The .257 Marksman (25 western)

[WKR]

I wonder how likely it is for Winchester to come out with this round from the factory? Seems like the 257 bore is gaining popularity again and there should be a market for a fast twist 257 magnum.

Doubtful at best. Too overbore and "modern" for a company like Winchester. I'm sure they thought about it when they developed the 6.8 western case but someone talked them out of it.

 

[SloppyJ]

18" Benchmark is born

 

[SloppyJ]

Ill be ready for testing when ADG drops their latest run here shortly. Huge shout out to WKR. Super cool dude that was more than helpful putting all of this together for me. He even gave me all the hard lessons learned getting the brass necked down and some preliminary load data. Stand up guy for sure and did everything he said he would. I appreciate it man. Im still not sure who's more excited about this one, me or him.

She's living in the manners until I order a McMillan mountain tracker LR. Will be topped with a 4x32 NX8. Preece precision chambered the barrel and did a fantastic job.

Weighs 8lbs as shown with mag, Scythe, and cover. The new stock should shave a bit off that.

 

[gerry35]

Ill be ready for testing when ADG drops their latest run here shortly. Huge shout out to WKR. Super cool dude that was more than helpful putting all of this together for me. He even gave me all the hard lessons learned getting the brass necked down and some preliminary load data. Stand up guy for sure and did everything he said he would. I appreciate it man. Im still not sure who's more excited about this one, me or him.

She's living in the manners until I order a McMillan mountain tracker LR. Will be topped with a 4x32 NX8. Preece precision chambered the barrel and did a fantastic job.

Weighs 8lbs as shown with mag, Scythe, and cover. The new stock should shave a bit off that.

Awesome gun SloppyJ, even better that the bolt is on the proper side! Shout out to @WKR for helping another guy out, great to see.

 

[SloppyJ]

Awesome gun SloppyJ, even better that the bolt is on the proper side! Shout out to @WKR for helping another guy out, great to see.

Appreciate it man! Once I finally caved in and got proper left handed rifles I had to transition everything to that. So much nicer to not fight it.

 

[gerry35]

Appreciate it man! Once I finally caved in and got proper left handed rifles I had to transition everything to that. So much nicer to not fight it.

It sure is and safer too. I had a primer blow once on a RH Ruger 77 and got some debris in my left eye. Learned a valuable lesson that day.

Going to watch your load development and see how you do. I have a 6.8 Western but I find the 25's really interesting. The 257 Marksman wildcat is very cool and definitely has my interest.

 

[SloppyJ]

It sure is and safer too. I had a primer blow once on a RH Ruger 77 and got some debris in my left eye. Learned a valuable lesson that day.

Going to watch your load development and see how you do. I have a 6.8 Western but I find the 25's really interesting. The 257 Marksman wildcat is very cool and definitely has my interest.

Get in on it! I happen to know a guy who will hook you up with a reamer!

 

[SloppyJ]

My first time doing any sort of wildcat. Huge thank you to WKR. He helped me out more than he had to and even sold me an extra barrel he had and sent me a few boxes of ADG brass he had coming in on order. Solid guy to say the least.

Step one - Neck down with neck sizing die
Step two - FL size with 25 cal bushing
Step three - Mandrel
Step four - Trim (not needed), chamfer, deburr

Running 21st century neck sizing die and mandrel die. Redding type s FL sizing die and micrometer seating die with short 25cal VLD stem and redding bushings.

Loading up H1000 and Retumbo under some Berger 135s to find pressure and start getting this thing broke in. Updates to follow next weekend.

 

[SloppyJ]

I was able to get out today and run a ladder test on Retumbo and H1000 with the 135 Bergers on my 18" benchmark barrel. Results are below.

On a side note I can confidently say I'm the first person to blow a scythe apart with this cartridge!

I believe i can hit my 3150fps goal around 66gr of Retumbo once the barrel breaks in. 67 was pressure with a stiff bolt lift and 66.5 was pretty spicy as well.

The 66.5 H1000 was when then can blew apart so I doubt it's accurate.

Something went on with the 66 through 67 retumbo loads. Not sure if I recorded it incorrectly or what but I will retest.

 

[SloppyJ]

Give this thread a little bumpski. New stock on the 25. Pro Hunter in Forged Tommy Bahama metallic. They had it in stock and I jumped on it. Upon receiving it, I'm going to have to do some inletting on the bottom metal. A little disappointed in their fit and finish. This is my 3rd manners and each one I've had to tweak a bit.

She looks good though.

 

[Harvey_NW]

Give this thread a little bumpski. New stock on the 25. Pro Hunter in Forged Tommy Bahama metallic. They had it in stock and I jumped on it. Upon receiving it, I'm going to have to do some inletting on the bottom metal. A little disappointed in their fit and finish. This is my 3rd manners and each one I've had to tweak a bit.

She looks good though.

 

[CCooper]

@WKR Has Alex released this reamer design for anybody to buy from JGS?

 

[WKR]

@WKR Has Alex released this reamer design for anybody to buy from JGS?

No I own the reamer

 

[SloppyJ]

In an effort of testing i went pretty hard today. Let me state that a lot of these are not loads i would recommend or go with but I wanted to see what I was working with. All of the ladder shots were with virgin brass out of my 18" barrel.

N565 & 134 ELDM
63gr - 2909
63.3gr - 2918
63.5gr - 2935
64gr - 2950
64.5gr - 2992
65gr - 3009

N570 & 134 ELDM
67gr - 3056
67.5gr - 3105
68gr - 3106
68.5gr - 3139
69gr - 3174

The N570 showed promise and less pressure than the 565. All but the highest charge were touching. Im going to explore the 67.5gr area. 3100fps will beat my 22" 300prc on elevation at 1k yds and almost match it exactly for windage with ~15gr less powder. Sure as hell is a lot easier to shoot as well.

I'm going to have to pull a charge out of my ass and load up 150rds for the S2HU course next month. Hope I choose well but all of the groups I've tested have been acceptable, I'm just picky looking for the best I can get.

 

[lil' bear]

Super happy to have just found this thread, I've been thinking about a 25 western for a while now and I just shot out my 300wsm barrel. However I've never made a wildcat and have very little experience reloading. Any and all tips tricks and help would be appreciated.

 

[SloppyJ]

Super happy to have just found this thread, I've been thinking about a 25 western for a while now and I just shot out my 300wsm barrel. However I've never made a wildcat and have very little experience reloading. Any and all tips tricks and help would be appreciated.

All the info you need is in here. In all honesty, its a pretty simple process since the brass is just a straight neck down. Go for it!

 

[SloppyJ]

Update on mine:

I took it to class and had pressure issues which caused me to stop shooting it and pull a bunch of bullets. Enough that I might have to scrap some brass due to loose primer pockets.

I found pressure well above 65gr of Retumbo at home during load dev but that was on virgin brass. I loaded down on purpose to 64.7gr and that proved to be problematic. With those loads through 14 shots, my average velocity was 3086fps about 80fps more than anything close to what I recorded at home. The ambient temp was mildly warmer but not significant.

I got an 8lb jug of N570 because that's what my 300prc loves and that's what I'll be using in this rifle now. Im going to load a very mild load on the 75pcs of unfired brass I still have and go from there. My previous ladder test showed promise with a group of 6 charges stacking around 1MOA. Still have more work to do on this one.

 

[Harvey_NW]

Update on mine:

I took it to class and had pressure issues which caused me to stop shooting it and pull a bunch of bullets. Enough that I might have to scrap some brass due to loose primer pockets.

I found pressure well above 65gr of Retumbo at home during load dev but that was on virgin brass. I loaded down on purpose to 64.7gr and that proved to be problematic. With those loads through 14 shots, my average velocity was 3086fps about 80fps more than anything close to what I recorded at home. The ambient temp was mildly warmer but not significant.

I got an 8lb jug of N570 because that's what my 300prc loves and that's what I'll be using in this rifle now. Im going to load a very mild load on the 75pcs of unfired brass I still have and go from there. My previous ladder test showed promise with a group of 6 charges stacking around 1MOA. Still have more work to do on this one.

That's on par with what I've experienced. Pretty much my rule of thumb anymore is if I find pressure on new brass I expect to drop the charge 1.5gr on formed brass to be completely safe. It's just not worth riding the ragged edge and 50fps doesn't functionally do squat.

 

[TX_Diver]

@WKR

What lead you took so this instead of a 25-7 prc or some other magnum variant?

 

[BBob]

@WKR

What lead you took so this instead of a 25-7 prc or some other magnum variant?

Post #9 kind of sums that up.

Post in thread 'The .257 Marksman (25 western)'

Dec 17, 2024

Nice I keep going from 25-7prc to 25 creedmoor and everything in-between. Will probably go the creedmoor route because I have everything but a chambered barrel.

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I was super close to going with a 25-7 prc because of how convenient it would be already owning a 7 prc...but the tinkerer in me decided to do do something that I'm not sure anyone else has done? I haven't seen any reports of a 25 western at least besides mine.

That and I also much prefer the shorter throw short actions for hunting.

• WKR

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