New Guy here. Considering straightwall wildcat.

[1 Gunnut]

Long time deer hunter from Ohio here. I'm thinking about a new wildcat cartridge for longer range whitetail hunting.

I already have a 350 Legend, a 400 Legend and my personal favorite; 450 bushmaster. All of these will accurately shoot 200yds.

I'm interested in stretching that out to 400 yds without a mule kick recoil. This cuts out the great old 444 Marlin & 45-70.

I'm aware of other wildcats, however, they all seem to be limited to AR style length. I'm interested in something longer.

Could a 30-06 case be trimmed to 2 inches (or wherever the shoulder starts) and resized to accept a longer high BC 40 caliber bullet?

Thoughts? On to something, or totally off the wall?

 

[rayporter]

40-90?

 

[Q_Sertorius]

Long time deer hunter from Ohio here. I'm thinking about a new wildcat cartridge for longer range whitetail hunting.

I already have a 350 Legend, a 400 Legend and my personal favorite; 450 bushmaster. All of these will accurately shoot 200yds.

I'm interested in stretching that out to 400 yds without a mule kick recoil. This cuts out the great old 444 Marlin & 45-70.

I'm aware of other wildcats, however, they all seem to be limited to AR style length. I'm interested in something longer.

Could a 30-06 case be trimmed to 2 inches (or wherever the shoulder starts) and resized to accept a longer high BC 40 caliber bullet?

Thoughts? On to something, or totally off the wall?

Isn’t the whole point of straight wall season to have a limited range of about 200 yards maximum?

 

[keystone112]

I can’t speak from personal experience, but would a smokeless muzzleloader get you the range you’re looking for?

 

[Chris in TN]

400 yds without a mule kick recoil.

That's gonna be very tough for anything .35+ caliber.

I have a smokeless .45 muzzleloader and you can get reasonable 300-yard loads without beating yourself to death, but that's about it. You have to step up the recoil to go further.

 

[1 Gunnut]

Isn’t the whole point of straight wall season to have a limited range of about 200 yards maximum?

Yes, that is the point, on a statewide level. I happen to have a place I can safely shoot further, and Ohio does not have a maximum cartridge length restriction. So I'm interested in researching the possibilities.

 

[Q_Sertorius]

Maybe .38-55 with a modern rifle and loading? Or .375 Winchester?

 

[207North]

You are going to be limited to parent case head diameter. .223=.300, 6.8 SPC=.400, .308=.450.

I am unsure of how much if any taper is allowed by your state to be considered straight walled.

 

[Chris in TN]

I'd think a guy could sort of rearrange a .375H&H case and make it a straight-wall, more or less, and maybe get the 270 grain speer BTSP up to maybe 2600' or so and that would likely do well out to 400 yards without utterly beating you to death.

 

[Crcusmonky]

445 super mag or lengthened 44 mag. Might not extend the Range as much as you want but it won’t kick like a 45/70.


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[RockAndSage]

Long time deer hunter from Ohio here. I'm thinking about a new wildcat cartridge for longer range whitetail hunting.

I already have a 350 Legend, a 400 Legend and my personal favorite; 450 bushmaster. All of these will accurately shoot 200yds.

I'm interested in stretching that out to 400 yds without a mule kick recoil. This cuts out the great old 444 Marlin & 45-70.

I'm aware of other wildcats, however, they all seem to be limited to AR style length. I'm interested in something longer.

Could a 30-06 case be trimmed to 2 inches (or wherever the shoulder starts) and resized to accept a longer high BC 40 caliber bullet?

Thoughts? On to something, or totally off the wall?

Depending on how your state defines "straightwall", the closest thing I can think of to what you're describing is the .400 Whelan or the .411 Hawk.

 

[arrow179]

You need to look into the .41 Great Lakes. Kicks like a .350 legend but thumps like a .450 BM. Available in bolt actions and I believe it’s designed off the .30-06 case

 

[eddielasvegas]

As the self-appointed chairman of the welcoming committee, it is my privilege to extend a laurel, and hearty handshake (virtual, of course) to our new member.


Eddie

 

[RockAndSage]

Long time deer hunter from Ohio here. I'm thinking about a new wildcat cartridge for longer range whitetail hunting.

I already have a 350 Legend, a 400 Legend and my personal favorite; 450 bushmaster. All of these will accurately shoot 200yds.

I'm interested in stretching that out to 400 yds without a mule kick recoil. This cuts out the great old 444 Marlin & 45-70.

I'm aware of other wildcats, however, they all seem to be limited to AR style length. I'm interested in something longer.

Could a 30-06 case be trimmed to 2 inches (or wherever the shoulder starts) and resized to accept a longer high BC 40 caliber bullet?

Thoughts? On to something, or totally off the wall?

If you're not entirely wedded to .40 diameter...any thoughts given to .460 S&W?

 

[Chris in TN]

You are going to be limited to parent case head diameter. .223=.300, 6.8 SPC=.400, .308=.450.

I am unsure of how much if any taper is allowed by your state to be considered straight walled.

Depending on how your state defines "straightwall", the closest thing I can think of to what you're describing is the .400 Whelan or the .411 Hawk.

I could be wrong but as I understand it most states will allow cartridges with very significant taper as long as they don't actually have a *shoulder*.

So a .375H&H blown out to a straight shoulderless design that ended in .375 caliber, could technically be legal.

Heck, maybe you could make it end at .358" diameter. There aren't many high-bc .35 bullets available though.

 

[207North]

If you're not entirely wedded to .40 diameter...any thoughts given to .460 S&W?

45 raptor is the 460 with a .308 bolt face. Kicks like a mule though.

 

[Crcusmonky]

I could be wrong but as I understand it most states will allow cartridges with very significant taper as long as they don't actually have a *shoulder*.

So a .375H&H blown out to a straight shoulderless design that ended in .375 caliber, could technically be legal.

Heck, maybe you could make it end at .358" diameter. There aren't many high-bc .35 bullets available though.

Not in Michigan, it must have an oal of 1.8 or less


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[RockAndSage]

You need to look into the .41 Great Lakes. Kicks like a .350 legend but thumps like a .450 BM. Available in bolt actions and I believe it’s designed off the .30-06 case

This was new to me, that looks like a pretty cool cartridge.

 

[esorekim05]

Always fun to think about these ideas. It seems the optimal would require building from scratch. Something like a straight walked .223 stretched as long as you can to fit COAL in magnum length action balancing powder capacity and headspace to optimize the ability to put a long sleek (or at least reasonably sleek) 30 caliber bullet on the end but still have a MV 2700+. Achieving 30-06 level performance seems possible.


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[arrow179]

This was new to me, that looks like a pretty cool cartridge.

My cousin is in IL and just bought one. Again it’s currently just a wildcat chambering but he said there is ammo available for it. He has both the .350L & .450BM already but like me he likes to tinker around with the new stuff!