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Originally Posted by
Bergeron
I’m kicking around if an intermediate-9 might be a fun and useful “Ranch Rifle” for here in the swampy or piney south.
My first centerfire rifle was a long-since-stolen 7600 in .35 Whelen, and my most recent is a 16” 9mm AR-RDB. I always wanted, but never tried, loading .357 Magnum bullets into Whelen cases for light loads.
It looks like an upcoming project will be a SBR in x39 boltface AK, and I wonder about 6.5 Grendel necked to 9mm? I’ve got guns I can buy ammo by the case for, this would also be rifle-as-handloading-excuse. Ranges really aren’t that long out here and the toughest critters are the hogs.
I loved the power of the Whelen back in the day, and I’ve come to realize that a part of that was the terminal ballistics of old-school cup-and-core at close range on the higher impact speed of their design parameters. What happens with either the round nose or pointer 180-225grain stuff, out what’ll necessarily be closer to, uhhhh, 30-30/9mm wildcat out of a 13.7-10” barrel? Would it still be nasty out to 100m? Or maybe as far as 250m range? With .357 Magnum bonded pistol bullets, just how hard and fast could they be pushed?
I wouldn’t be unhappy with 30 Gremlin, instead. Light to midweight 30-cal rifle bullets match up weight was pretty close to .357 pistol bullets, and I guess(?) that 300 BLK popularity has given us a deep enough selection of rifle bullets with terminal performed towards lower velocities than -06 or 308. Or maybe jump all the way smallbore to the 6ARC. I don’t want a bunch of rifles, I want just few that I really like. Any way of it, I’ll get my jollies of designing and making ammo for the gun.
Is this .35 Grendel an idea with real terminal ballistics potential, or is this just riggings of heartstrings for 9mm rifles?