257 __________ ? name this wildcat

[MudRunner2005]

How come a necked down 308 like the old 25 Souper or 25 Durham Jet would not be a good cartridge with the 131 in it and added freebore?

It would be. It would also be a cheap and easy wildcat to make. Buy Lapua .308 Win palma (SRP) brass, put a .27 cal bushing in it, neck it down, then put the .25 cal bushing in it, and finish necking it. Trim to length. Done.

 

[Michael O'Connor]

How come a necked down 308 like the old 25 Souper or 25 Durham Jet would not be a good cartridge with the 131 in it and added freebore?

Your problem would be insufficient magazine room for a long 1.44" bullet. That should be the first consideration when reloading or designing a wildcat. A cartridge case and bullet assembly should be modified to fit the rifle and magazine, unless you are building a repeating action rifle for a specific cartridge. For a standard .473" bolt, there are at least two options that may benefit you with the standard short action magazine in production. Both the 6 XC or 6x47 Lapua could be necked up to .257" or you could cut down a rebated rimless 6.5 x 284 and move the shoulder back for the optimum short action non-magnum cartridge case. If you use an intermediate style action in say a Tikka or 7x57 Mauser action, you would only have to neck-down a 6.5 × 284 and make sure your feed rails are customized for the added ~ .021" radius width of the rebated-rim case. There are a multitude of options, but single feeding a longish cartridge in a short action would never be an option to me.

 

[257 Blackjack]

How come a necked down 308 like the old 25 Souper or 25 Durham Jet would not be a good cartridge with the 131 in it and added freebore?

It will be but a high % of shooters these days limit themselves to 2.880" magazines.

Even in 2.960" magazines the 25 Souper will require the boat tail to be seated 0.040-80" behind the neck-shoulder junction which many guys avoid doing. In a Long Action sure it would work loaded to 3.000+".

260 Remington

Despite these limitations 257-260 Rem or 25 Souper would be bad to the bone.

A better engineered solution to overcome these issues somewhat like what Rich has done with SST would be to use the SLR process on 260 brass for 257 SLR.

260 Rem - 6.5 SLR - 6.5 Creedmoor - 6.5x47L

257 SLR would almost work in 2.880" mags with boattail past neck-shoulder and would definitely work in 2.960" magazines with plenty of room (0.080") to move around and spec a reamer toward the 2.953 COAL.

If there is sufficient interest I can order some 257 SLR reamers if we get a few buying commitments.

25 Souper is on the list to order reamers for but due to magazine limitations it is farther down than others.

 

[Jerryrva]

Getting to be too many choices! I do like the unusual.

 

[MudRunner2005]

Getting to be too many choices! I do like the unusual.

We're making up for 50 years of being left behind in the cartridge world... And by-God we're doing it now that we finally have a bullet worthy of competing with the rest.

 

[257 Blackjack]

We're making up for 50 years of being left behind in the cartridge world... And by-God we're doing it now that we finally have a bullet worthy of competing with the rest.

The last few days I've been taking up the task of getting a 1:7.5" 25-06 in a factory rifle and it's basically a process of a lot of dead ends talking to people who are in sales who really know more about SKUs than they do firearms history or future.

Good news is we have 2-3 leads on some nice rifles in the list of actual possibilities

Once the fast twist 25-06 domino falls in the factory rifle world it's only a matter of time before 257 WBY gets an update as well as 257 Roberts.

 

[MudRunner2005]

The last few days I've been taking up the task of getting a 1:7.5" 25-06 in a factory rifle and it's basically a process of a lot of dead ends talking to people who are in sales who really know more about SKUs than they do firearms history or future.

Good news is we have 2-3 leads on some nice rifles in the list of actual possibilities

Once the fast twist 25-06 domino falls in the factory rifle world it's only a matter of time before 257 WBY gets an update as well as 257 Roberts.

Need a liaison? I used to talk to those type of folks on a regular basis when I worked at the gun store. I've got the time, phone, internet, laptop, personal drive, and need a paycheck.

Think about it, if interested in hiring in any capacity, shoot me a PM.

 

[Swamplord]

The last few days I've been taking up the task of getting a 1:7.5" 25-06 in a factory rifle and it's basically a process of a lot of dead ends talking to people who are in sales who really know more about SKUs than they do firearms history or future.

Good news is we have 2-3 leads on some nice rifles in the list of actual possibilities

Once the fast twist 25-06 domino falls in the factory rifle world it's only a matter of time before 257 WBY gets an update as well as 257 Roberts.

Awesome work ! One thing to take into consideration is the need for a designated "hunting" bullet, even though the Ace bullet has been proven on game a multitude of times by now, It's target bullet origins will be a hard sell to rifle manufacturers whose biggest customer base is the typical American deer hunter

 

[Jerryrva]

Perhaps a Bass Pro or Cabelas exclusive to call attention to the fast twist. Although not a $399 rifle or a $1499 one. Needs to be priced at a point so it has a quality stock but not priced outside what the guy or gal that hunts deer a few times a season would want to pay for it.
My first deer rifle was a 25-06 shooting Remington Core Loc 120gr soft points. I moved up to a 270 and then a 7RM. But I still use the 25 most of the time when I know I won't be shooting over 300 yards.

 

[cjhunts_alot]

Bergara might do a fast twist production rifle. Maybe Weatherby will too, now that they're out of commifornia.

 

[Jerryrva]

I bought a Bergara Premier in 6.5CM last year thinking that was going to be as close to a custom rifle as I needed. Shoots bug holes so that would be my top choice for an under $1500 rifle. I am not a fan of super light rifles like the Kimber Hunter.

Now of course the Blackjack bullet comes along and now I am all in on the custom route with a TL3 action a few weeks out and a Bartlein barrel and 25x47 reamer waiting for my gunsmith to fit into his schedule. Also got an X-Caliber barrel that down the road that will go for a different 25 cartridge.

With that all said, I would buy a factory production rifle in 25-06 if they hit all the marks on the features we like these days. Needs to be threaded for suppressor as that is all I will be shooting whenever my approval comes though late this year. I got a mild case of tinnitus from 45 years of farming and hunting. Need to stop any further progression. Too bad the Hearing Protection Act is dead.

 

[antelopedundee]

.257 supersonicsonofabitch

 

[Deputy819]

May as well throw in my $0.02 for the Wildcat name. How about .257 Harvester? (apologies if already listed )

 

[Michael O'Connor]

257 Comet