Yup. It's crazy. Some of you may have come across this one on the 'net.



It's the Eargesplitten Loudengeboomsen.

That was done years ago. I think someone got bored so they started experimenting with different reloading dies & that was the end result. I'll take the 30-06.

You'd need 40+ inches at least to harness most of that powder for speed. Oh and no more than 300 shots before accuracy goes south!

There was an article about that cartridge in Cartridges of the World, and if I remember correctly they got 12 shots before the barrel was trashed. Didn't even come close to finishing the load development; just too much hot gas going through that little chamber neck for way too long.

I was going to say...the barrel probably wouldn't last a box of ammunition.

303 Guy,

I had one, very slightly different dimensions.

About 1994 I was on staff at Precision Shooting Magazine, and had Ackley's books. The cartridge dates back to the late 1950's and Bob Forker at Guns & Ammo and NASA. NASA was experimenting with shielding for the early orbital space ships. Forker got with Wbee and they necked the 378 Wbee down to .22 caliber. They actually made BB's out of some meteorite iron and shot them at shield alloys. The 40 (+/-)gr pellets actually got over 6000fps in testing.

I was fascinated by the raw speed. Savage was looking at a barrel coating process from a company in Texas, and I stuck my nose into the middle of the discussion. They agreed to send me a new 12-BV-SS in 223, a magnum bolt head, and four barrels total. I shot about forty rounds each barrel to test accuracy and velocity. I sent the slowest and fastest to Texas for the coating, after Dennis Bellm re-chambered them all to my version, a 35-degree shouldered, sort-of Ackley Improved.

I could blow most bullets up about the time I got to 5000fps. One exception, the Nosler 60gr Solid base soft points. I quit tipping the can horizontally about 5600fps.

Bottom Line: 125-140 rounds uncoated barrels, nearly twice that many for the two coated. The coating did not seem to affect velocity much, but accuracy was a bit better and much more consistent group shapes.

Rumors surface from time to time, that the AF got Wbee to build a half a dozen or so 30" barreled rifles for the tower security staff. A 1.5 mile long airstrip is pretty easy to cover with one at each corner.

I still have my reamer set, and Neil Jones at CPS made me dies. Buy a new Savage in 22-250 or 220 Swift and have my Gunsmith re-chamber one for you. Cheap thrills...

regards,

Rich