Wildcat Cartridges

Clymer Reamers announced at the 2010 Shot Show in Las Vegas that they would soon be shipping piloted chamber reamers that match up to the “West Coast” pattern.  They are also moving to the screw attachment for these reamers as apposed to the old spring clip style retainers.

Todd Wilms, Owner of Clymer is clearly proud of his products and rightfully so.  When he purchased the company almost five years he set about the work of moving the company to a new facility, rebuilding and replacing machines and in short looking at the entire operation with an eye toward improving the products they make.

Remington will offer 3 loadings to introduce this new cartridge.

Remington announced at the Shot Show 2009 that it would introduce a new cartridge for it’s AR platform. 

This cartridge is a 30 caliber on a shortened version of the 284 Winchester case, so it has a slightly rebated rim.  The rim diameter will be the same as a 308 or 30-06 as it appears now.  When asked about introduction a Remington Rep stated that the goal to have guns and ammo in stores is June of 2009.

It’s hard to come up with a new idea for a cartridge and even though Remington is in new territory here it is not unprecedented.  Frank C. Barnes, author of “Cartridges of the World” came up with the 308×1.5″ in the 1960’s.  This concept became the BR series of cartridges.  Remington has simply come up with a way to rework the BR concept to work in an AR-15 platform.  The advantage of the 30 AR is the increased case capacity allowed by the 284 case design.  By the way, the 450 Bushmaster is the same basic case based on preliminary information.

Factory load data for this short case indicate a 125 grain bullet at 2800 fps at the muzzle of a 24″ barrel.  It looks like case capacity will fall about half way between the 308×1.5″ and the 308 Winchester.  I have already started drawing my wildcats on this case.  Lets see what you guys can come up with?

The next new Item I saw in the Lapua booth at the Shot Show was a 300 grain Hollow Point Boat Tail Scenar bullet.  Intended for the 338 Lapua, reloading data is supplied on the technical specifications sheet for this new bullet.  Max velocity listed for the 338 Lapua with a 27.5″ barrel is 2746 fps.  They are available either loaded in Lapua ammunition, or in boxes of 100 as components.  According to the charts supplied, this huge 300 grain bullet when launched at 2700 fps still retains 1000 Ft. Lbs. of energy at a little over 1500 yards.

While we are talking about long range Lapua has also introduced new Drag Coefficient Data for QuickTARGET Unlimited TM.  Utilizing Doppler radar Lapua has collected data for all their bullets at various velocity levels.  Such data allows you to calculate trajectory more accurately that with simplified B.C. numbers.  The data is also available at the Lapua web site, WWW.Lapua.com

300 Grain Scenar Bullet alongside Lapua's new 222 Rem. Match brass.

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