I get a 1000-pages thick book about Wildcats as x-mas gift, I found this round and I was very pleased about the design. It would be a nice project in the future, after finishing my 7x57-project. I mean an short Ruger M77 action and a 20" or 22" barrel must give a handy brush rifle.
My question is, what for dies and cases are available? Which company makes reamers for this round?


Thanks, Martin

I'm using the Ruger short action, previously in 350Rem Mag, to rebarrel to 450 Marlin. I think it's a much better choice. More plinking bullets are available, and the 45-70 bullets are designed for the velocity attainable.

The varisous 40 cal bullets are not so versitle. The 40x2" is a neat idea though, but a good idea only if you just want to throw money at some obscure wildcat.

I don't mean to rain on your parade, dreams are good, but practical is good too.

KB

I'm not familiar with the .40x2inch but to borrow a little from Waters' 416 Express wildcat a .411x350 Rem Mag might be interesting. You could use 41 magnum pistol bullets for plinking and 405 Winchester bullet for big game.

nord,
I read that article too, before choosing to go with the 450 Marlin in a bolt gun. The 458x2" American was around when Ken wrote that article, but it is a wildcat too.

I have one wildcat in my arsenal, and vow that it is going to be the only one. I will never again, nor advise it, to go with a wildcat, when similar performance can be had from SAAMI or CIP chambers.

KB

Thanks for replay´s,
I know , its absolutly not economical to have a Wildcat. I have three .45-70, one .405WCF and one .450Marlin, all rounds with the same performance as the .40x2".
But every big kid need a new toy from time to time.
It was only an idea, befor a few years I planed a rifle in .416 Taylor, but it was only a plan.

Next year I will finish my 7mm Mauser rifle ( I began it Nov. 2002 ) and than I look.


Happy new year, Martin

What is the .40x2" anyway, a necked down 450 Marlin, or something more interesting?

quote:

Originally posted by nordrseta:
What is the .40x2" anyway, a necked down 450 Marlin, or something more interesting?

Big Bore & Nordrseta,
In giving an opinion about the item 40x2", I made some assumptions. First I figured it was just another way of writing Ken Water's 416 Express - same wildcat, but even if it is different, say it uses a .408, .409, .410, .411, .412, .419, .423, .429, or anything in between, it still qualifies for the name 40x2". I doubt that the 450 Marlin is the base brass - more likely its just a 40 cal version of the .458x2" American. It's just the standard belted mag case cut back to 2", and necked to one of the various 40 cal bullets.

Heck, if a guy was really into wildcatting, he could build one of each, in .001 increments, from .400 through .429, just to be sure to have all the various 40 calibers. or just build a 450 Marlin, and use the wide variety of .458 bullets available. Far less confusing, and perhaps more important - at least to me - factory ammo can be purchased - easily - at a reasonable price. Of further importance, at least to me, is that I don't have to buy a custom wildcat reamer for one use only, and the loading dies are reasonably priced, as well as brass. And, this is all aside from the consideration of resale value should someday you or your heirs want to sell.


When I made my choice, the only other options considered were 416 Taylor, & .458 Win Mag. Removing the wildcats from the list, including the 416 Express, fell into the no-brainer catagory. That left the 458 compared to the 450, and the latter was chosen because I already had a Ruger short action with a magnum bolt face and feed rails. For a long time I wanted a short and handy bolt-action thumper, closly duplicating the 45-70 Buffalo Bore loads, and I figured the 450 marlin would be interesting and enough gun with the handloaded 400 gr bullets at close to 2100 fps, and close to two tons of muzzle energy.

KB

fifn't someone neck down the 450 marlin to shoot 411 bullets? thought i saw that in a shootin rag about 5 years ago

jeffe

Yes, the 450 marlin necked to .411 would be fun.

I saw another wildcat today that was interesting. It was a 300 short RUM necked up to 9.3mm. It looked right, and well proportioned.

There are a few actions out there that would require no modifications to feed either cartridge. I think the chamber for the 9.3 SRUM could be cut without having to make a special reamer. I don't think that would be true of the 450/411.

I don't know about the dies for either.

I think either would be a neat wildcat, but I already know that I would never do it, because we have other 9.3s that do a good job, and 411s too.

Hopefully, I'm going to be busy enough shooting my 450 Marlin/Ruger, so that I won't even have time to be dreaming of any wildcats - other than my 9.3x338.

KB

the 411 short using 375 ruger parent case can be done with a 450/400 reamer ..

shorten the 450/400 reamer neck to a cal length to the depth of 2.1" for a short action pistol bullet plinker woods gun

the same can be done with a 404 jeffe and 423 bullets