Straight wall cartridge in bolt action?

[NickB1075]

Alright so it is a rainy Sunday and my wheels are turning. I was just curious if anybody has put any straight walled cartridge in a bolt gun? I have been wanting a 444 for some reason and thought it might be fun in a bolt gun, which then lead to me wanting a 41 rem mag in a small short barrel bolt gun. I know your all asking why but I am just thinking it would be fun, nothing more nothing less. Looking for input on where to start. Action choices/barrels anything is helpful and welcome.

Thanks
Nick

 

[Hal]

Remington made their 788 in 44 mag.
Years ago some guys use mauser actions for 45-70's

 

[Toolbreaker]

Ruger still makes bolt rifles in .44 mag. Might be worth looking one over if you can find one local to you.

http://www.ruger.com/products/77Series7744/models.html

 

[Ggmac]

Alright so it is a rainy Sunday and my wheels are turning. I was just curious if anybody has put any straight walled cartridge in a bolt gun? I have been wanting a 444 for some reason and thought it might be fun in a bolt gun, which then lead to me wanting a 41 rem mag in a small short barrel bolt gun. I know your all asking why but I am just thinking it would be fun, nothing more nothing less. Looking for input on where to start. Action choices/barrels anything is helpful and welcome.

Thanks
Nick

Made many and still do . 2 ways to do it , a coned or extractor cut barrel .
Straight walled cases require a extractor or coned like I said , a shoulder case can have the case exposed the same any chambering ,it's usually exposed as much as the bolt face recess plus .005 .
I still make Mauser small rings in 38 special , 45 acp ,and 45 long colt .
Feeding , now that's another story .
If you don't mind a cock on close , the SMLE is a good candidate for 444 .

 

[GaryL1959]

Alright so it is a rainy Sunday and my wheels are turning. I was just curious if anybody has put any straight walled cartridge in a bolt gun? I have been wanting a 444 for some reason and thought it might be fun in a bolt gun, which then lead to me wanting a 41 rem mag in a small short barrel bolt gun. I know your all asking why but I am just thinking it would be fun, nothing more nothing less. Looking for input on where to start. Action choices/barrels anything is helpful and welcome.

Thanks
Nick

Built a 444 on a 98 mauser a few years back. Used a 16 twist barrel, set it up with a magnum bolt. Took a lot of work and headscratching to get it to feed, but once I got it worked out, it's one of my favorite hunting rifles for everything from whitetails to hogs and black bears. Running a 300 grain XTP at 2700fps, it will get your attention when you touch it off.

 

[NickB1075]

Made many and still do . 2 ways to do it , a coned or extractor cut barrel .
Straight walled cases require a extractor or coned like I said , a shoulder case can have the case exposed the same any chambering ,it's usually exposed as much as the bolt face recess plus .005 .
I still make Mauser small rings in 38 special , 45 acp ,and 45 long colt .
Feeding , now that's another story .
If you don't mind a cock on close , the SMLE is a good candidate for 444 .

Thanks for the information, I figured it would have to be an extractor action. I think this will be a fun gun. And i guess the search for a suitable action starts. Can you please clarify what SMLE stands for?

Thanks
Nick

 

[NickB1075]

Built a 444 on a 98 mauser a few years back. Used a 16 twist barrel, set it up with a magnum bolt. Took a lot of work and headscratching to get it to feed, but once I got it worked out, it's one of my favorite hunting rifles for everything from whitetails to hogs and black bears. Running a 300 grain XTP at 2700fps, it will get your attention when you touch it off.

Sounds like I am going to have to look for a Mauser action. Thanks for the information. What length and brand barrel did you use? I am thinking a 18 or maybe I will go down to 16. I grew up hunting thick woods and swamp in the northeast and have used a levergun in some caliber or shotgun since I started hunting. This should be a fun build.

Thanks
Nick

 

[Pulpit]

Not that you'd want it as you're looking to build, but I think Ruger makes a bolt gun in 450 Bushmaster.

Hope the build goes perfectly, sounds cool.

 

[wvlongshot]

450 marlin.

 

[Ggmac]

Sounds like I am going to have to look for a Mauser action. Thanks for the information. What length and brand barrel did you use? I am thinking a 18 or maybe I will go down to 16. I grew up hunting thick woods and swamp in the northeast and have used a levergun in some caliber or shotgun since I started hunting. This should be a fun build.

Thanks
Nick

SMLE - short magazine Lee enfield a #3or4

 

[Ggmac]

If you want a 444 , I'd go with a min of18" you'll lose some velocity at 18" and a 20 " will be a little long for the brush .

 

[Ggmac]

Sounds like I am going to have to look for a Mauser action. Thanks for the information. What length and brand barrel did you use? I am thinking a 18 or maybe I will go down to 16. I grew up hunting thick woods and swamp in the northeast and have used a levergun in some caliber or shotgun since I started hunting. This should be a fun build.

Thanks
Nick

Mausers take a lot of work to feed rimmed cases unless you find a siameses action , use a British Lee Enfield , made to work with rimmed cases and usually cheaper . It's got a 10 round mag but a 5 round hunting mag is available .

 

[Toolbreaker]

450 marlin.

Buddy of mine has one of these on a Savage. It's fairly impressive...on both ends

 

[Shawnba67]

If you cut off 308 brass at the shoulder you arent far from 44 cal little inside reaming and go for it. No funny bolt no funny actions all the feeding problems! I cant remember what the wildcat was called but it was on par to the 444.

 

[Ggmac]

Similar to a 44 auto mag , BUT without a rim you must headspace on the case mouth . Rimmed cases don't need a huge rim just something to headspace on . , easy to cut 45/70 rims down but I've not found it necessary . Feeding can be accomplished by using the correct action or at min using correct follower and loading the mag correctly . Capacity will be less ( Mauser ) but three shots should be enough . I use nothing but coned barrels on rimmed cases now . Maybe I'm getting lazy in the old age , but I can't find any fault doin it that way .

 

[MClark]

We made 44s using cut off 308 or 30/06 cases. Run fine in a standard Remington action. Cases were cut to 1.8" to meet rules in Michigan for rifles in shotgun zone. Loading Hornady 265 grain with the plastic tip over 39 grains of AA1680.
Current project is 375 Ruger case and use reamer and bullets for 500 S&W. Run reamer in until the rim is just short of touching, trim case to fit.

 

[300_whisper]

My buddy built me a beautiful "bush gun" on a Mauser 98 with an 18 inch stainless steel shilen barrel, and the prettiest wood stock I have ever seen. It was in 450 bushmaster. Badass little rifle. Sadly, I have gun ADD and sold it. I would do it if I were you and that's what you want.

 

[onelastshot]

We made 44s using cut off 308 or 30/06 cases. Run fine in a standard Remington action. Cases were cut to 1.8" to meet rules in Michigan for rifles in shotgun zone. Loading Hornady 265 grain with the plastic tip over 39 grains of AA1680.
Current project is 375 Ruger case and use reamer and bullets for 500 S&W. Run reamer in until the rim is just short of touching, trim case to fit.

Curious, what did you use to cut the cartridges?

 

[Ggmac]

We made 44s using cut off 308 or 30/06 cases. Run fine in a standard Remington action. Cases were cut to 1.8" to meet rules in Michigan for rifles in shotgun zone. Loading Hornady 265 grain with the plastic tip over 39 grains of AA1680.
Current project is 375 Ruger case and use reamer and bullets for 500 S&W. Run reamer in until the rim is just short of touching, trim case to fit.[/

We made 44s using cut off 308 or 30/06 cases. Run fine in a standard Remington

Curious, what did you use to cut the cartridges?

i used anything from a cut off wheel to a hacksaw . If you had the expensive form dies , or made them , it came with a hardened die that you ran you case into , the case protruded and you used a hacksaw to cut it off , trim , chamfer and load .
I made a similar cartridge using a 375 rum Ackley cut to 1.75 and use 500 S&W bullets . Only shot it a couple of times to test . I used a .500 or .498 pilot on the 375 Ackley . Had to grind that . Still haven't profiled the straight barrel blank . I don't hunt anymore .

 

[MClark]

Made a collet from plastic using chamber reamer to hold brass. Cut to near length with lathe, final cut with case trimmer.
For the 44 we had Manson make a reamer.

M