Caliber development

Mr. Gunz

February 20, 2007 12:56

Me and My friend have developed a new caliber (its a rifle caliber), we dont have any "blueprints" on it yet, just a concept. What would we need to do to get this cartridge going besides dies for loading it etc. and gun to shoot it. We would like to go commercial some day and I know first we need to get a working gun with good ammo and get some results.
I know this may be an original question but what would we need to do to get started?

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  Tailgunner1954

  February 20, 2007 13:33

  Caliber is the diameter of the bore/bullet, not the case it's launched from (30 carbine and 300 RUM are both 30 cal, but totaly different cases).
  Completly different case, or a modification of a existing case?
  If the first, your going to have to lathe turn your prototype cases, or pay a company like BELL (or whatever their name is now) or Hormbauer to tool up to manfacture them. If it's just a modification than it's a fairly simple task to adapt to your design (skim over the "12ga From Hell" thread to get a idea of how much you can modify existing cases).
  Your going to need a couple reamers (one for the rifle, and one for the sizing die) along with GO and NO-GO gauges. You can get die blanks from Newlon Precision. Dave Manson (Manson Reamers) and Dave Kiff (PTG ?) both make custom reamers and headspace gauges (BTW they might already have specs for a reamer that is extreemly close to what your thinking of, there isn't much that's completly new in the world of cartridges).
  Your going to need a rifle that has a bolt face that matches the rim diameter of your cartridge design, and a barrel (new blank or used that can be cleaned up by your chamber design).
  About the only "gap" in rifle calibers is in the .390 range (in which case your also going to need to find a bullet maker that's willing to tool up for you).

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