I'm hoping some of you with more chambering experience can help me out. In the last few weeks I've heard three diffrent stories of smiths whacking off the back end of a barrel chambered for an -06 case lenght cartridge and making an instant wildcat. IE 270-308 (or 270 Sabi.) What I don't get is how this is possible. All the chamber drawings I've seen show a taper to the case body, AI rounds blow this taper out, so if you whack off the back of a tapered tube, there is no way the new end will be the same diameter. Physics says so. So how is the bolt face correct without cleaning up the chamber with the apropriate reamer? I'll grant you you could use a pilotless reamer and leave the neck/leade/throat alone, but the body would have to be cut to the new cartridge dimension.

So, if anyone can help me I'd apreciate it.

Ron

Just because it's a wildcat, doesn't make it an AI version of same.....

I understand it doesn't make it an AI. I utilized the AI reference to demonstrate that the case taper was there.

Ron

Well...............never heard of a 'smith doing that before. Usually, they will remove about 1" off the breech end and ream to the cartridge dimension. This can clean up the old chamber and re-establish the proper case taper, plus clean up the throat.

Have never gone from a standard length (30-06) chamber to a smaller one, though. All mine have gove the other way.

noyb72,
Very few wildcats are merely the front end of a larger cartridge, so the situation you described won't come up very often. The object of most wildcats is to get a wildcat not a pussy cat, so they tend to go larger. I have cut a 25-06 barrel down to 257 Bob and cut surplus Springfield barrels down to 300 Sav. and 30-30. In both cases the procedure was as described by kdub.

OK

Maybe the costomer didn't understand what the 'smith was doing and just said what they thought happened. Everything you guys are saying makes sence to me.
Ron