Is this a wildcat yet?

Elkins45 said:

Take a .223 case and chop it off at the shoulder. Straighten the neck so you actually have one but keep it as large as possible, then seat a bullet of that diameter. Anybody made that wildcat?

To ask a similar question in a different way, what’s the largest caliber wildcat you could make with a standard 223 case? If you make an (almost) straight wall case what caliber would it be? I’m guessing it would be similar to the 350 Legend, but I know for some reason you’re not supposed to be able to make 350 Legend from 223.

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this is what you are looking at,

sarduy said:

338 THUMPER

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What in the thunder. . . that's going to have to headspace off the ogive.

MDWS did something just like that it's called the 357 AR Max. And Winchester basically copied it and renamed it.

Hmmmm....

Seems like the old .30 Carbine wouldn't be too far off that. Factory loads & cheap.

I don't need a .338Thumper, but if I were going there, I'd rather the rifle have a Mauser type CRF claw extractor. I figure the chamber will have a pretty straight lede... not much there to snap into a push feed extractor.

edwardware said:

What in the thunder. . . that's going to have to headspace off the ogive.

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Well, that has been done before. But , I believe the Thumper headspaces off the case mouth.

Kevin

StrawHat said:

Well, that has been done before. But , I believe the Thumper headspaces off the case mouth.

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Yes, I jest. On a serious note:
1) AFAIK, headspacing on the case mouth is a bad idea in rifles because the firing pin energy is high enough to potentially overcome the weak interaction and push the neck past it's stop. It's acceptable in pistols with lower FP energy.

2) Can you reference a cartridge example of headspacing off the ogive? I'm not familiar with any. It's seems workable, but neck tension and seating would become really critical.

357Max AR is the largest caliber 5.56 based cartridge afaik.

Really wish Winchester would have just standardized it instead of the 350L

Elkins45 said:

Maybe, although a little searching leads me to believe it’s not available except maybe from one source.

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Single source availability is still better than most wildcats - that’s kinda what wildcats are...

I would get a 300blk and call it a day

If the original premise is followed - a 5.56/223 based cartridge which headspaces on the shoulder:

0.376” case base, blown out to straight wall, with a minimum 0.0135” shoulder (x2), and assuming 0.014” case neck thickness (x2), then giving back 0.003” neck tension:

0.376” - 0.027” - 0.028” + 0.003” = 0.324” bullet diameter.

So... too small for 33cal pills, but could make use of 32cal bullets, whether .321” rifle bullets or .313” pistol bullets.

Of course, that’s running ZERO taper, so feeding will remain at risk, and stuck cases a higher opportunity. And also, it assumes users will be happy with rather limited selection of 32 cal pistol or rifle bullets. Rather than living happy with a 300 blackout running any of a plethora of 30 cal bullets, or conceding to headspace on the case mouth and earn back 27thou of sacrificed diameter, and then be happy running the .350 Legend.

gotboostvr said:

357Max AR is the largest caliber 5.56 based cartridge afaik.

Really wish Winchester would have just standardized it instead of the 350L

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I thought that too when I first looked at the .350
VTs comment about perfectly straight cases sticking, and feeding, as well as to help stop the cases forward movement, make me reconsider that. especially in mass produced cartridge/guns.

I think the larger rear so it has some taper might have been a good move, and I'm considering doing a legend just to play with it a bit.

LoonWulf said:

I thought that too when I first looked at the .350
VTs comment about perfectly straight cases sticking, and feeding, as well as to help stop the cases forward movement, make me reconsider that. especially in mass produced cartridge/guns.

I think the larger rear so it has some taper might have been a good move, and I'm considering doing a legend just to play with it a bit.

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Same, I saw Midway USA has some AR Stoner uppers in 350L that are pretty affordable. I was hoping for a blow out one from PSA, but it'll scratch that itch for about the same as finding just a 357AR Max barrel.

Who says this .338 or 8x45mm must run in an AR or bust? CZ and a couple of other companies make Mini-Mausers.

I have a feeling that Thumper will thump in both directions, especially with 300g bullets.