NEED HELP with .243 wildcat

[hunter93]

hey evryone i got a 243 wild cat. from a buddy, and i dont load my own ammo, so i want to switch it back to the standard 243 round. what do i hve to do. thanks for the help

[gramps]

Do you know what the wildcat is called?
If it is just a .243 with an Ackley shoulder, you may concider just shooting standard .243 rounds and see how the accuracy is.  Some people do this the 'fire form' brass to reload.  The standard 243 will just form to the Ackley shoulder in the chamber.  Worse case may require a new barrel.
PS....I am not necessarily recommending anything...information only.

[hunter93]

yeah im not sure all i know is that its chamberd for a 243 but it uses a shorter casing

[addicted]

wssm?

if you can't get the realy name then you gotta take it to a smith to have it measured.

[JackOfAllTrades]

The only way to be sure is to take a casting of the chamber with something like Cerosafe, then measure that casting to determine the chamber spec. If it is 243ai, then just shoot factory 243win through it. 

If you're looking to change it to a factory offering of cartridge, then advice would be different depending on what rifle/barrel it is. A rechambering will run you near as much as rebarrelling for some rifles, more for others. Where-as, I wouldn't rechamber a Savage or say a mauser barrel, I'd probably just put a new barrel on it. 

-Steve

[high country]

And if you have some odd case that will not clean up without a bunch of setback and you don't have enough shank.....hosed again. It's a fair amount of work to do it. Do you have any fired cases for that gun?

[FALFire]

Can you post a photo of the round including one of the case head?

[hunter93]

sorry everyone i dont got any of the stuff, cuz ive never shot it. i just got a good deal on it. i can try to get some pictures up of it if that would help. the gun does chamber a standerd 243 win, i just havent shot it yet

[high country]

Does it say "ai, imp, ackley or ack" on the barrel? Do you have any 243 brass that has been fired in another .243? 

[spookgus]

sorry everyone i dont got any of the stuff, cuz ive never shot it. i just got a good deal on it. i can try to get some pictures up of it if that would help. the gun does chamber a standerd 243 win, i just havent shot it yet

Don't close the bolt on a live round until you are certain what you have.

[addicted]

sorry everyone i dont got any of the stuff, cuz ive never shot it. i just got a good deal on it. i can try to get some pictures up of it if that would help. the gun does chamber a standerd 243 win, i just havent shot it yet

Don't close the bolt on a live round until you are certain what you have.

nothing like lodging a bullet into the lands and not getting it back with the casing when you open it up.

[hunter93]

so i shot it and it split the casing

[high country]

Well now that you tried your hand at luck, do yourself a favor. STOP. You have no idea what you are messing with. You have a hell of a lot of experience on this board trying to keep your eyes on the front side of your face, and we don't yet know what you have. For your own safety and those around you....DO NOT SHOOT THAT GUN UNTIL YOU KNOW WHAT IT IS.

[high country]

Take a pic of the fired case.

[spookgus]

Post some pictures of the rifle, barrel stampings, and newly split case. What exactly is stamped on the barrel.

[magnanimous_j]

Well now that you tried your hand at luck, do yourself a favor. STOP. You have no idea what you are messing with. You have a hell of a lot of experience on this board trying to keep your eyes on the front side of your face, and we don't yet know what you have. For your own safety and those around you....DO NOT SHOOT THAT GUN UNTIL YOU KNOW WHAT IT IS.

Seriously. Spending the money on a gun smith is a much cheaper investment than the surgeon removing a chunk of the bolt form your face when that thing explodes on you.

[h20hunter]

If you get antsy and go out to shoot it again please keep something in mind. It will much harder for the next person to buy with with some of your face juice still splattered on the bluing. Just saying.

[elkonastick]

so i shot it and it split the casing

hahaha! i laughed so hard when i saw this. i think i have a broken sense of humor

[FC]

so i shot it and it split the casing

hahaha! i laughed so hard when i saw this. i think i have a broken sense of humor

I did too, the idiocy inherent in even contemplating shooting a rifle like this floors me. I am assuming that the shooter was looking to incur a little Natural Selection.

[gramps]

Not much I can say that hasn't been said......hope you live long enough to find out what you have.

[Biggerhammer]

It could be a 6mm REM AI? You need to be sure of what it is first. As for guys telling you to shoot factory .243 through a .243 AI chamber is BS! Many times while fire forming wildcats I have spilt cases, due to the fact the bullet was not contacting the lands and pushing the case head completely flush with the bolt face. All sorts of nasty stuff happens when the case can move reward during fire form. Here is a example of a Bell .404 Jeffery's case that wasn't against the bolt face and the bullet touching the lands upon fire forming to 450 Ultra Magnum. Your making a awful quick jump into the higher ranks of reloading and it is dangerous!

Mind you, this is a belt less magnum cartridge to boot.

[hunter93]

alright guys dont call me a idiot. i wasnt a dumb as when i did i had a face sheild on and gloves, so i did take precautions. i dont got the casing i left it there i wasnting think it matter if i left it or not. and all it says on the barrel is H & R mod 300 .243. also on the bottom of the barrel there is a p stamped on it. dont knw if that matters

[high country]

alright guys dont call me a idiot. i wasnt a dumb as when i did i had a face sheild on and gloves, so i did take precautions. i dont got the casing i left it there i wasnting think it matter if i left it or not. and all it says on the barrel is H & R mod 300 .243. also on the bottom of the barrel there is a p stamped on it. dont knw if that matters

A face shield might help save you from a ruptured primer, but anything beyond that....good luck. You need to cast the chamber and figure out what it is. It's gonna cost you $30-50 and then you can get some dies for it and live happily ever after.....if you keep guessing, again.....good luck.

[FC]

If I was going to take precautions for an experiment like this one I would probably be duct taping the rifle to a stump and pulling the trigger with fishing line while I was around the other side of a large tree...

[bobcat]

If I was going to take precautions for an experiment like this one I would probably be duct taping the rifle to a stump and pulling the trigger with fishing line while I was around the other side of a large tree...

 


I would've had a heck of a flinch when trying to squeeze that thing off with only a face shield!

I actually don't know if I could've convinced my finger to pull that trigger.   

[carpsniperg2]

Sounds like that would have been a good idea to do. Please take it to a smith! Last thing we want is for you to get hurt doing something like that.

[BULLBLASTER]

Some very good advice here from some very competent people. One think to think about... all you know at this point is.that the bore is. 243 or 6mm. The rest is a mystery. If you had a 300 ultra mag and only knew it was a 30 Cal would you feel safe trying a .308 cartridge? That is essentially what you were trusting maybe not as extreme but could be.
Be careful and take that thing to a gunsmith before someone gets hurt.

But do.let us know what it is in the end! 

[Biggerhammer]

Sell it to me and I'll mess with it until  I get bored and peddle it off somewhere.