Wanted 240 Apex Dies

[Green Chile]

slim chance but you never know! Thanks.

 

[Prairie Bird Gun]

I have an extra set of .240 Apex rimless for magazine rifles. Are you after those or the .240 apex rimmed?

 

[CoElkHunter]

OK, I'll play. What exactly IS a .240 Apex?

 

[Prairie Bird Gun]

They are very comparable to a .243 Winchester in performance. From the bit I know, the rimless version was produced on some Mauser action rifles and a .240 flanged double rifle was also available. I don’t believe the cartridge ever caught on well, the 100 grain loads seem most common, the 75 grain makes for a wicked varmit load.

 

[CoElkHunter]

They are very comparable to a .243 Winchester in performance. From the bit I know, the rimless version was produced on some Mauser action rifles and a .240 flanged double rifle was also available. I don’t believe the cartridge ever caught on well, the 100 grain loads seem most common, the 75 grain makes for a wicked varmit load.

Thank you. Interesting cartridge. I learn something new all the time here on AH.

 

[Green Chile]

I have an extra set of .240 Apex rimless for magazine rifles. Are you after those or the .240 apex rimmed?

That's exactly what I'm looking for! I do know where there is a set of flanged dies for .240 Apex if anyone needs that info.

 

[Green Chile]

They are very comparable to a .243 Winchester in performance. From the bit I know, the rimless version was produced on some Mauser action rifles and a .240 flanged double rifle was also available. I don’t believe the cartridge ever caught on well, the 100 grain loads seem most common, the 75 grain makes for a wicked varmit load.

Yes they are similar in performance to a .243 Win but over 30 years ahead of it with lesser powders. Way ahead of its time. You can easily duplicate or exceed it today but this was the shiz over 100 years ago.

 

[Green Chile]

OK, I'll play. What exactly IS a .240 Apex?

Here's a little bit of info. H&H along with a few others built some very nice rifles on this cartridge over 100 years ago. https://chuckhawks.com/240Apex.htm

 

[Green Chile]

 

[CoElkHunter]

I just zoomed in on the cartridge photo and noticed it is a belted cartridge. Interesting. Must have one of the belted offerings of the day as the parent cartridge?

 

[Green Chile]

It's a bit like a belted 30-06 case with a long neck...you can get there in different ways and sometimes you can find vintage brass. It's scarce though. Wal-Mart always seems to be out of it. Why bother with it? So you can work with vintage H&H takedowns, etc. Bringing the old best quality rifles back to life is spicy!

 

[Don458]

It's a bit like a belted 30-06 case with a long neck...you can get there in different ways and sometimes you can find vintage brass. It's scarce though. Wal-Mart always seems to be out of it. Why bother with it? So you can work with vintage H&H takedowns, etc. Bringing the old best quality rifles back to life is spicy!

The 240 Weatherby looks exactly like this, a belted 30/06 necked down to .243

 

[CoElkHunter]

Yeah, they're on back order at Wal Mart. LOL But somewhat more seriously though, what is the parent case? I find it hard to believe that this cartridge wasn't wildcatted off an existing cartridge back in the day? The .30-06 doesn't have a belt, so next choice?

 

[Green Chile]

The 240 Weatherby looks exactly like this, a belted 30/06 necked down to .243

It's close but not quite right. 240 Wby is a little short in length (about 4mm) and shoulder and base measurements are close but off again a bit. You might be able to get there with Wby brass but I haven't seen that accomplished. Regardless, you can't get there with the Wby dies. I can get brass...and I can borrow the only set of dies I know about but I'm just posting to see what's possible.

 

[Green Chile]

240 Apex case specs

 

[Green Chile]

240 Weatherby specs

 

[Green Chile]

You will also notice that the original specs were for a .245 bullet in the Apex. My collector friend tells me that a lot of the original bullets mic at .244 and .243 works fine for our purposes.