Thoughts on case design

[Andrew NOLA]

In the nitro express and other cases we are using case designs over 100 years old intended for black powder

Some (me) are stuffing foam into the case to take up the excess room to keep the powder stacked against the primer for consistent ignition regardless of the position of the case

I am new to these cases but come from a benchrest background where we used a 6ppc case derived from the 220 Russian to make the most accurate cartridge ever developed

I talked to Don Geraci this weekend who is one of the benchrest pioneers and he mentioned that he thinks the ppc works so well as the case capacity is perfect to seat the base of the bullet on top of the powder column

Has anyone experimented with different case designs for large bore calibers 400+ that would be intended for the powders we have available today?

I am not sure where I would go with this

Perhaps get better accuracy and more velocity in a shorter action would be the goal.

Reamers are cheap. I am an inverterate tinker. Feeds my ocd.

I welcome some sharing of knowledge and thoughts

 

[PerH]

You could look up Messner Mags , no .40+ there but 6,5,7,8mm
Made to use less powder than other larger similar cases and better trajectory as part of that and good
Accuracy.

Bit based off the 9,3x64 Brenneke case .

 

[Andrew NOLA]

Big fan of the PRC cases - wish hornady would make a 338 PRC

Which makes me think about necking up a 416 Ruger to see what diameter I can get that to

 

[odonata]

Big fan of the PRC cases - wish hornady would make a 338 PRC

If you haven't already seen it, take a look at the 33 Sherman Magnum wildcat. Looks like someone got impatient waiting for the 338 PRC to appear.

Which makes me think about necking up a 416 Ruger to see what diameter I can get that to

The 375/416 Ruger case can be upsized to a 458.

Post in thread '45 Nosler wildcat'

Aug 12, 2025

I have a .458/.416 Ruger wildcat done to clean up a "ringed chamber" on a Whitworth .458 WIN MAG with standard 3.4" magazine/action length.
Nice cartridge with a shoulder better than a 400 Whelen,
which is a totally functional shoulder.

Great advantage is no barrel setback and you get the remnant SAAMI .458 WIN MAG throat beyond 2.580" from breech face.
It will beat a SAAMI .458 Lott performance for sure.

No rebated rim on my wildcat.
Anybody else tried a .458/.416 Ruger ?

But it does require new Mauser bottom metal to get 3 down in mag box. Sunny Hill drop box is 3.47" inside length...

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