224 Ackley Improved Super Varminter, anyone know of this?

[DMascari]

A gunsmith friend of mine recently acquired a rifle in this caliber. 224 Ackley Improved Super Varminter. It came with one dummy and is apparently based off the 257 Roberts case as a parent. Anyone ever heard of it? Any information is greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Dominic

 

[40X Guy]

If based off of a .257 Roberts case, then its about the same cartridge as a .224 Texas Trophy Hunter or otherwise known as a .22-6MM Ackley Improved. A real screamer! Is this rifle a slow or a fast twist barrel?

Frank

 

[13red56]

I think a 224 Clark is also based off of the 257 Roberts. I have thought about building one before but 257 Roberts brass is fairly scarce in my neck of the woods.

 

[CatShooter]

I think a 224 Clark is also based off of the 257 Roberts. I have thought about building one before but 257 Roberts brass is fairly scarce in my neck of the woods.

It is the same as 6mm Remington. It is easy to make 224 Clark cases.

 

[13red56]

I think a 224 Clark is also based off of the 257 Roberts. I have thought about building one before but 257 Roberts brass is fairly scarce in my neck of the woods.

It is the same as 6mm Remington. It is easy to make 224 Clark cases.

Oh well then I may have to invest in a reamer then. I didn't know it was that close/simple

 

[SDWhirlwind]

I was under the impression that the 224TTH is based on a necked down 6mm case and IS NOT improved? My understanding was that it was/is throated for long bullets and that was what differentiated it from the regular 22/6mm? Is this not correct?

 

[Eddie Harren]

Dennis, you are correct.

 

[Catfish]

To bad your not close to me. I have a Savage in 224 TTH and a spare barrel for it. I also have a PTG reamer for the Ackley imp version that I picked up on Midway close outs. It you build a 224 TTH don`t shoot it with a hot barrel. I burned up my first barrel in about 800 round by not keeping it cool.

 

[SDWhirlwind]

Dennis, you are correct.

Thanks Eddie for making me feel smart for the day. Seems I forget more than I retain nowdays! LOL

 

[Eddie Harren]

Dennis, I would say, "It gets better as you get older". I think you are aware of that. Have a great holiday season, DocEd.

 

[dedogs]

DMascari, We need some more information. What exactly does it say on the headstamp of the dummy cartridge. Also what type of rifle and any information stamped on the barrel. A guy by the name of J.B. Gebby patented the name "Varminter" back in the late thirties/early forties. (Can't remember) Anyway he had a number of "Varminter" cartridges one of which was his "Senior Varminter", a cartridge that used the .257 Roberts as the parent case. There is nothing in the literature (that I can find at the moment) that indicates that any of the experimenters back in the day built a cartridge like you describe although it is possible that some gunsmith decided to just take a .257 Improved case and necking it down to .22 decided to give the cartridge this name. There was a great deal of experimenting going on back in the thirties and forties and almost every gunsmith had his own version of what ever the popular cartridge of the day was. It would be interesting to know more of the history of the rifle. dedogs

 

[thekriebles]

I was unable to find in several of his books any P.O. Ackley wildcat creation of his own that he actually called the 224 Ackley Improved Super Varminter. I’m not implying he didn’t create it; I just can’t find any listing of that wildcat cartridge name referenced by Mr. Ackley.

I agree with dedog’s post above. J.B. Gebby did have several "Varminter" wildcats that he designed. One of them, the Senior Varminter, used the 257 Roberts as its parent case. Therefore, I believe someone wanted to “improve” the Senior Varminter with an Ackley-improved shoulder and called it the 224 Ackley Improved Super Varminter.

I'm very interested to know any additional information that your gunsmith or you may find about the wildcat cartridge.

 

[DMascari]

Thanks for all then info folks. As it turns out this was just a set of dies he bought from some old timer that came with one loaded round. Not a rifle, my mistake. The dies are from Hollywood gun shop, 22 gebsrse are what's stamped on the dies. The box says 224 ack imp Sr varminter.

 

[dedogs]

Good post, maybe it will generate some more info...