Fiftydriver
Official LRH Sponsor
Its been quite a while since i posted here and need to get back into the community. Figured it would be a good opportunity by announcing two new wildcats i have released his past year. These are in my new Stalker line of wildcats designed to be used with my new STALKER line of rifles. These are lighterweight designes that will compliment my medium and heavy RAPTOR line of rifles. Will post on the new rifle models shortly but this is about the Stalker wildcats.
Initially, i have three members of my Stalker line of wildcats, 25 Stalker, 26 Stalker and 27 Stalker. The design purpose of these wildcats is to replace my older 257 and 6.5 Allen Magnum and to offer a better design compared to my 270 Allen Magnum. The 257 and 6.5 AM chamberings are discontinued. Will still offer the 270 AM if wanted.
The reason for the new wildcats is because the parent case, 338 RUM, used on the 257 and 6.5 AM became impossible to find in recent years. With norma making their 7mm and 300 RUM brass, i will still offer the 270 AM.
My Stalker line of wildcats are based on the great new 300 Norma Magnum case. Basically a 338 lapua case shortened to 2.5" in length. When this case is necked down and fireformed to my APS shoulder and case body design, it has roughly the same capacity of the 257 and 6.5 Allen Magnum case design and around 5 grains less capacity compared to the 270 Allen Magnum.
The case however is a much more efficent design so i predicted that i would meet or exceed the old wildcats with the new STALKER design. The shorter length would make it easier to fit into conventional length mag boxes as well.
Last fall i started testing the 27 Stalker. The test rifle was also my first prototype STALKER Hunter rifle. With 26" fluted barrel and detachable mag system, this rifle has a 7.5 lb bare rifle weight. Very portable rifle.
This original prototype rifle had a Bartlein 10 twist barrel so started testing with the 150 gr. Berger Hunting bullet. Using RL33 i was easily able to hit 3450 fps with very good accuracy even out to 1000 yards. I took the rifle to Sask. Canada last fall to hunt with Northern Giants Trophy Outfitters and on day three was able to harvest a great buck. Distance was only around 300 yards.
While the 150 gr. Berger did the job nicely, penetration was quite lacking, not a surprise at this relatively short distance. So when i got home i decided to test the 170 gr. Berger Elite Hunter. This bullet in my old 270 Allen Magnum could be driven to 3400 fps in a 30" barrel so i was curious to see what this 26" barreled Stalker rifle would do. Being a 10 twist i was not sure what level of long range accuracy we would see.
Again using RL33, i was able to drive this bullet to a legit 3300 fps with comfortable pressures. Figured this pretty much would match the old 270 Allen Magnum for performance. Tested the rifle through the summer of 2018 and was very impressed with the ballistic performance and accuracy of the rifle even out to 1050 yards.
Still, all production rifles will use the 9 twist barrels just to make sure there are no stability issues in any conditions.
In the fall of 2018 i have another hunt booked with Northern Giants and in September, they called me reporting on a big typical they had been seeing in a certain part of the ranch on game cameras. However, this area would not lend itself to long range shooting. I decided this would be a good opportunity to test the 129 gr. Barnes LRX on big game at some serious velocities.
Testing this bullet with RL33 produced 3700 fps easily. I am sure it would do 3750 fps with no issues but there was no reason to push the norma brass any harder. I prefer more case life over another 50 fps. Velocity spreads were sub 20 fps so fine for my needs, i was worried about this with the relatively light bullet and large powder charge. Accuracy and ballistic performance out to 1100 yards was quite impressive as well.
Here is a pic of the 27 Stalker on the right and 300 RUM on left.
When the time came for the hunt, it was warm and rainy by canadian standards, the deer just were not moving. On the third morning of the hunt, we got a call from another guide in the ranch that was doing some scouting and he said he had seen the big typical bed down in a brush filled valley on the far side of the ranch. We ran over and parked a ways off from where the buck had been seen and then walked to the rim of the valley so see if we could spot the buck.
Took a little while but finally found him and was able to set up for a shot to take him in his bed. At just under 300 yards, i centered his shoulder with the 129 gr LRX and broke the off side shoulder on exit. The buck simply rolled over in his bed and gave a few kicks. Good test for the light barnes bullet.
All in all, very happy with the 27 Stalker. Easily does everything the old 270 Allen Magnum did but in a much more compact design with much better brass. Have recently been testing a new US made brand of brass thats even better then norma so numbers should increase slightly and case life even better then the already great case life. The 27 Stalker will be available in all my Raptor and Stalker model rifles with dies in stock ready to go!!
Initially, i have three members of my Stalker line of wildcats, 25 Stalker, 26 Stalker and 27 Stalker. The design purpose of these wildcats is to replace my older 257 and 6.5 Allen Magnum and to offer a better design compared to my 270 Allen Magnum. The 257 and 6.5 AM chamberings are discontinued. Will still offer the 270 AM if wanted.
The reason for the new wildcats is because the parent case, 338 RUM, used on the 257 and 6.5 AM became impossible to find in recent years. With norma making their 7mm and 300 RUM brass, i will still offer the 270 AM.
My Stalker line of wildcats are based on the great new 300 Norma Magnum case. Basically a 338 lapua case shortened to 2.5" in length. When this case is necked down and fireformed to my APS shoulder and case body design, it has roughly the same capacity of the 257 and 6.5 Allen Magnum case design and around 5 grains less capacity compared to the 270 Allen Magnum.
The case however is a much more efficent design so i predicted that i would meet or exceed the old wildcats with the new STALKER design. The shorter length would make it easier to fit into conventional length mag boxes as well.
Last fall i started testing the 27 Stalker. The test rifle was also my first prototype STALKER Hunter rifle. With 26" fluted barrel and detachable mag system, this rifle has a 7.5 lb bare rifle weight. Very portable rifle.
This original prototype rifle had a Bartlein 10 twist barrel so started testing with the 150 gr. Berger Hunting bullet. Using RL33 i was easily able to hit 3450 fps with very good accuracy even out to 1000 yards. I took the rifle to Sask. Canada last fall to hunt with Northern Giants Trophy Outfitters and on day three was able to harvest a great buck. Distance was only around 300 yards.
While the 150 gr. Berger did the job nicely, penetration was quite lacking, not a surprise at this relatively short distance. So when i got home i decided to test the 170 gr. Berger Elite Hunter. This bullet in my old 270 Allen Magnum could be driven to 3400 fps in a 30" barrel so i was curious to see what this 26" barreled Stalker rifle would do. Being a 10 twist i was not sure what level of long range accuracy we would see.
Again using RL33, i was able to drive this bullet to a legit 3300 fps with comfortable pressures. Figured this pretty much would match the old 270 Allen Magnum for performance. Tested the rifle through the summer of 2018 and was very impressed with the ballistic performance and accuracy of the rifle even out to 1050 yards.
Still, all production rifles will use the 9 twist barrels just to make sure there are no stability issues in any conditions.
In the fall of 2018 i have another hunt booked with Northern Giants and in September, they called me reporting on a big typical they had been seeing in a certain part of the ranch on game cameras. However, this area would not lend itself to long range shooting. I decided this would be a good opportunity to test the 129 gr. Barnes LRX on big game at some serious velocities.
Testing this bullet with RL33 produced 3700 fps easily. I am sure it would do 3750 fps with no issues but there was no reason to push the norma brass any harder. I prefer more case life over another 50 fps. Velocity spreads were sub 20 fps so fine for my needs, i was worried about this with the relatively light bullet and large powder charge. Accuracy and ballistic performance out to 1100 yards was quite impressive as well.
Here is a pic of the 27 Stalker on the right and 300 RUM on left.
When the time came for the hunt, it was warm and rainy by canadian standards, the deer just were not moving. On the third morning of the hunt, we got a call from another guide in the ranch that was doing some scouting and he said he had seen the big typical bed down in a brush filled valley on the far side of the ranch. We ran over and parked a ways off from where the buck had been seen and then walked to the rim of the valley so see if we could spot the buck.
Took a little while but finally found him and was able to set up for a shot to take him in his bed. At just under 300 yards, i centered his shoulder with the 129 gr LRX and broke the off side shoulder on exit. The buck simply rolled over in his bed and gave a few kicks. Good test for the light barnes bullet.
All in all, very happy with the 27 Stalker. Easily does everything the old 270 Allen Magnum did but in a much more compact design with much better brass. Have recently been testing a new US made brand of brass thats even better then norma so numbers should increase slightly and case life even better then the already great case life. The 27 Stalker will be available in all my Raptor and Stalker model rifles with dies in stock ready to go!!
