30 cal wildcat

[Jason_A]

I want to build a 30 cal wildcat to shoot ELR. I will probably shoot the 195 Warner Tool pills. I have a 300 win mag, but want to try a wildcat. Considered a 30 Nosler but brass is murderously expensive. Same with the 30-28 Nosler. To be clear I will be doing my own chambering and will send dummy rounds for a reamer and dies.

Not interested in a norma or Lapua based cartridge for this build due to custom action requirement.

I have considered a 30-375 Ruger and have read a little about the 30 boo boo but don’t know much about it. My goal is to have a round that’s modestly above 300 win mag in case capacity that has good availability of not extremely expensive platform brass. I don’t mind neck turning but would avoid fire forming. I might do hydroforming if it provided a round of tremendous advantage for my goal.

Dave Tooley, you listening lol???

As others have been getting at its tough to go bigger than a 300 win, with brass costing significantly less than 30 nos..

I say just pick whatever your favorite cartridge would be and be kind to the brass it will likely outlast your barrel.

 

[Jr solocam]

Dakota brass is always available and it will exceed 300 Win performance wise. No love for these well designed cartridges....

 

[Michael O'Connor]

The .338 Blaser Mag. and the 7mm Blaser Mag. both have brass in the US but there is only the Rimmed (RWS) version available in .30 cal. from Huntington's. It has less capacity at 75 grains approximately. For the time being, I can neck down the .338 or neck up the 7mm version to get the .30 caliber cases. On the other hand though, finding the time to accommodate all of these 'new' projects is becoming a problem.

The 7mm Blaser Magnum is a shorter case at (2.35") than the 300 Blaser Factory aammo.The 300 Blaser can only be handloaded new with necked down 338 Blaser brass.
Although a necked up 300-7mm Blaser would be a great wildcat cartridge case for long hybrids or solids in standard long action magazines, and would not take up valuable powder space. You would get better barrel life and may be within 50 FPS of the 30 Nosler without the additional recoil.

 

[Michael O'Connor]

Dakota brass is always available and it will exceed 300 Win performance wise. No love for these well designed cartridges....

Dakota Brass is now made by Hornady, and has a larger ~.545" Jeffrey bolt face diameter. It is expensive and marginal quality brass. I don't know what your powder or COAL requirements are, but I certainly wouldn't use a dinosaur cartridge case unless I was buying a Dakota model 76.

 

[Michael O'Connor]

Why not a 300 WSM AI improved

That would not be much of an improvement for the probable added cycling problems. You would have to go long action with no benefits to cycle hybrid or long bullets and then the WSM doesn't have the powder capacity for heavy bullets with appreciable velocity.

 

[Jr solocam]

Dakota Brass is now made by Hornady, and has a larger ~.545" Jeffrey bolt face diameter. It is expensive and marginal quality brass. I don't know what your powder or COAL requirements are, but I certainly wouldn't use a dinosaur cartridge case unless I was buying a Dakota model 76.

Per MidwayUSA cost per round:

300 Dakota - $2.15 (cheaper when buying through Dakota)
30 Nosler - $2.35 to $2.80
300 Norma - $2.12 to $2.80
300 RUM - $1.62 to $2.25
30-378 Wby - $2.05 to $3.68

My personal load is 7828ssc with 215 Berger and 3.60" OAL @ 2975 fwiw... bolt face has no bearing on this...
It is not expensive when compared to similar rounds. Both Hornady and Norma have made Dakota brass. So it is a dinosaur because why? Because it was beltless 30 years ago? Please explain.

 

[Shawnba67]

300prc not a cat, but pretty much the 30-375

 

[Kurz]

It's unfortunate, a 2-year old thread with great information and the original poster has not been back since making the first starter post.