Despite the name this cartridge was invented by P.O. Ackley a prolific American wildcatter. Wildcat cartridges are ones that are not made to a standard adopted by any major manufacturer.

This particular cartridge could send a .22 caliber round 5,000 fps (1,524 m/s). The case it uses in this picture is that of a .378 Weatherby Magnum necked down to hold a .223 caliber bullet, but another design of the same name used .50 BMG cases.

    • FireTower@lemmy.worldOPM
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      1 year ago

      Good eye. Just fixed it.

      For anyone curious the title had “it’s” instead of the correct “its”.

    • FireTower@lemmy.worldOPM
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      1 year ago

      Converting free time into noise. I’m pretty sure was just one of those things people have done because they wanted to see what would happen / it would be funny.

      Realistically a cartridge like this would have a very short barrel life.

      • warlaan@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        I am not much of a gun connoisseur, but isn’t the point of cartridges to have an extremely short barrel life, and aren’t cartridges with a long barrel life called misfire?

        • FireTower@lemmy.worldOPM
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          1 year ago

          When I was talking about a ‘short barrel life’ I was referring to how many rounds a barrel chambered in this cartridge could be expected to be fired before its accuracy fell outside of a user’s acceptable standard.

          Barrels get worn out due to heat and friction, so cartridges that fire smaller projectiles with more powder tend to wear faster.

          Unrelated to barrel lifespan, a cartridge that took longer than usual to send the bullet out the barrel would be a misfire. More specifically a hangfire. These are bad.

    • babboa@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      Thats not what’s happening though. The Casing is a .378 case but the neck of the case (which holds the bullet in place) is formed down to .223. The barrel is also presumed to be .223 diameter with a chamber that is reamed out to accommodate the length and diameter of the cartridge to be fired. It’s a path to putting a ton of powder behind a small diameter bullet (much like an even more extreme version some more modern calibers like 6.5-300 weatherby magnum). Actually with a little work (and some very long and heavy .223 diameter bullets) you could probably make this thing hilariously accurate for a thousand rounds or so before you absolutely wrecked the rifling.

      • FireTower@lemmy.worldOPM
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        11 months ago

        Actually with a little work (and some very long and heavy .223 diameter bullets) you could probably make this thing hilariously accurate for a thousand rounds or so before you absolutely wrecked the rifling.

        I agree. Every round would be hand loaded (because no company loads it). And precision is nothing more than repeatability. If you’ve found a good action and barrel nothing should stop you from shooting sub MOA groups.

        For the most part particular chamberings are only more or less ‘accurate’ based on the ballistic coefficient / drop and the standard at which the manufacturer makes the cartridges.

  • remotelove@lemmy.ca
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    11 months ago

    Probably had a horrible barrel lifespan since the burn time for that powder is going to be super long and the flame is getting focused down to .223in.

    A good rule of thumb is to use slower powders for bigger cartridges and heavier bullets, but this design kinda breaks that rule on a number of levels. To slow a powder burn and you are spraying powder. To fast, and you are basically building a grenade.