Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats .256 Newton at the range

I was finally able to get some dies in and put some test loads together. Used Hornady 25-06 brass with 5 different charges of H-4350 and 142 SMK bullets. Using 5 different loads the 5 shots grouped under an 1 1/2”.
Made a short video.
[img]https://imgur.com/gallery/CYy0m91[/img]

Pretty rifle!

The 256 Newton is my favorite long action 6.5mm bore cartridge, hope that it treats you well.

I once owned an original 256 Newton and briefly loaded for it successfully, what a joy it was to shoot. My M-70 Featherweight 6.5X55 is a little slower but delivers the same satisfaction. Hard to beat 6.5 for long range shooting.
Tom

I wonder how things would be if Winchester had adopted the Newton line of cartridges instead of developing the 270 which many say was inspired by the 256. The 300 & 35 are still good cartridges and some say Ruger copied the 35 to some extent when developing the 375 and compact magnums. I doubt they were intentionally copied but a similar evolution.

Great to read about this! Where'd you get your dies, and how much did they run you?
I need some.
Thanks,
Rex

I bought the dies from https://www.ch4d.com/
They ran $117.00 out the door.

Nice looking rifle.

Thanks,
Rex

Just got off the phone with Denny at CH4D. They had the .256 Newton dies in stock and I got a set coming in the mail today! Thanks again for the tip Chance.
Rex

I really like the 256 Newton. In fact, I like all of the Newton cartridges and have barrels chambered for the 256 (on a Model 54 Winchester) and the 30 (on a pre64 Model 70). I built the 256 with an 8 twist barrel and loaded 4831 behind 140's in it. My plan is to take it on an antelope hunt one day. GD

Damn this Dakota .256 Newton sure shoots good. This is just a fire forming load using H-4350 and 142 SMK’s. This is a five shot group after twenty shots of fire forming.

Wow. what a rifle... I always liked the .256.. Awesome to hear about something other than the Crapmore.

haters gonna hate. LOL. But accurate rounds have been around a long time. Pretty rifle. almost to pretty to use.

Shoots as good as it looks. Hard to beat a combination like that.

Let me know when you are ready to sell.

Is the .256 Newton essentially the 6.5-06?

I will definitely do that.
No, not quite, the shoulders are a bit sharper shoulder angle, shorter neck, and case taper, but yes very similar to the 6.5-06. I’ve used 25-06 brass, sent it into the newton die, trimmed and loaded.

In my opinion, having a rifle of that quality, I think it's really cool to step off the beaten path with the .256 Newton chambering. Really cool, and the chambering makes it even more appealing.

Well done!

Good shooting!!!
Gorgeous rifle.
I’ll be in line behind Sako Hunter!

That rifle is the very definition of a shooting treasure.

Some awfully nice rifles being posted lately. That's beautiful and accurate, what dreams are made of.