.25 Copperhead, .257 Kimber, .25/45 Sharps

[Kurz]

One of the guys I shoot prairie dogs and other varmints with asked me about the .25/45 Sharps in a new upper for his AR15. I haven't had time to develop any loads for this one so I explained that I couldn't be much help. Then I remembered that there were a couple of other similar cartridges from a while back which might be useful.

John Wooters came up with the .25 Copperhead using the .222 Rem. case necked up to accept the .257" bullets.

Kimber used the .222 Rem. Mag. case for their entry into the field for a little more power.

The .25/45 Sharps is the .223 Rem case necked up to use those same .257" bullets.

There was period of time where I was fascinated with the .222 and .222 Mag cases. In fact I managed to skip all the hoopla with the 6PPC to stay with the .222 Rem. in my short but enjoyable benchrest attempts. The .222 Rem case satisfied me and I did quite well with it until I move away from short range benchrest. I am fortunate enough though to still have a supply of both cases.

The .25 Copperhead though still resides in my equipment and gets called upon for prairie dogs, sage rats and ground hogs when the need arises.

The .250 Savage is the bigger brother of those smaller cases. This can be one of my favorite deer hunting cartridges when I think about it. In a Savage 99, this cartridge is my hands down favorite.

 

[dk17hmr]

I have a 25-223 bolt action that has been alot of fun for pdogs, jackrabbits, and antelope.

 

[AWS]

Back in 2004 I was looking to build a deer rifle and looked seriously at the 257 Kimber when I realized the 204 Ruger necked to .257 would duplicate the Kimber. Thus was born the 25-204, duplicating the original 250-3000 and 257 Roberts ballistics, no custom dies or fancy case forming of the Kimber. 100gr Partitions at 2850 fps.

 

[nakneker]

If your a quarter bore fan those sound like fun. I happen to be a 222 fan and have been for years, the little copperhead intrigues me, they all do for that matter.

Seems like a 25-204 would be close to that .257 Kimber, might be an easier option with brass and dies that could get the job done readily available.

 

[std7mag]

If I recall correctly, didn't the 257 Kimber have a different shoulder than just necking up the 222 Rem Mag case?
Read somewhere that you had to jam the bullet into the lands to fireform due to different shoulder.

All would be interesting to me as I have 6 different 25 caliber chambering.

Have been tossing about doing a build on the 25-45 Sharps.

But then also thought of doing a 25-6GT.
Maybe a 25ARC.

 

[nakneker]

I’ve heard for years that the 25 savage ackley is a sweetheart too. A 25GT, mentioned above, would be a lot of fun too.

 

[Kurz]

The introduction of the 131 gr. ACE (Blackjack) bullets marked the resurrection of many of the fine .25 caliber cartridges. My guess is that these long for caliber bullets got used in nearly every cartridge available but allowed for the creation of a couple of new ones.

I had the opportunity to try them in 5 or 6 cartridges using the faster twist barrels. One of my favorites is still the .250 Savage AI. The barrel was 22" long and a typical hunting contour which worked well on both the desert and the pine woods.





The original post was to highlight the small rim cases and the variations. Less powder, lighter bullets.

Enjoy!

 

[Orr89rocz]

6.8 spc necked to .257 would be somewhat interesting too. Bit fatter case than .222 stuff.