I recently been gifted with a 25-06 rifle and quite a few rounds of ammo from my uncle. Some of the ammunition that he gave me is hand-loaded. I am in the process of researching all of the loads that he gave me to give me a head start when I eventually start loading myself. The mystery load has a paper which reads 117 59(either this means grains of powder or number of cartridges) and RL25. I cannot find any information online about this powder other that it exists. Can anyone give any insight on this load? Thank You.
Help identify load
- Thread starter John O.
- Start date
John, I plugged in a 117 gr, Sierra and 59 Gr's of RL-25 into Quick Load and as Shoot Dots guessed, that load would work. Just to be on the safe side, if you decide to reload with that combination, I would back down to about 56Gr's and work back up in 1/2 Gr increments.
I would not minding tearing one apart to see it the 59 is the powder weight. However since I only have the rifle ammo some empty brass and bullets. Along with a few dies I cannot do anything other than test fire them. Which would be the best tool to dismantle a cartridge? I know that there are two main ways inertia, and collet.
Either way will work fine. Collet dies will leave a slight ring on the bullet and are slightly more expensive to buy if you don't already own one. Inertia Pullers will leave no marks on the bullet, may take a few extra wacks if the ammo is old and or crimped. If you only need to do a couple of rounds, I would go with an inertia puller. If you think you may some day have to pull a large quantity, then the collet die would be in order.
25-06 brass is not unobtainium take a pair of vise grips and pull the bullet out. You will ruin the bullet and most likely the brass but if careful you will know if the powder looks like RL25 and how much of it is in there. Ive reloaded 25-06 for years and it never occurred to me to try RL25. It seems to me to be too slow, be maybe he was on to something. If you pull the bullet and it doesn't look like RL25 and is doesn't weigh right think long and hard about what to do next.
ebb that is fairly sound advise and I also would have no problem destroying only one for safety. However I lack a scale of sufficient sensitivity to weigh even a loaded round. As well as the problem that I do not know what RL25 looks like. (I just did a search to see if there were any pictures of the granules.) I know that he would never purposely charge a case with too much powder, however like all of us he is human and he might have made a slip up. If you would like to question him about the loads he developed, and if he is willing I could give you a form of contact information.
Alliant's reloaders guide suggests 56 grains RL25 behind a Speer 115 SP projectile loaded to 3.2" OAL producing 3,155 fps in their 24" test barrel.
Depending on how the bearing surface of the 117 bullets used compares to the Speer 115 referred to, that 59 grains could be entirely practical and safe....
Still, firing someone else's handloads is always a risky proposition even if you're using the same equipment they used.
Depending on how the bearing surface of the 117 bullets used compares to the Speer 115 referred to, that 59 grains could be entirely practical and safe....
Still, firing someone else's handloads is always a risky proposition even if you're using the same equipment they used.
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spclark To which reloads are you referring to? My uncle's, or ebb's? If you are referring to my uncle's all I will say is that I trust him like customers trust Moss Pawn and Gun in Georgia. When they make a custom rifle and develop a load for it. Or like the owner of a range here in south Texas that develops custom loads for the customers that ask him to. If you are referring to ebb with his loads if he elects to do the swap. I was not intending to fire them until I obtained the necessary equipment to double check for myself that his loads are safe. I thank you for your concern.
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