I am trying to build a wildcat of conveniance. I have a small ring mauser action and a couple of remington takeoff barrels, one is a 300WM. Both barrels are magnums. I have been trying to get to a 308 caliber with fairly small case capacity to shoot lead bullets at relatively low velocities.
My plan is to shorten the barrel/chamber to the point that the id at the back of the chamber matches the base of the 284 and thread the barrel. Then utilize the existing chamber and neck of the 300wm. My calculations say that the overall will be in the 1.5" oal vicinity. I should end up with a 30br with a little more case capacity.
Can someone run this through thier program and see if my pressures will stay in the very low range. I do not want to push the action at all. Maybe a 180 to 200 grain lead bullet at 1000 to 1500fps.

I would like to help but fear I can not.

The 284 case is .500 at its widest point. A 300 Mag case is .513 on the widest point of the case prior to the belt. Now if you calculate to where the 300 case/chamber is cut off at the .500 case diameter then you still need to have a chamber slightly larger than the 284 case so it will have room to swell under fire.

Putting the above aside, you have a metric thread and shank for a small ring mauser. This is opossed to a large shank Remington thread for your barrel. Yes I am thinking depending on the barrel taper that one can cut the entire shank or most of it off, turn it down and re-thread as I have done it several times.

But why: $100.-$160. for a threaded,tapered,crown,chambered barrel in .308 Win that can be loaded down to around 30 carbine velocities. Not sure you can safely load an 06 capacity case(284) down that low. You can go to hornady.com and work this up from there ballistics pages.

Just an opinion

338

Welcome to the forum txjm. Rules are simple, be nice and join in. Sorry I can't help you out, I'm not much of a wildcat guy. Sounds like 338CE has done some of that though.

I have the barrel, action a lathe and I like to tinker. I am thinking I can do this for the cost of a 300wm die set and a bag of 284 brass. It is fun and a little different.
What I am attempting is to do is to end up with a 300wm neck and case taper shortened to about 1.5" with a 284 rebated rim. Cut the barrel off and rethread. Utilize the existing chamber.

Lead bullet 113gr using a max load of 19grs Unigue gets 2331 at 42,000 cup
150gr using a max load of 42.5 imr3031 gets 2522 at 34,100 cup
min load of 29 grs 3031 gets 1682 at 12,000 cup

This is load data from my 46th addition Lyman 1982 for the 30-06 which is pretty close to the same case capacity.

Keep us posted how the project works out.
338

txjm,

What you propose doesn't make any sense from an economic standpoint. You want to salvage a barrel and utilize its chamber to avoid expense, and then you are going to spend several hundred dollars for a custom chamber reamer and loading dies. The action is already compatible with .308 Winchester, just have it rebarrelled with a new barrel and you can buy everything else off-the-shelf.

FWIW, the ideal cartrdge for lead bullets at the proposed velocities is .30-30. So far as pressure is concerned, you should be able to get in the 1000-1500 range without exceeding 25,000 PSI. If you want to shoot 200 gr. bullets be sure to get a 10" twist barrel.

Here's a question for you, You are looking for a .308 @ 1000-1500 w/ fairly heavy bullets, why don't you just invest in a T/C contender in .300 whisper? For those of you who have never heard of it, it was invented by J.D Jones, and is the 221 fireball case blown out to accept .308 caliber bullets. From a 20" barrel it'll shoot 240-250 grain Sierras at just under 1050 fps. With a longer barrel and lighter bullets, 1500 fps would be no problem in it.

You also might check out Richard Lee's new second addition of his reloading manual. He's been working with Hodgen on reduced loads for lead bullet shooting and has a couple of new chapters devoted to just that. I found it very interesting reading.

"txjm,

What you propose doesn't make any sense from an economic standpoint. You want to salvage a barrel and utilize its chamber to avoid expense, and then you are going to spend several hundred dollars for a custom chamber reamer and loading dies. The action is already compatible with .308 Winchester, just have it rebarrelled with a new barrel and you can buy everything else off-the-shelf.

FWIW, the ideal cartrdge for lead bullets at the proposed velocities is .30-30. So far as pressure is concerned, you should be able to get in the 1000-1500 range without exceeding 25,000 PSI. If you want to shoot 200 gr. bullets be sure to get a 10" twist barrel.
__________________
CB Hunter "

What I propose requires not reamer. I propose to cut the chamber down to a shorter length and then utilize the exiting chamber. then trim 284 brass down to the proper length. The base of the 284 brass will contact the chamber walls when the chamber is about 1.3" shorter. The taper of the 284 and the 300wm is almost the same (doesn't matter) but when I overlay the 2 it is beautiful. Imagine a 300wm that the oal is 1.49" and instead of the belt it has the rebated rim of the 284. Now I have a reduced capacity case, no reamer cost, I can turn down a very common die to reload it with and the bolt face matches the rebated rim.

"Here's a question for you, You are looking for a .308 @ 1000-1500 w/ fairly heavy bullets, why don't you just invest in a T/C contender in .300 whisper? For those of you who have never heard of it, it was invented by J.D Jones, and is the 221 fireball case blown out to accept .308 caliber bullets. From a 20" barrel it'll shoot 240-250 grain Sierras at just under 1050 fps. With a longer barrel and lighter bullets, 1500 fps would be no problem in it."

I do have a 300 whisper and I love it. It is great on silhouettes and with light bullet it is great on whitetails. It is one of my favorite barrels. I just love tinkering and I have the parts to try this.

Go for it and have fun. I love tinkering in the shop and if you have the tools it's great. Do check out the new Lee manual on reduced loads though, I found it really interesting reading.

"Go for it and have fun. I love tinkering in the shop and if you have the tools it's great. Do check out the new Lee manual on reduced loads though, I found it really interesting reading.
__________________
Bob from Idaho "


Thanks
Is the manual online and is it a section in the main manual? I use a couple of different reduced loads for the kids.
txjm

My old hunting partner bought mine for my Birthday at Cabela's and it was 15 bucks. Richard Lee has been developing a system for reduced powder loads in conjunction with Hodgens whom has been doing the pressure testing for him.

It's two new chapters in his second reloading manual. He has about three pages of loads for the 30-30, 308 and 30-06 and a description how to develop loads for about any centerfire tossing lead or jacketed reduced loads. Chapters 9, 10 and 11

His method seems to clear up a lot of misconceptions on loading of lead bullet loads. I found it really interesting and good reading. The pressure testing and how pressure is related to the hardness of the lead is one of the keys to really successful low velocity loads.

I have a piece of brass. I bought a 300WM lee die set. I trimmed a bunch off the bottom. The dies have a very hard case hardening on the surfaces. I don't have an extension shell holder so I turned the body of the die down some so it would screw down farther than it should. Now I have a die to form cases with. I think I am going to try Imperial Sizing Wax. It takes a lot to size the cases when you are that far down into the body. My jr wouldn't do it. It took effort with the Rockchucker. Does anyone know where I can find a short fat bushing neck sizer die. I may go to the wilsons. I should be able to space below the case and use a 300WM set since you have to tap it out anyway???? I have a generic deprimer and I have my forming die.

I have the barrel trimmed to length and I am ready to cut threads. Hopefully next weekend. I have been practicing making threads.

I am curious to see what happens on fire forming (no bullet). I need to get a nice straight neck so that I can turn it or ream it, the neck wall is a little thick.

I hopefully will attach a sketch of the case.

The dimensions on the attachment are fuzzy and the front dimension realy didn't transfer well it is .489 not .409. I guess that is what happens when it get saved as a couple of different file types since the solid modeling software.

I have shot this wildcat a couple of times now. 130G jacketed, 180G jacketed and 200G lead. So far the lead is awesome. See attached. This project has been fun and relatively inexpensive. Barrel - free 300WM shortened. No reamer. Dies - standard lee 300wm cut down. Inside neck reamer for the donuts. Lots of work to shorten 284 brass. Thanks for info on this site.

Nice work, something for nearly nothing. You learned more smiting and cartridge design in the process.

I tinkered with mini-Mausers for a big lead bullet thrower, but the numbers just made little sense since I had to buy all the rifle components and custom dies, reamers, and hire the work. Neat tiny actions.

If starting from nothing one has to ask why not just the Kimber for size and weight? If starting as you did with a whole rifle that just needed to come together one has to ask why not?

Fireplug