Are any of you loading for this?
I aquired a Winchester 1892 chambered in this cartridge.
I don't mind a reloading adventure and 92's are hard enough to come by, so I thought I'd give it a shot.
Now that I've got it home, I'm having a hard time finding components and consistant information on loads, brass, and bullets.
Apparently the .25/20 doesn't have enough following to demand the local retailers to stock .257 bullets appropriate for a lever rifle. I may have to order them. Do you have preferences? I'm looking at Hornady 60gr FP #2510 and Speer 75gr SPFN//CANN #1237
Is there a source for cast bullets? My usual is Oregon Trail (Laser Cast), but the web site doesn't show anything below .30.
The few places I found that list brass (spendy)show out of stock. As far as making my own ... The opinions seem to range from "easy" to "near impossible".
What are your experiences? Suggestions?
Thanks
Loaded for the 256 many years ago in a Marlin mod.62. Had many of the same problems then as your having now. The Hornady 60gr is a good choice, never tried the Speer bullet, used quite a few of the Rem. 86gr flat points meant for the 25-20 they are still available but hard to find. A quick check shows that both Beartooth cast bullets and Montana Bullet Works offer .257 bullets but in weights that are awfully heavy for the 256. Brass can be made but unless you want to buy an expensive set of forming dies it can be difficult. Not trying to discourage you because the 256 is a fun little cartridge well worth the trouble. Just be patient keep checking the speciality brass sites such as Huntingtons as well as the popular sites. Might go to the Marlin owners site probably more 256 owners there than any where willing to help.
I have the C-H case forming die set and the dies work well. The price was quite reasonable. I bought these several years ago but when I called the fellow at C-H he said they sold several sets of 256WM form dies every year.
The three jacketed bullets mentioned work well in our Marlin Model 62. We can also use the 75-grain spitzer and hollow point bullets.
The Marlin chamber is cut a bit long and large at the base. This is a poor combination makes loading the cartridge to high pressure difficult.
I suggest you use only new 357 Magnum cases for forming.
The problems begin when you try to load the 357 Magnum cases to high pressure for the 256 Win. Mag. The 357 Magnum is rated by SAAMI for 46,000 CUP and the 256 Winchester Magnum is rated at 46,300 CUP with quite a bit of highest-level load data running well in excess of this figure.
When loading re-formed 357 Magnum cases to the highest load levels I seldom get more than four loadings per case.
Reducing load levels to about 75% of maximum gives me virtualy unlimited case life. I am talking about 60-grain loads at 2,700 fps or less using the 357 Magnum case.
For loads which go above the 2,700 fps level I have used cases formed from 357 Maximum brass with good results.
I load the Lyman 257420 65-grain bullet n the 256 Win. Mag. With good results. I generally load these to 1,600 fps and slower. Alliant Unique, 2400, IMR 4227 and Hodgdon Lil� Gun are all good powders for the cartridge with cast bullets.
For accuracy testing single load the Hornady 75-grain V-Max ahead of 12.0 grains of Hodgdon Lil� Gun which gives us 2,170 fps on most days and excellent accuracy - under 1 �� from our rifle at 100-yards - three shot groups.
I have never located any of the 60-grain Hornady JSP bullets but I have hope every time I walk the gun show isles.
Greg Mushial on his web site GMDR, has medium and low velocity data for the 256 Win. Mag. Greg Used a Marlin 1894 to develop his data. Greg�s Marlin shot smaller groups than our Marlin with most loads.
If you are careful, lube well and press the handle slowly, you can form cases with ease by first running them into the SEATER die. Seater dies are cut larger in the neck to allow for the expanded diameter of a round with a bullet, so they make a good intermediate size die for case forming. Be sure to back it out a touch to avoid the crimp shoulder.
If you can't find blunt bullets, shoot it as a two-shot. You may have to finagle the length so they'll feed.
William's advice is excellent.
Strider: A question about your Rifle.
My good friend Jack from Yelm, Washington had a 256 Winchester Magnum built on a Winchester Model 92 action many years ago (20+ years back) I can not remember if it was a Winchester 92 or a Browning 92.
Anyway he had real nice wood put on the Rifle and if I recall correctly he had the metal (receiver/barrel) finished in high gloss.
He used the Rifle as a "two shooter" (one cartridge chambered and one in the magazine) and he Hunted local Coyotes with it for a couple of years before he traded it off.
Does this sound like your Rifle?
Anyway, best of luck with your 256!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy
My best guess would be that it was rebuilt in the 60s when the cartridge was still in the public eye. The barrel work feels 1960's to me and the cartridge wasn't around until 61?
It appears to be a custom barrel with a match tight chamber, not a rechambered .25-20. No rear dovetail; it's been tapped for a receiver sight, same as a 94.
They dropped the blade front sight that is normally part of the band and replaced it with a sweat on base type with a dovetail copper bead like you would find on a custom bolt rifle of the period.
Wood is above average by today's standard, but I wouldn't call it fancy. I'm pretty certain it's replacement wood, because the tang was drilled and there is no screw hole in the wood.
Bluing reminds me of the old S&W finish. It would probably rate 98% if it weren't for a bit of light rust around the receiver sight. It has a williams on it now, but you can tell it had a larger receiver sight on it at some point and it rusted underneath it. I'd like to know what that other sight might have been , so I can get another one and hide the rust.
The rifle dates at 1912, so who knows. The receiver locks up tight with a pleasant snap, the action is smooth as can be. It was definately quality work, though I wish it were original. I'd say it's been shot very little.
Nowhere near Yelm, but that doesn't mean anything after 20 years.
Try this:
http://www.tennesseevalleybullets.com/products/bullets.htmlHe has an 85 grain cast lead bullet for $30 per 250.
Strider: Thanks for the reply.
It could be my friends old Rifle - I only saw it a couple of times.
Again best of luck with your nifty Rifle.
I will call my man Jack and see if he can remeber what sights he had on his Rifle.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy
Meister makes an 85gr Flatbase cast bullet in 257, I use them for light loads in my 25-204. They are very reasonably priced.
erich
I had a Marlin 62 in 256 Win Mag that work well with the Remington 86 grain 25-20 bullets. I got stung by the 218 Bee and rebarrel the Marlin 62. I never made any brass for the 256 Win Mag, as the rifle came with 1K rounds of white box factory ammo and 300 new Winchester/Olin cases. I've shot about 1/2 box of factory ammo and a couple hundred rounds of reloads with the 86 grain Remington 25-20 bullets.
Standard disclaimer; "YMMV and since my experience is mine alone, your experience is likely to be different.".
Jeff
Well, I finally got an assortment of bullets. Formed 500 pieces of brass. I was so pleased with the way the cartridge looked that I loaded up all 500 rounds. They are really a cool little cartridge.
There is just one minor little problem. They don't chamber.
I can't believe I loaded 500 of those little buggers without running some dummies through the action. I suppose it was because they take so much time to make that I didn't want to waste any.
As I pull 500 hard to find bullets, I'm sure I will remember not to make that mistake again.
It must be close. Trying several, you can force the chamber closed on perhaps one in three. And naturally, it's hard to get them back out again. I see no bullet deformation, lan marks, or scratches on the neck. It appears to be tight around the cartridge body. That's where I see rub marks on the brass.
I'm sure the correct answer is to cast the chamber and take some measurements. I don't have the materials. I'll have to order them.
Any other poor man's fixes?
I'm thinking of reducing the thickness of the shell holder to set the shoulder back a bit.
I'm using RCBS dies.
Maybe try a different brand of dies, before I go with custom made ones?
Interesting puzzle to solve.
I'd pull a couple of bullets and try the cases in your rifle. If they go in OK, them you'll need to seat your bullets deeper. But, if they don't, you'll need to pull all of your bullets and resize the cases to fit your chamber.
If you've crimped your bullets, you probably can't seat them any deeper w/o crushing the cases. E
The bullets won't be wasted, if you pull them carefully. For that quantity, I'd get a collet-style puller. (In fact, when I made a similar mistake and had 1,200 rounds to pull, I even bought one of those little Lee presses as well - just for pulling bullets.)
Pull ten using an inertia puller or whatever you have. Size the cases again with the die as is (but do remove the decap pin!) and try those cases in the gun without bullets. If they chamber, your problem wasn't the size die at all.
Don't overlook the possibility that it was the SEATER die that bulged the cases a bit. If the case mouth hit the crimper, that can happen all too easily. If your trial re-sized cases go in the gun easily, a "seater die bulge" is the first thing I'd suspect.
Certainly a crimp buldge just below the crimp is the first thing to look for. This is hard to see visualy but is pretty easy to measure with a caliper.
Its good advice to pull 2 or 3 bullets and size the cases and then attempt to chamber them.
I assume you are forming your cases from 357 Magnum? I found I had to set the die hard against the shell holder on the first sizing after I formed and trimmed the case. After that if I did not push my loads toward maximum pressure I could size so the die just went to the bottom of the neck on a smoked case.
I have a Marlin and it is very sensitive to case length from rim to the point of the shoulder and base diameter. As I increase pressure and approach maximum loads I run into the problem of Marlin having cut the chamber a bit long from rim to the point of the shoulder and yet the pressure ring on the case still needs to be sized to allow the action to close properly. The chamber dimensions of the Marlin require a balancing act and case life with maximum loads is short when using formed 357 Magnum brass. 357 Maximum increases case life significantly.
If your chamber is a tight one as you suspect you will probably be as lucky as Greg Mushial from GMDR,
.
http://www.gmdr.com/At the GMDR home page go to the upper right and click on the additional data tab. Greg had a custom chamber cut for his Marlin lever-action rifle and case life in his rifle was much better than mine.
Sounds like good advice.
A straight edge doesn't reveal any bulging. But with the cartridge shape and the annealed brass, I wouldn't be surprised.
I may have over crimped it. I get worried about lever loads pushing back into the case. I've seen factory .30-30s do it enough. Even with the infamous Lee factory crimp.
I may not get to it until this weekend, but I'll be sure and report back what I find.
Thanks
Well ...
An empty case sized hard will chamber with a little effort. It might be good for the brass, but I can't imagine it would be good for the rifle.
An old factory round goes in slick as a whistle.
The cases are dimensionally identical (within .001) length, rim, diameter at shoulder, neck, and base. In all cases, if there is a difference the factory round is the bigger of the two.
One dimension is different - shoulder height. It's visible, probably .05. The factory brass is also a little more round at the curves of shoulder and neck.
I wonder what brand of dies winchester was using for .256 in the 1960s?
Different dies would be a gamble.
I could probably accomplish it by taking a bit at a time off of the die base. Maybe the shell holder.
Anybody ever tried that?
How did you form the cases? The root problem could be there.
Suggestion: Pull one bullet, re-size the case and see if it chambers. If it does not, progressively add shims under the case in the holder and re-size to see if eventually that will produce a case that chambers. If it does, the thickness of shims added will tell you how much to shave from the top of the holder.
If that original re-size (without shims) will chamber, you might try pulling another bullet and merely neck-sizing that case to see if that alone will enable it to chamber. If so, the size issue is with the neck.
Have you checked to see of the cases are too long? Otherwise properly sized case of too much length will give the symptoms you noted.
Someone explained the "bulge" that sometimes is produced by crimper if the case is pushed too far into the seating die. This will certainly cause similar chambering issues. The bulge usually appears right where the case shoulder begins - small end.
Once saw a guy, with a similar problem,insist on using his press/die to re-size the loaded rounds instead of pulling and dumping. I stood way back, and do not recommend such a practice.
Hope this helps.
The shimming was an interesting idea, but you can't get more than a single sheet of paper between case and shell holder.
Length, rim thickness, and diameter at shoulder, base and neck are all the same or .001 smaller than a factory round that chambers fine.
The only thing different is shoulder height and shape. The die is just longer than the chamber.
I guess I'll try thinning the shell holder a few thousandths at a time. It's the cheaper of the parts.
I don't think there is any way a loaded round would fit in a resizing die to shrink the neck on a bottle neck cartridge. You would only crush the neck into the case. I suppose you could custom make one with a larger neck. I wouldn't care to try it.
I have seen a taper crimp applied with a sizing die on long tapered cases like the .38-55. It worked fine, but lends itself to risk if done improperly.
I took a little off the die at a time until a sized piece of brass would just chamber without resistance when the die is screwed tight against the shell holder. A sized piece of brass is now dimensionally identical to an old factory round (shoulder height and measured diameter at base, shoulder and neck). Except it's trimmed length is set to the minimum (1.271). The factory round is at the medium (1.275). Max would be (1.281)
If I had to guess. I'd say this chamber is based off of an unfired factory round. It fits like a glove. It's definately a tight chamber.
How did I make the cases?
Using Starline .357 brass, I annealed the case necks by standing them up in a metal dish pan with just enough water to cover them when tipped on their side. Heat the case mouth with a propane torch untill it just starts to turn red in a dimly lit room and tip the case over into the water with a bamboo skewer.
I polished the inside of the seating die with a tight fitting bore mop and flitz on a drill. Lube the cases well and run them through the polished seating die. Then run them through the sizing die as usual. Trim to length.
new question???? I have a ruger Hawkeye that i under stand is 1x14 twist for 60 grain bullets. I know t-c currently makes 1x10 twist in the 256. But I think they ( T-C} made 1x14 twist barrels in the past. Does anyone know how to tell them apart and was they marked in any way on the outside????????? Please Help Thank You
A well oiled tight fitting patch on a cleaning rod will rotate with the rifling while you push it down the bore. Measure the distance it takes to rotate one full turn.
Because of the short barrel on a handgun you may have to take 1/2 rotation and multiply by 2 or 1/4 by 4 etc.
A barrel that rotated once in a 12" push would be 1:12 twist. If it rotated 1/4 turn in 4 inches the twist would be 1:16. You get the idea ...
I'd try it several times to ensure it doesn't slip.
In case anyone was interested in the particulars...
As it turned out, a sized piece of brass on my RCBS dies was exactly .02 over SAAMI specs at the shoulder. I addressed the problem by shortening the die until a sized piece of brass was exactly SAAMI length at the shoulder. I calipered all the other dimensions and they are also right on. If I turn the die out, even a 1/4 of a turn, I once again have to squeeze the action closed. It's a tight fit.
My best guess is that RCBS lengthened the die to address the overly long chambers of the Marlins in .256 of period. That is assuming it was intentional at all.
You may well be right. Your chamber sounds like the one Greg had. His case life was much better than mine was.
As we reduced pressure, my Marlin�s accuracy improved significantly. With light loads powered by fast burning powder, we both shot some very small groups at 50- and 75-yards. I have a sharp pointed post 4X scope and with light cast loads it is great fun to set a Necco wafer on the post and squeeze the trigger.
Best cast bullet accuracy is with the Lyman 257283. This 85-grain bullet has a wide base band and I believe this is the key to its accuracy.
Greg got his best accuracy shooting gas check bullets without the gas check.
Field results (finally): I put on a Marbles tang sight (adjustable for both windage and elevation). It has a gold bead front sight. 50 yard groups were the size of a quarter, which is exceptional for me without a scope. Only 3 fliers out of 100 rounds would make it push 2". 97 would be 1". It would be interesting to see what it would do with a scope or a better front sight. But, I have no intention of altering the rifle at this point. 100 rounds brought no signs of leading. Another 100 destroyed tin cans galor, out to 100 yards. Feed and extraction were flawless. It was a real pleasure to shoot.
I loaded it with Meister .258 LRNFP and trail boss. Fired case dimensions: overall length, shoulder position, case head, and neck remained within .001. The case grew .004 in diameter immediately below the shoulder. I would imagine, cases will lengthen a bit on resize, but hopefully I'll still get good case life.
Bad news ... About 1 in 10 primers pierced. The firing pin looks fine. I used pistol primers, thinking of the .357 parent case and the fact that 92s are chambered for revolver cartridges. I'm thinking of switching to small rifle primers ... Any thought on that one?
It's interesting. I never made a note of the cartridge until I fell into this rifle. Overall, I'm happy with the find. It should make a fine small to light medium game rifle.
Strider: I just stumbled on this thread, and if I'd seen it before now, I'd not have started my own a couple days ago: Hunting Rifles: ".256 Winchester: Big Game Capable".
I spent a full year messing with little else than the Model 62 Marlin. Much of what I learned the hard way is borne out by guys on this thread, particularly william iorg.
I did find a morsel I might consider, and that is to try .357 Maximum brass as the parent case. As william noted, case life is much less than spectacular (at least in the Marlin), especially when loading jacketed bullets for high velocity. My experience with full-tilt loads is that I'm only getting three firings before I see stuff I don't like. I'm a fraidy-cat, since I experienced catastrophic case failure (in a .223) ONCE, and I'd like to keep my current score.
Go with rifle primers. This is mentioned more than once in literature I've found.
My dies are RCBS, and I have the forming dies (RCBS) as well. I've not had any trouble with chambering brass from these dies, and even got away with backing the die off the shoulder of a fired case a bit (trying to fight the brief case life thing).
Multiple reports from other guys claimed that no forming dies were used, but with annealing and forming, I've had no mortality rate in that process. I'm sticking with it.
Cartridges out of these dies chambered in a 2nd Marlin 62 that followed me home, and my Contender barrel as well. You've concluded you have a much tighter chamber, and that can be nothing but a good thing (since you figured out how to adapt to it).
I DID find, that loading the Hot-Cor 75g FP, that I had to seat the bullet all the way to the TOP of the cannelure to chamber in the 62. (That bullet gets to .257 diameter pretty soon behind the tip.)
William is right again with his "milder is more accurate" for this cartridge. I pooh-poohed the old Sierra "accuracy load" of 14.3g of IMR4227 (75g bullet) and ventured into things racier, then humbly came to understand that the Sierra ballistician of days gone by did his homework.
The 75g V-Max was the belle of the ball for my gun, and with the "two-shot" strategy, it could be for yours as well. I thought it was a fluke when the 62 all of a sudden shot a .95" group. Then it shot a .71" group, and so I handed it to the neighbor teen buddy that lurks around when I'm messing with guns, and he shot a .76" group. (100 yards, 9x scope).
I am VERY interested in other suggested powders and how they might compare to IMR4227 for jacketed bullet loads (especially the newer powders that weren't around when most of the literature was published for this cartridge). I wonder if there is a new "secret powder" that might allow me to venture into the racy realm again (armed with heavier brass).
I just finished perusing Greg's website, as William recommended (toward my interest in newer powders), and saw that AA2015 and H322 seemed the standouts for the 75g Vmax (for velocity consistency and group size across the range of charge weights). Benchmark put on a good show at the top of the charge weights tried.
Then I looked in the left upper column, and saw that his shooting was done at 50 yards. What I thought was pretty good accuracy at first glance suffered greatly with this information.
Another puzzlement was his recorded SD's. Relatively great compared to what I've experienced with the old IMR4227. Also, his velocities are rather pedestrian, even compared to mild loads from the old books. Please tell me I'm missing something.
Sierra's "accuracy load" of 14.3grains produces 2360fps out of my 62, with SD's at about 7 fps. 14.7grains brought the SD's down to 4-7fps, but accuracy fell off just a bit. I went as high as 15.6 grains at 2580fps, and SD's stayed around 5fps, but accuracy went away.
All my shooting with the .256 (aside from preliminary sighting in) has been done at 100 yards. Primarily because I believe the .256 is at least a 100yd cartridge, especially in a scoped rifle. First tries (with a few loose factory rounds I acquired, and my initial handloads at the top of the velocity range for IMR4227), were at 2-2.5". This to me was not satisfactory.
I did some bedding work (no glass; installed a clever stout pillar on the front action screw which allowed support between the barrel and the lower wood), and carefully sanded out the barrel channel to float. The gun shot moderately better.
It was not until I tried the old Sierra load that everything came together in spades.
I guess so far (according to my experience and comparisons), the "new secret powder" is the geriatric IMR4227.
Greg collected this data in the 2000 or 2001 time frame during the old Marlin Talk Board days. Greg and I met about this time and we exchanged data on the 25-20 WCF and the 256 WM. I had the RCBS Load program on the big floppy disc and a 286 computer, which did not run the program very well. We graphed loads and scanned targets using the Target Tool function.
At the time, Greg had the 50-yard range on a piece of property near his home. He had a covered shooting bench and his chronograph screen stands buried in concrete. Greg has been building a shooting tunnel for several years now so he won�t have to go to the range to shoot at longer distances.
Greg and I have compared targets for quite a few years and his bench technique beats mine on most days - as does his ability at the load bench.
For target and varmint shooting Greg and I moved on to the 25-35, me with fast twist barrels and Greg with slow twist barrels. We had great fun comparing the potential of both and researching past writing on the .25 caliber varmint barrels. As we moved up into the 25-35 Ackley Improved Greg�s gunsmith ruined his barrel while rechambering and put our fun on hold.
Greg has gathered all of the pieces to assemble another slow twist 25-35 rifle and with luck, we will be shooting again soon.
Back to the 256 WM, we shot some good targets out to 100-yards with cast and jacketed bullets using Hodgdon 322 and H4227. Greg uses target scopes and I have a straight 4X with post reticule on mine.
We graphed our loads by group size, fps Vs grains of powder and by velocity extreme spread. It was interesting to see how the powders compared to one another. Greg had a conventional button rifled barrel and I had the Micro Groove. We did not see much difference in accuracy potential but his chamber was cut to standard and mine was oversize. We experienced a big difference in case life. I switched to 357 Maximum brass which improved my case life a bit.
After quite a bit of searching Greg bought Winchester 256 WM brass and with his tight chamber, he could explore the �outer limits� of performance without alarming case loss.
Greg and I discussed powder selection, velocity and case life quite a bit on the old Marlin Talk Board. We did not run into anyone shooting a Ruger Hawkeye or a Universal ferret. Everyone we spoke with, and there were not many, was shooting a Marlin. Most of these shooter were having case life problems and case forming problems. This is the reason for the pedestrian velocities on his charts. As you are aware, when the velocity climbs in the Marlin rifle, case life shortens.
Greg probably accommodated my shooting at the time as far as range is concerned. We were shooting raccoons from pecan trees and the range was generally less than 50-yards, but we needed to hit them hard to bring them out of the tree. We had to stay inside 2� offhand or with a leaning support at this distance as we were shooting up into trees. For this reason we tried hard to keep the bullets inside the critters.
For the 75-grain V-Max I prefer Alliant Reloder 10x and keep the velocity in the 2,000 fps range. But then my targets are smaller than yours!
Great and useful information here, and you will be the blame if I start messing around with .25-35 performance. Curious as to what rifles you were playing with/rebarreling there.
Also: with the switch to .357 Maximum brass for the .256, were there any issues with neck thickness after the forming process (since the benefit of greater case life, I think would come from the thicker-walled brass)? Was neck turning then necessary? Perhaps the generous Marlin chamber would not need it.
Twenty or so years ago the 25-35 Winchester Model 94 and the Savage 99 were pretty common in West Texas and the grey rats did not bring a significant premium � this was before people figured out they could rejuvenate these rifles and make a silk purse�.
I have had several to play with. I finally had to switch to new barrels to explore the true accuracy potential of the 25-35. I first tried the Thompson Contender with a 24� barrel. This was a failure as the TC does not have adequate extraction for the significantly tapered cartridge. The 25-35 in the TC rifle will stick a cartridge case when the load levels are at current published maximums or when you start to explore the �modern loading� of the 25-35.
I also picked up a Model 94AE when they were available and this has proven to be a lot of fun.
The Winchester Hi-Wall is the place to be with this cartridge. I have a 24� TC barrel chambered for the 25-35AI which is a remarkable rifle. I have shot this beside two Remington 700 Classics in 250 Savage with interesting results.
For my use on small deer and pigs the 100-grain bullet is the best compromise for velocity and killing power. I am attaching a link to a thread started by Dr. A. We have not added much to the thread for a few years but it will get you started. Alliant Reloder 10X and the 100-grain bullet is where you want to start with the modern 25-35. IMR 4320 is still the powder to beat. Take a look at the thread. My wife and I shoot the 25-35 quite a bit due to the reduced recoil and the low noise of the cartridge, even in a 20� barrel. The 24� TC barrel handles well as a walk around rifle with a low power scope and with a target scope it is a real gopher getter.
For the TC rifles Francis Sell�s 25-35 Tomcat is probably the best solution to the extraction problem. For the lever action rifles the standard cartridge works fine at higher velocities as you will see in the thread.
One of my projects is a slow twist 25-35 or a 25 Remington bolt action. This used to be an almost insurmountable dream but the new 6.8SPC cartridge has changed that with a proper bolt face available from several manufacturers now.
The thread is a bit of a slow starter but I believe it devolps pretty well.
http://shootersforum.com/showthread.htm?t=20108&highlight=.25-35
I will look at that, and thanks!
I do have a VERY good pre-64 '94 in .25-35 (my only .25-35), but along that line was very interested in your Contender experience, as I had a .25 Bullberry (30-30 necked down) barrel made for my TC frame, in 15" (and braked), and took a fine antelope with it, along with chucks and coyotes. This is a very near straight-wall case, and no extraction problems yet.
I have toyed with the idea of having a rifle length barrel made in the same chambering for the Contender. I need another .25 rifle like I need a hole in the head, but that did not stop me when I had a Mini Mark X 7.62x39 rebarreled to .25PPC: matching .250 Savage velocities (3000fps) with the Nosler 85g Ballistic Tip. I call it the .25 "Pronghorn Pursuit Cartridge", (apologies to Palmisano and Pindell).
Tiny, tiny gun, great performer, and carries like a wisp.
Below is a link to the 25-35AI thread.
I believe the 25-35 Tomcat the 25 Bullbery are the route to go with the TC barrels. This overcomes the extraction problem and makes the barrel useful.
Isn�t it odd the lever actions do not have extraction problems with 25-35 loads which raise the performance level of the little cartridge to new heights?
http://shootersforum.com/showthread.htm?t=25916&highlight=.25-35aiI am hijacking your threaad, post on one of the two or start one here and we'll discuss the 25-35.