Here it is on the left. Thanks Bent!

Starting a thread for a wildcat concept discussed on another thread. The 440 Magnum. Basicly a 240 WBY case cut back to 2.050" and necked to 44 cal bullets (.432") with a max oal of 2.55". Kind of a hybrid rifle/pistol cart designed to work on marlin 336 lever guns and contender single shots.

Positives

Big bore on the marlin 336 platform
Largest bullet diameter on the 470 rim and still crimp
reliable headspace
Same casehead as the 35 Rem as not to weaken the 336 action so can use the same preasures.
Pistol bullets
No shoulder to mess with and form
Maximum performance of magnum pistol carts at lower preasures.


Negatives

Wildcat so all the usual wildcat issues.
Neck reaming

sorta like a 425 fossdal?

Yes but zero taper like the 460 S&W and using 44 bullets.

If a guy wanted a 44 pistol diameter bullet on a belted case about 2" long, the .450 Marlin cases would be a lot easier to obtain.

Yes but the idea is to use a 336 and there is little roi on going down .026" might as well stick with a 450.

I like it!
Could you use a .444 Reamer? I have no drawings here at sea.
But naming it Magnum, is perhaps to strech it a bit?

well magnum for a pistol cart

Dummy in the works... thanks Bent

Here it is, Boomie!



Pain in the butt, it was, with all short cuts. Finally I had to use some of the old firefirmed brass from my .425 Fossdal with split neck, and just cut off splits and to right length, 2.050" I inserted a .240 grs Sierra JHC, dia .4295. Had to ream the inside of case.
With proper tooling, it seems a piece of cake.

It maxes it out for sure - or does it?

With 0.007" brass thickness, you could use the 410 grs .435 bullet from the .425 Westely Richards...........

The big Q is - is taper at all necessary? I really do not feel comfortable above .423 on this case, but that is based more on heart than facts.

I love it! Glad I could give you some direction spawned off of one of my MANY random wildcat thoughts lol

If only I wasn't a huge fan of levers...there is a 336 nearby for like 300$

Way to go Bent!

MHS yes you got me thinking on that one.

It has the same paralel sided length as the 460 S&W so it must work.

I think the 45 bullet is max for neck thickness imho.

Is that the 444 Marlin next to it?

With custom brass internal dimensions and neck thickness would improve.

I am curious to get some calipers on your brass bent.

I think some 44 mag contenders need a ream job to get this 440 Magnum

Thanks again bent

Something kinda neet would be to load 300 to 400 grain bullets to 2.85"ish in any short action .470" boltface rifle. with minimal bullet shank in the case to exceed the 444 marlin by a decent margin.

Score!!!!

Yea, it is next to the .444 Marlin on the pic.
It will be posted today together with some other stuff.
Exeeding 300 grains would bring velocities to a point were not to many would want to play, me thinks?

quote:

Originally posted by Bent Fossdal:
Yea, it is next to the .444 Marlin on the pic.
It will be posted today together with some other stuff.
Exeeding 300 grains would bring velocities to a point were not to many would want to play, me thinks?

In a lever gun I agree. keep it under 300 grains but for a short action bolt conversion of say a 243 that dont keep good groups anymore I think a hard cast 300 grains loaded out to 2.8" ish is about perfect for most things and expanding pistol bullets for white tail deer on down but for bigger things like bear a 350 grain bullet will get you almost .270 SD and hard cast 350's should be a snooter to tooter bullet. 405 grains in a bolt action will get you 45-70 + performance but at a .310 SD!!!!!!!!!!

I wonder how fast a 405 grain bullet can go and keep it under 60k psi????

Beartooth bullets makes a 405 grain. Crimp on the 3rd grease groove from the bottom for a bolt gun.

Damn fine idea BS. I really like the looks of that beartooth bullet as well, something good and hard for a rifle type 44 instead of the softer or shorter pistol bullets.

quote:

Originally posted by MileHighShooter:
Damn fine idea BS. I really like the looks of that beartooth bullet as well, something good and hard for a rifle type 44 instead of the softer or shorter pistol bullets.

I like the idea of the 225 leverevolution bullet for the leverguns and these 355 grain .274 SD bullets would be the bees knees for bolt guns.

Get them going @ 2200 fps and that would be ideal

My dad had one in his cop car. He found that it performed better if you turned the air cleaner over. Lou

You can tell I am a Mopar fan

Me too. You could always call it the 426! Perhaps we can come up with 223 wildcat and call it the 225 Slant Six.