Well, subsequent to me talking to myself on the Big Bore Forum, about the .375 Lapua, a new forum has arisen for Wildcats.

I didn't get much info about the Lapua wildcats over there so how about here?

I did find out that the Pacific reamer outfit has 8000 different wildcats in their files for offer. One of them was the 45/.338 Lapua Magnum.

A fellow somewhere across the pond has done a 9.5x70 mm, or "9.5 Tornado" which would be the .375 Lapua. Maybe Pacific has that one too? I haven't investigated there yet, just had a gunsmith tell me about the 45/.338 Lapua, that is all.

Any wildcatters here with any info on .338 Lapua wildcats?

I have changed my mind, and start with the .45/.338 Lapua, and work down to .375 next.

The .458 Lapua will be the max caliber to simply neck up the .338 Lapua. It will be a minimum shoulder affair, 20 degrees per side and slight step. It might have some appeal greater than the 450 Rigby or Dakota, for some applications, such as working in a shorter action.

The unfired .338 Lapua case is 2.720" long by my measure.

Neck it up to .375 caliber and the case shortens to 2.703".

Neck it up again to .458 caliber and the case shortens again to 2.666".

With a 500 grain Hornady RNSP crimped on the cannelure, the OAL of the cartridge will be 3.550". A .338 Lapua with the 250 grain Hornady RNSP crimped on the cannelure is 3.573".

The .458 Lapua will have 0.027" step and 20 degrees angle at each side of the shoulder.

For comparison, the 460 G&A has 0.024" and 15 degrees per side. It works, and so should the .458 Lapua, only better.

Of course, the Lapua could be blown out and have the shoulder angle increased, but I think it will work fine as a simple neck-up, and be a fail proof feeder and extractor with steam to spare in making 2400 fps with a 500 grain bullet.

Dummy rounds feed flawlessly from any CZ 550 Safari Magnum box, as any .338 Lapua based cartridge will.

So now I go in search of info on the history and performance of this obscure wildcat. Everything new is old. If I rename the .458 Lapua, it will become the .458 Simba, of the LEO line of wildcat cartridges: Lapua Express Ordnance, LEO, Enforcing the laws of nature, is our motto.

The LEO lineup of wildcats:

.458 Simba
.375 Chui
.308 Cheetah

These wildcats would also invite the following to graze under their tree:

470 Mbogo
.416 Rigby
.338 Lapua

And the combined line might be called the "REO Speed Wagon" line of cartridges, Rigby Express Ordnance, REO. They are all based on the King of Cartridges, the .416 Rigby, which is included. Shorter fatcat cartridges could be added later.

Now, is "Lapua" pronounced "lop'-wah" or "lop-wah'?"

The latter sounds too French; if so I will just keep calling it "lah-poo'-ah" but that sounds like a constipated Frenchman hoping his bowels will move soon.

To the French I say: "Poop or get off the pot!"

Well, back to the fact finding expedition.

Sumbuddy who know of any history or performance of the 45/.338 Lapua wildcat?

Ron I like your idea

...LAUW PUA, with accent on the last "A" pwa sounding.

45/338 will be very close to the 450 Dakota ( 450/416 Rigby on DAKOTA small base case ) or the 450 Rigby except that higt pressure case on the 338 LM will handle more pressure that not a really fine wy to se hight pressure round specaiy under the africa sun , I far prefer low pressure cartridge as 416 Rigby, 450 Rigby and othet old stuff in modern rifle under africa sun rather hot rod as Weatherby under the same sun .

375/338 LM will be perhaps a nice cartridge but very close to the 375 RUM ( closely same water capacity )

good shooting

DAN TEC

Daggaron,
During the SHOT Show in Orlando, we met with the folks from VihtaVuori, Lapua and Bofors to discuss some software we had written specifically for their powder and bullets. During the meeting, I made a fool of myself by pronouncing Lapua as "lop-ah-wah". I was gently corrected and they pronounced it slowly for me as "la-poo-wah". I do better now.
Of course, I still pronounce sabot as "saa-bot" instead of "say-bo", but then again, I'm Southern, so I have an excuse.
Regards,
HockeyPuck

EXPRESS,
Thanks for the thumbs up and for the help of your homeland in current endeavors.

dantec,
Thanks for not taking offense at my potty humor with the French. Maybe there are some reasonable Frenchmen over there, a few good men in France?

HockeyPuck,
My excuse is that I am from Kentucky, born at Fort Campbell, KY of hillbilly stock on both sides, that goes back to 1790 settlers in Western Kentucky. Cherokee was thrown in to lessen the inbreeding, thank goodness.

Your "official" pronunciation is not too far off from my Kentucky version. I was saying "lah-POO-ah" but will try to say "lah-poo-WAH" henceforth.

Just to fine tune this pronunciation, where would you say the accent would be on the syllables?

LAH' poo wah
lah poo WAH'
lah POO' wah
or
LAH' poo WAH ... maybe with the first syllable a bit stronger than the last, sort of like the rhythm of "wapiti" the native word for the Rocky Mountain Elk? Wapiti (wop'i tee) the Shawnee word meaning "white rump."

Anyway, that Lapua brass is great stuff.

Get a .338 Lapua Magnum reamer with live pilot and switch the pilot to the new caliber, then go back in with a neck reamer of the proper caliber, and a whole series of wildcats can be made.

Your gunsmith can make the reloading dies. Take a .338 Lapua sizing die and ream out the neck with the proper neck reamer. For the .458 Lapua, this could be a .458 WinMag or Lott reamer properly applied. This would be the case body sizer with a bit sloppy neck portion.

Then cut 1/3" off the base of a 460 Wby sizing die and use that for the neck sizing die for the .458 Lapua.

Then add a "45" to the headstamp of the .338 Lapua brass, and you are complete.

Sumbuddy who know think this O.K.?

Correction,
The 9.5 Tornado is 9.5 x 69mm, not 9.5 x 70mm. It has to be simply a .338 Lapua necked up to .375. The "trim to" length is listed as 2.703". See my measurements of necked up .338 Lapua brass above.

It does 2808 fps with a 300 grain bullet, apparently in a Mauser 98 actioned rifle, called the "Tornado Magnum Classic" ... "A new German Sporting Caliber, Phillipe Regenstreif, The Cartridge Researcher, ECRA, Leige, Belgium, 1-2-2003, No. 452 p. 11"

Thanks to HockeyPuck. He has been holding out on us, or he has not heard my plaintive pleas for info on the .375 Lapua wildcat until now.

Maybe AccuLoadX will include .338 Lapua wildcats some day?

try it like this:

Lau PwA

first; LAU, then with

very little "p", just Pwa noise.

All the best, jeeze I wish I could put together wilcats over here, but the beurocratic frigmarole involved would take over a year before I would have the project returned to me.

EXPRESS,
Sorry, I cannot get my mouth to say it like that. Every gunsmith or gunnut I ever heard gave it three syllables: La-pu-a

Lah-pooh-wah, accent it where you please.

Most seem to say Lah-POOH'-wah.

Just to use the excellent Lapua brass has a lot of wildcat appeal.

Thanks for chiming in to keep me from talking to myself on this issue. I will beat the bushes until I learn more and explore it with the actual guns. My 45/.338 Lapua is under construction.

Just to use that upside down "L" in the headstamp for my two dream cartridges, I could engrave a "45" preceding the "[7]" or a "3" and a "5" on either side of it. This would complete the headstamp for:

45[7]-.338 Lapua Magnum (.458 Lapua)

and

3[7]5-.338 Lapua Magnum (.375 Lapua)

Sorry about your frigamarole in Italy. Any redneck like me can do this stuff in the good ol' USA.

I will go look for the picture of the .338 Lapua headstamp to clarify the upside down [L] that can be used as a "7."



Here is the web site that mentions the 9.5 Tornado, in German. It also has chamber and cartridge spec drawings for the .338 Lapua Magnum:

http://home.snafu.de/l.moeller/338_Lapua_Magnum.htm

[ 03-31-2003, 06:09: Message edited by: DaggaRon ]

remember, as I am sure you know, the lapua (which I say la'pu'a, just as a REFUSE to say lew-poold)is nothing but a better 416 rigby case. So, depending on neck, pressure and taper, it's would either be a 450 rigby or 460 woundabeast,

jeffe

I'm sorry, Dagga!
But I've thought about this one too.


On this picture of my collection, you'll find the .375 Lapua, and the .458 Lapua.
The .375 is number 6 from right, on the upper (whole) shelf. And the .458 is number 9 from left, on the midle shelf.
So here you'll see them together with others.

[ 04-01-2003, 19:20: Message edited by: 460wby ]

A finn would pronounce Lapua about La po ah. Don't know if there is a wrong way to pronounce it though

Arild,
Thanks for the eye candy.

Thomas,
I like that pronunciation best of all. The long "o" sound in the middle sounds better. The real Finnish pronunciation, eh? O.K.