I have some samples of these marvelous bullets in FN, HV, and SP (VLD). It took 15 days through the mail, shipped "INT AIR PARCEL" and "INSURED PARCEL" and "Delivery Scan/Signature Required."

The pipeline is flowing. The initial trickle.

Anyone ordering a McGowen barrel in .395 caliber (the "GSC Contour" is highly recommended in either 4140 for $180 or stainless for $280, all button rifled and cryo-treated) should drop me a PM and tell me where to send their sample of GSC Trio for study toward getting their wildcat built.

Or, such intrepid pioneers may post here and tell me how to get in touch with them.

That means you, prof242.

Thanks to "Made Man" prof242. Samples on the way.

The .395 has got to be the "thinking man's" caliber.

However, ownership of .395 caliber rifles is not restricted to PhD's and MD's only.

The .395 Family "Made Man" is entitled to wear a gold pinky ring on his trigger hand, adorned with the .395 wildcat headstamp of his choice.

Proper etiquette requires that the pinky finger not be extended when shooting a .395 rifle. Not even with a flanged .395 for double rifles. No snobs allowed in the .395 family.

The list of .395 wildcats is growing.

Here is the mockup of .395 Tatanka loaded with the .395 "Trio" by GSC, all 340-grainers (1" squares and a 378Wby dummy for reference):

FORTY DOUBLE OUGHT SEVEN

those look great rip...

are those the 338 lapua necked up?

boom stick,
They are .416 Rigby necked down to .395.
Remember that the .338 Lapua Magnum is 2.724" long.
Neck that one up and you call it the "398 Lapua Magnum."

The shoulder on these .395 Tatanka dummies looks more like a .378 Weatherby shoulder right now. When fire formed it will be a sharp 20 degree angle at each side, semi-angle, just like the .338 Lapua Magnum.

The .395 Tatanka is exactly like a .395/.338 Lapua Magnum with the identical shoulder moved out longer, and with the neck exactly .400" long, when fully formed.

It is also exactly like a .416 Rigby left full length (2.900") with the neck shortened to .400" and necked down to .395, and shoulder changed from 45 degrees to 20 degrees.

All of this makes the .395 Tatanka just a few grains shy of a .378Wby in gross water capacity, maybe 131 vs 136 grains H2O.

With the bigger bore and greater bullet weight and giving up little velocity (.395/340-grainer at 2800 fps), it will be a better all purpose rifle than the .378 Weatherby. Faint praise, eh?

BTW,
The .395 Tatanka COL's above are playfully as so:

FN: 3.750"
HV: 3.825"
SP: 4.250" for a 1000-yard challenge of RGB, 12" twist for the .395 versus his 15" twist 50BMG.

Weight limit for scope and rifle is 10.5 pounds, and no muzzle brakes allowed.

Notice the progressively widening driving bands from fore to aft of bullet?
Similar to the Walterhog in this regard.

Did Saeed copy Gerard or did Gerard copy Saeed?

The .395 Tatanka has a free bore length (parallel sided) of 0.2000" with diameter of 0.3966" , and a 1.5 degree leade.

We'll see if I can seat them like the above dummies when I get it built.

That will guide the throating of the 398 Lapua.

The .395 Tatanka brass neck diameter is .425", neck-1 and neck-2.

The chamber neck diameter is to be .428".

No neck turning or reaming will be needed unless it improves accuracy for that 1000-yard match.

Rip, have you thought about getting an practice and license here in Norway in my county...........

Interessting project, if it cant be found design it your self.

quote:

Originally posted by mr rigby:
Rip, have you thought about getting an practice and license here in Norway in my county...........

Interessting project, if it cant be found design it your self.

Joke noted.
Norway would be cool. There are several good gunsmiths named "Olson" here in the USA, and I bet there are some in Norway too. We may have to farm the work out across the USA and Norway to get it all done in a timely fashion, the way things are going here in Kentucky.

Here is more of what the shoulder will look like on both the 398 Lapua Magnum (2.7" case) and the .395 Tatanka (2.9" case).

COL's of suitably seated GSC's to work through the magazine with all three bullets in the 398 Lapua Magnum:

FN: 3.557"
HV: 3.707"
SP: 3.785"

Neat, eh?

Don't worry about hurting my feelings or anything, guys. I have thick skin and a sense of humor. I am not wanting to sell the .395 to anybody.

Can't I at least get a little ridicule out of you guys?

Uhh, RIP? Yer fly's open!
Well, you said you wanted a little ridicule. Of course my ex says...well, on to other things.

Thanks for sending the bullets. Am having way out thoughts that maybe Gerard's cartridge might be the way to go, but then, I swing back to my .395 Ruger. I want one of the .375 Ruger rifles, but they won't be available in Left Hand until next year. Haven't been able to find a used lefty magnum (nor any other lefty) to convert. I do have a .375H&H I could use and switch the barrels. Decisions Decisions.
WWBSD--What Would Boom Stick Do?

RIP:

The .395 Tatanka (2.9" case)in your photo has not been fireformed, correct?. When done will have the 20' shoulder?

prof242:

Go with the 375 Ruger, I want to compare your results before I make a choice.

quote:

Originally posted by prof242:
Uhh, RIP? Yer fly's open!

Thanks prof242. I did the XYZ maneuver over that one.

quote:

Originally posted by I Bin Therbefor:
RIP:

The .395 Tatanka (2.9" case)in your photo has not been fireformed, correct?. When done will have the 20' shoulder?

IBT,
Yes and yes.

Actually, the 398 Lapua neck is 0.398" long, but only if the brass grows to 2.724", the original length of .338LM brass before necking up.
And:
The .395 Tatanka neck is actually 0.400" long with brass length grown to 2.907" which is possible with necking down and blowing forward the .416 Rigby shoulder to the 20 degree angle.

The length to the end of the .395 Tatanka reamer neck is 2.915", done by Dave Manson.

Got the reamers and no barrels.

Harry McGowen's carbide button maker must have thought Harry was joking. No joke.

Here's hoping another month will bring barrels.

quote:

WWBSD--What Would Boom Stick Do?

if you can get ahold of a leftie h+h length action...right now the path of least resistance and dough is the 395 gsc...

borrow the reamer, neck up, fire form and you will never run out of the stock of brass...

the improved 395 gsc will have the same capacity as the 395 ruger.

right now i think it is more about just getting the 395's to fly and case capacity... once the rest of the world catches on you can pick up 395 rugers at wallymart

if you need more boom room rechamber for the 398 lapua

395 ruger is the best middle ground practical one if all costs being the same with the added cool factor of shooting the sp's from the mag.

the 395-06 aka 395 american will be the most efficient and most shootable but does not have the oomph to spit out the sp's to make a diff.


p242...which bullets would you use??? that could help with the decision.

boom stick,
It was premature to declare the .395-06 AMERICAN to be the efficiency champ. It is not, though it will still be a better killer than a 375 H&H, good recommendation for a 30-06 based cartridge.

I looked a bit further into the .395 Cats on AccuLoadIII, regarding thermodynamic efficiency (most KE per grain of powder burned):

For favorable comparison purposes, all use the stubby 1.340" long .395/340-grain FN bullet, 26" barrels, and 62,500 PSI pressure max.

Fire-formed water capacity assumed:
.395-06 AMERICAN = 77.0 grains H2O gross
.395 Ruger = 102.0 grains (Hornady brass necked up adds 1.0 grain from .375 to .395, verified)
.395 GSC = 110.0 grains (using WW or Hornady basic brass)
398 Lapua = 120.0 grains
.395 Tatanka = 130.0 grains

"Grown To" Brass Length and COL's assumed:
.395-06 AMERICAN = 2.500"/3.400"
.395 Ruger = 2.581"/3.400"
.395 GSC = 2.850"/3.600"
398 Lapua = 2.724"/3.600"
.395 Tatanka = 2.907"/3.800"

Calculated Velocity/Efficiency of selected loads:
.395-06 AMERICAN: 2375 fps/37.2%
.395 Ruger: 2625 fps/37.3% and 2580 fps/38.8%
.395 GSC: 2725 fps/39.5%
398 Lapua: 2830 fps/34.8%
.395 Tatanka: 2925 fps/34.6%

Efficiency Champ is the .395 GSC by this approximation.

Let's hear it for Gerard Schultz:

Remember, Gerard has lately felt like a dog who chased a car and caught a transport truck full of mercs. Doing good ain't got no end.

The efficiency champ, .395 GSC. Gerard's mockup (yet to be blown out to 40-degree shoulder a la AI) of the .395 GSC is on the left, center is a .338 WinMag, right is an 8x68:



.395/340-grain GSC Trio before moly:



The obsession continues:

quote:

The obsession continues:

Keep up the good work!

Charles,
You don't know how much your kind comments ease the sufferring of this waiting game. Bless you.

http://www.performancebullet.no/index.shtml


Here is PBP bullets the Norwegian manufacturer, perhaps they can make some bullets for the .395 also ?

damn rip...that was funny...

that is exactly how i am when i get some wildcat idea...lol

quote:

Originally posted by mr rigby:
http://www.performancebullet.no/index.shtml


Here is PBP bullets the Norwegian manufacturer, perhaps they can make some bullets for the .395 also ?

Ah ha! The Norwegian copycat of GSC.

quote:

Originally posted by boom stick:


damn rip...that was funny...

that is exactly how i am when i get some wildcat idea...lol

Thanks, boom stick, I knew someone would get it.

I'm going to go sculpt some mashed potatoes into a replica of the .395 Tatanka now ... maybe it should be called the .395 Devil's Tower?

RIP,

Would any of these provide an advantage over my .338 Lapua for LR competitions???

What's the BC on those 330 grainers?

JW

Jeff,
Thanks for the serious question.

Of course your .338 Lapua with one of Gerard's 295-grain SP bullets would be better if you have enough twist to handle the longest bullets. 1:10" is not enough for the top bullets, as you know ... I forget the weight and twist for his long and pointy SP in the .338 WinMag pictured above.
(edit: 232-grains .338WinMag SP pictured above)

Of course the .395's would be legal for any kind of DG hunting, and the .338 Lapua would not be.

The BC numbers Gerard has supplied for the 340-grain "trio" of .395 caliber bullets:
FN: BC = 0.155
HV: BC = 0.560
SP: BC = 0.722

Jeff,
You got a 1:7" twist barrel to use for the .338/295-grain SP? This is the long puppy for the .338 Lapua Magnum:

Gerard recommended a 1:7" twist on a previous thread. And I again forget exactly how long the bullet is, something like over 2.3" long.

Gerard has been busy adding on at his site.
Even the .395/340-grain SP is pictured, if not the HV and FN yet. The .395/340-gr SP is 1.900" long IIRC:


A picture of the partial line of SP's:


Check out the list at:

http://www.gsgroup.co.za/orderspusa.html

http://www.gsgroup.co.za/sp.html

http://www.gsgroup.co.za/spload.html

They also have a .375/291-grain SP, a .510/720-grain SP for the 50 BMG, and even a .408 caliber SP, etc., etc. ...

Well not exactly copycats, but clever minds think similar you know....

They used the HT bullets i think they was called before , and some Barnes bullets also but they leave much copper in the barrel , and then they found out with the rills on the body that they did remove the copper that was left behind, and they gave better precision.

Im proud that an little nation with ca 200000 hunters have gotten our own custom bullets, and with one phone call can get somethin unique made up for an good price.

But where was i...

very nice bullets Gerad makes and i wonder how it would have been in ammoworld without the wildcatters...

Pretty boring i think it would have been.

Gentlemen,
Was incommunicado the past few days. Got home and found the mailbox stuffed. One of the best things in there was a U.S. Mail Priority package from RIP! Ahhh, the most beautiful bullets were inside. Three! One in each of Gerard's styles.
I originally thought this was just going to be a lark, a side thought. Nope, we have a tiger by the tail. I'm just happy I'm having a chance to be in this at the beginning.
Thanks guys.

As a side note, RIP put each bullet in plastic tubing, wrapped each with a 3x5 card. then put them in an MTM choke tube box! Rip, ya really know how to reach a guy. Thanks

RIP,

Thanks for the "comprehensive"...Much appreciated.

Those loooong bullets look really nice, but would require single-feeding in my Accuracy International AWM...No Bueno for competitions that I do which require rapid fire drills and 2-tap hits on all targets!

The .768 BC on the Sierra MK 300 is tops for now.

BUT, your DG observation is valid and now has got me to thinking...Uh-oh!

Thanks RIP,

Jeff

Jeff,
Welcome. Maybe Gerard has the BC of the .338/295-gr SP. Looks like it ought to be over 1.000.

prof242,
The .395 Ruger will be a good one, more powerful than a .375 H&H, no ifs-ands-or-buts. Also good for downloading for cast bullets and cheap shooting with the young'uns, to get them trained for success.

A .395 Ruger shoulder will be generous. Let us say the shoulder diameter is .516" like that of my fired .375 Ruger brass. And let us say the .395 Ruger loaded neck will be .422" and fired (expanded) neck is .426".

An approximate shoulder-to-neck step per side would be:

(.516" - .426")/2 = 45 thou per side

As to the .395-06 AMERICAN shoulder: A little better than a .411 Hawk or 400 Whelen.

Any further speculation on the .395 Ruger depends on getting the official specs for a .375 Ruger reamer or the official max brass dimensions and shoulder angle.

I have not seen the complete and authoritative specs for the .375 Ruger.

Sumbuddy who know?

Do we have a pic of the .395 American yet? I assume it will have a .458" shoulder?

quote:

Originally posted by Bent Fossdal:
Do we have a pic of the .395 American yet? I assume it will have a .458" shoulder?

The 35 Brown-Whelen has a .461" shoulder.
If we are to trump the 400 Whelen, we might as well go whole hog.

Call it the "39 Whelen" as changing a "5" to a "9" on the headstamp of a 35 Whelen could be done.

I may just have to do that myself.

Gerard:
.395 GSC
prof242:
.395 Ruger (easy headstamp conversion)
RIP:
398 Lapua Magnum (easy headstamp conversion)
.395 Tatanka
39 Whelen (easy headstamp conversion)

Guess I'll be firing some 35 Whelen brass in my 35 Brown Whelen and necking it up to .395 to make a dummy.

Might as well do a .395 Ruger too, while we are killing time, waiting for the barrels.

And a .375 Weatherby will serve as my mockup for the .395 GSC.

A stable of five .395 "Air Cartridges" waiting to be born. (Playing air banjo, Foggy Mountain Breakdown, by the Soggy Bottom Boys: Barrels Wherefor Art Thou?)

Anybody remember Jack Benny? Perpetually 39 years old, never made it to 40? If he was still alive, he'd be the spokesman for the .395's advertising campaign.

Benny Hill might do by loose association. Is Benny Hill still alive?

Are we comical yet?

Hey, prof242: XYZ

39 whelen...brilliant rip...

the AMERICAN was just a necked down 411 hawk (the 411 has the max capacity)

it will have a tad less capacity but the headstamp is cool and a simple fireforming an a.i. shoulder/body taper is cool. much cheaper brass. it is the hick 395! call it the 39 hick!

RIP: XYZ? I must be getting old.
Yeah, the .395 Ruger for me. Just had ideas roaming around since we don't have barrels yet. Got those bullets you sent me on my desk at work. The comments have been interesting.
Remember Jack who? Uh, I even remember watching Jimmy Durante at night, and my grandmother watching Kate Smith in the afternoon...and me watching Mighty Mouse on Saturdays.

prof242:

"eXamine Your Zipper" = XYZ

Hey, what's this on your tie? Bonk.

Now that I have boom stick's approval for the 39 Whelen. The wait for barrels will be more bearable.

I concur with that .39 Whelen. I have two '06 actions with nothing to do. Now all we would need is a bullet around 300 grains for that cartridge...at least for use here in the states.
Now, I could size down a few .40 cal, 210gr pistol bullets.

39 whelen a.i....

Col Askins wrote about the .29-06, so why not an 39-06?

i think that an bullet from 270-300 grain could be a fine weight for that one, perhaps down to 235 if it was a monolithic bullet.

39-06 would be a possible headstamp rescratch too.

One last photo before I get back to my mashed potato replicas:



Left to right:

1. 39 Whelen
2. .395 Ruger
3. .395 GSC
4. 398 Lapua Magnum
5. .395 Tatanka

1. The 39 Whelen is a slightly wrinkled 35 Brown-Whelen necked up to .395. COL is 3.380" with the FN 340-grainer seated as so. Gross water capacity will be about 77 grains. The AI version has a little less capacity than the Brown-Whelen, even though the 35 Brown-Whelen brass length is only 2.45" trim to 2.44". Of course, a 39 Whelen could be made longer, with a longer neck than shown. The 35 Brown-Whelen neck is only .324" long.

2. The .395 Ruger is simply a necked up .375 ruger with a COL of 3.608" for fun, with the HV 340-grainer so seated, though the M77 COL would be 3.400". Gross water capacity of the .395 Ruger will be about 102 grains. Let us arbitrarily say the length of .395 Ruger brass is the same as .375 Ruger brass: 2.581"

3. The .395 GSC Mockup is a .375 Weatherby necked up to .395 with an SP 340-grainer seated to COL of 4.140". The fired .375 Weatherby has 111.5 grains water capacity with the Norma brass, so this .395/.375 Weatherby would have 112.5 grains gross water capacity. Lets just guesstimate the .395 GSC at 110 grains H2O gross, until Gerard gets one built. the .395 GSC is the efficiency champ here, according to AccuLoadIII.

You heard about "4." and "5." above, and they will have respectively about 120 and 130 grains of H2O gross capacity when fully formed.

Back to the mashed potato replicas ...

i'll take partial responsibility for the left two