Feasible to chamber a Hellcat/Bearcat in 30 Super Carry?
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Keith, I would have to see the exact dimensions
before I could say for sure. But I do have one question on this. Why would anyone want to go to the expense to chamber this very weak cartridge in their carry gun? It has just barely more power than a 380 and considerably less power than a 9mm. If you wanted to chamber a cartridge in our Hellcat why not go ahead and chamber it to 9mm and have something with power. We have done the Hellcat in 9mm and in 38 Super.
On the other side of the coin, if you decided to go ahead with this we would have to order the chamber reamer which could take 6 months or more. We have never had anyone ask for anything chambered in this cartridge. So you would end up spending over twice what the Hellcat in 9mm would cost and end up with a carry gun with mediocre power for a self defense gun. For all practical purposes the 30 Super Carry would give you barely the power of a 380 and if you needed something to save your life I would hate to think I had to depend upon this cartridge to do so.
Just my personal opinion and my opinion plus $11.75 will get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks.
I was under the impression that 9mm was too large
to chamber in the Bearcat cylinder and that was why you originally chambered your hellcat in 32 H&R and used the 32 H&R as the base for you 250 GNR.
The reason specifically for chambering the 30 Super Carry in the bearcat/hellcat is that it's more powerful and cheaper than 32 H&R factory loads. I.e. outside of a larger caliber, it's the most powerful and cheapest centerfire cartridge available.
If indeed you can chamber the bearcat cylinder in a larger caliber, then yes, 9mm would make more sense.
Well, let's change that a bit. Kase just reminded
me and Robert added the same that we had some binding up with the 9mm in our Hellcat so rather than taking a chance on having problems, especially with a self defense gun, let's say the 32 H&R would be your best bet for the Hellcat. The 30 Super Carry is still not proven to be a good carry caliber. I would go with the 32 H&R any day. Sorry for any confusion. But it's all up to you.
We have a big article coming out soon on our Hellcat in 22 Magnum. Great pics too.
As much as as I like to toy with new things...
That case is rimless, tapered, and has a very high operating pressure. Things stacked against it for the mentioned application. I've never had an issue with my SBH and 9mm cylinder, but don't want to either. Ditto the .40 S&W or 10mm Auto, both wonderful revolver rounds.
The .32 straight wall chamber can shoot so many things. H&R, S&W long and short, .32 ACP. Too much fun and versatile. On a larger chassis the .327 makes sense, I have a couple. But honestly I shoot more .32 Long and H&R's. Depends on what brass I easily find. Uncle Gary is shooting you straight.
Maybe the pressure is the problem, but the two, not so sure
It's tapered, but only 7 thou (nominally) from neck to rim. 9x19 tapers by 12 thou over the same case length.
In a single action with an ejector rod, doesn't really matter if the case is rimmed or not; as long as the machinist cutting the chamber is half-decent. In a double action with a star extractor, I'd agree with you.
Perhaps, the bearcat isn't up to snuff for the 50k PSI.
I, too, like the 32 H&R, but was curious about a more powerful off-the-shelf cartridge in the bearcat. Would naturally lean towards 327, but it's a hair too long, even if not, 327/32 H&R/32long are all wildly expensive compared to 30 SC for factory loaded ammo.
You can handload 32 H&R to get more power at a reasonable cost/rd. Of course, with handloading, it makes 90% of cartridge comparisons moot. Besides, that's an entirely different POU.
The 30 Super Carry is just another situation like the
Winchester WSMs. The gun magazines wrote it up as the best cartridge around and that it would beat all the other cartridges in the same caliber range. It turned out to be pure BS and helped put Winchester out of business. The 30 Super Carry is a skunk of the same caliber. The gun magazines are writing it up as the best carry cartridge around which is absolute BS. It is a cartridge that is bit more powerful than the 380 but way below the 9mm. That doesn't make it a great carry gun in my book.
If I wanted to carry a cartridge that would do a lot of damage to the bad guy I would carry a revolver chambered in 22 Magnum. The 22 Magnum does more tissue damage than either the 9mm or the 30 Super, plus it is light, has no recoil, and is cheap to shoot. Years ago we had to do some culling of Blesbok in Africa. The area hadn't been hunted in over 10 years and there were a lot of cripples, one horns, older animals and generally a bunch of messed up animals. The game department wanted 60 of these animals taken out and the animals had to be head shot so the villagers could save the meat and hides. I used the PH's Winchester model 70 in 270 and I borrowed a 22 Magnum also and used it on the Blesbok.I was amazed at the tissue damage the 22 Magnum did on these animals. If my shot was a bit low and in the upper neck the round left a huge hole and almost took the head off. If I ever have to pull my gun I want it to leave a really big hole in whatever I am pointing it at. But as I said that is just my opinion and nothing more. Flip a coin.
22 mag- I think it was an article by Paco
Kelly where husband , wife and baby lived in trailer and he went to work leaving wife a loaded Single Six in 22 mag and said to aim for the middle if anyone breaks in. Some poor bastard tried breaking in and she emptied the gun in the middle. He died with his arm in screen door. Cops thought he was hit with buckshot.....