A "wildcat" wildcat

[Bill in Oregon]

Some of you may have noticed that I sold the Model 94 Winchester that had allegedly been rebored and rechambered to .35-30 by Parker Ackley.
Well, the new owner was puzzled after he fired a couple of loads through and found the case had "changed shape." For some reason I had missed this with the handloads I had fired through the rifle, so I was quite chagrined and offered to buy it back in order to sort out the mystery. Well, mystery solved, and I should have realized what I had before I let it go. It was chambered to .35-30 Ackley Improved, with the should moved forward and set to 40 degrees -- pure P.O. magic! Dave Manson sent me reamer prints of the standard .35-30 and the .35-30 Ackley Improved and the dimensions match.
I think what threw me off was that the rifle came with four boxes of old handloads, many with split necks, in the original .35-30 configuration. I pulled the bullets from three of those boxes and forgot about the fourth. I just found that fourth box, and lo and behold, those cartridges are loaded with fireformed brass and Winchester Power Points. The other three boxes were loaded with Remington CoreLokts.
See what I mean: top is a necked-up .30-30 case with NOE 230-grain boolit, and below is a fireformed handload with the Winchester bullet.
I should have known Parker Ackley would not miss an opportunity to very easily boost performance of even our earliest wildcat.
Of course, now I kick myself for not having measured case capacity and chronographed the Ackley cartridge. I would not be surprised if it actually exceeds .35 Remington performance. Has anyone here every heard of the .35-30 Ackley? If so, please do tell!

[AmBraCol]

I've toyed with the idea of the 35-30 for quite a while, with the idea that is, not actually taking any steps toward it. So, did the seller send it back, or is he playing with it himself?

[Bill in Oregon]

Doc, I think at this point he is pretty tickled with the idea.

[3leggedturtle]

So in other words its a “full length” 357 Herrett! Doesn’t surprise me at one bit P.O. would do that. I sold my 45/70 about 4 days after this one sold... So I bought a Ruger revolver with 1/2 my proceeds. Hope the new owner is happy with it. Todd/3leg

[Old Savage]

Doubt there will be much ballistic difference between that and the 35 Rem but am interesting cartridge with other rifle choices.

[AJMD429]

Maybe a 35-30R Hull & Standen...?

[Mainehunter]

I did have a Marlin 336A bored out to 35/30-30 by JES in Oregon a few years back. I did some load testing using the NOE 230 grain cast bullet posting the results here on the forum. My first levergun was a 50’ish Marlin 336SC in 35 Remington that I sadly gave it up to a friend of mine years ago. Bought another one few years later but by that time I was having a hard time finding brass. I started reading some old articles back in the late 60’s on the 35-30 and I was hooked. Basically same neck length as the 30-30, longer than 35 Rem and perfect for castbullets. I really don’t know if there’s any differences between the 35-30 or 35/30-30 but if there is we be splitting hairs. Sold the rifle here to a forum member. I’ve moved up to my favorite 358 Winchester but there’s times I think about the cartridge and that wonderful loooonggg neck!

Mainehunter

[fordwannabe]

Mainehunter you can rest assured that rifle is well and being cared for. I still get a tickle out of people’s faces when they try to figure out what the cartridge is. Thank you.

[Bill in Oregon]

Doc, I am intrigued but can't access the site.
Fellas, I have to pay some bills first, but sure am considering getting a reamer from Dave Manson at some point and looking for a donor lever gun.
Wasn't it Joni Mitchell who said sometimes "you don't know what you've got till it's gone"?

[marlinman93]

There was no cartridge around that had a shoulder that PO Ackley didn't try to make into an Ackley Improved version. I have his two volume set of books and it's mind blowing all the cartridges he did the shoulder reshaping to. Many of them were already wildcats before he played with them some more.
I'm not sure all of Ackley's "Improved" cartridges were great, or really better. Most were, but some just seemed to be a way for PO to add his monker to an existing cartridge and make it his own. Or maybe sell reamers or gunsmithing services to those who wanted to AI their own gun.
I had a friend whose father worked at Ackley's when he was here in Oregon. He never spoke very highly of PO Ackley, and said he was more showman than gunsmith. He felt a lot of what they were doing at Ackley's shop was silliness.

[AJMD429]

Doc, I am intrigued but can't access the site.
Fellas, I have to pay some bills first, but sure am considering getting a reamer from Dave Manson at some point and looking for a donor lever gun.
Wasn't it Joni Mitchell who said sometimes "you don't know what you've got till it's gone"?

Yeah. for details, you have to be a member. I think it is $19/year.

[Bill in Oregon]

Vall, the late barrelmaker Chick Donnelly, of Siskiyou Barrel Works, seemed to think a lot of P.O., but I believe he studied under him in Trinidad. P.O. supposedly got a huge kick out of telling stories about Elmer Keith, who was an inspector at Ogden Arsenal during the war, while P.O. was the machine shop foreman. Apparently some of the guys liked to kid Keith about various things including his stature and he would get so angry he would challenge them to gunfights after work. I do know that Chick and P.O. helped their old fellow Oregonian Francis Sell design the .25-35 Tomcat. I have Fred Zeglin's biography of Ackley but haven't read it yet.

[Mainehunter]

Mainehunter you can rest assured that rifle is well and being cared for. I still get a tickle out of people’s faces when they try to figure out what the cartridge is. Thank you.

Well I'm glad your enjoying it! Courious to know what other loads you've tried? I think the cartride is great alternative for worn out 30-30 or 32 WS. I visualize in getting a single shot 35/30-30 some day!

Mainehunter

[Nath]

It just looks right don't it.
Great story.

N.