Anyone have a 25/45 Sharps bolt gun?

[megastink]

I think this just might be the best deer cartridge for eastern PA. Shots under 300 yards, enough whack to drop them. Plus, I love a good quarter bore. We cannot hunt with AR's here in PA (yet), but I'd love to hear about and maybe see some bolt action 25/45 Sharps builds.

 

[JSH]

Bullet selection for what it is capable of is fairly thin.
I have and have had numerous 6x45/6-223/6TCU in rifle and pistol form.

 

[Adam in WI]

Unless you have a spare .378 bolt face action not doing anything; I'm not sure why you'd want to limit yourself to something so relatively anemic. There's plenty of easy short action chamberings that will substantially outrun that case. If it's just to be different, than by all means. I think 300 might be stretching it a bit though.

 

[AlanF]

Mega - you might search for info on Gary Reeder's 257 Raptor. You will see that this 204 Ruger-based round has killed several animals to a limit of about 200 yards (mostly with 10-14" Contender barrels). I have one in a 22" carbine barrel and have been pleased with it and feel confident out to 200 yards.

 

[AWS]

I built a 25-204 long before the 257 Raptor came out and it is a dandy, nothing anemic about it matching original 250-3000 and 257 Roberts ballistics, 100gr bullet at 2800+fps and 85gr at 3000fps out of a 21" barrel. The 25-45 has a little less capacity. The 25-204 is just about a clone for the 257 Kimber without the complicated case forming.

2005 WI Public lands whitetail

In 2004 204 brass became available and was about as much as you could get out of a .378 bolt face without resorting to rare Euro brass 5.6x50 Mag. Today the 6.5 Grendle is quite common and is only .007" larger with nearly the same capacity with 100gr NBT's and Partitions available I would have a hard time justifying building a wildcat. I have a 6.5 Grendel Mini Howa. I also shoot rifles in 22-204 and 6mm-204 all fine cartridges for a .378 bolt-face

6.5G Mini Howa 90gr TNT

 

[dk17hmr]

I have a 25-223 bolt action with a 24 ish inch barrel. It's throated longer than the 25-45 AR I had. 110gr accubonds at 2700fps straight up killers on antelope.

75-85gr @ 3100ish have accounted for a lot of pdogs and jackrabbits from my rifle. Including blood at over 1000 yards but no body above ground.

I'd consider a 25-204 now with a 20-22" barrel for hunting

 

[tcmikey]

300 Ham'r seems interesting too. So many options!

 

[SEM]

going efficient wild cat ? 25 Grendel or 6.8-257 for a bolt gun, I have or had most .257 223 , 204 based cartridges all made better by using Starline blank 223 brass and trim to your chambers length not the book length, much better support for long seating and more powder room. My 257 TCU impressed me the most

 

[StumpGrinder]

I think this just might be the best deer cartridge for eastern PA. Shots under 300 yards, enough whack to drop them. Plus, I love a good quarter bore. We cannot hunt with AR's here in PA (yet), but I'd love to hear about and maybe see some bolt action 25/45 Sharps builds.

Bear Creek Arsenal makes a bolt action reciver for the AR 15 platform. Then just add your barrel of choice and hand gaurd and your ready to go. I recommend Blackhole Weaponry 24" barrels to squeeze out all the velocity. 80 grain ttsx with Tac powder and CCI 41 primers is a good load, 3000 fps with no pressure signs. 100 grain tsx is also good for around 2700 fps. I've also loaded 110 to 120 grain bullets in mine, the 120 is around 2500 fps and I wouldn't want to go much slower.

 

[StumpGrinder]

Unless you have a spare .378 bolt face action not doing anything; I'm not sure why you'd want to limit yourself to something so relatively anemic. There's plenty of easy short action chamberings that will substantially outrun that case. If it's just to be different, than by all means. I think 300 might be stretching it a bit though.

I don't think an 80 grain ttsx at 3000 fps is enemic. They will continue to open reliably down to 2000 fps which it will reach at just over 400 yds. Even the 100 grain tsx will maintain 2000 fps to 300 yards. Beyond that I would use the SSTs, they will open up well at lower velocity.