridges that go faster than 300WM. No need to go wildcat there, unless you really want to.

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That’s my point everything I can think of has already been done.

Is there a commercial equivalent of .460 G&A or .460 G&A Short?

Wyatt Smith said:

Every wildcat I’ve come up with has already been done,
458 Lott necked to 416 =416 rem mag
8mm rem mag necked to 30= 300 wheatherby And the same for 340 Roy
7x57 necked to 6.5 turns out that already exists
7x57 necked to 25= 257 Roberts
The only one that might not already be done or is a standard cartridge is a 9.3x64 necked to 30 to make a belt less 300 mag but what would there be to gain over the 300 win mag?

Click to expand...

Yes, both the .375-.338 WM and .375 Taylor were both probably created in the ‘60s(?), since the .338WM was first produced in 1958. Looking at their ballistics, almost same velocity with same bullet weights as the .375 h and h, but in a long vs. magnum action. Again, no real point to it, since we now have the .375 Ruger. I was just looking at my several coffee cans full of .338WM brass and wondering what larger bore caliber I could make from those? Maybe one of these calibers would only be cost effective if I find a rifle already built at a reasonable price, like I did my .416 Taylor?

Wyatt Smith said:

Every wildcat I’ve come up with has already been done,
458 Lott necked to 416 =416 rem mag
8mm rem mag necked to 30= 300 wheatherby And the same for 340 Roy
7x57 necked to 6.5 turns out that already exists
7x57 necked to 25= 257 Roberts
The only one that might not already be done or is a standard cartridge is a 9.3x64 necked to 30 to make a belt less 300 mag but what would there be to gain over the 300 win mag?

Click to expand...

Go to the Redding Die Company website and perous through all of the wildcat cartridges that Redding can make dies for. It’s mind boggling! Again, most were created out of necessity as unlike in today’s cartridge availability world, they didn’t have access to affordable brass in many calibers. But, it’s still cool to look at and maybe build a rifle around one of the wildcats?

c.o.e.
go for the 338/9.3.
can't go wrong.
bruce.

bruce moulds said:

c.o.e.
go for the 338/9.3.
can't go wrong.
bruce.

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No, I’m thinking .375-.338 Win Mag or .375 Taylor? I believe they’re the same or close, but either way I can use up my several coffee cans full of .338 WM brass and have a short .375 h and h powered cartridge? Again, no real point to it all, but maybe fun.
Or since the 6.5s are all the current craze, maybe 6.5-.416 or .50 Barrett? Take that Roy Weatherby! Ha! Ha! Ha!
CEH

every one has a 375 taylor.
make your own path with the 9.3.
with swift bullets, it will do anything the 375 will do, and you will have something no one else has.
and you won't be stretching those 338 necks as much when you neck up.
dave kiff is your friend in such matters, for both chamber/seating die (same reamer) reamers and sizing die reamers, as well as die blanks.
bruce.

more suggestions,
turn the belts off them and neck up to 35 or down to 30,
and you will have 35 or 30 newton, which was once factory until newton went broke.
bruce.

bruce moulds said:

every one has a 375 taylor.
make your own path with the 9.3.
with swift bullets, it will do anything the 375 will do, and you will have something no one else has.
and you won't be stretching those 338 necks as much when you neck up.
bruce.

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Yeah I think Wyatt Smith might have two of the Taylors? .375 and .416? Well if not, someone here on AH said they did? Anyway, where’s one to find 9.3 cases here in the U.S.? AND, I didn’t see .338-9.3 dies on Redding’s website? Maybe I missed it? OR, did you mean a 9.3mm (.366in) bullet in a .338 WM case (9.3-.338WM)? If so, I’m sure those bullets and reloading dies are as rare as hens teeth here in the U.S.? Maybe I’ll just look for some .465 h and h brass and neck it down to .375?

bruce moulds said:

more suggestions,
turn the belts off them and neck up to 35 or down to 30,
and you will have 35 or 30 newton, which was once factory until newton went broke.
bruce.

Click to expand...

Newton went broke? Damn!

CoElkHunter said:

No, I’m thinking .375-.338 Win Mag or .375 Taylor? I believe they’re the same or close, but either way I can use up my several coffee cans full of .338 WM brass and have a short .375 h and h powered cartridge? Again, no real point to it all, but maybe fun.
Or since the 6.5s are all the current craze, maybe 6.5-.416 or .50 Barrett? Take that Roy Weatherby! Ha! Ha! Ha!
CEH

Click to expand...

I did the wildcat thing for a long time and then it was time to thin down the accumulated rifle herd. Talk about depreciation!! Try selling a wildcat on the open, big market where there is the best chance of recouping at least a portion of the investment -nope! For a specific purpose or use, nothing wrong with a wildcat. I've had a couple of 35 Whelens. On the second one I finally figured out the headspace problem over time when trying to reload. I tweaked the chamber with an AI reamer and instantly solved the headspace induced case stretching issue. All done for the design/function improvement and not to increase the performance which most AIs don't do anyway.

As to your thoughts on the 375-458, 375 Taylor, 375-338 or whatever you may wish to call it... the idea has merit. I like it! A more compact, yet powerful cartridge in 375 where good bullets are plentiful, brass is relatively easy to reform from other common cartridges and all to fit in a standard long acton without any mods! Plus, given the leeway for length, you could design the reamer to add a little extra free bore/throat length so heavy-for-caliber bullets could be shot without issue and to handle the various, longer monometals.

fourfive8 said:

I did the wildcat thing for a long time and then it was time to thin down the accumulated rifle herd. Talk about depreciation!! Try selling a wildcat on the open, big market where there is the best chance of recouping at least a portion of the investment -nope! For a specific purpose or use, nothing wrong with a wildcat. I've had a couple of 35 Whelens. On the second one I finally figured out the headspace problem over time when trying to reload. I tweaked the chamber with an AI reamer and instantly solved the headspace induced case stretching issue. All done for the design/function improvement and not to increase the performance which most AIs don't do anyway.

As to your thoughts on the 375-458, 375 Taylor, 375-338 or whatever you may wish to call it... the idea has merit. I like it! A more compact, yet powerful cartridge in 375 where good bullets are plentiful, brass is relatively easy to reform from other common cartridges and all to fit in a standard long acton without any mods! Plus, given the leeway for length, you could design the reamer to add a little extra free bore/throat length so heavy-for-caliber bullets could be shot without issue and to handle the various, longer monometals.

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Great point with the chamber free bore! I know, we now have the .375 Ruger, but I was just thinking (dangerous) about this after looking at my idle .338 brass? And as far as selling ANY wildcat cartridged rifle, there is always Toby? He buys everything! Ha! Ha! Thanks!

c.e.h.
I am referring to 338 necked up to 366.
having your gunsmith chamber die blanks with the correct reamers will make better dies than redding or rcbs will ever do, even if it is only that the sizing die will barely fls the cases but they will always fit your chamber, hardly working the brass.
ring dave kiff pacific tool and gauge and have a talk.
he might well have a drawing for such reamers on file.
the 338 necked up to 9.3 will equal the 9.3x64 with brass you already have.
bruce
p.s. I believe chubb Eastman used to use this cartridge.
this gun you would never want to sell.

bruce moulds said:

c.e.h.
I am referring to 338 necked up to 366.
having your gunsmith chamber die blanks with the correct reamers will make better dies than redding or rcbs will ever do, even if it is only that the sizing die will barely fls the cases but they will always fit your chamber, hardly working the brass.
ring dave kiff pacific tool and gauge and have a talk.
he might well have a drawing for such reamers on file.
the 338 necked up to 9.3 will equal the 9.3x64 with brass you already have.
bruce
p.s. I believe chubb Eastman used to use this cartridge.
this gun you would never want to sell.

Click to expand...

Bruce,
You make a GREAT point with the die blanks and correct reamers! Like many things, I didn’t think of that! I will ponder your suggestion and will contact Dave Kiff if nothing else to get his thoughts on the matter and available options. Thanks!
CEH