.223 Remington Ackley Improved

Loads for a Classic Wildcat

- Stan Trzoniec

We all want more velocity from our varmint cartridges. So, when looking for new avenues to explore, I came across a Contender barrel at a gun show chambered in .223 Remington Ackley Improved (AI). This barrel was made by the Thompson/Center Custom Shop back when the company had such a department in Rochester, New Hampshire.

The barrel was brand new in the box, had a bright blue finish, and at 24 inches in length it would allow a reasonable comparison to the standard .223 Remington. Already on hand was a Contender frame and a thumbhole stock.

Wildcats are nothing new to me, especially when it comes to .22-caliber cartridges. In the past, I’ve experimented with a list of cartridges too long to mention here.

In all honesty, the .223 Remington never did anything for me. While it is a popular cartridge today in AR rifles, to me it was lackluster for my type of longer-range varmint shooting. I gravitated to the wildcats for more fun in the field. While the .223 AI is not a cure-all for my needs, I did find it interesting to work with recent powders – even with a small gain in velocity – and testing a “new” cartridge.

Credit for many “improved” cartridges has to go to P.O. Ackley. A native of New York, he attended college, got married and moved to Roseburg, Oregon, during the Great Depression. Establishing a gunsmithing business in 1936, he helped the war effort by working for the Ogden Arsenal in 1942. He later moved to New Mexico, then to Trinidad, Colorado, where he took the position as an instructor in gun making at Trinidad State Junior College. Finally moving to Salt Lake City, Utah, he settled down, opening a gun shop where his improved cartridges got their start.