7.62 hand loading for L42s

[Daan Kemp]

There were and still are many 'wildcat' cartridges based on the 30-06 case shortened, necked up and down. The same with many other cartridges, such as the 8x57 [Germany], 303 [Australia and Canada], 7,62x54 [Finland], propriety British big game cartridges on which many well known commercial cartridges are based, etc.

Many 'brand new' cartridges can be traced back almost to 1900. The book 'Cartridges of the World' by Frank Barnes provides hours of enjoyment when you read the detail and compare the dimensions of cartridges. Fascinating to see your pet 'wildcat' that you are developing for a specific use already existed decades ago. You will be astounded how many cartridges share the basic head dimensions of the 8x57 Mauser cartridge family from 1888 and British H&H cartridges from about 1925.

A colleague of mine spent a lot of time on wildcatting a family of cartridges based on the 9,3 Brenneke; wasn't impressed when I showed him it had been done in Europe about 50 years before he started.

Some useless information:
The 8x57 line up - all commercial - starts with 6x57 and goes to 10,75x57.
30-06 starts with 25-06 and ends with 400 Whelen.
The 6,5x57 predates the 257 Roberts and they are basically the same.
Etc.

Information

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[Wineman]

Not disputing the status of any cartridge. You could say the 30-06 is a "wildcat" of the 30-03 as it has a shorter case length. If anything the 7.62x51/308 Winchester is a 'wildcat" of the 300 Savage, which is most likely a "wildcat" of the 30-06, at least the case head and rim are the same. For years "Magnums" had a belted case. This started due to the long low angle shoulder of the original 300 and 375 H&H magnums. They basically made a rimmed cartridge that would work in bolt action rifles without tricks and not have a real rim. When people started "wildcatting" these cases the belt just stuck around (7mm Rem, 300 Wby, etc.). Current Magnums and short Magnums have dispensed with the belt. Nothing new under the sun as they say. I believe that the 5.56x45 NATO/223 Remington were "wildcatted" from the 222 Remington Magnum. I love COTW. Great reading and more information than you can use in a lifetime.

Dave