Source for 4340 bar stock?

Didn't P.O. Ackley do some tests of forces applied to the breechblock? I seem to remember having read something in one of his books. Seems to me that they took a Winchester lever action, 92? 94? and tested it. If I remember the final test was to remove the locking blocks and fire. The bold staid close.

I have the feeling that the test might have been in support of his "improved" wildcats with much straighter case walls but it was interesting.

Of I have alzimers :-)

John B.

errr.. the bolt stayed close

errrr... The bolt staid close"

John B.

Remained nearby?

jsw

I don't remember Ackley's writings. It was too long ago for me. I do remember the .218 Improved Bee and the .17 Ackley Hornet. They were two of the crazy wildcats that I was nuts about when I was a kid.

-- Ed Huntress

Let the Record show that John on or about Tue, 16 Mar 2010 22:33:09 +0700 did write/type or cause to appear in rec.crafts.metalworking the following:

That's good to know. But I'm sure it was "the bold" who "stood close" while that was tested ... B-)

pyotr

- pyotr filipivich We will drink no whiskey before its nine. It's eight fifty eight. Close enough!

Yes, a long time ago, which is why I "seemed to remember".

One of the reasons I liked Ackley's writing was that he was, perhaps, the ultimate pragmatist. When some writer took him to task, saying that the only way his "improved" cartridges obtained their higher velocity was by using higher pressures. Ackley replied saying that the average gun owner cared only that they (1) got higher velocities, and (2) the bolt stayed in the rifle. Which I suspect is nearly a universal truth.

John B.

Did you ever read _Twenty-Two Caliber Varmint Rifles_, by Landis? I had an early edition and practically memorized it. That was another book I loaned out and never got back. Sheesh.

I've increased the size font in the newsgroup reader. Now I can see what I'm typing ;-0

John B.

No, but when I got interested in varmint rifles a friend had a 22-Krag which was a full length 30-40 case, blown out to a less taper and sharper shoulder necked down to 22 cal. It was a hi-wall with the first Unertl scope I had seen and really pretty wood. Lord I lusted after that gun.

After I shot with him for a while I realized that the 22-krag really wasn't that accurate a gun although it must have gotten some bodacious velocity as with his hotter loads the bullets would disintegrate in flight, so I built a single shot mauser with a heavy Douglas barrel.

22-250 and after tinkering with loads it would shoot clover-leaf size 5 shot groups at 100 yds. and better then 1 MOA at 200.

John B.

That's what I had on my Browning 1885 (which is actually a Winchester Hi-Wall). It was beautiful, in .223 caliber. I killed a javelina with it, and a few woodchucks, but there are hardly any places to shoot it in NJ . So I let it go -- for a very nice price, however.

Tony Mandile, then editor of _Arizona Hunter_, shot a photo of me and the peeg I killed, with the Browning, that he was going to run on the cover of his magazine. But another guy in our party killed one with his Desert Eagle .44 Mag, and the handgun made a more dramatic photo, so he used that. My photo may have run inside; if so, I had a Lyman scope on it at the time, and it didn't look right to me. So I bought a Unertl 12X Varminter and had it mounted on there. It looked perfect, and it was great for shooting 'chucks.

Well, the Krags, and the .22/'06s, and the other wildcat Roman candles were interesting, but kind of over the top.

That's a lot more interesting. When I was 11 - 13 years old, the father of my closest friend, a surgeon with plenty of money, had a fairly large collection of custom wildcat rifles. (I lived in NE Penna. then, not in NJ). I fell in love with those guns. I just live in the wrong place to shoot them now.

See if you can find Landis's book. I think it's been reprinted. It's a classic, from the golden age of varmint rifles.

e

I have the two-volume set, as well as a bunch of early '60s gun rags where he was a regular writer. Most of his velocities were "estimated" as well as pressures. Once the cheap chronos hit the market, guys could see what they were actually getting for their efforts and cash and a lot of the wildcats kind of faded. Then the cheap surplus mail-order rifles faded off the scene in the late '60s and the frenzy sort of died out. Wildcatters are still out there, but the existing cartridges just about have all the ballistics holes plugged for right now from mice to elephants. Benchresters are trying to shave their one-hole group size by thousandths now, too. Most of the improvements are in components now.

Stan

I have the two-volume set, as well as a bunch of early '60s gun rags where he was a regular writer. Most of his velocities were "estimated" as well as pressures. Once the cheap chronos hit the market, guys could see what they were actually getting for their efforts and cash and a lot of the wildcats kind of faded. Then the cheap surplus mail-order rifles faded off the scene in the late '60s and the frenzy sort of died out. Wildcatters are still out there, but the existing cartridges just about have all the ballistics holes plugged for right now from mice to elephants. Benchresters are trying to shave their one-hole group size by thousandths now, too. Most of the improvements are in components now.

Stan

=========================

I figured that the bloom was off of that rose by now. When I was shooting those guns, starting around 1958 or '59, the .22-250, .220 Swift, and .25/06 were all wildcats.

-- Ed Huntress