belted magnums good bad or just ugly?

[just country]

morning, Roy Weatherby made millions off the belt.
dispatched game animals small and very large.
any questions. justme gbot tum

 

[del2les]

A dead horse and all that.

 

[therifleman556]

 

[can1010]

View attachment 152256

that has to be the best one yet
I will be laughing all day at that one

 

[kraig]

I didn't find out until after my son built a 7mag that shoots .3 on a regular basis that belted magnums are suppose to be so bad. We reload and resize based on the shoulder so the brass doesn't get over worked and have yet to have any problems other than reading posts about how bad belted mags are. We are up to 7 reloads on some cases. So we love belted mags.

 

[Frank in the Laurels]

Never had any big game animal I shot at come check the casing...why..cause they were dead !!

 

[crkckr]

There's nothing wrong with the belt, other than that first stretch to fit the chamber, probably a bit more than a non-belted case but after that, it's meaningless... and useless. It's a holdover from days gone by and is simply not necessary. Were I starting out today, I would go with the .338 RUM instead of the .338 WM I currently own. I am certainly not going to get rid of my .338 WM to rush out and buy a RUM! Even if I could afford to do that...
Cheers,
crkckr

 

[swe123]

More marketing "stuff" to convince you you need a new gun.

 

[aushunter1]

Belted cases are not bad like many people say, Actually They are very versatile Because they can be loaded several ways. (To use the belt, or the shoulder to head space off of.
They are also the easiest to wildcat because the belt can be safely used to fire form with and then the wildcat can be used ether with the belt or the shoulder By different sizing procedures.

There is no accuracy loss with a belted case if a person is a good Re loader just like the shouldered cases, And with the belt they are stronger in the primer pocket area due to the increased thickness.

I find no fault in belted case and the only downside is case capacity for the same outside diameter. Many of my most accurate rifles are based on belted cases.
Accuracy mostly depends on the hand loaders skill, not the design of the case.

J E CUSTOM

There's nothing wrong with the belt, other than that first stretch to fit the chamber, probably a bit more than a non-belted case but after that, it's meaningless... and useless. It's a holdover from days gone by and is simply not necessary. Were I starting out today, I would go with the .338 RUM instead of the .338 WM I currently own. I am certainly not going to get rid of my .338 WM to rush out and buy a RUM! Even if I could afford to do that...
Cheers,
crkckr

So my question to both of you, in particular probably to crkcrk because of your comments re 'meaningless & useless' & 'its a handover from days gone by'.
So me as a hunter that has never owned or reloaded for a belted cartridge why would I go out & buy a rifle in a belted cartridge where there are many equivalent rimless options available??

Im wondering why if it is such a defunct design why they are even still available??

 

[mmgravy]

Please enlighten our members on any good and not so good experiences with belted magnum cases

Never had a bad experience due to the belt!!

 

[J E Custom]

So my question to both of you, in particular probably to crkcrk because of your comments re 'meaningless & useless' & 'its a handover from days gone by'.
So me as a hunter that has never owned or reloaded for a belted cartridge why would I go out & buy a rifle in a belted cartridge where there are many equivalent rimless options available??

Im wondering why if it is such a defunct design why they are even still available??

They are still alive and kicking. And in many cases better for dangerous game because of the safety factor they offer to the hunter. There are many very popular cartridges that are belted and the chances of them being replaced are slim to none.
The only reason manufactures tend to come out with shouldered cases is the fact that the belted case have more steps to form the brass and that makes the belted cases cost more to produce.

When I hear someone say that belted case are bad and they wouldn't have one, I just assume that they don't know the value of the design and its purpose. I have all of the different designs of cartridges and some are better than others for certain uses. There are many different designs that require different ways to set head space. The belt is just one of them.

One of the unusual cartridges that a belt is used to solve another problem is the 450 Marlin. It is a straight sided case that uses a belt to head space instead of the case mouth (Like the 45 ACP that requires constant trimming to keep the head space constant) This was a very good way to solve an old problem Without having to go to a rimed case and having the feeding problems associated with rimed cases.


They also are the easiest to wildcat because you don't have to do a false shoulder or jam the bullet in to the lands to fire form. I have fire formed cases that were 103 grain capacity to 119 grains with zero problems with pressure and trouble. another wild cat based on a case capacity of 122 grains to 144. (No problems) Some times firing forming a non belted can be dicey if you don't know much about fire forming
wildcats.

J E CUSTOM

 

[crkckr]

The belts are useless antiques, simply unnecessary today. The sky will not fall if buy one, however. Load it right and it will serve just fine. They're not "bad" just ugly! They offer no advantage nor disadvantage, they are just something not needed today, so why would anyone bother with them? There are more modern cartridges available that offer (mostly slight but real) advantages, such as the RUM family. Just my opinion, worth what you pay for it!
Cheers,
crkckr

 

[Predator 22]

Theirs nothing wrong with a belt, but no advantage either. After getting the case formed you headspace off the shoulder anyway making the belt irrelevant. It does not add any strength to the primer pocket when compared to the same size bolt face cartridges (.532 vs .532) and has less case capacity than a non-belted case. Some people have reported belted cases expanding or bulging just above the belt but I have no first hand knowledge of that.
After saying all of that would I turn down a belted gun? No way! Belted cartridges are capable of equal accuracy of non-belted cartridges.

 

[crkckr]

Ah, thank you predator, you reminded me of another description of a belted case, irrelevant! Cases should be in belts, not have belts on them! Unless you just gotta, in which case go for it! I don't think people will laugh at you just yet. Another 20 years? Maybe!
Cheers,
crkckr