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If you could design a cartridge from scratch

I built a "True" Long Range Cartridge! Long Range Squirrel rifle cartridge that is. Lol
13gr of powder pushing a 40gr Vmax. My goal was to have a low powder, very low recoil, cheap to shoot but accurate round that could do a head shot on a squirrel at 150yds. It has worked out well and then some. I don't know that I can make the shot in the field but the cartridge and rifle definitely can. Plus side is it can also work on coyotes/fox/etc at decent distance. Runs around 3050fps with this load.
Middle pic is a 3 round group at 400yds.View attachment 472337

View attachment 472345
What is it?
 
The first wildcat I made was the .17 Mach IV which could accomplish the very same results. It was/is a hoot to shoot!

Remington actually brought it to market with just a minor name change. The popularity wasn't as good as expected even with factory ammunition. Mine still get used out to 500 yards.

:)
 
Currently working on a 375 RUM with case taper down to .006 TPI and shoulder moved ahead .044"
Hoping to shoot 390gr A-tips at 2900-2925 after it's all said and done. This is supposed to be a "Canadian compliant" ELR cartridge.

For hunting I did a 284 Win-Ackley. It comes up just shy of a 7 PRC.
 
Something like a 6.5 rpm or prc necked down to 6mm, and hornady design a 120ish grain eldm bullet for it.

It would mirror the 6UM but have factory ammunition available.
 
270 WSM brass is 2.100". 6.8 is 2.020". Neck length is 0.2765" on both of them. 270 holds 78.5 grains of water while the 6.8 holds 75.1 grains.

To me, it seems like a flat out suspension of disbelief to say the 6.8 out performs the 270 WSM.

.
No worries, it's easily explained. The .270 Winchester, the .270 Weatherby Magnum and .270 WSM all use a 1:10-inch twist rate, which won't stabilize most bullets heavier than 150 grains. Instead by using a 1:8-inch and 1:7.5-inch twist rate, a slightly shortened .270 WSM case allows the use of longer, sleeker heavier bullets in a short-action, same as the 270 WSM, but it's optimized case stabilizes 165, 170, and 175 grain .277 bullets driven at respectable velocities. The higher BC makes up for the small sacrifice in capacity allowing for longer range, and the better SD of all three heavier weights gives better results on game than the 150 gr 277. No suspension of disbelief required.
 
I promise I'll stop posting for a bit after this haha, but the other idea I've had is a modern old-school belted Weatherby magnum with the curvy shoulder. The .350 or 6.5 rem mag case necked down to .224" with a long neck and given that double radius shoulder and some freebore to let it scream. Monster .22 with some flare. I hope Weatherby makes this idiotic cartridge as it makes little practical sense but would be seriously impressive. Not past the realm of truly useless case size either, I read of .22-06 and .22 RSAUM (dubbed .220 redline), would be similar to the well known .22-284 wildcat as well. But I want that classic curvy shoulder and a weatherby headstamp 🤣

Here's your brass, design away!! ;)

The double radius is a Weatherby signature thing.
Testing has shown no difference between it and standard shoulder.
 
In 7mm wild cats, the 7mm Mashburn super is a necked down 300 Winchester with a LONG neck, what the 7 Rem mag should have been. With the 7mm Mashburn, 162's at 3200 fps is mid throttle, with 3350 being maxed out. This is one of those darn near perfect wild cats, since I have never had a problem with a Belted magnum since 1978.
 
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