Gents,
Currently in the gunsafe are a Winchester M70 Featherweight in 243W with a barrel approaching its use by date and a Rem BDL barrel chambered for 375H&H off another project. For a "cheap" brush rifle I'm considering having the bolt face opened and magazine/feed rails altered and the barrel rechambered for the wildcat 375/350 Rem Magnum. Has anyone done this before or can anyone foresee any problems? Anyone have experience with this wildcat? Any thoughts appreciated...
Con

C ! I think you just reinvented the .375/06 round ! Want to try for the .40/06 round .40/350rem ? Your 350rem.mag. case would make a better round for these 2 cal. ! JAGG

Gents,
Currently in the gunsafe are a Winchester M70 Featherweight in 243W with a barrel approaching its use by date and a Rem BDL barrel chambered for 375H&H off another project. For a "cheap" brush rifle I'm considering having the bolt face opened and magazine/feed rails altered and the barrel rechambered for the wildcat 375/350 Rem Magnum. Has anyone done this before or can anyone foresee any problems? Anyone have experience with this wildcat? Any thoughts appreciated...
Con

That sounds like a great dangerous game rifle for Boars or bears. But I forsee three possible problems:
a. Changing the feed rails requires a gunsmith or someone who truely understands the geometry of how feed rails work and what the right radii and angles are needed, so that the cartridge case to pushes forward and releases into the chamber. Rather that popping out and getting jammed up or falling out. Timing of this is very critical.
Due to the oddity of this cartridge, one could reasonability expect it to take a fair amount of trial and error. Done incorrectly you'll have a jam-o-matic, which would be really bad deal on this type of rifle. Really, what gunsmith do you know who is up to this challenge, would you trust you life on it, or how rigorously will he test it before you get it back? A friend of mine is quite good at this sort of thing, usually, but but his attempt to create a perfectly feeding Palma match rifle on a Ruger 77 action met with very poor results. Now he says he'll never use another action, other than a pre 64 m70 winchesters. Why? Because they work perfectly all the time and Rugers... well ....don't. I lost that bet when I challenged him on his claim with my Rugers and sure enough, when cycled really fast and without watching it, they were not 100 % reliable.
2. Where are you going to get load data, or will you create your own? Unavailability of load data kept me from doing a 6mm ackley improved.
3. I recommed studing what bullets you would use, and what velocities you expect to get, and what bullet seating depts you'll get. You could end up like a 6.5 rem mag, were when you seat the heavy bullets deep enough to fit the magazine, the powder capacity is reduced so much the ballistics fall off.

Good luck on your project.

Con,

Your idea is a close approximation of the .416 and .375 Beartooth wildcats developed by the folks on this website!

Check out

http://www.beartoothbullets.com/tech_notes/archive_tech_notes.htm/7

for a good read!! These wildcats are specifically designed for lever rifles and their constraints, so with your bolt rifle these cartridges are a minimum base line for what you can expect in the way of balistic performance.

Let us know how your experiment works out!!

Lobo in West Virginia

Gents,
Currently in the gunsafe are a Winchester M70 Featherweight in 243W with a barrel approaching its use by date and a Rem BDL barrel chambered for 375H&H off another project. For a "cheap" brush rifle I'm considering having the bolt face opened and magazine/feed rails altered and the barrel rechambered for the wildcat 375/350 Rem Magnum. Has anyone done this before or can anyone foresee any problems? Anyone have experience with this wildcat? Any thoughts appreciated...
Con

GOOD IDEA, but why not just neck up a 358 Winchester to .375"??

I think maybe a .375/358W is more likely to work in your Winchester short action... Your rifle was available at one time in 358Win.

Paco Kelley did a kinda' sorta' similar conversion to a lever action Winchester 94 Big Bore by using the rimmed version of the 358W (356Win) to turn it into a BETTER .375Win, and still work within the pressure limits of his Winchester Lever action. He improved the case capacity with a few tweaks along the way, so it might be worth reading...
The article is on the link below.

THE NEW KID ON THE BLOCK... THE 375/356 ULTRA IMPROVED.....

http://www.leverguns.com/articles/paco/375-356.htm

"......my new case held 53.5 grains of 748 for a top load under a the 200 gr.375 bullet and gave over 2474 fps in a 20 inch barrel. A 474 fps jump over the .375BB. Just under my 358 Win Ruger bolt gun which gives over 2600 fps with the same weight .358 slug and 748."


Hodgdon's website shows a 358W load delivering very close to 2400fps with the 250gr Hornady with a long barrel. Remember, the original 375H&H Cordite loads delivered a 250gr bullet @ 2500fps with somewhat long barrels too, and they took a lotta' game with those tropical loads. You might be able to duplicate it with a slightly improved & necked up non-magnum Winchester cartridge that should feed more reliably than any fat magnum cartridge in your short action Winchester - besides, it's a Winchester cartridge! ;)

If you want to duplicate the modern 375H&H Loads, you might have to go with one of the magnums for short actions...
Here's the Winchester (WSM) & Remington SAUM as well as the old 350 Rem Mag... My guess, is the non-belted mags might feed more easily and also be easier to reload... In fact, it might be a lot easier to BUY a new rifle already chambered for a Short Mag and just replace the barrel while necking it up?

GOOD LUCK! :)

http://stevespages.com/jpg/cd300winchestershortmagnum.jpg

http://stevespages.com/jpg/cd300remingtonsaum.jpg
http://stevespages.com/jpg/cd350remingtonmagnum.jpg

Your idea is a sound one. Those rounds have been done before. Do not let the talk of feed angles and jam-a-matics dissuade you. I don't believe that it will be too hard to get to feed.

Yes, you have recreated the 375/06 ballistically, and a .400 or .411 would work as well. Better on the .350 case than they did on the '06 case because of the belt to headspace on if needed. Actually, the .400 Whelen has suffered bad press due to bad dies instead of any fault of the cartridge as originally drawn out.

As far as a 375/358W I love the .358 Win round and have owned a couple rifles so chambered but the .350 case is a better one for this project.

There is a fellow who posts on here I think that came up with a 416 on the .350 Case. Ken Waters took the idea and clled it the .416 Express. Bullberry (Contender and Encore barrels as well as bolt gun work) calls it the .416 Lockhart. A very interesting round to say the least.

Sean

I have a 375-300 WSM and really enjoy it. With the Barnes 235 XLC's it will safely do 2790 fps for 4060 ft./lbs. And just in case a cape buffalo wanders up I worked up a load with the 300 gr. Hornady Interlock round nose. It will move out at 2440 fps for 3965 ft./lbs. of energy five yards from the muzzle. Not bad from a short mag!

Another good option would be a .375/284. No bolt face alterations, also smoother feed, due to not having the belt, and only .5 CC's less case capacity

Lee L..

I believe this 'cat is called the .375 Taylor. 'Dito

I think the 375 Taylor is a 338 Win Mag or 458 Win Mag necked up/down to .375 caliber.

Alyeska.......oops. I owe you an apology. You are right on the money. Thanks for keeping me honest. 'Dito

Not for short actions but you're getting into the ballistic equivilents of the 9.3x62.

Eric

Not for short actions but you're getting into the ballistic equivilents of the 9.3x62.

Eric
I've always liked the 9.3x62 but hunted with a short 350 RM for years. I like the short bolt throw, the stiffer action, and the lighter wieght of the gun. I just thought it would be nice to have something in the lenght of cartridge I'm used to that could handle much larger game. The 9.3x62 has an excelent reputation as a gamegetter. Also the 375 H&H origional balistics had the 300 gr. bullet at 2400fps. Many profesional hunters still download the H&H to the 2400fps to "improve" the killing power. The rags say the faster 375's are better killers but I've read otherwise rom the people in the gamefields.

... Also the 375 H&H origional balistics had the 300 gr. bullet at 2400fps. Many profesional hunters still download the H&H to the 2400fps to "improve" the killing power. The rags say the faster 375's are better killers but I've read otherwise from the people in the gamefields.

Right on! There was a 270gr H&H Velopex Bullet offered too and it went 2500fps.

GOOD LUCK! ;)

http://www.huntershouse.dk/vaaben/hh_brochure/HH-kat.-1910--54_l.gif

J.D. Jones has one out and calls it the .41Whammy. It's a necked up .350Remington Magnum. Can be had in the XP-100 or Encore. It's a real brute in a handgun!

I was planning a 375-338,then a 375-350 ,
then I looked into the 376 Styer, And one day browsing on "Gun Broker" I run across a Mauser 3000 In VG condition ,Which it is ,maybe better 7& 3/4 lb.s ,And I traded a 270 win. in a 77 Ruger for.
I very happy with this gun. (It Kicks)