.25-06 in a long barrel?

[Pbike]

How fast should I be able to get a .25-06 with a 117 grain bullet going in a 31 inch Barrel? All the load data I find shows 24 inch barrels at 3070 or so. Do you think 3200 is possible?

 

[memilanuk]

Dunno, but I'm guessing you may have to go w/ powders a notch or two slower than what is normally listed as 'optimum' in the manual w/ the shorter barrel.

HTH,

Monte

 

[M700]

Absolutely I think 3200+ is possible with the 117 in a 30" match barrel!

I only use a 24" factory Remington barrel, but have had no problem getting 3340 fps with a 100 grain Barnes bullet.

3200 fps is a rather mild load with the 100 gr Sierra.

I've often wondered about the .25-06, slow powders, heavy bullets and a long barrel... Suspect it would be a real high velocity zapper!

Regards, Guy

 

[Pbike]

Thank You for your quick reply.

Paul

 

[Pbike]

Thank You for the reply the reamer is just about done, I have a few more items to work on... It's not really a .25-06, but very close, and better Brass. I will use long Flat Base Bergers or Fowlers. I have some of each and I doubt that 3200 will be a problem. 3200fps muzzle with any of those two bullets means a nice speed at 1000 yards. We shall see. Anyone have any experience in this region? Chime in please.

Thank You,

Paul

 

[DanConzo]

Paul
I shot the 108 JLK VLDs @ 1022 yards,in practice) out of a 27" barrel with the 25/06-load was 53.5 H4831, Fed 210 Primer, Norma Brass necked down,and trimmed) the 108s seated just into the lands and the drop was 244" and the 5 shot group was good.
Dan

 

[DanConzo]

Paul
I forgot to mention the brass was Norma 270 Win brass necked down and trimmed--you would be hard pressed to find better brass.
Dan

 

[Pbike]

Dan Conzo

Actually I have found a way to do this using good Lapua Brass. I am stuck on Flat Based bullets. I love them they stay accurate in many tunes. And as long as we are above the trans-sonic region at 1000 yards... all that is left for them to do is pierce a piece of paper and cardboard. Thank You for your reply.

Pbike

 

[Pbike]

I finally was able to get out and do some tuning on this rifle. I tried both IMR 4831, and H 4831, with the Fowler 110gr flat base bullets and Berger 110 flat base bullets. This is from a newer batch of .25 jackets, a few years back there had been a bad batch of jackets, that was according to,now Deceased Jef Fowler). I have a bunch of his bullets and I also have an order in for more with Ed. The other bullets were the Bergers. They don't show them in their ad, but they sell a 110 flat base match .25 cal bullet. I got them after a few e-mails a year or so back with Eric Stecker. The Cartridge is not a .25-06, and not a .257 Roberts Improved, but something in between based on 6.5X55 Swede Lapua Brass. I get 61 grains water up to the top of neck. It has a 30 degree shoulder and a tight neck. We designed the reamer just for use with the above mentioned bullets. The Barrel is just over 30 inches. I was not too impressed with the IMR 4831, but I may have been trying loads a little light. After moving to H4831 and trying a little more powder I was able to get 3250 FPS, .300 inch 100 yard groups, very low SD's and a full case with very little preasure signs. The load was 54 grains of H-4831 under the 110 grain bullets. The drop tables showed good prommise for those bullets at 1000 yards if I would get 3250 at the muzzle, WE GOT IT! The targets at 100 look good for now, but I will tune some more to see what we can get. I will post a pic for you guys that are interested. I plan on trying this for F class, and possibly Light Gun 1000 BR. I have also heard rumor that RG will be adding .25's to his list of bullet dies...

 

[Pbike]

I was able to get out and use it at a 600 yard F class Practice last week. During the practice sesion I fired 30 shots. The bullet used was the 110 Berger Flat Base, Powder was H 4831, and the load put me at 3250 fps at muzzle... ,I will try IMR 4831 next it seems to be able to get me same size groups and more speed, up to 3400). The come up from a 100 yard zero to 600 yards with the load I used was 10 inches. The guy in the pits didn't seem to be bothered with me shooting more than the 22 rounds,,it was a practice). After the shooting was done and the scores were added up, the only misses were two nines. The score would total to 298-15x at 600 yords for 30 shots, which included the first few "sighters" which were x's. This cartridge is being tested for now at 600 yards, but it's built for the 1000 yard portion of the F Class game.

 

[M700]

Thanks for the update. Looks promising.

At that velocity - are you already saving for a new barrel?

Have considered trying some of Eric's 115 VLD's from my .25-06 as well, but it's no match rifle - just a coyote, rockchuck & deer zapper..

Regards, Guy

 

[Pbike]

The cartridge really is too much gun for only 600 yards our plans when we designed it were for the 1000 yard F class Game, and the 1000 yard BR game. I have a nice 6mm for just shooting 600 yards. The 6mm STS I have mentioned it here before it works real nice at that range, it is a shortened .308, close to what the 6XC or 6X47 is like. It shoots the 95 grain BIBS into a tiny hole at 100 with 3230 fps and they hold their own at the 600 yard range. The next plans are to get the 25 out to the 1000 yard range. We don't want to shoot it too much at 600 it really is more gun than we need for that range and as you said the barrel life looks to be about 1900 rounds. Why waste them at 600?

Paul