Thursday, June 21, 2007

Boomsticks: Gratuitous Gun Pr0n No. 45


Photo by Oleg Volk, who is, in fact, The Man.


So, during the last visit to Oleg's he took photos of my shiny, modern .300 Whisper in addition to all the crusty old antiques I dragged over. The one above is just swoopy looking.

(If you are not a total gun geek, stop reading now.)

The round on the left, by the by, is from Yesteryear Armory here in TN; unfortunately, I'm not sure if they're still in business or not, because their web page has been replaced by a link farm. The ballistics on their loading are interesting. It doesn't claim to be subsonic; according to the box flap, it's pushing that 220gr soft-point at 1,378 fps. Contrast that with the conventional load (if such a term can be applied to .300 Whisper,) from CorBon, which lobs a 220gr VLD OTM-style bullet at a true subsonic 1,075 fps.

Here's the rub: I'll bet the long VLD bullet with its open-tip design is going to have a seriously quick yaw cycle on target, maybe within a couple of inches. On the other hand, that soft-point 220gr was designed to be loaded in .30-'06; is 1375fps enough velocity to cause bullet upset when it hits? Or will it not expand at all? And being that short for its weight, what with the round nose and all, it will be awfully stable and may have a yaw cycle measured in feet. Obviously I am going to have to buy some jello and put these theories to the test myself.

Regarding .300 Whisper and cans: All the .30 caliber cans I see on the market today are steel monstrosities designed to tame the mighty .308, like the Thundertrap. Maybe we could persuade a smaller, feistier manufacturer to come up with a compact 5.56-size can with a .30-cal hole just for .300 Whisper and subsonic .308. I know I'm not the only one out there faced with this dilemma...

9 comments:

Justin Buist said...

Okay, now I want one. I have no rational explanation as to why, but seeing that picture makes me want to liquidate some stocks.

NotClauswitz said...

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but before that 220 grain softpoint ever left the barrel of a .30-06 thousands of then had flown out of Krags traveling at about 2,000fps.
I'd love to see a kARg 30-40 carbine, that's be a hoot!

Mark said...

The inscription on the magazine well is the very best thing, in the universe, ever. Buh-rilliant :D

Anonymous said...

Coooooool!

Please do let us know the results of your testing.

Anonymous said...

Tammy, I mentioned in a post farther down, where you were complaining about the cost of .300 Whisper die costs, to Check CH4d - they're $75 from them, but their marked .30-221, because JD Jones was a cut of anything that has "whisper" on it. They even have dies for some of the wildcat versions with 30 and 40 degree shoulders.

Tam said...

Yeah, but $75 is a lot to an unemployed bum. ;)

That's how much they were at the shop I was at; I'll probably pick up a set next time I'm in Nashville.

Matt G said...

"Please correct me if I'm wrong, but before that 220 grain softpoint ever left the barrel of a .30-06 thousands of then had flown out of Krags traveling at about 2,000fps."

Not THAT 220 grain bullet. This one is a soft-point jacketed bullet designed to be fired at about 2200 to 2400 fps.

And There's a pretty significant difference between 1350 and 2000 fps....

Tam-- you've got mail.

Anonymous said...

Sinclair has full length 2 die set, for $65 - Redding instead of CH4D.

Anonymous said...

Tam, I've fired (and reloaded) lots of .338 Whisper. We shoot it from a Thompson/Center Encore with a Gemtech can. It's not really very obtrusive and it's quite quiet. Works fine.