14 Caliber bullets, barrels and reloading supplies

The Fabulous 14’s
The little caliber with a big punch! Having shot numerous wildcat cartridges over the years, I have always been amazed at the potential of high speed small calibers. When I first picked up the tiny 14 caliber cartridge, loaded the round into the chamber of my newly built 14/221 Walker rifle, and aimed it down range I had no idea I would never quite look at rifles in the same manner again.

As soon as I released the safety and pulled the trigger, my shooting world suddenly took a whole new turn. Never in my wildest dreams would I have guessed that such a tiny cartridge could pack such a powerful punch. As I placed my finger on the trigger and put 16 ounces of pressure against it, I felt almost no recoil from the rifle. I watched through my scope as a tiny .144 inch diameter hole instantly opened up in the paper 100 yards away. Only the report of the gun let me know that it was me that caused that miniature hole to develop down range. Watching the bullet hit the target through the scope without the effects of recoil interfering was pretty impressive to say the least, but it paled in comparison to the awe of what that little hyper-speed bullet did on the other end!

After moving those tiny holes in the paper to dead center on the target, I quickly put plans in motion to head to the prairie dog fields of Montana to see just what the 14 caliber cartridge could do. After some cleaning of that shiny new Pac-Nor Super Match Stainless barrel bore and a few hours of reloading I knew it was time to unleash the “Little Beast” known as the 14 caliber.

It didn’t take long in those alfalfa fields to quickly learn that the massive energy release of that tiny bullet was nothing short of spectacular when it came in contact with something down range. It really was a David in a world of Goliath calibers.

I think that the only one more surprised by its awesome power than me that day was the prairie dogs to whom I introduced it.