Hunting Washington Forum

Equipment & Gear => Guns and Ammo => Topic started by: fly-by on December 23, 2017, 08:47:32 PM

Title: Project recommendations
Post by: fly-by on December 23, 2017, 08:47:32 PM: Swung by the local fun shop after some last minute Christmas shopping and came home with an interesting rifle. It's an FN 98 Mauser with a tang safety added, nicely fitted into a lightweight fiberglass stock. The only issue is it's in a pretty obscure chambering, 35 Ackley Magnum. COL for this cartridge is 3.25" and bolt face diameter is .532. Barrel length is 24", medium/light profile and it is just a little front heavy

I could use a light weight medium-big bore with an 18-20" barrel, and am thinking of the following:

Cut and recrown it. Use faster powders to achieve full burn in the shorter barrel, with the hope of achieving .35 Whelen performance in a small package. Will require expensive dies and careful load development.

.375 Ruger - Fits dimensionally, ample load data and cheap dies.

.458 WM - Neither stock nor I will handle full throttle loads, but easy enough to load down to 45-70 levels. Will likely use heavy cast bullets at modest velocity.

Thoughts, recommendations, something I've overlooked?
Title: Re: Project recommendations
Post by: Biggerhammer on December 23, 2017, 09:04:49 PM: Shoot it like it is.
Title: Re: Project recommendations
Post by: fly-by on December 23, 2017, 09:38:28 PM: Just checked C4HD and dies are just $83 and there are a few reasonable choices for parent brass. May make sense to try it as is for a while.
Title: Re: Project recommendations
Post by: Biggerhammer on December 23, 2017, 10:16:42 PM: Quote from: fly-by on December 23, 2017, 09:38:28 PM
Just checked C4HD and dies are just $83 and there are a few reasonable choices for parent brass. May make sense to try it as is for a while.

Give CH4D a call. They keep a large inventory on hand. They may have it in stock. I called them the other day and they had a set of 6.5 Gibbs to ship me. IN STOCK!
Title: Re: Project recommendations
Post by: Magnum_Willys on December 23, 2017, 10:39:01 PM: Looks smoothed out, nice. Saw double safety's ? Then read whole post, interesting. I have a mauser 30-06 with double set triggers. Shoots lights out. I would spend the $83 for dies and shoot it a bit first. 375 ruger would be nice.
Title: Re: Project recommendations
Post by: AWS on December 24, 2017, 06:24:58 AM: C&H is amazing, I'm surprised that it isn't more mainstream. I needed dies for a 6.5x58 Rimmed Sauer, they haven't made factory ammo in Europe since the 1930's, C&H had a set on the shelf including a bullet sizing die to take .264's to .260.

It looks like that was a pretty decent piece in it's day, I to would shoot it as is. I shot a 358 Norma Mag for many years and for "Giggles & Kicks" tried some 148gr double ended wadcutters for 38 Special target loads over a pinch of shotgun powder(data was in the lyman cast bullet handbook). It would shoot cloverleafs at 50 yards. I used it for rabbit and squirrel hunting in the off season, even killed a couple of called fox. Something like Berry's plated bullets would be fun, no lube to deal with.
Title: Re: Project recommendations
Post by: fly-by on December 24, 2017, 04:16:20 PM: Thanks for the suggestions. Will leave it as is and see how she shoots. Just ordered up some Cerrosafe from Brownells for a chamber cast. Apparently there were a couple of versions of this cartridge and I want to know what I have before ordering dies, much less firing it.
Title: Re: Project recommendations
Post by: j_h_nimrod on December 24, 2017, 04:49:59 PM: Keeping it as is and casting the chamber first is what I was going to recommend, but looks like you are ahead of me with the cerrosafe. I like these old wildcats and they are fun to work with. I have a 450 Ackley Mag that is a lot of fun and I also have a .375 Gibbs original (just found out there is a new louden boomer version based on the 505 Gibbs case) that is a lot of fun to reload and shoot.

Have fun!