Newlon blank, 416 staniless. Just ream and polish, no hardening or coating.
I did consider having it hardened or coated, I think it would just work a bit smoother but I haven't had any issues yet.
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Is it time for to me to give up on my wildcat?
- Thread starter Tac-O
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I did consider having it hardened or coated, I think it would just work a bit smoother but I haven't had any issues yet.
That was the first guy who i cut ties with and quite frankly he scares the hell out of me. Yes that action had about 1/16" or so taken off the face of the receiver, without me ok'ing it. I believe I even told him I wanted to be able to put the factory barrel back on. That was the start of my saga. I should have just ponied up in the first place and mailed my action to LRI or similar like I'd thought about doing.
If I get another die cut, I may go that route. Since PTG blanks are 4140 chromoly, I'd wondered if maybe my die is giving a bit since it's not hardened and isn't quite as hard as 416ss. I've seen Alex Wheeler mention that somewhere before, but he could have been referring to larger base cases, like 0.550 cases.
After calling a few folks that have good reputations about having a new die made with my reamer, I'm wondering if it would be more worthwhile to just buy a custom Hornady die rather than pay to have my reamer reground then pay about $300 to get the die made.
I've got 2 custom dies from Whidden (both cut off reamer prints) and I am incredibly happy with them. I've never used Hornady for custom dies.
After using the Whidden I don't know if I'll ever go the reamer route again.
This is the same line of thinking that sent me down the 338-284 rabbit hole. I'm still waiting for the barrel to show up, but I try not to think about how much cheaper 338-06 or 338 federal would have been…
I think that would be an awesome cartridge. So long as brass is available, you're good to go. After you get started, if you happen to use Peterson brass, let me know how it goes for you. I haven't had any issue with donuts in the Peterson 284 win, even after 12 reloads, but I do have big donuts with Lapua 284 win. I want to avoid neck turning and inside reaming, so I might stick with the Peterson if I keep going on this cartridge.
xsn10s
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Hopefully that won't happen again. But I think from now on be very specific about the work to be done. I would of had the smith pay for a replacement action on that one. As far as cutting your losses it's up to you. If it were my rifle I'd set it up with a common cartridge and be done with it. Something pretty utilitarian like a 308 win or 22-250. And then if you want to wildcat another rifle do it with a new action.
I've got a bunch of Peterson prepped for the project, I'll definitely share my results.
Update.
Ray at Manson measured my reamers, brass, and took a look at the die.
The chamber reamer measures in spec. It's good to go. The expansion ring (largest diameter) is at 0.260 instead of 0.200. He said that because the reamer measures in spec , the only way for the brass to be that large at that point is an oversized chamber or really over pressure loads, which there doesn't seem to be evidence of the latter.
The resize reamer is slightly out of spec at the 0.200 line. It measures at 0.4984, where it should be under 0.498. they will be fixing this dimension on the reamer. Fitting the resize reamer into the sizing die, he said he could wiggle the reamer, meaning that the die is larger than the reamer dimensions. So the sizing die is also cut oversized.
so, having a new die made with the fixed resize reamer should alleviate some issues I'm having. However , I'd have to have the barrel set back in order to fix the chamber dimension issue.
There's no answer for my cases growing 0.003/load, other than it happens and is likely just due to the sizing I'm doing. Going any smaller than a delta of 0.004 at the shoulder would likely give me extraction issues. Perhaps using a bushing die to not size the neck as much would help, but I'm only going from 0.341 fired to 0.333 sized. It's not huge difference.
I've got a Cortina Precision expander die that is being adjusted by them to allow the 30cal neck to enter unharmed. That die will definitely size my web down properly, at least it did on my 3x fired Lapua.
For now, I think I'm going to use Cortina's die to remedy my issues. I'm uncertain about having another die made right now ($300!) because I'm uncertain of the future of these reamers. They could become 30-284 shehane , or straight 30-284. The presence of the SAC modular dies and Cortina's dies makes my 40* shoulder and owning a resize reamer kinda dumb. I could go with a 30-284 shehane, have the same case capacity as now, and just be able to get a 284 shehane die from SAC or Cortina with the correct bushing for 30 cal. No need to call a million smiths about getting dies made with my reamer (it's more expensive and less common than I thought).
Cortina's machinist, Clay, said it may be possible to do a 40* 30 cal bushing for their 284 shehane die for my current chamber. That might be a good way to go. If I decide in the future to change my chamber reamer, I can either get a different bushing made or sell the die to a 284 shehane shooter.
Maybe I'll have an answer for myself by the time I burn this barrel out. I'm only at about 600 rounds on this one.
Ray at Manson measured my reamers, brass, and took a look at the die.
The chamber reamer measures in spec. It's good to go. The expansion ring (largest diameter) is at 0.260 instead of 0.200. He said that because the reamer measures in spec , the only way for the brass to be that large at that point is an oversized chamber or really over pressure loads, which there doesn't seem to be evidence of the latter.
The resize reamer is slightly out of spec at the 0.200 line. It measures at 0.4984, where it should be under 0.498. they will be fixing this dimension on the reamer. Fitting the resize reamer into the sizing die, he said he could wiggle the reamer, meaning that the die is larger than the reamer dimensions. So the sizing die is also cut oversized.
so, having a new die made with the fixed resize reamer should alleviate some issues I'm having. However , I'd have to have the barrel set back in order to fix the chamber dimension issue.
There's no answer for my cases growing 0.003/load, other than it happens and is likely just due to the sizing I'm doing. Going any smaller than a delta of 0.004 at the shoulder would likely give me extraction issues. Perhaps using a bushing die to not size the neck as much would help, but I'm only going from 0.341 fired to 0.333 sized. It's not huge difference.
I've got a Cortina Precision expander die that is being adjusted by them to allow the 30cal neck to enter unharmed. That die will definitely size my web down properly, at least it did on my 3x fired Lapua.
For now, I think I'm going to use Cortina's die to remedy my issues. I'm uncertain about having another die made right now ($300!) because I'm uncertain of the future of these reamers. They could become 30-284 shehane , or straight 30-284. The presence of the SAC modular dies and Cortina's dies makes my 40* shoulder and owning a resize reamer kinda dumb. I could go with a 30-284 shehane, have the same case capacity as now, and just be able to get a 284 shehane die from SAC or Cortina with the correct bushing for 30 cal. No need to call a million smiths about getting dies made with my reamer (it's more expensive and less common than I thought).
Cortina's machinist, Clay, said it may be possible to do a 40* 30 cal bushing for their 284 shehane die for my current chamber. That might be a good way to go. If I decide in the future to change my chamber reamer, I can either get a different bushing made or sell the die to a 284 shehane shooter.
Maybe I'll have an answer for myself by the time I burn this barrel out. I'm only at about 600 rounds on this one.
100%!!
Grab an 06, load Nozlers and go hunt...............life's easy unless we choose to make it hard
(which I can have done so many times in my life, make it hard that is)
This is why I am putting a a 308 win barrel on my other action
to get me through these frustrating venturesCorrect. I figure this barrel will probably go to 3000 being so similar to an '06. Im not sure if I can hold out that long.
I likely only have the funds to either get a new die or get the barrel set back. Probably not both. And likely neither one if I purchase a stock I've been wanting to get. I figure I'll see how it goes using Cortina's expander die once I get it back and then determine if I need to immediately fix anything else.
