No offense taken. I am going through the die mess right now. Reamer no problem, barrel no problem, smith putting it together straight good to go. Finding and/or having dies built is a pain in the ass. I am looking at over $300.00 for dies right now in one gun and probably more for the other. Plus when I make up rounds I would much rather smash/wrinkle/split a 50 cent Winchester than a $2.00 imported brand. I have jammed my gun while hunting short stroking the bolt so I did not kick the jewelery out in the snow LOL. Paul might be right on the Ultramag.

Just a warning that the belted magnum case is the largest diameter that can safely be used on the encore frame. The larger dia cases provide too much back thrust to the encore frame.

I believe the 45 basic case has the same dimensions sans belt as the belted basic case, so you could use it as a basis for a wildcat.

For my wildcat hunting rifles I just have Hornady make the dies. Last one about 7 months ago was $98.50. While they might not be benchrest quality they are great for a hunting rifle. Just send them about 3-4 fired cases takes about 8-10 weeks.

Hornady MFG. Co.
PO Box 1848
Grand Island, NE 68802

Attention: Lonnie Hummel

So far the best answer i have gotten came from over at the campfire. I was pointed in the direction of David Tooley and his line of calibers. 300WM case is the dimension i wish to mirror. There are a multitude of encores out there with 300WM barrels on em. So a wildcat based on that case or its mirror image less that dang belt is no problem. I did do my homework on that part. Was all set to send my deposit to OTT for a barrel when i ran across the Borden 280AI I have now. As for dies...its against my religion to use anything other than redding. I dont care about cost....thats just the only dies I will screw in a press. I do plan to talk in length with T/C, after I contact Tooley, to make sure the encore will stand up to the horsepower these cartridges are said to produce. If everything is a go, a couple dummy rounds will be made and sent to OTT for the making of my barrel.

If you are not simply trying to duplicate 300WM performance in a beltless case, but rather wanting to duplicate its dimensions w/o a belt, your choices are really limited. The closest base diameter is on the 6.5x68 Schuler case. I briefly considered this round on a Mauser action and know it offers plenty of capacity, especially if improved. It seems to me the 7mm Dakota would be a lot easier, but as previously mentioned, it may be too fat for the Encore. Let us know what you come up with.