Caliber Choice Question, Because I'm a Weirdo

[spike.t]

Did you just hunt with it? I'd love to hear what you hunted and your experience with it. What distances were you shooting?

Not addressed to me but my son has shot bushbuck..puku and kafue lechwe with his ...all one shot kills..only shot some guinea fowl with mine..but that will be sorted...its an impressive little round...

 

[Brian]

My latest flames for single shots are,
1. The 45-70 with 26 inch barrel with extended throat for more powder room with long mono bullets.
(CEB Raptor bullets of course.) and proper twist.
2. The 50-110 Winchester. with 26Inch barrel. Excellent cape buffalo medicine with the right bullets.

 

[dchum]

Did you just hunt with it? I'd love to hear what you hunted and your experience with it. What distances were you shooting?

I just hunted a Damara Dik Dik in the foothills leading up to Mount Erongo.

Used little FMJ .22 hornet rounds. Shot the Dik Dik Texas heart shot and the round exited the chest. Small whole and the little ram was of course stone dead.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Ok, I'm not really sure how to go about this one. I want another barrel made for my Bailey Bradshaw Rotary Action rifle. Bailey has been showcasing my rifle while I have been on deployment, and since he already has the rifle, I figured might as well make the most of it and get another barrel for it. It is currently chambered in 7x57R. I am also torn between 405 Winchester and 45-70. I already have a Shiloh 45-70 and don't know between the two, which is better for larger game. I also don't really need a larger caliber, as I have a double rifle in 9.3x74R and a 450/400 Jeffery (I love the 9.3s though). Or I could go small and get a 22 Hornet, which I don't have. I also like the idea of 303 British, 333 Jeffery, and 375 Flanged, but the 303 isn't all that much different than the 7mm and 33 Jeffery and 375 Flanged is hard to come by. I do know I want it to be a rimmed cartridge. If you were having another barrel made, which way would you go? The rifle is quite light at 5 lbs 11 oz. Attached is a photo of my rifle, just for the heck of it. HELP!

View attachment 687920

@gcbailey
A 495 in a 5.5# rifle would be rather lively in the recoil department.
Why not get 2 barrels
A 22 Hornet
And a 405
That way you have a lot of bases covered.
Bob

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

It’s sounding more and more like the Hornet is the most sensible solution to a self made problem.

@gcbailey
The little Hornet loaded with Hogdon Lil Gun and a 40gn VMax is a deadly combination on little critters out to over 200 yards. As it's a single shot get it long throated so you can seat bullets out to 1.9" so you can get a bit more powder in and go have fun.
Bob

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

But look into the K Hornet. Reportedly better accuracy

@ActionBob
I have a lovely little lowall in K Hornet. With 12gn of adi2205 and a 40gn VMax I get 2,900fps and it will put 3 shots at 100yds that can be easily covered with the base of a Hornet case. At 200 it's still less than an inch. No problems head shooting bunnii at that range. Lovely cartridge.
Bob

 

[gcbailey]

@gcbailey
A 495 in a 5.5# rifle would be rather lively in the recoil department.
Why not get 2 barrels
A 22 Hornet
And a 405
That way you have a lot of bases covered.
Bob

Ideally, I would have a barrel in 303, 405, 9.3 x74R, and 22 Hornet, but that is quite an expensive proposition. Maybe I will add more later, but for now, I am just looking for one additional caliber.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

View attachment 687949


Something a little different?

@DG870
A 256 or 25-20 loaded with a nice 70-75 gn blitz king or VMax would make a nice small game round. Both are a handloaders proposition tho. 25-20 brass is available but hard to find. The 256 is just a 357 mag necked down.
Bob

 

[steve white]

I cannot lay my hand of Cartridges of the World, but seems I remember something like a rimmed 8x75? That would reach out and touch someone. But such rounds are probably rare to be found.

It is such a trim rifle, it begs for something light. If you go with the 22 high-power Savage, there are three boxes of Norma brass at Rays Hardware and Sporting Goods in Dallas, Tx.

 

[Wishfulthinker580]

Nobody seems to have mentioned the .348 Winchester. Perhaps for a good reason? I don't know much about it apart from what I can read at Wikipedia. Seems to pack a bit more punch than the 7x57R you already have, without going into .375 H&H Flanged territory, and also a little bit more than the 8x57IRS.

The 348 would be really cool. American cartridge for an American rifle

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Nobody seems to have mentioned the .348 Winchester. Perhaps for a good reason? I don't know much about it apart from what I can read at Wikipedia. Seems to pack a bit more punch than the 7x57R you already have, without going into .375 H&H Flanged territory, and also a little bit more than the 8x57IRS.

@cmk
The 348 is the equivalent of the 358 Winchester.
This little cartridge punches well above its weight. @Rick HOlbert is taking one to Namibia loaded with 225gn Woodleigh rnsp and hopes to take a good oryx and eland bull with it.
The 348 in a single shot would be awesome but projectiles are limited. I suppose you could use a .358 barrel and neck it up to .358 to give the 348 a bigger selection of projectiles. Simple mod after clambering, just run a 358 neck reamer in and done..
I once had the chance to buy an ex bench rest 308 barrel in 95% condition for a hundred bucks.
Stupid passed on it. It would have made a beautiful 308-303 barrel to make the 303 even more versatile.
Bob

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

I cannot lay my hand of Cartridges of the World, but seems I remember something like a rimmed 8x75? That would reach out and touch someone. But such rounds are probably rare to be found.

It is such a trim rifle, it begs for something light. If you go with the 22 high-power Savage, there are three boxes of Norma brass at Rays Hardware and Sporting Goods in Dallas, Tx.

@steve white
Don't tell @Rick HOlbert that mate, he just recently acquired a lovely Savage 99 in that calibre and found someone who actually makes projectiles of .228 from 50-70 grains.
Bob

 

[Safari Dave]

I would go with the .22 Hornet.



IMO, (and I have one) the .45/70 is a good, short range, bear, moose, and elk cartridge.


IMO - It's not a good DG cartridge.

 

[VertigoBE]

.22 Hornet would be my vote.

 

[Grumpy gumpy]

So many choices, if you go the hornet path and are happy to form brass as well as just reload, there is the K hornet( best option ), a 25 hornet and a 270 hornet, all easy to do. Or the 25-35, 25-35 AI, 7-30 waters. 22Hi-Power is a great cartridge, easily formed, but sourcing bullets can be problematic , 219 zipper may be better choice. The 256 magnum, and 256 maxi magnum (375 maxi case necked down) are both exceptional cartridges. 40/65 brass is sourceable from starline, or a straight resize of 45/70 brass. A375 Winchester fits in the light calibre range as does a 375 2 1/2 (nitro express) …….
Where to start, where to stop…..
Gumpy

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

So many choices, if you go the hornet path and are happy to form brass as well as just reload, there is the K hornet( best option ), a 25 hornet and a 270 hornet, all easy to do. Or the 25-35, 25-35 AI, 7-30 waters. 22Hi-Power is a great cartridge, easily formed, but sourcing bullets can be problematic , 219 zipper may be better choice. The 256 magnum, and 256 maxi magnum (375 maxi case necked down) are both exceptional cartridges. 40/65 brass is sourceable from starline, or a straight resize of 45/70 brass. A375 Winchester fits in the light calibre range as does a 375 2 1/2 (nitro express) …….
Where to start, where to stop…..
Gumpy

@Grumpy gumpy
What a rabbit hole.
The 25-35 would be nice in a single shot.
It was the bench rest queen at one time .
Brass is very easily made with one pass of a 30-30 case thru a flat die.
A nice 79-75 grainer at 3,000 fps or an 87 gn at 2,800fps would make a nice versatile small to medium game rifle.
Bob
Bob

 

[Grumpy gumpy]

@Grumpy gumpy
What a rabbit hole.
The 25-35 would be nice in a single shot.
It was the bench rest queen at one time .
Brass is very easily made with one pass of a 30-30 case thru a flat die.
A nice 79-75 grainer at 3,000 fps or an 87 gn at 2,800fps would make a nice versatile small to medium game rifle.
Bob
Bob

I have a 25-35 on a martini cadet, usually using 87gn Sierra soft points.
Gumpy

 

[Rimshot]

How about a 500/.416 NE if you're a real man!

25-35 is a cool thought. I got my first whitetail deer with a Savage 99 that my father had rebored from 22 Hi Power to 25-35 Ackley.

My vote however would be with the 22 Hornet. I have played a lot with the hornet barrel of my combination gun. The more I learn about it the more I like it. Most of the 22 Hornet magazine rifles suffer from short OAL, which keeps you from using modern bullets effectively. Also, many still stubbornly use a slow 1:16" twist rate. In your custom single shot you can rectify both issues. If you went with a 1:12" twist, you could shoot the high b.c. 53 grainers from Nosler and Hornady that are over .300 G1.

My pet 22 Hornet load uses 12 gr of Lilgun behind a 50gr Hornady SP bullet at around 2750 fps. Even with the modest b.c., I get good expansion to 200 yards and have taken animals out to 220. In light winds hitting steel beyond 300 yards is fun, but the soft point bullets pencil through when impact velocity gets much below 2000 fps. I could shoot plastic tipped 40 grain bullets, which open up more readily at lower velocity, but they are explosive even at Hornet velocity and don't give good penetration on larger coyote-size varmints. A 1:12" twist hornet shooing the high b.c. 53 grain, plastic tipped bullets would be a 300 yard varmint round.

I think the big advantages are the cheap cost to reload (almost 5,000 rounds to a 8 pound jug of powder), mild report, and super long barrel life. IMO barrel life doesn't matter much for most guns since you can cheaply spin on a new one, but in your case and in other very expensive guns that you want to shoot a lot it does matter.

 

[Bullthrower338]

That's a very interesting idea and I love the idea of a straight walled cartridge, but I think I want something that is much more easily sourced.

PMC still loads factory ammo and it is easily formed from 45/70 brass, easily sourced!