Who all has some Wildcats and what are they? I have 7-08 Ackley, 22-6mm (224tth), 6mm Ackley, 243 catbird. The Catbird is a beast of a 6mm (270 win necked down to 6mm and blown out) but honestly the 6ai is a lot more efficient. I have been able to push a 105 Berger north of 3300 with no pressure and single digit es/sd's in the 6mm ai.

I'm running a 7mm-300 Win Mag in one of my semi wildcats. It's a simple one- neck down 300 WM to 7mm and you're there. It's what I call my "poor man's 28 Nosler". It pretty much duplicates the 28 Nosler performance, but at 1/3 the cost of the ammo. 195 grain Berger at 2990 fps. I use it for my 1 mile feeder for hunting pigs. I'll be playing with the Sierra 197 SMK here real soon. This was my second 7mm-300WM. The first one I sold, and I kind of wish I kept it.

25-06

Well it was at one time, but has been a SAAMI round for longer than most of us have been alive. But if you count it as a wildcat there are many other factory cartridges that started out as wildcats.

Currently 22-243 and 7mmTCU. I have owned a few others over the years and loaded for more. The most case work required on any I have loaded was 30 Herrett.

Well you’re right about that. I have a custom 25-06 that my Grandfather had built when it still was a wildcat. It’s stamped on the bottom of the barrel under the stock 7-63. It was built in Houston at Heights Tackle Shop my Dad has told me. It’s a shooter too, Douglass barrel and a Mauser action in a custom walnut stock.

I’ll build me another 22-6mm, but it’s gonna be a 224 tth improved. I lucked out a couple years ago and found 300 new 6mm brass.

7mm-08ai, 223ai, 6mm br ackley. Had a 6mm creed and 22 creed long before both were standardized. Not sure if 6.5x47L counts as there really is no factory ammo available these days.

I took a 270 and necked it up to 30 caliber and trimmed it off. I called my new cartridge a 30-06 🤣🤣

I had a 256 Winchester mag once. Not a wildcat but something I had to build brass for. It was a pain in the [censored] and I'll never do any wildcating again. With the multitude of rounds available at today, I don't think there's enough difference to make any difference between a wildcat and some round that is readily available. Well kind of readily available since we're still in a semi ammo crunch LOL

Also used to have a 7:30 Waters. Still not a wild cat but I did build brass for it. It was actually an interesting round

In Service

.223 Ackley Improved

7mm-08 Ackley Improved

Coming Soon

Reamer ordered, .22-47 Lapua

Dan,

.25-06 is a SAMMI spec cartridge. And has been a SAAMI spec cartridge since 1969.

After 54 years, it is far from a wildcat cartridge.

Rifles chambered in it have been available for almost as long.

So, it is far from a wildcat. And has not been one for a long time.

Dullard

It is a fun round, I had a Winchester from first year of production of it. Still have a couple Contender barrels in it. Federal is the only factory option that i have ever seen in it. Making the brass is not that bad from 30-30 brass though.

Not nearly as bad as that little 256 Winchester necking a straight wall case down .1 inches. The one I had was a Universal carbine and if U had stayed with that round would have found one of the Marlin 62s

Just because Remington standardized the cartridge in 1969 and SAAMI began offering load data for it, that did nothing to change the ballistic performance that first earned its designation as a wildcat cartridge.

You can build faster race cars but that doesn't make earlier models any less what they were built to be.

I listed it without comment knowing there would be those like you who would challenge it. Thanks for not leaving me disappointed.

Well I mean you see the point though right? By your logic a 270 Winchester is a wildcat.

224 predator from ARP ( sized down 6.5 Grendel )

As are a plethora of others, just think of the amount of cartridges that spawned off the 300 H&H, 308 Win and 30-06, damn near all of them for many years. It was just a failed attempt at trolling, at least there wasn't a you tube link on this one.

Point well taken and great question.

Perhaps it's the length of time a given load gains popularity "in obscurity" that leads to it earning the title of being a wildcat. With Winchester having developed the .270 just two years before introducing it in 1925, I suspect it never had a life outside of standardization. On the other hand, the 25-06 reportedly had a life of more than 50 years before Remington decided to build and sell it as a standard offering. While some might see that as reason for the cartridge to lose the designation, I'm one of those who believes its history, as well as others like it, will remain untouched.

Never really thought about it, but perhaps "wildcat cartridge" is another example of where consumers, rather than suppliers, are most responsible to deciding something has earned its title.

The designation is earned by ballistic performance? All this time I thought it was someone taking case dimensions and modifying them in an attempt to make something better and/or not already available. Dan you really enlighten me, thanks.

You're most welcome. After all, it's improved ballistic performance that drives people to do all those other things to create wildcat cartridges. I'm sure few if any of them do it just because they enjoy playing with brass and gunpowder.

So can we get the discussion back to cartridges that had a successful life before some ammo maker decided to hopefully make money selling them?

I’m pretty sure every cartridge started as a wildcat technically. I think the discussion was regarding cartridges that are wildcats today.

Exactly

I see now the OP may have been an attempt to recognize self-grown loads as being wildcats when they have no history or following at all within the shooting community.

As mentioned earlier, the .270 Winchester was developed in house and for that reason, never really had a true following within the shooting community before being mass produced. IMO, there must be others who buy in over some length of time to the benefits the load produces in its performance and by making it themselves for it to be deemed a true wildcat.

Wildcat cartridge designation is simply a name applied to a cartridge that has not been standardized by SAAMI or CIP with NO FACTORY AMMO AVAILABLE. If you are going to shoot a "wildcat" you will need to reload, buy ammo from a person or company that loads for that round and legal to sell it to you in order to do it legally.