.429-06 ?

[Buckeye]

I know this would be similar to the 400 Whelen, But now with a better selection of .429 bullets this seems like a good idea ...?

[EsoxLucius]

There is a wildcat for .429" bullets in a 30-06 parent case that headspaces on the case mouth.

[Lone Star]

What you would have is a slightly longer rimless .444 Marlin.  It would have to headspace off the mouth, there is no shoulder.  Not very practical, and the selection of .429" bullets is designed for lower velocities.  There are few appropriate hunting bullets for the veolcities you could reach in a .44-06.


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[Mikey]

Lone Star:  one of the posters who used to visit the Mil-Surp site had his Yugo 48 rebarrelled to that cailber.  I have been thinking about doing the same thing since I started loading havey hardcast slugs in my 444 lever actions.  There is a pretty wide variety of 43 bore stuff available now and some of it is made for the lower velocities you would get from a revolver or possibly a carbine but some of the other stuff floating around today would turn that cartridge into a monster getter.  I've used heavy for the bore cast slugs in my 444s and am sold on them.  3 different 444s with 3 different barrel lengths and twists shoot the heavy whompers very well.  And they don't come aprt.  They are hard cast and meant for big heavy or dangerous game. 

However, you did mention the 'practicality' of it all.  Since the 06 is only .015 inches longer than the 444 there is a real question as to just how much more you could get from that wildcat than you can from a 444 and whether it would be worth it.  You also have to deal with the 'feeding' problem in using blunt nosed slugs (polish the feed ramp Mikey) from a box magazine.  And as you mentioned, headspacing might be a problem. 

Maybe I'll just change my mind and keep stuffing heavies in my lever actions.  They are a lot handier and quicker to use in dense areas.  Mikey.

[Catfish]

I would recomand you forget this one. I have a .411 Hawk which shoots a .411 bullet forn a case based on the 06 case. With it I have only .009 of shoulder to head space on and I`m here to tell you it is vaey easy to bump the shoulder back to far to head space properly. If I were going to build a wildcat close to that with a .429 or 430 bullet I would have it built on the 3 in. 410 case and have the cases turned for it. You can get these cases acouple of different places and then you could head space on the case rim and get rid of alot of problems.

[John020769]

How about using the 30-40 Krag it`s a reamed case ?.....................John

[Lone Star]

The .444 case is 0.27" shorter than the .30-06 and it operates a a substantially lower pressure (44,000 CUP vs 50,000 CUP), so a .44-06 could give a substantial increase in performance over the .444.  The .30-40 is only a tiny bit longer than the .444 Marlin, so no advantage - plus it has an even bigger rim.  Getting a rimmed case to feed reliably in a bolt rifle is tough - two of the few that work are the .220 Swift and the .225 Winchester, both of which have tiny rims. 

The .240 Weatherby might be an option, but its case diameter is marginal for a .430" bullet.  That case does feed well in bolt rifles and headspaces off the belt.  I knew two Alaskan hunters who have .416s built on the .240 case - they worked well and were .400 Whelen performance clones without the problems.

Not everyone is sold on the idea of using cast bullets on the large game the .44-06 is appropriate for....in fact very few are.  There are not many appropriate jacketed bullets available in this bore size.


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[Buckeye]

What got thinking of such a wildcat was a rifle that I would have bought if a fellow didn't beat me to it(never set a gun down at a gunshow,never) it was a Yugo Mauser looked newish still full military was re-bored to 444 Marlin,Price was $200.00..the salesman said he got it on a trade..from a gunsmith..

And as for bullets for big mean game ,I'd nod yes to 250gr. Nosler
or 320gr. Hard cast GC pushed to 2050fps