We are must be using a different definition of a Wildcatters and Wildcat cartridges.
Someone was allway been there to dream up and test an unproven design. Weither it was from scatch or from another case. In the development of a cartridge even by the military there are dreamers inveolved. These dreamers are the ones I call Wildcatters.
The military case the 30-06 did not start out as a 30-06 so in my way of thinking it was a wildcat at one time. Even if you do not consider a cartridge as a Wildcat, I consider the developer a Wildcatter.
So we are basically think a like. I guess you define a wildcatter as a person that just modifies a commercialy viable case, not the ones that went through several cases before the the final commercial/Military case was settled on.
I just had a wider view of the term wildcatter.
But, you listed some prime wildcat cartridge lines.
The RUMS, WSM, etc lines all started from exsisting cases. The Shooting Times Westerners, and 8mm from the 375 H&H, which I bet at one time was a wildcat case. The 308 spawned a lot as does every case that hits the market.
The first cartride went through hundered of stages from the paper package with ball and powder to the first brass case, and then on.... I have even developed a hole line of case based on the now not so new 375 Ruger, they share the list of thousands unknown potencial wildcats seeking a comercial life.
To me it is a question like which came first the Wildcatter or the Cartridge? Or when is a Wildcatter a Wildcatter rather than an employee of a private contractor for the Military?
Way too much said and I will not say more
Kevin
Actually, a lot of cartridges in use today were created by one military or another, although many of those cartridges have spawned wildcats that became standard offerings. Wildcat cartridges have definitely challenged gun designers to look at things differently and what was once conventional wisdom gets turned upside down. The 22-250 came from the 250 Savage, which came from the 300 Savage. When the 300 Savage was introduced, it was pointed out by many gun writers and enthusiasts that the neck was less than one caliber long and thus, accuracy would be awful. It was predicted that it would not be around long and wouldn't be effective because of the short neck.
Well, it proved what a bunch of hogwash THAT line of thinking was, and so followed the 250/3000 Savage, and not long after, the 22-250. One can even argue that the 300 Win Mag, with its short neck, owes some credit for its creation to the 300 Savage. However, the 300 WM is also another example of a cartridge that is not the result of someone dreaming up a wildcat, because it really caught the shooting world by surprise when Winchester didn't just neck down their 338WM case.
Wildatting is responsible for a lot, but not every single cartridge out there, today.
The larger versions of the CHeetah were quite a bit more useful and competitive, on the circuit.
