What unusual/nonstandard calibers do you load?

[mgjohn]

What unusual/nonstandard calibers do you load? And what do you shoot then in??

For me that would be:
30 Luger (1920's commerical)

30 Mauser (for an old Broomhandle)

7.62x25 (HP's for a Nam capture TT33)

7.7 Jap (WW 2 Paratrooper 2 piece takedown rifle)& a standart Type 99 Army rifle.

38 S&W (Old S&W Terrier (J-frame) (2 Isrelai surplus Enfield revolvers)

45 Auto Rim (Couple of old well worn S&W 1917's)

45 Win Mag (LAR Grizzley)

The Grizzley is the only caliber that I generally shoot a lot of.

 

[k22fan]

I'm not currently reloading for anything more unusual than .45 auto rim but my rifles are mosty idle because enviromentalists managed to shut down the only outdoor range in the county by threatening to sue over lead in the backstop. If you don't mind I'll tweak your question to include a cartridge I reloaded to keep my uncle's model 95 Winchester out in the woods, the .35 W.C.F. or .35 Winchester. Basically it's Teddy Rosevelt's "Big Medicine" .405 Winchester necked down to .358".

 

[Culina]

8 x 57 mauser is as unusual as it gets for me.

 

[Snapping Twig]

6.5-06

.300Wby

7.62x39 150g NBT (nobody loads this because it's cheap to buy) I load it with a heavy for caliber bullet and a ballistic tip at that.

.44Spl

Shot loads for .357, .44, .45colt using gas checks

454 Casull

45-70

 

[Win712]

I load for these unusual's;
.32-40 Winchester, model 1894 Winchester, circa 1910,
.348 Winchester, model 71 Winchester, circa 1937,
.45 auto rim, S&W model 1917 & model 25,
7X57 Mauser, Ruger #1A light sporter,
.32 Winchester Special, Winchester model 1894, circa 1914.
Greg

 

[RWJ]

A few

Not too many, just:

.25 ACP Astra
.30 Luger Beretta 92-98 (Factory BBL), Colt Combat Commander
.32 S&W, .32 S&W Long, .32 H&R (S&W K32, S&W 631, S&W 16-4)
.38 S&W S&W 32, S&W 33
9mm Steyr Colt Combat Commander, Colt 1911A1
9x21mm (non-race gun) Beretta 92-98 (Factory BBL)
9x23mm (non-race gun) Colt 1911A1
.41 Action Express Colt 1911A1 (Barsto BBL)

working on a 9mm Magnum (converted to a 9mm wadcutter, a la .38 AMU) Colt .38 Super Conversion

plus all the usual rifle and handgun

It keeps me off the streets......

 

[David LaPell]

The only unusual calibers I load now are

.41 Special
.32-20

 

[5906fan]

.45acp shotshells from formed .45 winmag cases (use .410 shot cups cut down) and .32acp. and 9Makarov

 

[LoboGunLeather]

Some years back I built a couple of rifles that I thought would be pretty useful. First was a Mini Mark X bolt action, 22" pencil barrel, 6X45 mm (6mm bullet, .223 case necked up), walnut stock, 6X scope, 6lb. 12 oz. total, shoots 1.5" groups at 100 yards with 90 grain spitzer at 2800 FPS. Second was a Ruger 77, custom barrel in what I called the 8.5X51 mm (.338 bullet, .308 case necked up), 250 grain bullet at 2200 FPS. These two cover just about everything from antelope to the big bears, but both are strictly "roll your own" for ammo, custom made dies, etc.

The little 6X45 is nice to carry all day and has no recoil to speak of. The 8X51 will drop just about anything that walks, but kicks like a mule.

I also have a few 19th Century rifles that require hand loading, like the .38 WCF, .44 WCF, .405 Winchester, .45-90 Winchester and .45 Sharps Express. Pretty hard to find ammunition for most of these, and I prefer to feed them a mild diet.

 

[deadin]

I guess the most unusual I'm currently loading is an old European .450 Long. The cases are made from .45 LC, shortened, the rim thinned from the front and then turned down a little. 15 gr. FFFg, a cardboard wad and a lubed wad under a .45 RB. Shoots quite well.......
(There are several versions of the .450 Long. All with various case lengths. I just trimmed to fit the chamber.)

 

[Charlie Foxtrott]

Right now I am only doing two that qualify.

.455 Eley and 35 Whelen. I guess that these two would count.

 

[fredj338]

I have always been a fan of obscure & wildcat rounds. I currently load for:
260AI - M700
338-06 - M77
338x74K- Ruger #1
7tcu - TC
7mm Dakota - Ruger#1
404jeffery - M70
375win - TC
45AR - M625
I have loaded 357max, 375supermag, 454Cas, 7mmJDJ#2, 44-40, 7.65x53

 

[Dave T]

Back in the late '80s and early '90s I was into guns of the Frontier West and loaded the following:

45 Colt
44 Russian
44 WCF
38 S&W
45-60
45-70
50-70
12 Ga

and all with black powder, duplicating the original performance.

Finding original firearms and restoring them to shooting condition just got too expensive and I gave up the old ones.

These days the only cartridge I load that you can't buy any more is the 38/44...the original 38 Special +P.

Dave

 

[HKSmith]

I think fredj338 wins the prize!

In addition to the usual handgun cartridges, I reload:

.25 ACP
.32 S&W for a Lemonsqueezer bicycle gun
.38 S&W HBWC's for several Lemonsqueezers, a Victory, and an I-frame Terrier
.45 Auto Rim
.455 Webley for a WWI 2nd Model HE.

 

[Peter M. Eick]

357 Max is my real oddball. Not very odd though.

 

[Alk8944]

In no particular order:

1) 10.4mm Italian Vetterli, 1879/87 Vetterli built the same year my Grandfather was born, 1886

2) 10mm Beaumont/9.4mm Dutch revolver, Dutch KNIL

3) 8mm French Ordonnance (so-called Lebel revolver), French Modele d'Ordonnance 1892

4) 9mm Browning Long, Swedish Model 1907 Browning

5) 9mm Largo, Astra Modelo 400/1921

6) 11.15x60mmR Mauser, Model 71/84 Mauser

7) .22 #6 (Maximum) Lovell, Cadet Martini varmint rifle

8) .450 Adams (.450 Revolver), Webley MP (Metropolitan Police) made in 187x

9) .41 Long Colt, Model 1896 New Army and converted Army Special

10) 8x57J (.318 bore) 1888 Commission Rifle

11) 7.62x38R, Russian Nagant revolver. A lot of people shoot them, but not many reload in the original caliber!

12) .50-70, 1866 Allin conversion Trapdoor Springfield. (More for the rifle. Mine was "Sporterized" back in the day, probably 1870-80s. Originally an Infantry Rifle. Sure wish it could talk!!)

13) 7.5x55mm Swiss, in Model 1896/11 and K-31. I only include this as I have been reloading this since before brass and dies were commonly available, since 1967.

14) .35 Krag, in #3 Ruger re-bored by Bob West about 30 years ago. I have seen people mention this many times as though it were a common conversion, but it doesn't appear in RCBS or CH-4D die lists. I made the dies for it.

15) 10x25mm Rimmed. Buckeye Ruger Blackhawk. This is a little tongue-in-cheek, as it is nothing more that a rimmed 10mm Automatic made from modified .30-30 or .41 Magnum brass.

16) 10.4 Italian Revolver (10.35x23 Glisenti) in M1889b (Bodeo), or will have by tomorrow.

I think there are a couple more, just can't recall at the moment.

I load for these, and quite a few more, but don't consider that any of these fit the category since dies, bullets and brass are readily available:

.38 S&W, .32 S&W, .32 ACP, .38-40, .44-40, .32-20, .35 Whelan, .38-44 (It's just a .38 Spl after all), .45 AR, 6.5x55.

 

[lebomm]

.44 Spl - 6 different guns
.45AR - S&W M22
.38-44 HV - S&W HD
9mm Largo/.38 ACP - Astra M400 (1921)
.285 OKH - Custom Argentine Mauser
.35 Whelen Ack. Imp. - Custom Mk X Mauser
7x57mm - Custom FN Mauser
8x57mm - Brno Sporter

Larry

 

[Snowbandit]

The only wildcat I have left is a .35-300 Win Mag by P.O. Ackley on a Remington 700 BDL action. I got rid of my 6.5X284 Winchester quite some time ago. The only odd commercial cartridge I load is the 303 Savage and, since I traded the rifle, I don't even do that one anymore. Still have a box of new ammo, dies and cases if anyone knows someone that can use them.

 

[Andy the Aussie]

.38/45JWH. I form the brass off standard 45ACP and go from there. It is similar to the 1970s .38/45 Clerke. But with a couple of subtle differences to keep it out of patent problems etc.

Andy

 

[sjmjax]

Most unusual... this one.

25mm Hotchkiss/Puteaux round. Custom made dies and custom made solid brass projectiles. Each bullet approximately 7/8 pound [6125 grain]. Propellant charge approximate 1/3 pound [2300 grains]

Shoot them in the French Puteaux SAL 37 anti-tank cannon.

Picture of loaded rounds, projectiles.

Copper jacketed, steel core factory AP/T, first generation solid brass, base using .50 caliber bullet as tracer element, first generation w/tracer, second generation solid and short range "semi-wadcutter".

Also load 20mm x 138B for the Lahti anti-tank rifle and been know to load a wee bit of .50 BMG