Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 257 R 100 grain E-Tip help

I think that 9-twist will make all the difference for you.

Hope so. Figure it can't hurt.

Couple observations working on my 257 brass today. The Win +P brass definitely feels harder than the Remington brass. I split two case necks on the Win +P brass resizing new brass. I wish I had annealed them before resizing. Like I mentioned before, it is much more difficult to re-size the Win +P, especially on the up stroke.

Another observation is that the the Win +P brass and the Rem brass weigh almost the same. Win +P = 174.6, Rem brass 175.5. This was a small sample test since I only used one of each, but I didn't feel like ruining a bunch of primers on an extensive test when filling with water. The Win +P brass held 58.2 grains of water and the Rem brass held 56.5. This was a bit counter intuitive since the +P brass is said to have thicker walls and therefore in theory hold less water.

I got a bit of variation when measuring cartridge base to ogive for the E-tips with the Stoney Point . I measured 5 total and results varied from 2.473 to 2.483 inches. This surprised me a bit.

I also spent a couple hours annealing the hard Win +P brass. I did the candle method I read on this forum. I hope this helps accuracy. Another observation that didn't occur to me until now is that when shooting with the Rem brass I got really good accuracy. A .579 group using the Sierra accuracy load with 52.5 grains of H4350 and 100 grain MK. When loading 100 TTSX with 46 grains of Hunter I got 1.5 inch. Of course the Match Kings are noted for great accuracy, but I loaded them to book OAL and just threw 5 rounds together to see what this barrel might be capable of. I might be on to something, time will tell, but when I load up these E-tips I'm gonna use the Rem brass and see what happens. Once I hit an accurate load, I'll try the Win +P again and see how they do.

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On the topic of brass, I found that my cases (Nosler and WW) had a bit of bulging just above the web indicating undersized brass/oversized chamber. My Redding resizing die left the bulge after FL sizing. RWS 6.5x55 is approx .005" bigger at the case head. The OAL of the brass is a smidge short but no matter to me as it fits my chamber like a glove now.

In my rifle strangely, 120 A-Frames like to be -.010" off the lands while 120 Partitions like -.060"

Yaddio,

Annealing may help your brass, but the big accuracy deal with brass is necks that are consistent in thickness, varying not more than .001" at any point when measured all around the neck. Have not found recent Remington or Winchester brass all that consistent, so sort the cases for neck-thickness consistency before trying any handloads.

Also don't know if you're measuring the bullet run-out on loaded rounds. It should be no more than .005", about a 10th of an inch in front of the case mouth.

If you're not doing any of this, then trying different powders is pretty much useless.

Hah, got my Sinclair concentricity tool in the mail this week! The Remington brass is not too bad as to concentricity. Most only slightly above .001. Some cases out of spec and will cull. The Winchester, not so much. Much more variation. Do you recommend turning the case necks for uniform thickness? I've never done that but have no apprehension to get started. Just never needed to do it. Bullet runout on the Rems the same as brass runout or a bit more with some left over TTSX's that I tested, .0002 - .0003 avg.

On another note. The Win brass fits pretty tight in the chamber. I've got a bit of crush when lowering the bolt. The Rem brass fits nicely. All FL sized.

I've loaded 7 bullets with H4350 in .5 increments from 43 grains to 46 grains. Will stop shooting with pressure signs or high velocities. I used the Winchester brass to do this since I have so many more of them than the Rems. Just trying to get a feel for where I'm at for velocity with so called "sticky E-tips" and "fuzzy to me" non-P and +P load data. The plan is to start a bit below desired velocity and then to work up with the Rem brass, which has similar, if not slightly larger case capacity than the Win +P.

Having fun doing this, thanks for all the help.

Culled the cases today. The Win+P had about a 40% cull rate. The Remington brass about 5%. All culls were > .0001 measured with a Sinclair Concentricity tool.
Next step is Chronographing with H4350, the E-tips and Win+P brass 43 - 46 grains.

Interesting!

Am definitely curious about the results, partly because one of my batches of Remington brass, purchased a few years ago, was so soft it wouldn't extract with the same load we'd used in my wife's NULA rifle, 47.0 Hunter and the 100 TTSX. It was very uniform brass otherwise.

Some of the best .257 Roberts brass I've used lately is Hornady's--very uniform and tough--but unfortunately they don't offer it as a component, just in their factory ammo. Which has also been very good. Nosler .257 brass (and ammo) is also in the same class, but somewhat pricier.

I'll continue to post with the results. Looking for a Range Day soon.

I'm a bit disappointed with the Win brass. It's been my go-to in other calibers for years and I had a bunch for 257R.

I'd buy the Nosler or Hornady brass if there was any out there, but pickins are slim these days, but learning is occurring while culling and loading.

I have using them in a 25-284 the last two years with good results. Accuracy has been very good. I load them similar to TSX and actually caught one this fall. Shot was a little over 309 yards, the bullet entered on the point of front shoulder and broke the shoulder, took out 4 ribs and was in the off rear ham. Still weighed 100 grs and perfectly mushroomed.

Another powder to consider is R-16 it has been doing good things in my 25-06 and where the 4350s and R-17 work usually so does R-16. I like the temperature resistance and anti copper properties of R-16. In some cases the velocity is higher too.

The E-tips can be finicky, I would do load work up with a Ballistic tip or even a Sierra and once dialed in go back to the E-tip.

DBoston,

Did exactly that with a very accurate .270 Weatherby Magnum I had for a while. After working up a load with 130 Ballistic Tips, which averaged three in around 1/2" at 100 yards, I switched to the 130 E-Tip with the same load--and they did not shoot nearly as well.

But they did after some experimentation with seating depths. Turned out the E-Tip would also group three in 1/2"--but they had to be seated .1" deeper.

When I got the re-barreled rifle back, just to see what it could do, I threw 5 rounds together from the listed Sierra accuracy load, 100 grain Match King, Rem brass, 52.5 grains from an old can of H4350, (remember the cylindrical cans with the red plastic plug on the top), and got a .579 inch group. I loaded the bullet to max book length, 2.770 I think. So I'm thinking H4350 might do the trick. Since the accuracy load was pretty light I didn't need to work anything up. Those bullets will make great practice loads for my wife. Hmm, maybe I should incrementally load a few MKs up to 46 grains and see if the accuracy holds up.

Howdy Yaddio .........You DO mean 42.5 grs not 52.5 of H4350 .............Don't you ?

Yikes, yes, 42.5. Thank you.

Another mistake is the runout. I added an extra 0. should be .001 and .002. Not .0001 and .0002.

Headed to the range on Monday to do some more testing.

25 caliber 128 gr. Hammer bullet and they really shoot well. for the money i feel this bullet is better than Barnes bullets in this size. plus this Hammer bullet might be easier to buy also ? sorry i did not get back sooner but Jan.28th i had a back surgery ,was in hospital for 5 days and i am still home bound but i have had some ruff days too. hope you like these Hammer bullets,Pete53

Hi I,m also in that state. But have not loaded the 100gr Nosler E-CO bullet I have. My 257 Roberts Model 70 just loves 115gr Nosler partitions

and that is what I have taken all my game with. I started out with IMR 4350 like most others. After a few years I tryed RL22 velocity jumped 200 FPS.

So then I tryed MRP same thing even more accurate. Then RL26 a little less accuracy even more speed. Now I,m using RL23 best of both worlds.

So I suggest you try some of the slower powders, especially if you hunt out of state like I do. One more thing give RL17 and RL16 a try.

Thanks and get well soon.

Great info, thanks.