Has anyone on this board produced these or had any experience with these two Wildcats? Would the 140 grain 6.5mm bullet and the 286 grain 9.3mm bullet require a standard length action to be optimally seated? Would the 6.5mm/WSM require a 26 in barrel to realize its potential?
When I had my 6.5 x 55 BJAI made up, I swore I'd give up Wildcats as being too much trouble, (though I love the round) but I'm starting get a relapse of that ol' familiar disease.
'Preciate any feedback...
Regards --
-- Doc

... Seriously!

Hey doc, what exactly is a 6.5 x 55 BJAI anyway? Just wondering. - Dan

Dan --
The 6.5 x 55 Bob Jourdan Ackley Improved. It's the Swede, blown out with minimal body taper and a 40 degree shoulder. Bob Jourdan perfected the design based on P. O. Ackley's work, but added his name as Ackley never actually worked with the 6.5x55 Swedish Mauser. My particular rifle is a Ruger 77 II with a 24 inch Hart heavy sporter or light varminter bbl (can't recall their taper/contour designation). The chamber throat is kinda short and the twist is 10 inches for the lighter bullets. It's good whitetail and groundhog combo gun. If I had it to do over, I would have increased the twist and lengthened the throat for 140 grain bullets. I believe that would provide a superior deer setup, without compromising the long range groundhog capabilities, giving 270 Win capabilities with even less recoil. And the sectional density of the 140 grain bullet would allow for superior penetration at any angle.
-- Doc

Thanks Doc. I'm thinking I need to build one of these. Take care. - Dan

Doc,
I don't see any advantage to short round wildcats...The same problem has jumped up and bit all the wildcatters over the years..Short actions require deep seated bullets and that allways been a problem and allways will be...the 284 showed us that.

You lose the versatality of the long case and that is the ability to shoot all the bullets for the 9.3....including the wonderfull 320 gr. Woodleigh..seated in a WSM case in a short action the bullet would rest on the primer with very little room for powder and the 286 would take a lot of space in the case.

the 338, 9.3x64, 9.3x62 and the O6 on a standard action all have a lot more to offer IMHO....

Actually if I wanted a 9.3 wildcat to hunt dangerous game I think I would neck down a 375 H&H or neck up a 300 H&H and get that wonderfull ability to feed along with all the velocity a 9.3 bullet can handle. Lots of things bother me about some cases but that belted case is not one of my problems until you stick a big square or rounded shoulder on it....

------------------
Ray Atkinson

ray@atkinsonhunting.com
atkinsonhunting.com

Ray --
Your points are well taken. Personally, I doubt whether the short action is as important as the short(er) case, which places more propellant within a shorter radius of the primer ignition and thus ( so the theory goes) provides for more efficient energy conversion. They say that this is the factor which enables the WSM to match or exceed the WinMag velocity with less powder, and a factor in the inherent accuracy of cartridges like the PPC's. I don't know if any of that is true or not. But assuming there is some truth to it, I just think that 6.5 and 9.3 versions of the WSM would be interesting. Of course, seating the 6.5mm 140 grain bullet and the 9.3mm 286 grain bullet to the neck/shoulder junction of the case, would require a standard length if not magnum length action. Those internal case dimensions might just be perfect for the 9.3mm but probably too much powder for the 6.5mm unless one wanted a 28 inch or longer barrel. Justthinking out loud is all.

Dan --
I tried to send you an email regarding a great source of knowledge and experience with virtually all 6.5's. But I think there is something funny goin' on at this end with my email. I am a long way from being a tech head.
Let me know if you did or did not get it, please.

-- Doc

I can't speak on the 9.3, no experience with it. I do have a 6.5-06 AI built on a Win70 action, Shilen SS select match barrel with a 1-8 twist and finished to 26 inches.

I am extremely pleased with it as it is giving me 264 Win mag performance with the 140 grain bullets. Average velocity is 3085 for a 10 shot group.

We took 7 deer with it this past season using 129 grain Hornady bullets, all one shot kills ranging from 75 to aabout 225 yards. I also load it with 95 grain vmax for coyotes.

Pecos