InisBineest wrote:Don't get me wrong, i understand that reloading an exotic cartridge is far far cheaper than buying them new. And i also understand that those calibres can be doable in the long run for a reasonable price. But within the realm of reloading, 223 (or other 224 cal projectile based rounds), 308, (or other 30 cal based rounds) and 9mm/.38 all seem to be the cheapest to to run with. These loads are cheap to buy in small or bulk quantities, where as i find something such as 6.5mm rounds harder to get for the same economy. I know i'm scratching the difference between cheap and very cheap, but for me (and some others no doubt) that is a differnce. My argument is primarily against the notion that reloading for somthing as common as 223 is not worth it. 223 in any way you look at it is cheap, but reloaded 223 is simply cheaper in the long run. (And by my maths i broke even about 4 years ago for the cost of the gear:)
And hey, while a drilling in those cartridges would certainly not be traditional, i would wager there would be a small market for people who would buy it (small, but present) given that so many of us run those calibres anyway. Just a thought.
I agree, everything is cheaper to reload than to buy factory ammo, if cost is your goal.
I do like drillings for what they are, but that is essentially an old-school, driven-hunt firearm, complete with an obscure Euro-centric chambering. I just don't know that there'd be much appeal for such a firearm in a modern "common" chambering. A bit like buying a milsurp rifle and rechambering it to a modern cartridge, to me you've lost the reason you wanted the milsurp in the first place, its historical value. I think it'd be the same with a traditional drilling.
Drillings are also not generally cheap (you're paying for three chambered barrels for a start, plus three complete firing mechansims), so the cost of rechambering one to a modern chambering of your choice would be fairly insignificant in the bigger picture. As you don't need a bolt face to fit a cartridge you merely have to recut the chamber, so a Hornet, .222Rem, .222Mag,, 222R, and many more exotic .224" chamberings should easily convert to .223Rem.
You could probably fairly easily convert the top barrel of the Chiappa Triple-Threat to a rifled barrel by machining a normal barrel to fit inside the smoothbore tube.