Saw a Ruger No. 2 at the gunshop today (that is a Ruger No. 3 action with a Ruger No. 1 stock). The barrel is a custom short stiff stainless steel barrel stamped "7x40" on it. The tag said dies were included. The guy at the shop knew nothing about it.

What is it?

Only a chamber cast will tell for sure.

The Finns have a wildcat cartridge that is the 7,62 Soviet for or 7,62x39 necked down to 7mm and altered a little bit on the neck, can it be a such round?

Just a wild guess but perhaps it's a necked down .30-40 Krag.

Harry

Dimensions! Without them we're all just guessing. It could be almost anything. Make a chamber cast or, if the store will lend you the dies you can make a cast from the sizer which will get you close enough to tell what it is, or at least what it's not.

ray

Well, I guess it is not a common wildcat. The guy at the store knew nothing about it. I doubt very much that he will be willing to make a chamber cast. It was on consignment. Maybe he will tell me the owner.

PS. Just eyeballing it, I don't think the chamber was a 30-40 Krag wildcat. Looked too small for that.

Is there any fired brass with it? Bring a caliper and take some measurements.

If the price is right, and oddballs always go cheap, it might be worth a try.

Let us know what you find out.

Went back to the shop again today and asked if the guy behind the counter could tell me what wildcat that one was chambered for. He just read me off what was on the barrel. I told him that no one knew what it was. I needed more information on it.

Unfortunately, he told me they guy who had it built has died. The widow knows nothing about it. A friend brought it to the shop to try to sell it for the widow. The guy behind the counter knew nothing more about it. I asked if he could get some brass so I could measure it. He said he would try.

Went to the shop again. The guy behind the counter could not get any brass. Evidently, all the brass was cleaned out. I saw the dies. They were custom 800 Hornady dies labeled 7-40 CSS. I was not able to tell from the dies or the rifle if it was rimmed or rimless. The shop owner is not willing to make a cast.

The gun is not particularly cheap for a Ruger No. 3, although I am sure that it is priced FAR less than what it cost the original owner. The barrel is custom and the wood is custom with lots of expensive touches (the pistol-grip is a steel skeleton that is inleted into the stock -- the rear butplate is metal with a fancy inlet where it curves around the top). And, the wood-steel fitting is flawless.

However, there are too many unknowns. I don't know the parent brass. I could probably figure that out (if I bought it), but there could be other things I don't know -- like whether or not the neck must be thinned in order to keep the pressures at reasonable levels.

At the price, it is not worth the risk. Something to keep in mind for those with wildcats. Keep the information where your survivors can find it or it will be worth MUCH less than you think it is worth.

Can you call Hornady Customer Service and see if you can get any info??

I e-mailed Hornady. They said I did not have enough information for them to search their records. I have to get the date (at least the year and month) it was bought and the name of the purchaser. Don't think that is going to be possible.

I would push the store guy to make a chamber cast. He owes that to the widow if he really wants to sell it. OTOH (on the other hand) he may stonewall you with the thought of buying it cheap on the excuse "I couldn't sell it lady, nobody wants an orphan..but seeing as how you are a poor widow, I'll give you a hunnert bucks for it". I have seen that scenario more than once.

Rich

I'd bring a pair calipers and measure the base of the dies, with the base dimension of the brass, you should be able to find the parent case.

If the gun is really nice, and you like it, and the chambering is of smaller dia dimensions, you could always have it re-chambered to a std caliber or at least a wilcat with more common parent brass.

The stockwork alone sounds like it could cost upwards of $2k to duplicate.

If you could get the gun for say $1000, even paying another $100-200 for a rechamber would have you a nice gun.

I'm with Paul H, you could re-chamber the thing for something useful like a 7 x 57 or a .280 Remington. If you understand the principles of headspacing, you could rent the reamer and gauges from ELK Ridge and do it yourself for under $50. I would, however, try to get the price down, without gouging "the poor widow". I all likelihood, it won't sell in a month of Sundays.