Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats 722 257AI Doable?

My current project is a Mex action and wood stocked 250-3000.

I just picked up a 722 Remington on Gunbroker for 200. It has not arrived yet.

My current 257AI is on a DHT Springfield. It is about my favorite deer/antelope gun these days, but heavier than I always wish to pack up and down hills.

My flat ground whitetail rifle is a 7X57 VZ24 in a Bansner stock.

I have all the tools reamers and gages to do what I decide to do.

I know the 257AI would work well in the Mex action and the 250-3000 in the 722. The question is, will the 257AI work with out handicapping me in the 722? If it will not, a 721 in 25/06 would be a better altenative. I've got that action but no reamer.

A 257AI, short action, Bansner stock and fairly trim barrel contour seems like it would make a pretty nice packing around gun.

The 722 was chambered in .257 Roberts. However, it is a short action, and my personal preference is for a 3" OAL in the .257 or .257 AI.

I'd use the 722 for a .250 Savage or .250 AI.

Clarence

+1 but the 257 should work just limited col

It's doable, but the short action makes you throat it so the bullet is down in the case a bit. You'll have to check the throat on your reamer.
I like my factory chambered M722, but I've had to lengthen the magazine. You can get your reamer to work if it has no throat and you get a separate throater.
If you have an M721 and a .257 reamer, put THAT combination together. Later, you can pick up a .250 (or whatever) reamer for the M722.
Have fun,
Gene

One thing I have is a pile of stuff to mess around with to figure this out. If lucky, I'll get enough time this weekend to fish another 722 out and see how the rounds from my 257AI fit the mag. Loaded with 117 Pro Hunters they run just a tich under 3" seated .020 off the lands.

I might be best off to just order a 250AI reamer. Thanks fellas.

Why not make a really cool .260 out of it?

My 257AI is on a short 700 action. It's used single shot with a block. The cartridge is too long for a repeater. Here are some numbers and you can decide for yourself.

This is a very heavy varmint gun. The chamber has 0 freebore. An 87TNT seated .005-.010" off the lands uses the whole neck. Bullet base is .050" up from the neck/shoulder junction, COAL is 2.850". Even seated as deep as they are for 0 freebore, my loads won't fit into a short action magazine. You mention heavy bullets which will mean having some freebore and seating them out further. Use the 721, this cartridge should be on a long action.

Another way to take care of the problem is to use the .257 Reamer, but only put it in 'til it's 1/4" short of being a .257 AI. Case length is 2". It's a long-necked .250. It's a wildcat, so you can make it your way. You don't have to pay more for another reamer, and it'll work just fine.
FYI, it's called a .25x2-lol. Ask me how I know.... You can buy a .257AI die from RCBS, cut 1/4" off the bottom, and use new .243 cases to push the shoulder back until it fits a chamber.
Ok, ok...you can call it anything you want. PM me and you can have whatever loading data you want. Most of the data has been chronographed from a 20" barrel.
Have fun,
Gene

Mavrick
sounds a lot like a 25 Souper which is another option.

Muledeer, has his Grandmother's old 722 in 257 Bob. He says it dosn't give up anything using Bob in a short action, I don't see how the Ackley Bob wouldn't work either...

Yeah JB talks about this a lot... the myth about the Bob being adversely affected by a short action/mag box.

I say go for it.

257 AI is a fantastic cartridge, as OP already knows by experience. I've often thought that a nice lightweight short action w/ thin-tapered 20-22" barrel would be as close as a man can come to perfection in a do-all light rifle. I'll be interested to hear how the project goes!

The short-action .257 is a lot of fun, and the AI reamer would be the same thing (depending on the throat.) The problem is the relationship of the bullet with the leade. If you don't mind the longer jump, the magazine will work fine...Most people I know prefer a jump of about .010-.020". I do too, so I extended the magazine.
The .25x2 has a much-longer neck than the Souper, but I know of no advantage. The point is that he said he already has access to a ..257AI reamer. The Souper is a real cutie, but he'd have to rent or buy a reamer.
Have fun,
Gene

I like the balance of speed/accuracy/penetration of the 100 grain Partition in medium capacity .257" bore cartridges and I know that this bullet works fine without any COAL issues in any Mar/Rem/Rug/Sav/Win short action bolt gun chambered in 250-3000, 25 Souper, 25-284, 25 SAUM, 257, and 257AI. It even works well in a super short action 25 WSSM or a long action 25-06.

JEff

Thinking about this, if a round from my current 257AI fits the mag box, and the bullet is .020 off the lands in my current rifle, any chamber cut with the same reamer will have the same relationship between bullet and lands at the same length.

I'm just going to have to dig out another 722, or wait for this rifle to arrive, and start experimenting, thanks again.

Obviously if the COAL is short enough it'll fit a 722 magazine. Long heavy bullets will be seated down into the case. Even with no freebore there'll be more bullet jump than I'd want. With any kind of freebore it can mean a lot of bullet jump. If you're not concerned about that, use the short action.

Beings as I have had great success with the '03 in 257AI, if that ammo had fit the mag, I would have used it. Sometimes practical experience works better than theory. But, the ammo from my current 257AI is quite a bit too long to fit the 722. So much for that idea.

This is definitely going to be a don't shoot the donor operation. The rifle arrived yesterday in the mail. The rifle looks as if it fell out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down. It had the grossest set of sling mounts known to man. However, the bore, throat, crown and chamber look terrific. The trigger is a real treat. It would probably shoot well enough that I would be hesitant to tear it apart.

It is 3/1948 production by the barrel code. The serial number is inside the receiver rather than outside. The front ring is drilled and tapped, but the rear bridge has not been drilled.

Also, it had what must be one of the earliest fiber optic sights made. Actually, it looks more like plastic than glass fiber.

All in all a pretty good buy for 200.