Wildcats and Odd Balls cartridges

[400Whelen]

I like Wildcats and Odd Ball Cartridges. I like them a lot!

Today I'm writing about an Odd Ball. So, what is an Odd Ball cartridge? Well, according to me. An Odd Ball cartridge is a round that both the cartridges and firearms were massed produced by commercial manufactures but aren't any longer. No new firearms and no new ammo.

The subject cartridge is ... it has at least four different names depending on what country it was sold in.

The Austrians named it the 9.5 x 57mm Mannlicher-Schoenauer (I will use M-S from this point forward). But strangely enough sometimes they use 9.5 x 56 MS.

The Germans labelled it as the 9.5 x 56mm Mauser.

The British reduced the load by 2 grains of cordite and renamed it the .375 Rimless Nitro Express (2 1/4") also known as the .375 RNE.

The 1910 Steyer MS is without doubt the most common rifle ever chambered for this cartridge. I have never actually seen one in person. I would love to have one, but my bank account cannot afford one! This rifle can be found with all the different cartridge names stamped on it.

Westley Richards, the British Gun and Rifle Company produced "some" of the rifles chambered for the .375 RNE. I haven't seen one of these in person either!

I have seen these rifles posted on some auction site. I also saw a 1917 US. Enfield that had been re-barreled and it was branded as a .375 RNE.

I did actually see two boxes of factory produced ammo at the Tulsa Gun Show in 2021. It was manufactured by Kynoch likely in the early 1950's. And the cost for these two, five round boxes was only $100.00. So, if you are going to shoot one of these rifles you will have to make the cases and load them yourself.

By now, you are likely thinking that I lost my marbles! Who in their right mind would go through all the troubles to build a rifle for this old Odd Ball? (See the first sentence)

My rifle:

In 2020, I was at the Tulsa Gun Show and among all those tables I found a suitable rifle to build one of my dreams. My rifle was manufactured by Birmingham Small Arms Company, in Birmingham England. They called it the Monarch. Herter's imported these rifles as the Herter's U9. Because of the flat dovetailed rails machined into the receiver for a proprietary scope ring I know the rifle was made between 1964 and 1968.

This rifle was chambered for the 308 Winchester, a very serviceable cartridge but like my High School French teacher boring as sin and not nearly good looking! My first thought was too re-barrel it to the 257 Durham Jet. Remember I like Wildcats too!

When I took the rifle to the range, I noticed that the 308 rounds looked very short in the magazine. The rifle just didn't shoot well.

A scope bore revealed that the barrel had issues. After scoping the bore, I measured the magazine box and discovered it was an intermediate length action. Prefect for 57mm cartridges. I got all sort of excited because I really like that length cartridge. I have a 243 Rock Chucker, a 257 Roberts Ackley Improved and a modern rifle in .275 Rigby (7 x 57mm Mauser).

During a Google search I discovered this old Odd Ball cartridge and since I did not have a .375 caliber rifle, I shallowed it hook, line and sinker. I also learned that Pacific Tool and Gage made a C.I.P. rated chamber reamer and the headspace gages for my new cartridge. A check of the CH reloading die site indicated that they made reloading dies. It did not take long and I had it all.

The only thing left was a barrel. I was looking for a new barrel when I came across a brand new .375 caliber contoured barrel blank. The old gentleman had the barrel blank for years and he told me I could have for what it cost him. I gave him three twenty's, and I took the barrel home.

I took the rifle, barrel, reamer and gages to Malcom Ballistic Tools, Custom Rifles in Conway Arkansas. I told Tim what I wanted, and he delivered the goods. By the time my rifle was finished and had located and purchased those proprietary scope rings from another fine old gentleman. The rings where new in the box. I got them for $20.00.

Since my rifle was made in England the barrel was marked with the British caliber designation: .375 Rimless Nitro Express (2 1/4").

The Cartridge

As the name implies the case is 57mm (2.240) long. The neck length is .350. The shoulder diameter is .450 (you will see this again).

I make my brass using 30-06 Remington cases. The fire cartridge with the expended primer in place has a case cap of 67.0 grains of water.

Problem

If you shorten a 30-06 case to 2.240 long and just run it into the resizing die for this cartridge, then load the case and fire it you will have a problem. Possibly a very serious, ugly problem. You know; fingers and hands, maybe your eyesight and your devilish good looks or maybe even your life. Do I have your attention now?

This is because the shoulder of brass formed like that creates excessive and unsafe headspace. That .450 diameter shoulder is out of reach for a cartridge formed like that. You must create a false shoulder. If you don't know what that is, ask someone who does. Look it up and read. PM me.

This is the same problem that doomed the 400 Whelen when it first came out in 1923. I have a 400 Whelen too and the only problem I have with it is its habit of kicking the snot out of me.

Loading:

I think it is very important to know what the velocity was for the factory ammo. The British 375 RNE was loaded to 2100 fps with a 270 grain round nose bullet. The Europeans rung out 2150 fps using the same bullet.

Since my rifle is a modern, strong action that is able to handle the higher pressure of today's ammo I load my rounds "hotter" than that. None of my loads exceed .001 case head expansion.

I think the Robot in the TV Show "Lost in Space" said it best: "Warning, Warning, Will Robinson, Warning." If you decide to supe up your loads you are completely responsible your loads. So, proceed with caution, extreme caution. failure to do so may introduce yourself to "the Problem."

My loads produce groups 1 -1 1/2" average. Sometime a little bigger, never smaller. I think the cross hair and post in my scope contributes to those groups.

It works very well on Deer and Hogs. Fist size holes with no tracking required.

If you can't tell I like my rifle and this cartridge. More importantly I'm still having fun it.

400 Whelen

Ed

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[Capn Jack]

When I wanted a, "Big Bore" I just went and bought a .458 SoCom upper for my AR15.

Problem solved.

 

[gmerkt]

That's almost if not an elephant cartridge. We don't see many elephant in my neighborhood, so doubt I'd need one.

Quite an exercise in getting a rifle. This is the hobby aspect of gun ownership. The challenge of obtaining all the necessary components and having them come together to result in what you want. I've had a few exotic cartridge firearms before, but not this one.

 

[CountryGent]

Oddball cartridges? Yah, I'm hip.

 

[Capn Jack]

When I bought my .458 SoCom it wasn't exactly a standard cartridge and I spent a lot of money working up loads for it. At that time, a factory cartridge was about $3.00 ea.
Then, I realized the reason my groups were so erratic was the recoil was shaking my scopes apart.
It took 3 scopes before I found one that would stand up.
Now, after finding a bullet the rifle liked, my old S.C.U.B.A. weights supplying the lead and buying the cases from Star, shooting costs me about .35 a round.

 

[orygun]

Interesting story, @400Whelen . You should show a picture of the finished rifle.

My one venture into a wildcat was the 30-06 Ackley Improved. It was a lot of fun and performed very well for me, but there were left over issues with the rechambering that haunted me. That, added to the fact that I haven't had the desire to reload recently led down the road to getting that rifle rebarreled back to 30-06.
It now sports a Douglas barrel and is extremely accurate. That makes me happy.