Hard rock
Well-Known Member
Man I hate too hear that he is who barreled up my 25-284 last year , he was really a nice man and easy too deal with . He did a great job , or had one of his employees do the work , but I think he did the work.
25-06 Ackley Improved velocities
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Mike Matteson
Well-Known Member
That's to bad to hear about Stan Taylor. I have used their barrels in the passed, and they there job of me. No complains about there barrels.
Did you look at the .25 Sherman by chance?
Mike Matteson
Well-Known Member
No I didn't and wasn't aware of it either. I kind of like the powder compacity there. Plus I have about 1000 case in Peterson Brass in 280AI.
I fire-formed Lapua and some new '69 Lake City match brass, but the downside is a shorter neck. HARD to kill the primer pockets with either of these two types of brass. I used 14g of Bullseye and cream of wheat to fire form with. Accuracy was stellar with both brands of brass at warp speed pushing high pressure.
Forming the brass is a good Wintertime project. I got a 40-gallon trash can, cut a 3/4" hole in the bottom, wound up a roll of Finger Foam and placed that in the trash can. Finger foam is the type that is used in beds to keep old folks from getting bed sores. I fire-formed the brass right in my garage, turning the trash can upside down, and placing the muzzle about 6" down in the finger foam. This produced a very quiet fire forming.
The Lapua brass is particularly tough in the case head, and the Lake City is no slouch either.
All of this fire forming is a tad bit of work, but a guy that likes to tinker needs to stay busy.
To keep doughnuts from forming, I neck turned at 30 caliber, then necked down, never had a problem with doughnuts as part of the thinned neck became part of the shoulder. Neck turning would not be a bad practice for a guy that is necking down 280 AI brass either.
Since I never shot full-length necks, the carbon issue in the necks was never an issue, but a few twists with a brush .015 larger than the neck kept the carbon to a non-existent issue.
I shot that barrel out on Coyotes, rock chucks, and long range jack rabbits. I never wore the brass out. 100 '06 lapua cases and 100 New Lake city brass lasted the entire barrel.
Forming the brass is a good Wintertime project. I got a 40-gallon trash can, cut a 3/4" hole in the bottom, wound up a roll of Finger Foam and placed that in the trash can. Finger foam is the type that is used in beds to keep old folks from getting bed sores. I fire-formed the brass right in my garage, turning the trash can upside down, and placing the muzzle about 6" down in the finger foam. This produced a very quiet fire forming.
The Lapua brass is particularly tough in the case head, and the Lake City is no slouch either.
All of this fire forming is a tad bit of work, but a guy that likes to tinker needs to stay busy.
To keep doughnuts from forming, I neck turned at 30 caliber, then necked down, never had a problem with doughnuts as part of the thinned neck became part of the shoulder. Neck turning would not be a bad practice for a guy that is necking down 280 AI brass either.
Since I never shot full-length necks, the carbon issue in the necks was never an issue, but a few twists with a brush .015 larger than the neck kept the carbon to a non-existent issue.
I shot that barrel out on Coyotes, rock chucks, and long range jack rabbits. I never wore the brass out. 100 '06 lapua cases and 100 New Lake city brass lasted the entire barrel.
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Mike Matteson
Well-Known Member
Do have any spec or dimensions on the Sherman case? I have seen some loading in the Sherman case in different calibers. I download them into a file. I didn't see anything on 257cal. I'll have to go back and take a look. Interesting.
Does Rich sell dies?
Yes.
Mike Matteson
Well-Known Member
i did read about you fireforming your cases. I had the smith order a 2nd action to set for fireforming my cases. I have an extra stock from to place the actions into to do the work. I'll find two barrels in the calibers I going to use and have them reamed to those case dimensions. I'll just change out barrels as needed. My sons will be set for life.
RUFFIAN R - NY
Well-Known Member
Used LC Match brass from the 60's to do my 6mm-06 AI and my 25-06 AI Thats all we had back then. Now have factory brass so sweet. Good luck out there with your toys. Shot straight and often.
Its been a very very long wait but I got it back this year. A lot of the decisions I made were influenced from this thread, so my first custom rifle was a leap of faith but the advice here paid off.
Since last time I have been learning to handload, I wasted no time on this one. I built this rifle around the 127HHT bullet, custom throated to optimize case volume for velocity. I wound up with a 26in 7twist Ackely Improved chamber Douglass barrel, blued and fluted, custom throated for the 127gn Hammer. Bedded and floated to the original wood stock I refinished myself, sealed inside and out with tung oil.
I settled the new barrel in on some old factory ammo, plus 50rds of new virgin 25-06 Norma brass fireformed with some spare cup and core bullets I had acquired. It was fun watching that virgin brass come out as an ackley...
I ran up to 60 grains of H1000 and found pressure with some ejector marks. I backed off to 58.5 and running 3111fps average for a .3moa group at 100yds. Ive never owned a rifle that shot this good, Ive never shot a sub half inch group before. I was hoping for at least 3200fps but I cant complain...
The 127HHT has an advertised G7.262 and a .275 sectional density, at 3100fps this puts it on par ballistically with larger traditional calibers using (close to) the same bullet weight. This is a win and I look forward to getting to know the new rifles potential. A special thank you to @ButterBean , @B-LOT Banga , and @FEENIX for the confidence in advice and offers to help.
Since last time I have been learning to handload, I wasted no time on this one. I built this rifle around the 127HHT bullet, custom throated to optimize case volume for velocity. I wound up with a 26in 7twist Ackely Improved chamber Douglass barrel, blued and fluted, custom throated for the 127gn Hammer. Bedded and floated to the original wood stock I refinished myself, sealed inside and out with tung oil.
I settled the new barrel in on some old factory ammo, plus 50rds of new virgin 25-06 Norma brass fireformed with some spare cup and core bullets I had acquired. It was fun watching that virgin brass come out as an ackley...
I ran up to 60 grains of H1000 and found pressure with some ejector marks. I backed off to 58.5 and running 3111fps average for a .3moa group at 100yds. Ive never owned a rifle that shot this good, Ive never shot a sub half inch group before. I was hoping for at least 3200fps but I cant complain...
The 127HHT has an advertised G7.262 and a .275 sectional density, at 3100fps this puts it on par ballistically with larger traditional calibers using (close to) the same bullet weight. This is a win and I look forward to getting to know the new rifles potential. A special thank you to @ButterBean , @B-LOT Banga , and @FEENIX for the confidence in advice and offers to help.
That's a sweet looking rig
