.257 Graff Wildcat Rifle Knowlege

[srhinton]

Anyone ever hear of a .257 Graff wildcat? Have an opportunity to purchase a FN Mauser action chambered in .257 Graff. Have any of you ever had any dealings with this caliber? The rifle owner inherited it & does not know the history of the rifle. I am intrigued by it, but he has no ammo with it. I'm curious to its design & chambering. It has a aftermarket barrel on the FN action. The barrel is engraved ".257 Graff" then M.B. Graff below that, & that's it.
I cannot find any info on the wildcat design, nor any record of a gunsmith by that name. Please, anyone know of this gunsmith? Thanks in advance.
Shane

 

[OKyote73]

Sounds like some cerrosafe in your future! Good luck and keep us posted

 

[srhinton]

Yes, I have had to cast a few chambers before. I'm just not sure the current owner would allow me to cast this chamber. I have one more Avenue to explore. He has a set of dies with it. They are in an RCBS die box, labeled 240Weatherby. The dies themselves are stamped .257-G, but no manufacturer stamps anywhere. They kind of look like RCBS dies. I will call RCBS in the AM to see of they can help out. The mystery continues!

 

[NZ_Fclass]

Yes, I have had to cast a few chambers before. I'm just not sure the current owner would allow me to cast this chamber. I have one more Avenue to explore. He has a set of dies with it. They are in an RCBS die box, labeled 240Weatherby. The dies themselves are stamped .257-G, but no manufacturer stamps anywhere. They kind of look like RCBS dies. I will call RCBS in the AM to see of they can help out. The mystery continues!

I would be putting a 240WBY case in there and pulling the handle. And then you will have a 25/06 that is expensive to run...but a good hunting round, I suggest.

 

[std7mag]

If it has RCBS dies, i'd contact them for the blueprints. Or maybe contact PTG, or other reamer makers.
Those places have thousands of drawings & throw nothing like that away.

 

[Kurz]

Yes, I have had to cast a few chambers before. I'm just not sure the current owner would allow me to cast this chamber. I have one more Avenue to explore. He has a set of dies with it. They are in an RCBS die box, labeled 240Weatherby. The dies themselves are stamped .257-G, but no manufacturer stamps anywhere. They kind of look like RCBS dies. I will call RCBS in the AM to see of they can help out. The mystery continues!

Casting a chamber will have no ill effects on that chamber at all. Assure the owner of this.

You have no pertinent information regarding this chamber except for a couple of 'what ifs' regarding the markings on that set of dies. You need to cast the chamber to get the best representation of the chamber dimensions. It is also expedient, letting you see what the chamber actually looks like and measures without waiting for a drawing to be found and e-mailed to you. Guessing or jamming a case up into the chamber will not resolve the question of dimensions.

 

[srhinton]

I realize this, as I have cast a few chambers before. Trying to convince the owner of that is another story. I have put a car into RCBS, but they didnt even try to help with it. They told me they no longer make custom dies & if they had any records of past manufacture it would be in engineering & might take months to find. They really didnt even act like they wanted to help, which surprised me as I've always had great experiences with RCBS custemer service. I also have PTG looking into it, to see if they have a blueprint for a reamer in that chambering.
I'm still working on possibly casting the chamber. We will see where that leads. Just thought I'd give you an update. Wish I had a better update. Thanks for all the replies & info!

 

[srhinton]

Question for you guys. The rifle owner will not allow me to cast the rifles chamber on this. He will let me make a cast from the set of dies he has for it. Any downsides to doing it this way. I've never done it before. Anyone tried this, or see why it wont work?

 

[OKyote73]

Chamber on the rifle would be best, see if you could cast it with the owner present. If that's a no go then guess the dies are your only other option. Better than nothing and could at least determine parent cartridge on the dies...

 

[OKyote73]

Seems the rifle owner is not real interested in selling the rifle, patience might pay off in the long run as he will soon realize not a big selling point an "unknown" wildcat might be...

 

[wwbrown]

Maybe the gun owner will allow you to cast the sizing die, granted it will be a thousand or two less in size than the chamber it may give you the info you need.

 

[PigButtons]

If the gun is something you want you should buy it and then you can do with it as you please. Worst case you have to rebarrel it with something more main stream. Use the fact that it is a tomato stake ( though a beautiful one) without the effort to make it useful by either finding brass suitable, etc. But a nice FN Mauser action has value in itself.

 

[NorCalMikie]

Seems the rifle owner is not real interested in selling the rifle, patience might pay off in the long run as he will soon realize not a big selling point an "unknown" wildcat might be..

Patience IS a virtue. Still sounds very interesting.

 

[std7mag]

Question for you guys. The rifle owner will not allow me to cast the rifles chamber on this. He will let me make a cast from the set of dies he has for it. Any downsides to doing it this way. I've never done it before. Anyone tried this, or see why it wont work?

The downside.
Who's to say those dies actually are for THAT rifle?
Not saying the owner would intentionally mislead you. But it seems he likes wildcats, and this may not be the only one.

 

[swd]

Old Mauser's in one off wildcats aren't worth a whole lot especially if its a lot of work to make brass for. Figure in the price of a new barrel when you make him an offer. RCBS has probably made hundreds of thousands of custom dies over the years and most of them before computers so I'm not surprised they weren't willing to help. Hopefully the dies match the rifle. If they're the only thing you can cast do it. It would be nice to have an idea of the case dimensions before you buy it. I'd bore scope the barrel too.