Hoodoo
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This is a new project I've been working on this winter. I've been shooting a 260AI with 140ELD-M's for several years now in PRS and NRL Hunter. I've been very happy with it, and won a lot of matches over the years.
However, my only complaint has been that the 260AI is such a long cartridge for a short action, I have to seat the 140's in a little deeper than I'd like to fit in my MDT short action mags. I’ve wanted to try the 147 grain ELD-M’s, and 153 A-Tips but I’ve never tried because I’d have to seat them in even further. With the 25 caliber becoming popular again, and bullets becoming available, I decided to play around with this cartridge this winter.
Based on past experience, I’d like to settle somewhere around 2825-2850 FPS with the 138’s. This is from past experience with my 260ai. I had one barrel that ran the 140 ELD-M’s at 2930 really well, until I shot a match at S3 in 2022. It rained horribly all day, and I was blowing primers on every stage. Lost around 100 pieces of fire formed brass that day. After that, I backed it down to 2830 and have been running that velocity ever since.
I’ve got the following bullets to try, but to be honest if I can get the 138 A-tips shooting the way I want, I probably won’t play around too much with the others.
138 A-Tips
135 Berger Hybrids
134 ELD-M
Build Specs.
Defiance Elite Short Action
Lilja 25 caliber 3-groove, 1:7 twist 3-groove 26" finish. Taper 22 contour. https://riflebarrels.com/wp-content/uploads/taper22.pdf
ZCO ZC527 5-27 and Nightforce ATACR 5-25
KRG C4 chassis
Thunderbeast Magnus-S-RR w/ RecoilX brake
Triggertech Diamond
H4350
138 A-Tips
Lapua 260LRP
CCI200’s
My previous load in my 260ai was 43.0 grains in a couple barrels would give me 2830. My last barrel was a little faster, and 41.8 grains of H4350 gave me 2830. So I decided to start a ladder test at 42.0 grains.
42.0 2833
42.1 2831
42.3 2831
42.4 5827
42.5 2850
42.6 2837
42.7 2865
42.8 2856
42.9 2873
For some reason I didn't do anything from 43.0-43.5
43.5 2890
43.6 2906
43.7 2912
43.8 2931
43.9 2940
44.0 2937
44.1 2937
44.2 2942
44.3 2952
44.4 2962
I really liked the node around 42.0, but this barrel only had about 25 rounds on it and I thought with it speeding up over the next 100 rounds or so, I'd end up a little faster than I wanted. I did have some pressure around that 44 grain mark, but because I didn't want to be that hot I never shot anything more that hot.
At this next load, I had around 40 rounds on this barrel as I'd done a ladder test from 41.0 to 42.0. For whatever reason I can't find my notes for that test.
I loaded the following 4 shot groups.
41.5 2794
41.8 2814 (This one I did a 5 shot group, and had a ES of 9 and SD of 4.)
42.0 2837
I've done this shooting over the last month or so, weather depending, and I shot this last load above on December 11th. That 41.8 group was a very tight group, so at this point I'm going to load around 20 rounds and some 5 shot groups. If that holds, I'll go shoot it out at distance. I'm still expecting the barrel to speed up a little more, as I've got about 40 rounds on this barrel so far. I'll update this thread as I go.
However, my only complaint has been that the 260AI is such a long cartridge for a short action, I have to seat the 140's in a little deeper than I'd like to fit in my MDT short action mags. I’ve wanted to try the 147 grain ELD-M’s, and 153 A-Tips but I’ve never tried because I’d have to seat them in even further. With the 25 caliber becoming popular again, and bullets becoming available, I decided to play around with this cartridge this winter.
Based on past experience, I’d like to settle somewhere around 2825-2850 FPS with the 138’s. This is from past experience with my 260ai. I had one barrel that ran the 140 ELD-M’s at 2930 really well, until I shot a match at S3 in 2022. It rained horribly all day, and I was blowing primers on every stage. Lost around 100 pieces of fire formed brass that day. After that, I backed it down to 2830 and have been running that velocity ever since.
I’ve got the following bullets to try, but to be honest if I can get the 138 A-tips shooting the way I want, I probably won’t play around too much with the others.
138 A-Tips
135 Berger Hybrids
134 ELD-M
Build Specs.
Defiance Elite Short Action
Lilja 25 caliber 3-groove, 1:7 twist 3-groove 26" finish. Taper 22 contour. https://riflebarrels.com/wp-content/uploads/taper22.pdf
ZCO ZC527 5-27 and Nightforce ATACR 5-25
KRG C4 chassis
Thunderbeast Magnus-S-RR w/ RecoilX brake
Triggertech Diamond
H4350
138 A-Tips
Lapua 260LRP
CCI200’s
My previous load in my 260ai was 43.0 grains in a couple barrels would give me 2830. My last barrel was a little faster, and 41.8 grains of H4350 gave me 2830. So I decided to start a ladder test at 42.0 grains.
42.0 2833
42.1 2831
42.3 2831
42.4 5827
42.5 2850
42.6 2837
42.7 2865
42.8 2856
42.9 2873
For some reason I didn't do anything from 43.0-43.5
43.5 2890
43.6 2906
43.7 2912
43.8 2931
43.9 2940
44.0 2937
44.1 2937
44.2 2942
44.3 2952
44.4 2962
I really liked the node around 42.0, but this barrel only had about 25 rounds on it and I thought with it speeding up over the next 100 rounds or so, I'd end up a little faster than I wanted. I did have some pressure around that 44 grain mark, but because I didn't want to be that hot I never shot anything more that hot.
At this next load, I had around 40 rounds on this barrel as I'd done a ladder test from 41.0 to 42.0. For whatever reason I can't find my notes for that test.
I loaded the following 4 shot groups.
41.5 2794
41.8 2814 (This one I did a 5 shot group, and had a ES of 9 and SD of 4.)
42.0 2837
I've done this shooting over the last month or so, weather depending, and I shot this last load above on December 11th. That 41.8 group was a very tight group, so at this point I'm going to load around 20 rounds and some 5 shot groups. If that holds, I'll go shoot it out at distance. I'm still expecting the barrel to speed up a little more, as I've got about 40 rounds on this barrel so far. I'll update this thread as I go.
