Retiredcpo -
Howdy !
Well..... your question goes right to my corner of the .224" cal performance envelope experience.
If you can stand a short history , I'd like to tell you what I did....
My main shooting interest has always been groundhogs, in particular those in NE
Indiana where I grew up on the farm.
When I first started shooting "Soybeanus Digestus" in the mid -70's, I owned, loaded for, and shot multiple .22-250s.....including factory, mildly customized; and full-til customs. My first one ( and my first bolt rifle ) came from P.O.Ackley's shop. My second one, a custom from a NW Ohio riflesmith. Also, two that were accurized and re-barreled by reknowned riflesmith Fred Sinclair. I also did load work and range work to find the best load for a full custom .22-250 from Mark Penrod.
At the time my .22-250 field use left me " wanting something a bit faster than the .22-250, but wanted to stay w/ the" .....55SX. So, I know what you mean . I decided to design my own .224" cal wildcat, and read up on all the relative info I could find. Ackley's "Handbook for Shooters and Reloaders ", all about Homer Powley's " Powley Computer", Robert Hutton's bullet ogive chart; Ken Water's Case Capacity Tables; et al.
I wanted what I considered to be ideal capacity, for shooting Hornady 55SX from a 24" barrel.
My anticipated engagement range was 500yd and under, back then. I set a performance threshold of
450 ft lb as the minimum energy I would accept for delivery to the desired range.
I didn't want the long case oal and goofy rim of the .220 Swift, a chambering Winchester had abandoned after 28yr.
Water's case capacity tables indicated that I could neck-down .35Remington to .224" calibre, and have the case capacity I sought for my new wildcat. For my very first wildcat design, I didn't want to go w/ and Ackley Improved type sharp shoulder. And, .35 Rem had large enough shoulder diam that I avoided having to blow out case' shoulders. My wildcat gave me the capacity I needed in a case oal of 1.920".... a scant .008" longer than a .22-250; and significantly shorter than a .220 Swift. .22-35 has .250" neck lg, which is enough to hold a 55gr varmint bullet.
I wrote P.O. Ackley about my design, and he responded back in a letter dated 10 Apr 1975.
He said.... " The .35 Remington should make a good .22 calibre cartridge when necked down to take the smaller bullet. ". I took that as a pretty good passing grade on my first attempt @ wildcat design!
I chambered w/ a reamer from Clymer, and formed cases using a custom RCBS case forming die set.
Fred Sinclair 'smithed my rifle, on a Wichita WBR 1375 single shot benchrest action, w/ a 24" SS Hart 1-14,
Walnut laminate Bishop target stock; and Ken Burns converted 2oz trigger.
I biased accuracy ahead of max velocity. It took me 450 rnds to find my chosen accuracy/field load.
55SX over 41.2gr WW760 and FED Large Magnum Rifle Match. it wasn't a max vel load by any means, but was hyper accurate ; and deadly on groundhogs!
I used a prototype of Hornady's 55"V-Max" from a small clutch Steve Hornady has sent me, to make a 510yd kill on a groundhog.... a scant 3mi East of Sinclair's shop in New Haven, IN. For that shot, I used 41.6gr of VV160 and FED Large Magnum Rifle Match.
.22-35 works just fine w/ a standard .308 bolt face. Sinclair outfitted my Wichita w/ an M-16 style extractor.
I never had a failure to either feed or extract loaded cartridges or fired cases. Cartridge oal is compatible w/ my rifle's loading port, which is basically M-700SA equivalent.
.22-35 does operate w/ a LR primer, but that is no death sentence on accuracy. For many, the use of SR primered brass is viewed as an aid in helping expensive brass last longer before pockets loosen.
Despite my using fairly abusive cleaning procedures for the first couple years of the rifle's use, and an ill-advised cryo performed too late in the barrel's life......the Hart went 3,420 rnd before ever keyholing its first first bullet. Had I treated that barrel better, I have every confidence it could have made it to 4,000 rnds.
.22-35 met and exceeded my accuracy and terminal performance expectations on groundhogs
It was also a great target cartridge, for my use.
With regards,
.357Mag
