I say follow your dream and take us along for the ride.

 

Ideas are great and fun....wildcats are a challenge to make work, but if you have the grit for it....charge ahead and follow your deams.

Tell us some more of your thinking.....donor gun to start with? How to source the Barrel ? What are requirements of Ohio for hunting deer? Why a 41 caliber? Why use a 8x57 case...why not a 35 rem?

You have peaked my interest .......

 

Wait, what?! Can you please explain. " in west central ohio where we are only able to use straight walled cartridges" ? Is that a thing?

 

we can use shot gun , pistol, black powder,and now rifles using straight wall cartridge during gun week. jsb

 

Do it you won't be disappointed. I'm a bit north west of you in MI and hunt a straight walled case zone. The past two seasons I've used a very similar wildcat 400FUW which is a .40x1.8" off of 30-06 brass. Some of my initial dummy rounds were in .41" and used 8x57 brass as I was low on 30-06 brass from other wildcats. Went with .40" over .410"/.411" since we could use a cheaper 40S&W/10mm barrel blank, but mostly because between the two diameters .40" had more 200gr-ish bullets that would hold up to the velocity. 200gr xtp's are cheap for plinking or target shooting and most .45" muzzleloader saboted rounds use a .40" bullet. In an AR15 with a 22-250 bolt and extension (450BM bolt and extension won't hold up to the added pressure) I'm topping out in the mid 2600's. My buddy who using it in a bolt action that allows for a longer COL has worked up a load using the 200gr FTX to the mid 2760's. Thinking about making an 308AR upper in it to utilize the longer COL. Hunted with the shorter 16" barrel season before last and the 22" barrel this past season.

 

Hi to all. I will let my wife type this, being all I can do is peck. During gun week at end of November first of December in Ohio you can use shotgun, muzzleloader, pistol, or now rifles using straight wall cartridges. Law says no bottleneck any .357 to .50 caliber straight wall regardless of length. I use a 1894 .44 mag, and 6 other in deer camp use 350 legends. My idea atfer looking at different cases that the 8 x 57 could be cut a 1.800" easily and reamed for a .41 bullet. 35 rem. could also be neck up to .41. The .41 has a faster twist rate than the .44 so could handle longer bullets. The case I made holds 52 grains of water. I think at 45,000 cup press you could get 2100-2200 feet per sec. Using IMR 4198 or 322. A 98 Mauser could maybe be bored o 40 - 41 or a 93 - 95 if press held to 45,000 cup. Moleman has got me thinking about wildcatting with his .357 AR and 1.8 x 44 projects. I realize donor guns are high priced now so this may be more dreaming than practical. Also a chamber reamer and go - no go gauges would need to be made. In our deer camp we have went from shotguns using slugs to side hammer muzzle loader to inline muzzleloaders. Six of the guys (including my two grandsons 10 & 12 years old) are using 350 legends. In our county we have house every 1/4 to 1/2 mile down the road. Down in the hills of southeast Ohio would be only place I could see bottlenecks someday. Hope I haven't bored you too much, take care. jsb

 

We have friends here in NYS that go to Ohio every year and they all jumped on the 350 Legend bandwagon.

 

Check out JES re-bore. He has a wildcat called the 405 JES that is .41 cal. I'm not sure if it's a straight wall.

Caliber & Bore Options - Reboring by J E S

Caliber & Bores Available

www.35caliber.com

PS....did a bit of research....It is a .444 Marlin necked down, so it isn't a true straight walled case. If you call Jesse O. He might have an option to suggest. I always wondered about a .41 Maximum extended like the .357 Maximum to use in a single shot.

 

elgin gates made .375 and a .414 super mag as well as the 445 super mag back in the day. jsb

 

Welcome from Midcoast Maine!

 

Do you guys in straight wall only areas see a lot of wild cats or one off cartridges being built?
If there are gunsmiths with the means to do the barrels, chamber reamers and action mods, I'm all for it.
Every caliber out there had to start with an inspiration of someone at some point, some caught on, others faded away.

 

Do you guys in straight wall only areas see a lot of wild cats or one off cartridges being built?
If there are gunsmiths with the means to do the barrels, chamber reamers and action mods, I'm all for it.
Every caliber out there had to start with an inspiration of someone at some point, some caught on, others faded away.

While Indiana was not a straight wall case State they came up with the .35 Hoosier. There were a few places making barrels for Savage and TC along with others.
The rifle had to be .357 groove min by 1.8" long max. A little longer than the 38 special in length.
Now centerfires are legal statewide except on the more crowded public land where the old PCR are allowed. I use my 94 in 44 mag and a trimmed 35 Rem on public land.

A Deer Cartridge Just for One State, the .358 Hoosier :: Guns.com

When you look at the anatomy of the projectile though, bullets are really as simple as they can get and whether it’s a jacketed hollowpoint or lead target ammo, all you really need to have are three obscure terms in your back pocket to make sense of any bullet and have a good idea about what it...

www.guns.com

 

most are using the 350 legend or 450 bush master . some use 45/70. mostly bolt guns some single shot like tc encore rifles. i use a 1894 44 mag . a friend of mine used a 357 lever action. thats mostly what i know of. also i should add that that we are limited to three shells or cartridges in repeater guns for safety reasons. jsb

 

My buddy who I made the 400FUW barrel for his bolt action has a few wildcats. I've seen a few guys post up straight walled zone wildcats on the local forums. I've got 357AR, 44x1.6, 44x1.8. 375FUW and 400FUW, and others but for the most part guys I talk to are using whatever they were before the rule change or a 450BM, 350L, 44mag, 357 mag/max. I have lathes and mills, so for me a wildcat is mostly some shop time and a barrel blank. Straight walled dies are likely the easiest to make as are chamber reamers and headspace gauges.

 

i have aways been impressed with your lathe work moleman. the 400 fuw looks interesting . where did you get the 40 caliber barrel and what twist rate.i can see straight wall reamer and dies would be easier to make. jsb

 

JSB, I use a lot of Green Mountain Barrel blanks (have one of their 9mm blank in the lathe right now for an Uzi barrel). The 40's were made with their GP40 .400" 1:16" 1"x23" blanks. GP40 .40 cal / 10mm 23" x 1" Raw Barrel Blank 1:16 Twist Been a couple years since I ordered the blanks but I think the price was fairly close to the $61.95 they are listed at now. They're out of stock at the moment, but if you call they can set you can have them send you an email when they're back in stock. I'd put 12 various blanks on notification last year about this time and 8 of them have come back in stock in the last month. They must be getting caught back up on their commercial contracts enough for retail sales. The 16" barrel shoots about 1/2"-3/4" 5 shot groups at 100yds with 195gr Barnes, and the 22" is better at 1/3"-1/2" with the same load which is amazing for a budget priced blank. Pic of the 16" just after getting it to cycle and before parkerizing it. Ended up making a copy of the silencerco brake from a section of barrel blank since they were OOS everwhere at the time. Barnes makes a 195gr solid copper that works well and also a 175gr (sold by Knight). haven't shot the 175's yet, was waiting for it to warm up some. Coated a few of the 175's to try out and for a visual reference since they share the same profile as the 195's, just shorter.

 

with the 1 in. barrel od the small ring mauser would be a possiblity to use . what powder do you use. i messed up and sold a turk. mauser i didnt think needed any moor several years ago.i like the tc shock wave bullets in my muzzle loader they would probably be good for 400 fuw cartridge. jsb

 

GMB doesn't list a 40 blank large enough to use on an AR10 or larger 98 mauser. Preferred shows a 10mm blank 1.250" 1:16"unlapped blank for $225, it doesn't list bore and groove dia though. Pacnor is $275. Lothar-Walther is $247 Barrel Blank - Twist:16" | .40S&W | OD:1.26" | L:26.18" | Cr-Moly Steel which is who I'm leaning towards. Never been disappointed in their barrels. Still haven't decided if I'm THAT interested in getting a longer COL enough to make a LR308 upper other than just using the two ar15s I have now.

The bolt action 400FUW barrel is a Ruger 77 1"-20TPI so we used a Savage type nut on it. I've done that before on AR barrels, but much prefer a large enough dia blank to just turn a proper shoulder from.

For powder, you want something on the faster end. Buddy is using H110 and 300MP, I've mostly been using W296 (same as H110 now) LilGun, IMR4227, reloader 7 and have tried 1680, but can never get decent results out of it. If you're not wanting as high of pressure then perhaps 4227 or reloader 7. W296/H110 gets peaky past the mid 50's psi but usually I get the highest velocity out of it. Lilgun isn't very far behind it though.

The solid copper bullets works well but also take up more case capacity in an ar15 since you're limited by what will fit in the mag. They end up being 100-150fps slower than the cup and core xtp's or ftx which isn't a deal breaker to me. The TC shockwave are made by Hornady and just have a yellow vs red tip(FTX). The Knight red hots solid copper bullets are the same as the Barnes just with a red vs white sabot. Use whatever ones you can find cheaper or in stock.

 

thanks for the info , this gives some things to consider. jsb

 

GMB doesn't list a 40 blank large enough to use on an AR10 or larger 98 mauser. Preferred shows a 10mm blank 1.250" 1:16"unlapped blank for $225, it doesn't list bore and groove dia though. Pacnor is $275. Lothar-Walther is $247 Barrel Blank - Twist:16" | .40S&W | OD:1.26" | L:26.18" | Cr-Moly Steel which is who I'm leaning towards. Never been disappointed in their barrels. Still haven't decided if I'm THAT interested in getting a longer COL enough to make a LR308 upper other than just using the two ar15s I have now.

The bolt action 400FUW barrel is a Ruger 77 1"-20TPI so we used a Savage type nut on it. I've done that before on AR barrels, but much prefer a large enough dia blank to just turn a proper shoulder from.

For powder, you want something on the faster end. Buddy is using H110 and 300MP, I've mostly been using W296 (same as H110 now) LilGun, IMR4227, reloader 7 and have tried 1680, but can never get decent results out of it. If you're not wanting as high of pressure then perhaps 4227 or reloader 7. W296/H110 gets peaky past the mid 50's psi but usually I get the highest velocity out of it. Lilgun isn't very far behind it though.

The solid copper bullets works well but also take up more case capacity in an ar15 since you're limited by what will fit in the mag. They end up being 100-150fps slower than the cup and core xtp's or ftx which isn't a deal breaker to me. The TC shockwave are made by Hornady and just have a yellow vs red tip(FTX). The Knight red hots solid copper bullets are the same as the Barnes just with a red vs white sabot. Use whatever ones you can find cheaper or in stock.

GMB doesn't list a 40 blank large enough to use on an AR10 or larger 98 mauser. Preferred shows a 10mm blank 1.250" 1:16"unlapped blank for $225, it doesn't list bore and groove dia though. Pacnor is $275. Lothar-Walther is $247 Barrel Blank - Twist:16" | .40S&W | OD:1.26" | L:26.18" | Cr-Moly Steel which is who I'm leaning towards. Never been disappointed in their barrels. Still haven't decided if I'm THAT interested in getting a longer COL enough to make a LR308 upper other than just using the two ar15s I have now.

The bolt action 400FUW barrel is a Ruger 77 1"-20TPI so we used a Savage type nut on it. I've done that before on AR barrels, but much prefer a large enough dia blank to just turn a proper shoulder from.

For powder, you want something on the faster end. Buddy is using H110 and 300MP, I've mostly been using W296 (same as H110 now) LilGun, IMR4227, reloader 7 and have tried 1680, but can never get decent results out of it. If you're not wanting as high of pressure then perhaps 4227 or reloader 7. W296/H110 gets peaky past the mid 50's psi but usually I get the highest velocity out of it. Lilgun isn't very far behind it though.

The solid copper bullets works well but also take up more case capacity in an ar15 since you're limited by what will fit in the mag. They end up being 100-150fps slower than the cup and core xtp's or ftx which isn't a deal breaker to me. The TC shockwave are made by Hornady and just have a yellow vs red tip(FTX). The Knight red hots solid copper bullets are the same as the Barnes just with a red vs white sabot. Use whatever ones you can find cheaper or in stock.

 

moleman i see gmb has .40 x 20 x 1 inch barrels in stock. jsb

 

Happy Thanksgiving jsb! So far I've been happy with the two AR15 barrels (16"+22") and haven't ordered a larger 1.2"-1.25" 308AR sized blank as I would prefer not to use a locknut. Used the 16" 400 again last year to get a 9pt at about 90yds. 195gr Barnes copper bullet went through the deer, about 5" of tree, skipped off another tree taking off a patch of bark and ended up in a brush pile. Buck walked about 10 yds and fell over. Rotated between the 22" and another wildcat 375FUW (375 off of 6.8spc cases) the rest of the season last year. Using the 375FUW again this season and the next in line is a Mossberg M72 (472) rebarreled to 375Win. If both of those get deer I've got another 44 wildcat off of belted mag brass to try out of an LR308.

 

happy thanksgiving to you too. with the 400 legend coming there should be some good bullets some coming soon . have seen several boxes at different stores but no guns yet. monday starts our gun week so will be using 1894 .44 mag. two of my grandsons got bucks last weekend during youth hunt . oldest with a 350 lng. and the other with 450 bm. jsb

 

Some of the Michigan boys are building 41 GL [Great Lakes]
Email 41greatlakes@gmail.com for more info.
Gun- Ruger American re-barreled in .41 Great Lakes
Bullet- Fury 180gr bullet (2,650 fps)
200 grain Hammer bullet at 2,675 fps.
This is a low pressure round that can be loaded into an AR15.
The bigger the case the better, it is all about volume.
My 41s are made on the 240 Weatherby belted case. The shortest is 2.170".
I did try a 1.800, but not enough volume.
I also shorten 300 Barnes 405 bullets to 180 grain. They shoot 2060 fps out of my Henry lever. First shot only, too long to feed.

 

sounds interesting . would pressures be low enough for a rifle built on a swedish mauser. jsb

 

My son suggested using pistol primers in the old 91-95 mausers.
That way you would be keeping the pressures safe.

 

I would use the e-mail above and ask John.