7.62x40wt?

[joebiosolid]

Anyone out there shoot a 7.62x40wt and what do you think of it?

[Sid Post]

Anyone out there shoot a 7.62x40wt and what do you think of it?

If you are not interested in 300BO for subsonic use it's one of the better options at moderate cost. The 6.8SPC-30HRT (6.8x30) variants are better if you don't mind handloading and the higher expense for brass, mags, etc.

The Wilson .30 variant is a good deal when you buy it on sale and/or handload for supersonic uses. It is better for reloading than the 300HAMR as well and only gives up ~100FPS in the 'real world', contrary to what the ads claim.

[Humpy70]

I really wanted one but nobody will build a bolt rifle that will feed it. Ruger made 77s in 7.62X39 for a while and I almost bought one.

[Sid Post]

I really wanted one but nobody will build a bolt rifle that will feed it. Ruger made 77s in 7.62X39 for a while and I almost bought one.

Those Rugers had a .308 bore, not .311 so a lot of people had issues with them. If you really want something like that, get the CZ variant as it's a solid rifle from a manufacturer that knows what they are doing with that cartridge.

For a bolt gun, assuming 7.62x51 is too much, I'd go with a 350Legend personally.

The 7.62x40WT doesn't make much sense to me in a bolt gun. There are a bunch of superior bolt action rifle cartridges to choose from. If you are dead set on one, I'd look at rebarreling a .223 donor with a 308W take-off barrel that is setback and reamed for the WT assuming you can live with the twist rate. With the limited demand of 300BO, I don't ever see a mass-produced WT bolt action coming to market.

[Humpy70]

What I would rather have is a rifle in 6.5 BR. Had a good friend in England who came and stayed with us two weeks in the summer before he went to Camp Perry and shot smallbore and he had the gall to bring a G&E from Switzerland and load ammo on my press that shot under a inch at 300 yards with SDs of 3 and 4. I have the reamer and plenty of brass for it but never found the action.

[joebiosolid]

Thanks for the info. I have looked at the other variants you spoke of but I don't want to invest in the higher prices for brass, even though i know they offer better performance.

[Sid Post]

While not a common 'big box' store caliber choice, something along the lines of the 7.62x40WT is a reasonable choice for many however, the Winchester market push for 350Legend makes this cartridge a bit more attractive to me today. I do wish Winchester has copied the 357AR but, I guess then they couldn't join Ruger, Steyr, etc. with a new 'boutique' cartridge named after themselves.

[BWilson]

If you are not interested in 300BO for subsonic use it's one of the better options at moderate cost. The 6.8SPC-30HRT (6.8x30) variants are better if you don't mind handloading and the higher expense for brass, mags, etc.

The Wilson .30 variant is a good deal when you buy it on sale and/or handload for supersonic uses. It is better for reloading than the 300HAMR as well and only gives up ~100FPS in the 'real world', contrary to what the ads claim.

Why do you say the 7.62x40 is better for reloading? I've loaded THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of rounds of both and see no difference in ease of reloading. Also, yes the 300 HAM'R does have more than a 100fps advantage over the 7.62x40 when you compare the same bullet at the same chamber pressure.

[BoringGuy45]

Bill, with the .300 HAMR now a thing, are you going to be retiring the WT? I mean, are there any roles that the WT was intended for that the HAMR wouldn't do better?

[308curry]

I was really excited to play with this round; bought a bbl, put together the uppers and started prepping (cutting down) cases. After 4 month of the dies being on back order with Wilson my desire for this project has faded. I'm not happy with Wilson; they have a propriety cartridge and they sold barrels to customers without ever telling them that they could not support the project with the parts necessary to actually use it. They were selling barrels for this cartridge when they knew that the arrival / delivery of dies was no where in their future. My upper sits in the corner. I'll either rechamber it or sellit.