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That the .219 Donaldson was toast after the advent of the .225 Winchester would be news to the bench rest community. The .225 never made a ripple as a bench rest cartridge, but the Donaldson Wasp was going strong in BR circles well into the '60's. While Harvey Donaldson's claims as to velocity were never verified, the cartridge's accuracy was.

I attended a benchrest match in Johnstown, NY in the fall of 1964 as a guest of my friend Crawford Hollidge. He and I were a part of a group carrying on a conversation, when one of the group whispered, "Here comes Harvey Donaldson. Watch this!" When Harvey walked up, this group member asked, "Hey Harvey, guess what I'm shooting!" When no reply was forthcoming, he continued, "An Improved .219 Donaldson Wasp!"

As anticipated, Harvey hit the ceiling. "You can't improve a Donaldson Wasp!" he shouted.

The Donaldson Wasp case was the forerunner of the PPC case which has dominated benchrest shooting since its inception. Its relatively short stubby body with sharp shoulder and long neck embodied virtually everything now known about cartridge case design for extreme accuracy. The case capacity of the Wasp was 36.85 grains of water versus 33.80 for the PPC.

The main drawback at the time was the lack of really high quality brass to fabricate it from. Wasp cases had to be laboriously formed, reamed, trimmed and fireformed before they were usable as match brass. The advent of the .222 Remington, ammunition which could be shot out of the box, cut into the Wasp's popularity as a benchrest cartridge and the PPC, with it's liberal supply of really well manufactured cases, laid it finally to rest.

Incidentally, you can view my High walls at http://forums.nitroexpress.com/showflat....true#Post113901

Your Wasp stock must be very like the one on my Improved Zipper.

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