Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats .25/35 Ackley Improved

Has anybody here fooled with this one? Good points/bad points?

Also, any preferences for a source of custom dies in this caliber? (Or better yet, anybody have a set they would let go of?)

Always wanted to, let us know how this all pans out for you. Always seemed to me that this cartridge would benefit a LOT from the AI treatment. Did you trade yourself into one, perhaps?

Yes, I acquired a .25/35 AI barrel for a Savage 1899 Takedown that I'm just getting around to putting into service.

Sounds like it will be a fun project. And, you can run pointy nose booleets!

been shooting this 15" a few years, only one i have at the moment, but i have had a carbine barrel also.

no real downside to the cartridge for my use.

i use a 7x30 die to take 30/30's down first, then neck to .25 & fire form. my dies are CH4D, FL set. my 1st choice would be redding, but a tad pricy, and i ended up with the CH4D's when i got my first carbine.

my barrel is 1-10 twist, and a fine shooter. case life is great, even in the TC.

Reloder-15 is a favorite, but it has been pretty agreeable with several powders in that burn rate range. pretty much duplicates top end 250/3000 loads.

Do you guys think a Savage M340 could handle a 25-35AI?

Could, but there are better homes for the format. Not much sense in putting money into a 340,IMO.

FX, do you ever fireform .25/35's or do you use .30/30 brass exclusively? I'm thinking that fireforming .25/35 brass would naturally eliminate the need for an intermediate form die, but maybe there are case loss issues I'm unaware of?

I've never been a huge fan of improving cartridges, a long stint with a .219 Donaldson Wasp being the exception. But this one has me excited.

Agree, it could. After all they chambered them in .225 Winchester for a while. It's just that the single locking lug would give me pause when considering a relatively high intensity cartridge.

tried to fireform 25/35's and ended up with splits at the neck shoulder junction...i already had 25/35 brass because i shoot the standard 25/35 in a carbine, but with the cheap local availablity of 1x fired 30/30's, i went back to that route.

I have heard of guys rebarreling Remington M788s in 30-30 to
25-35, but those are getting scarce.

gnoahhh I have a 336 marlin in 25/35 Ackley and it shoots great the only trouble with the lever action part is using spitzer bullets i'm limited to one in the chamber and one in the mag. In fire forming brass for it I found that some older 23/35 Win. brass would work well but newer Win. in the silver boxes would split in the neck quite often no trouble with30/30 brass put through a 7/30 waters die first then necked to 25 cal.

Better be aware that sourcing a custom wildcat rifle barrel and dies from different places can yield different cartridge dimensions. There are lots of variations in wildcats, even "standardized" ones like Ackley Improved. They are after all called wildcats. I would set up the rifle and shoot some conservative loads through it, make sure it's good, then send those fired cases off for a set of custom dies to your chamber. That's the safest bet anyway. Actually, better yet, have the chamber cast by a gunsmith so you don't end up trying to chamber a too-long cartridge and sending pressures way up. Play it safe. Sounds like great sport, have fun with an awesome caliber!

Yes FB, my intention is to send a couple of fired cases and a cerrosafe casting to whoever I end up using. Maybe just a custom collet die for neck sizing? (I only need a sizer die. I'll use my .25 Vickerman straight line seater. I have a bunch of old Vickermans, some of which I turned custom sliding pistons for.)