Ive been considering building a Wasp on a bolt gun. My biggest concern is the rim, and how it might feed out of a magazine using the typical 30-30WCF parent case.

Now one thing that was suggested to me was to use 225 Winchester brass, with is officially called "semi rimmed" [okay its rimmed], but its a .473 bolt face.

Been considering converting a 308 short action to this 225 Donaldson Wasp variant. I know Winchester made their Model 70 in 225 Winchester for a while. Anybody have any first hand knowledge of how these little buggers feed from a magazine?

I have a heavy barrel Mod. 70 in .225 Win. and they feed just fine from my M-70's magazine.

You might find it hard to get .225 Brass. A few years ago, I had an extremely hard time finding it.

i have 2 Model 70s in .225.. 1 is the standard weight, the other a varmint bull bbl... both feed like water pouring from a bucket... and .225 brass is hard to find... i'm not gonna pay $2 each for new brass... had a savage 340 in .225, never got to shoot it, it disappeard in a theft a couple yrs back...

the savage 340 is also chambered in 30-30... with a removable clip.. the clip is marked as 30-30 and .225 winchester. its also sold as revelation, and a springfield... usually find several floating around the local gunshows for around $400...or less, if theyre beat up some,,, both barrels screw on like a savage with a barrel nut...

Ive thought about the Savage 340. Two things that hold me back is they have no rear action screw [stock bedding?] and I've heard the triggers are poor.

Again, any first hand knowledge would beneficial.

For those with the model 70s, do they happen to use a different follower than say a 308/243?

quote:

Originally posted by DocEd:
https://www.bing.com/search?q=...FORM=QBRE&sp=2&ghc=1

I checked the link. RCC did have brass . . . at $5.25 per case. The other sources were sold out.

Unless things change more or less now, this is pretty much what I found when I searched years ago: several advertisements, but when I tried to order, they were sold out.

You'd be way ahead starting with a 788 Rem action/rifle that was originally chambered in 30-30. Or a suitable single shot action. Or a rifle already so chambered.

225 Winchester brass is for all practical purposes, non existent.

You must be referring to the 219 Donaldson Wasp, never heard of the 225.

Have a good time.

quote:

…You must be referring to the 219 Donaldson Wasp, never heard of the 225.

He is wanting to use .225 brass to make Donaldson Wasp cases. He knows exactly what he’s referring to.



.

quote:

Originally posted by TX Nimrod:

quote:

…You must be referring to the 219 Donaldson Wasp, never heard of the 225.

He is wanting to use .225 brass to make Donaldson Wasp cases. He knows exactly what he’s referring to.

Did you happen to notice the title of his post,
225 Donaldson Wasp ?



.[/QUOTE]

another classic bolt gun in 30-30 was the model 54 winchester.... and the savage 340's ive had, had a decent trigger... there are some really good scope mounts for them too...

there is some data out there that uses the 30 rem case to form the wasp that might just be a good route my 225 is on a hiwall but i will say that making a 219 case would be a bitch - which it is anyway one of my favorite rounds

also you need form dies and custom made ones are gonna ouch

Availability of 30 Rem brass is the same as 225 Win. Ask me how I know.

If you are going to have to 'make brass' anyway as .225Win stuff is non existant or stupid expensive,'
Then why not use 30-30 or maybe 25-35wcf to form the case.
Yes it will take some effort and likely more than a simple pass thru a die or 2. But most of us usually have a basket full of dies accumulated in sets. Or orphaned odd-balls that can be used for the job. You don't always have to pay RCBS their ransom.

The case rim can be turned down to what ever you want.
225Win dia if that's the direction you are going to use a 30-06 bolt head size.
Go 'rimless' and you have the 30Remington SLR size.

If you make the latter, you could go not quite as old school as the Wasp and chamber for one of the .22 Lindahl Chucker cartridges.

Based on the 25Remington for the rimless versions,,a short and a long(er)
Or a rimmed version using 25-35 or the 30-30 case and taking advantage or the rim. for use mostly in single shots.
30rem easily resizes to 25Rem in one pass. I make it up all the time.)

Making up some brass can be a pain. But how much do you really need.
Not like it's an AR Ammo Eater

Sounds like a fun project.

You could rebarrel a 303 british. They feed rimmed rounds pretty slick.

Thanks for all the feedback folks. Its an odd situation for sure. I have all the reloading and form dies, I bought them second hand for a really good deal. Ive been experimenting with a tiny bit of brass, and forming from 225 is far easier than from 30-30, less attrition.

I had my eye on a Model 54 target rifle rebarrel to Wasp, but it ended up selling for far more than I wanted to pay at the time. Looking back in hindsight, I probably should have "bit the bullet" and bought it, that said, i dont know which version of the Wasp it was chambered in.

Right now, I am kind of leaning on a 308 short action model 70 as a donor for rebarreling. Based on my limited research, the long version wasp should have more horsepower than a 224 Valkyrie, so I am thinking fast twist barrel shooting heavy bullets. Wouldnt mine shooting this in some NRA prone matches, just to be different!

quote:

Originally posted by 257 Roberts:
. . . . Based on my limited research, the long version wasp should have more horsepower than a 224 Valkyrie, so I am thinking fast twist barrel shooting heavy bullets. Wouldnt mine shooting this in some NRA prone matches, just to be different!

My .225 Win is 1:14. Will not stabalize most bullets weighing 55 grains and up. So FWIW . . . I like your idea of "any twist faster" than 1:14.

I have RCBS DW form dies, I dont think I have had a single case loss, and made 400 cases when I sold the rifle.
I also have a martini cadet, that was a 219 zipper imp. A 225 reamer just cleaned up the chamber. I had the 225 dies. It is easyer to make the DW with the form dies, then 225's with the 30-30 cases for me.

If you plan to buy a new set of dies for the 219 Donaldson Wasp - irrespective of your base cartridge brass - be aware there are two case lengths . The short version is short by the thickness of the rim in the long version. You really want the long , original case length .

Form and trim dies are available - I use 30-30 brass .

The first benchrest match I ever attended was in Johnstown, NY and Harveyt Donaldson was also in attendence. During a break in the bull session behind the firing line somone asked Harvey, "Guess what caliber gun I'm shooting!" Harvey refused to guess, so the reply was, "An Improved .219 Donaldson Wasp!"
Harvey exploded, "You can't improve a Donaldson Wasp!"

257- If you decide to go the way of something built on the .225, I have 200 rds of virgin Win brass I'll sell for a fair price. I also have an also virgin 225 chamber reamer.

I stole a hi wall in 219 Gipson Wasp, and couldn't find specs for the Gipson version and decided to have it rechambered to the 225. I saw the brass on the market and ordered it, but couldn't find a smith with a 225 reamer, so bought one.

Because of possible rim size/extractor problems I was talked into simply rechambering to 219 Donaldson, which works fine on prairie gods.

If you can use them I'd be happy to sell them for a fair price.

PM me at jmbn1@outlook.com if interested.

I have a 219 Wasp built on a Mauser action. I use brass formed from new 30-30 brass with the case head turn down to .473. E Arthur Brown sells some at 69.95 for 50 but you'll have to turn the case heads. I have no problems feeding thru the magazine.

I can't remember the gentlemans name that formed mine for me but since I had a fairly large quantity of 225 Win brass, I asked about forming them instead. He said no because, if I remember correctly, the body still would not be the proper size.
Phil