Wildcat Cartridges

There has been a lot of noise and confusion around the 6.5 Grendel® and the similar cartridges that have sprung up around it. Two have surfaced that bear a closer look. The 6.5 BPC has become “the” bolt action chambering that can safely fire Grendel ammo. The differences in the chamber dimensions are minor; the 6.5 BPC was developed by Jim Borden and Dr. Louis Palmisano, the latter of PPC fame. The newest entry into this race is the 264 LBC-AR™ from Les Bear Custom, as the name implies this

Headstamped brass by Hornady

chambering is optimized for the AR platform. The biggest difference between these variations is that fact that the latter two are open use, in other words, anyone can chamber for them, like any factory cartridge.

Some sources call the BPC and the LBC cartridges “improved”. When you compare the drawings this is improved label is pretty hard to understand. There is little difference aside from the tolerances for case expansion, and the throat design. They do have a 30 degree shoulder verses a 28 degree shoulder on the Grendel, however, this will not provide any noticeable change in ballistics as the volume of the case is virtually unchanged. In fact, 2 degrees is barely outside the tolerance limits that most tool makers offer.

Ammo for the 264 LBC-AR

Black Hills Ammunition has new loads being built exclusively for Les Baer Custom at his request and with his assistance in load development. The .264 LBC-AR is loaded with a 123-grain Hornady A-Max bullet is available exclusively from Les Baer Custom. It’s designed for use in Les Baer Custom rifles as well as rifles of other manufacturers, and will also perform in rifles chambered for the 6.5 Grendel cartridge. The brass is produced by Hornady and head stamped .264 LBC-AR. Naturally this brass could be sized in a 6.5 BPC die and used for rifles so chambered.

Hornady fans have some new bullets to look at this year.  The ballistics boys at Hornady are in the process of building their line of expanding monolithic solid bullets, known as the GMX® Bullets.  This year they introduced the 6mm GMX®, weighing in at 80 grains. 

Constructed of Gilding Metal these bullets have been tested at a wide range of velocities for expansion.  Velocities from 2000 to 3400 feet per second have been tested the bullets expand up to 1.5 times their original diameter and still retain 95% of their original weight.

So why is this news?  Well, if your one of those folks who just has to use your 6mm for deer or antelope, this kind of bullet will penetrate deep and still shed energy in the target.

There are a few more of these bullets in the R&D phase right now.  The .257, .264 (6.5mm), and a .308 bullet for the 30-30 are expected to be the next in line to hit the market.  These are lead free bullets, so they will be good news for the left coast.

Recent additions to the NoslerCustom line of brass are the 25-06 and the 7mm-08.   For those of you who may not know the differences that Nosler brass offers, here is a quick run-down.

Nosler carefully checks thier brass, case mouths are chamfered adn deburred, flash holes are deburred and check for alignment.  The brass is all sorted by weight so that you get uniform brass in each box.  Considering the difference in price, its a pretty good deal and saves you lots of time at the loading bench performing tedius tasks.

Ammunition Accountability Legislation… Sounds like a good idea right?   Like most anti-gun laws the name is misleading.  The plan is to make guns illegal through the back door.  In the summer of 2008 when the Heller v. Washington D.C. decision was handed down by the Supreme Court the liberals knew they had to take a new route because they have lost on the issue of the Second Amendment, and private ownership.

Remember how Obama said that he wasn’t going to take your guns?  Well, it seems that his allies in the anti-gun world have no problem with taking your ammo! The bill that is being pushed in 18 states (including Illinois and Indiana) requires all ammunition to be encoded by the manufacture a data base of all ammunition sales. So they will know how much you buy and what calibers. If  it passes nobody can sell any ammunition afterwards unless the ammunition is coded.

Any privately held unencoded ammunition must be destroyed as a part of this proposed law. (Including hand loaded ammo.) They will also charge a .05 cent tax on every round so every box of ammo you buy will go up at least $2.50 or more!  That is just to start, how long do you think it will take for that tax to rise to the point that plinking and soon hunting are simply too expensive for the average person to participate in.  If they can deprive you of ammo they do not need to take your gun!

Reloading and therfore wildcatting would be a thing of the past.  You will not be able to buy bullets, cases, primers, powder.  All components will be gone because they would violate this law.  If you love reloading, if you love shooting, if you like wildcats, this is a death nail to your sport!

This legislation was active in 18 state legislatures in 2008 and will be reintroduced in 2009, call you state legislators and tell them to fight this bill when it pops up, don’t even let it out of committee!  The Following states considered this bill in 2008; Alabama, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Washington.

To find more about the anti-gun group that is sponsoring this legislation and the specific legislation for each state, go to: http://ammunitionaccountability.org/Legislation.htm

Explanation of the technology: http://ammunitionaccountability.org/Technology.htm

Quality Cartridge offers a wide variety of custom formed and headstamped brass.  For the first time there is a supplier who can make headstamped brass for your wildcat without having to order 10,000 rounds or more.  This interview gives you a pretty good idea of the brass and services available to you from Quality Cartridge.

http://www.qual-cart.com/

Well, pretty busy for a first day of the show. 

Found some time to get out on the show floor and look for things that might interest the wildcatters.  First stop the Lapua booth.  One of the reps asked me what I was interested in and I said, “Always looking for the new stuff.”

The first thing we looked at was the new Lapua 222 Rem. Match brass.  So, if you have always liked this cartridge or any of it’s offspring and just wished for better quality brass… Now you have it in the form of unprimed brass.  Lapua has a reputation for top quality components for reloaders, they are exceptionally strong and uniformity exceeds normal expectations by a fair margin.

The advantage of quality match grade brass is in the uniformity.  Lapua holds tight tolerances in neck concentricity, base straightness, and wall thickness.  These conditions along with quality brass, and proper grain structure make for a case that be reloaded over and over, while delivering excellent accuracy.

Loaded ammo is also available from Lapua in the 222 Remington Match case.  The current loading is with a Lapua 55 grain FMJ.

222 Rem Lapua Match brass