Any Forum Members Into Wildcatting

Nice choice, if I was going to do one chamber I would rent 2 or more I would buy, and always get a finish reamer.
I do all my rough machining and reaming with a drill bit, mill bit, or a reamer that I was going to send out to have sharpened anyway, don't forget when you are cutting a new chamber with a finish reamer, the shoulder is doing 90%+
of the cutting, So you are taxing it and I find it looses it's nice crisp edge after the first chamber is cut.

Dean

Cool . I have a rpk trunion that was made the year I was born and been wanting todo some thing special with it.
You know of any other rounds that use the same bolt as 7.62x39?
 
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Yes I have but you have to stick with them for them to work and to see a difference, I bounce back and forth so it kinda defeats the purpose.

I can't seem to post my Photo Bucket pics I hover the cursor over they Img Icon and click but nothing happens any suggestions anyone.

Dean

Gotcha. I included them in my initial work-up in the hopes that I can default to them as my go-to round under 600y for my SDM. I was just wondering with the shorter barrel lives of some of these heavy charges if the moly bullets made a difference in barrel life?
 
Have you ever tried moly coated bullets? I have some 69 gr for the .223 that I am going to try.
I did. I liked it because it virtually eliminated copper fouling. I'd go a season without cleaning the barrel.

It is messy though. I stopped because I was tired of the extra step and messy fingers.
 
I did. I liked it because it virtually eliminated copper fouling. I'd go a season without cleaning the barrel.

It is messy though. I stopped because I was tired of the extra step and messy fingers.


Messy meaning you coated your own bullets? I'm buying the SMK's in moly so that's not a concern.
 
That's the cleaner way of doing it. They put some kind of a wax coating that keeps the mess down.
I did my own.


They are slick as snot and look evil as hell when loaded. I need to find 77 gr bullets that are moly coated for over 600.
 
Any suggestions for the 90 gr SMK? My SDM had no trouble stabilizing them though my velocity was very low so I need to work on some loads in TAC, Varget, & n140.
 
1 twist in 7" bbl. No love for the n140 huh? That's Sierra's accuracy load for the 80 gr so I figured it would do well with the 90. Would you suggest sticking with the 80 then?
Obviously neither will feed from a magazine but that's not an issue.
 
Personally, I wouldn't bother with the 90's. Nobody who is anybody in competition circles uses them. They really want a 6.5 twist and can be finicky to find the right load.
The 80's will do all you want them to out to 600+ (and to be honest, I've seen too many great scores with 77's to not tell you to use them, either).
24 of RE15 under either works great, as does 23.2 of 8208.
 
Do you need to do any neck turning?
I know most of the time guys rip on people that do case forming like this. They always say you're better off buying the brass.
Probably true from a financial stand point.
We're all doing this because we love it though so I think it's awesome.
Nothing wrong with having the knowledge.


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I stayed away from this thread as I don't "wildcat". But just for s&g today I did. I've made 22-250 out of 30-06. I've also made .257 Roberts, 6MM Rem, 7x57, 8x57, .308 and .300 Savage and probably others. Now you'll hear about all sorts of reasons why not to including brass thickness and the need to anneal and the possibility of using the wrong ammunition due to headstamp etc. Really? The 22-250 should have been the worst by far on all 3 counts, no? But the ammunition made worked just fine and gave no signs of pressure excursions AND lasted ~ where expected. Now it might just be true Ruger chambered that 22-250 on the sloppy side and I certainly didn't use GI brass for that particular application. Without the benefit of excellent memory I'm pretty sure I used Winchester brass as that was, back in the day, anecdotally known as having thinner brass than other commonly available brands. And it wasn't one pass in a 22-250 die either. But it worked nonetheless. Today I don't have tens of thousand pieces of 30-06 on hand. These days I'd probably use .243.
 
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Yeah that's the one. The one that could be use for a piece of main drain pipe if you were in a bind.


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So all of the extra cost comes in on the quality of the rifling? How are most ar barrels rifled? button? I know some people are doing EDM rifling now. not sure if that was just pistol barrels or what.
youtube time
 
A Cut Rifle barrel is 3 times as much as button rifle barrel, most people would not pay that but if you were into barrels and wildcatting and turning them you probably would be. I have several ARs but this is they only one that is getting that treatment, it will be a easy 600 yard gun when done which is not that common for an AR platform.

Dean


Ok. I am comparing to my White Oak SDM bbl that I shoot out past 1,000 yards. Granted I don't shoot the x out at that distance but I am still working on my loads.

Can you explain the benefits of cut rifling over hammer forged or button rifling?
 
Still more than a 9mm at 50y...
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It is a good challenge and as a friends likes to remind me, I don't own a "real rifle" yet.
 
Tim of flight is 1.7 to 1.8 seconds. It is a fun challenge, that's for sure. We shoot 9mm at 200y as well but the holdover isn't nearly as much.

I'm interested in seeing what accuracy you get at 600y as well as the bbl life. What are you going to squeeze through it?
 
I can't think of a reason a 223AI AR wouldn't work either. I'd want a good brass catcher on it.

When it's time to set back the 223 Wylde barrel, how do you handle the gas tube? Shorten & rebend the gas block end?
 
Why couldn't one just shorten the gas tube at they upper end, it is a nice straight section of tubing.

I don't have any pics I haven't shot the thing, let alone shot it out, I am going to find out more on thus subject.

Dean

I've been thinking about shortening the receiver end, seems like it would work. There is a slight taper where it goes into the gas key, right? As long as the protrusion length into the upper was matched I would think it should be fine. You could probably not taper it and let the key hammer the taper into the tube and it would still work.
 
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but shortening AR barrels is not at all a simple task. I'd go as far as to say it is absolutely not worth the cost, given a good 20" AR barrel can be had for under $250. A great cut-rifled barrel can be found for well under $500.


The gas tube has a small hole for a split pin. You'd need to re-drill that every time you shortened it. That is going to be next to impossible.

Plus, there are reliability issues with shortening gas tubes. You will have to re-invent the wheel every time you do it.
 
Pat, I suspect your cost analysis left out the all important "buddy with a lathe" element. If this works, the only additional cost I see is the six pack for the buddy, and maybe an adjustable block.

As far as gas tube shortening affecting reliability, I'm confident that losing 1/2" of barrel and gas tube won't be a major issue. The dwell time wouldn't change on Dean's barrel - the distance from the gas port to the muzzle isn't changed. The slightly shorter gas tube would, I would think, slightly increase gas pressure at the carrier, since there is less volume in the gas tube to expand into. I'd think all within the capabilities of the JP adjustable block.
 
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