Looking Forward to 2025.....

[Fuj']

I will be adding to this thread over the next several months what is going on at the bench.
The new build will be a bit of old and new, and something for the grandson to really get his
feet wet under some tough competition. Of course he'll be considered a junior. Zach is 13.

Going to start with a chassis and a Savage PTA. Looking in the vault, has me digging out an
early model MDT HS-3. i had already converted an Oryx Chassis and wanted to do the same
principle.....The HS-3 uses an AR buffer tube for the butt stocks. i did away with it, and turned
a solid piece of stock to replace it. With it threaded in place, and with a liberal amount of epoxy,
It's now a solid one piece unit. I then machined that to accept the butt stock I made for the
Oryx. Just two screws, and I can switch back and forth quickly.....

I'll be adding as things happen, and that will include a new wild cat in the works for it.

[GrenGuy]

Watching !

[charlie b]

Should be pretty cool.

A new wildcat??? Well, it is a new season so we would expect something like this :)

[Fuj']

Should be pretty cool.

A new wildcat??? Well, it is a new season so we would expect something like this :)

I had another one of my middle of the night deals, and had to write down a few notes.
This one will be a 22 center fire. I reached out to Rocketvapor for some brass he was
about to scrap. He sent me some, along with some good stuff. He has a good general
idea on what I'm up to, but I won't go into it until I finish some forming dies and make
some test pushes. Let's just say, the old school .222 Remington is going to get a unique
make over.....

[charlie b]

Now that is surprising. I had just guessed you'd come up with another 7mm.

[Fuj']

I made some design adjustments on my top ear, rear bag rider, for my DR flat top. Dusted the
bag with Benchrite Teflon and very little resistance. Side to side stability is better then good.....
Now on to the front bag rider. I have a few sketches that look promising and aluminum on the
shelf ready for the mill....

And yeah Charlie, I have run the route with the Sevens and time to move on. The SA284 however
will be shot on a regular basis.

[Fuj']

A little minor tweaking to do, but the front bag rider mock up is 90% done. I have it set
for 4" wide and can go any width I want by changing standoffs. I came up with the idea
for my AR's a few years ago, but using the principle on my MDT-HS3 chassis. It slams the
barrel right on down. the barrel clears the bag by just 1/8th inch. No front stop needed.
The rider itself is the stop......For the guy's using the pic rail plates, under the forearm,
this method takes out the vast majority of over rotating the barrel from a bad hold. The
standoff method will also let you adjust torque offset which some BR stocks incorporate,
like what sharpshooter deals with on his......

[charlie b]

Interesting design. Is there a reason to have adjustable width with the standoffs?

Funny this has come up. I'm considering another .223 barrel instead of another .30. Will be interesting to watch.

[Fuj']

Interesting design. Is there a reason to have adjustable width with the standoffs?

Simply if I want to go and run the gun in one of my 3" wide rest's, and mentioned earlier, to change offset to
counter barrel torque. A light recoiling .224 would not be an issue but some of the larger cal, high velocity, and
fast twist rates can create a lot of unwanted torque and upsets the bag. I fought this at Ridgway with 3" wide
stocks. 4" helped me a lot in this area.

May not have anything to post up for a while. JGS wont have a reamer for me for possibly several months. I'm
going to be a bit picky with this new cat......

[charlie b]

Won't be impatient :)

Understand about the rest dimensions and torque

[PhilC]

I like build threads - watching!

[Fuj']

May not have anything to post up for a while. JGS wont have a reamer for me for possibly several months. I'm
going to be a bit picky with this new cat......

Well, there has been an unexpected change, and will not be ordering a custom reamer from JGS. An email
came in about a reamer method change. After a lengthy phone chat from another fellow shooter, A few numbers
I needed to change already existed on another reamer that has the same case base width I plan on using.
instead of 3 months, I'm told 1 week. And instead of $278, this reamer is $193 shipped.....Happy camper time !!

Going to be a Black Cat !!.....It's a Happy Halloween all around.

[charlie b]

Well that's pretty nice.

Is part of the reason going to .22 the change in the scoring based on bullet dia? I had heard that the old advantage of the .30BR was erased based on that. I don't even know how long ago that was.

[Fuj']

I shoot mostly UBR style match's, and the UBR targets are caliber neutral for .22, .243, and .308.
As I was shooting mostly .284, I was bumped to shoot the closest .308 target......The other main
reason is the grandson will be able to handle a lighter caliber easier, and making it cheaper in my
back pocket also, component wise....What's nice about getting this reamer earlier then normal, I'll
get to chuck up a barrel cut off, do a chamber, and then chamber cast it. With that cast, I'll get an
early start on die particulars.....The other plan is converting my shorter 284-ELF to .264. Always
something......

[LDSILLS]

Always learning Fuj'. Whats the range on UBR event? And is UBR just one shot per target rings?

[Fuj']

UBR, we shoot 100, 200, and 300 yards. Each target has 6 scoring bulls and 2 sighter bulls. And
yes, one shot per bull. Unlimited sighters.....For scoring, the center dot counts as eleven points.
There is no X count. 4 targets per yardage with a 66 point value per target.

[charlie b]

I asked because I am tempted to get a .22 barrel for one of my rifles. Component price was one of the considerations. I liked shooting the .223 before I got the 6BR.

[Fuj']

I asked because I am tempted to get a .22 barrel for one of my rifles. Component price was one of the considerations. I liked shooting the .223 before I got the 6BR.

For reloading, the small case head .22's are hard to beat on component prices in every area.
Large primer cases are killing me, and has me rethinking quite a bit with an added shooter in
the mix......As it is; This year may be the last I compete with anything having a large rifle
primer in it. With tax, haz. and shipping, good LP primers have now reaching the $200 mark,
and that's if they can be found. Same with powder. I can't get 8lbs of it in, for what I need for
less then $500, and in the larger cases, it's does not last long. Like I mentioned.....Rethinking !!

[charlie b]

Kind of why I went to the 6BR. And when I ended up with a 6.5CM I bought cases that took SR primers as well. Same for my .308. Got cases that took SR primers. Next up is my .45ACP stash (I still have a few thousand LP primers). When I need more I'll be buying cases for SP primers.

My next .30 cal will be a .30BR for shooting cast. Smaller cases, less powder.

When I burn out the 6.5CM I may go back to a .22, just not sure which one. I did like the .223. The Fireball looks interesting too.

[Fuj']

My next .30 cal will be a .30BR for shooting cast. Smaller cases, less powder.

When I burn out the 6.5CM I may go back to a .22, just not sure which one. I did like the .223. The Fireball looks interesting too.

Look up Mike Ezell's 30 Major. it's based off the Grendel case, and I bet one hell of a fit for cast bullets.
Even smaller case capacity, and a better fit for getting down into those faster burn rate powders.....
And yeah, the 221 Fireball is pretty decent. I owned one when I thought I needed a little more then
the 218 Bee. The .221 is gone, but still have the 218 Bee.....Did I mention 30 Major.....LOL

Now there has been another turn of events that popped up with no warning......Looks like I'll be doing
one more .284 wildcat after all ?? This will involve "Tack Driver-6" run by Jim Cline at the Orangeburg
South Carolina rifle club.....Try to find the very latest of Eric Cortina's podcast and watch the 1st fifteen
minutes. It will explain most of it. My reservation money, I sent in yesterday, after getting a couple of
emails from Jim himself, and others.....The podcast mentioned is with Speedy Gonzalas.

[charlie b]

I had forgotten about the major. Had looked at it years ago when I was considering an AR.

For cast in my .308 I load between 25 and 30gn of powder so the .30BR is just a tad larger capacity than needed. .300BO too small. So the major may be just right.

[Fuj']

I had forgotten about the major. Had looked at it years ago when I was considering an AR.

For cast in my .308 I load between 25 and 30gn of powder so the .30BR is just a tad larger capacity than needed. .300BO too small. So the major may be just right.

One of the reasons i like wildcatting. Find that perfect boiler room for an area you like to shoot in. And one of the reasons
for my next cat. My SA284 is perfect for 180 class bullets and powders in the burn rate of H4350. Varget works well in my
even shorter ELF......I'm moving to the 150 class bullets in 7mm to fill a gap between 300 and 500 yards where long VLD
type bullets are not needed......For this class of bullets, my SA284 is too big of a case for Varget, and my 284-ELF case is a
tad too small. To get that perfect fill, The ELF needs to be 1/4" longer, and the SA284 needs to be 1/8th inch shorter. I'll
shorten some of SA284 brass that is close to end of life, and set back one of my mule barrels to fire form. Once I'm satisfied,
I'll commit to new brass. I have 300 pieces of virgin Peterson tucked away. Another reason for the 150gr bullet; I have a Hart
31", 12 twist, Max Varmint blank in the vault.....

And yeah, I do believe a 30 major would do wonders. What is your cast bullet length, and the current barrel twist rate
coupled with your velocity ??

[charlie b]

I think if I still had my lathe (12x36) I'd be doing some more wildcats as well. Matching cases to vel and bullets would be another challenge.

The bullet I use the most is a 167gn 0.8" long bullet at 1900-2000fps. Currently the .308 is a 1-10 twist, which is the limiting factor in vel for me. A new barrel would be in 1-13 or 1-15. With the slower twist I'll push it up to 2400fps for long range and stay at 1800fps for closer ranges.

I have also considered the .300Hammer but I think it is just a little too small in vol.

[Fuj']

And Speaking of 30's ??.....Machined and pushed my final form die for the newest 284 cat. It will now
go to the FL die, trimmed, then fire formed......This last die, I honed the neck to be a 30 if I ever decided
to go that route. With me, you never know !! I logged all the stop and mandrel measurements for something
that may come up in the future. I'll now finish the work for the 284 case. Once done, I'll get to work on the
mule barrel.....The .224 center fire cat is officially on the back burner.

[charlie b]

Should I even ask how many different .284 cats you have done?