Thread: Wilcats and Pressure

Originally Posted by L.R

Spanners you really are talking shit. My 375 Lunatic is at 67,000psi and makes a 400gr projectile go 3035fps. Kiwi Greg's 375 DCM is at ???? Pressure and makes a 425gr projectile go 3080fps.

Kiwi Greg's is at a higher pressure and therefore makes more pressure. End of story.

If its safe of not will depend on what Barnard have designed the action to take. Why don't you call them and ask if they are happy with the pressure Kiwi Greg is putting on his action insted of speculating all this shit.

22-250 and 223 WSSM run the same pressure and get different speeds for the same weight proj, as does 270 and 270 WSM

Fact of the matter is, you;re not even shooting the same chamber/case - so thats a pretty bold statement to make

Regardless of if KG is at a higher pressure or not, can you explain why 67000 was the chosen as the final number? - genuine interest not a dig - because I keep hearing 'overloading' and want to know how we get to a line in the sand that anything over and above is 'overloaded' - This is whats this is all about; Wildcats in general without industry standard data
Was it a accurate load and left at that?
Is it max that the brass will take?
Is it max that the chambering will take?
Is it max the action will take?

might seem like a dumb question but why dont they make/experiment with thicker brass to withstand more pressure for something custom?

Originally Posted by Spanners

22-250 and 223 WSSM run the same pressure and get different speeds for the same weight proj, as does 270 and 270 WSM

Fact of the matter is, you;re not even shooting the same chamber/case - so thats a pretty bold statement to make

Regardless of if KG is at a higher pressure or not, can you explain why 67000 was the chosen as the final number? - genuine interest not a dig - because I keep hearing 'overloading' and want to know how we get to a line in the sand that anything over and above is 'overloaded' - This is whats this is all about; Wildcats in general without industry standard data
Was it a accurate load and left at that?
Is it max that the brass will take?
Is it max that the chambering will take?
Is it max the action will take?

I'm enjoying the read so far and well done for keeping it professional (no name calling etc...)

If you look at older loads say the 45/70 or similar that run at much lower pressures it would be a combination of spanners list of Q's above that lead to the pressure being specked so low (SAAMI or whatever standard was used) to protect the user in all situations, based on the cartridge and rifle that it was likely to be used in. The old Henry rifles with their brass actions wouldn't handle any more than a given pressure (the action would fail), so the calibre was made around the limitations of the rifle.

I guess what Spanners is asking is that if we make a new wildcat, then fit the rifle around that wildcat...how far can we go?


Keep up the debate...


kj