Skip to main content
Help Center Community Shop

.264 Bearcat? Ever Heard Of That Caliber?

David Nunn

I have a rifle so chambered.

It has to be a wildcat, but it's one I hadn't heard of until I read the caliber marking on the barrel.

I will do some research, but I figure at least one of the experts here has some information on it.

Thanks!

0

Comments

6 comments

Date Votes
  • chris8X57

    Tried looking it up in PO Ackley's old Handbook and found nothing on it in over 20 pages of 6.5/.264 wildcats and custom cartridges.

    Better try doing a chamber casting and finding out what parent case it is based on.

    0
  • David Nunn
    chris8X57: 30165722493083/comments/30165754083867

    Tried looking it up in PO Ackley's old Handbook and found nothing on it in over 20 pages of 6.5/.264 wildcats and custom cartridges.

    Better try doing a chamber casting and finding out what parent case it is based on.

    I figure whoever buys it can worry about that.

    0
  • chiefr

    David, I have a reference book that lists thousands of carts to include most wildcats. I did not see the 264 BC listed. MY advice would be to chamber cast and slug the bore. RMR

    0
  • David Nunn

    From NeoBlackDog:

    What in the Wide World of Sports is a .264 Bearcat? I tried my Google Fu on it and came up with nothin'.

    Did a bit more digging and came up with this little blurb from an article discussing the .264 Thor on a European handloading forum,

    One such experimenter was Wichita Falls, Texas, gunsmith Bill Mowrey (later of blackpowder Mowrey Rifle Co. fame). Bill necked down the 7x61 S&H and called his creation the 6.5mm Bearcat. Bill told me that his biggest problem in the mid-1950s was trying to find slow-burning powders suitable for the cartridge. Today, that’s not a problem.

    So it appears to be a cartridge developed by Bill Mowrey, the builder of the rifle, and it's a necked down 7x61 Sharpe & Hart.

    3
  • Tflogger

    There is another called the 6.5x61 Shannon necked down sharpe &hart. I found it in Hand loaders manual of cartridge conversions 4th edition. May be the same?

    0
  • David Nunn
    Tflogger: 30165722493083/comments/-1

    There is another called the 6.5x61 Shannon necked down sharpe &hart. I found it in Hand loaders manual of cartridge conversions 4th edition. May be the same?

    Could be. I am ignorant.

    0

Please sign in to leave a comment.

Recent Activity

Didn’t find what you’re looking for?