6.5shaggy
Well-Known Member
I am making plans to start my next build. Lighter weight, long range, low recoil rifle for me and my teenage boys to shoot deer and hogs with. I like efficient cartridges but I don't mind hot-rods either. I do all of my own work but I am far from a master gunsmith. I've been looking at the Creed, 25-06, 25-284, and the Wby, but I am leaning heavily towards the 06 or Wby as i have tons of brass. I also have a 284 win and two 6.5-284s so I don't want more of those floating around to get in the wrong rifle. My kids are disciplined but mistakes can happen.
I have two boxes of the new 135s on my shelf waiting on this build, so I decided to do some velocity tests to help pick a cartridge to proceed with. I have an older M77 25-06 and a REM 700 257 Wby, both with 10 twist barrels , 24 and 26 inches respectively. I loaded 3 rounds for each rifle with researched loads of Retumbo from this and other sites, 1/2 grain increments ending about a grain below what most were considering max. I was expecting 3050 for the Wby and 2900 in the'06. Using a magnetospeed, I found the Wby to produce 2863 FPS and the 25-06 2768 FPS with primer flattening starting to appear.
I have 30+years of reloading experience and know about where I'm at in the pressure curve, but I expected more speed at thsee loads. I will continue the ladder tests, but I am a little disappointed with todays results. What I need from you guys is to confirm that 1 to 1.5 grains more powder is going to boost speed to the magical 3200+ that I've been reading about. Will a 7 or 8 twist make that much more pressure over a 10 twist to gain velocity? Is a 25 Creed so efficient that I should reconsider? Am I totally missing something else?
Any info is greatly appreciated,
Shag
I have two boxes of the new 135s on my shelf waiting on this build, so I decided to do some velocity tests to help pick a cartridge to proceed with. I have an older M77 25-06 and a REM 700 257 Wby, both with 10 twist barrels , 24 and 26 inches respectively. I loaded 3 rounds for each rifle with researched loads of Retumbo from this and other sites, 1/2 grain increments ending about a grain below what most were considering max. I was expecting 3050 for the Wby and 2900 in the'06. Using a magnetospeed, I found the Wby to produce 2863 FPS and the 25-06 2768 FPS with primer flattening starting to appear.
I have 30+years of reloading experience and know about where I'm at in the pressure curve, but I expected more speed at thsee loads. I will continue the ladder tests, but I am a little disappointed with todays results. What I need from you guys is to confirm that 1 to 1.5 grains more powder is going to boost speed to the magical 3200+ that I've been reading about. Will a 7 or 8 twist make that much more pressure over a 10 twist to gain velocity? Is a 25 Creed so efficient that I should reconsider? Am I totally missing something else?
Any info is greatly appreciated,
Shag