AI, now that means Ackley Improved as I understand it, which is actually "Artificial Insemination" to those who fell for it!

Seriously, there are several cartridges that responded to AI and that is the 257 Roberts, 7x57 and the 250-3000 Savage, and according to P.O. Ackley the rest were pretty much a failure....

Saeeds wildcats based on the 404 case are very effective and his 375/404 kills as well as any caliber I have seen used...Is it better than a standard 375, I don't know as they both kill buffalo with a properly placed shot and both would wound with an improperly placed shot, but Saeed does not place his shots improperly, end of story......

I find it hard to justify a wildcat today, the days of the pioneer wildcatters have about run the course and anything they created is now a factory round, and the rest didn't make the grade...and they did it all, no place left to play in that field. Todays wildcatters are just remaking the wheel..Actually the English and Germans of yesteryear about ran the gammet on wildcatting..We came along and copied everything they did and took the credit.

I think Mark Twain touched on this phenomenon. Instead of the owners admitting that they wanted something different and more kewl, they, having spent the money and time, feel they must "justify" the cost.
When it comes to guns, I think "I wanted it and I bought it" should be justification enough.
By the same token, everyone will admit that an impervious plastic stock is much more practical than a hand rubbed piece of nicely figured walnut but you ain't gonna find them on my rifles.
Why does what we do regarding our hobbies have to make sense?

Ray, you know this better than I do, but P.O. Ackley was mostly an experimentor, accomplished theorist, and third-rate riflesmith with almost no real hunting experience under his belt. If he'd been down the hunting pike a bit more, he'd have realized that the things he saw as of paramount importance in rifle cartridges didn't amount to a hill of beans in the real world.

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