Quarter bore fans; opinions wanted, what would you do?

[Phil Rizzo]

You'd need a water cooling jacket built around that one!

 

[DUCKMAN11]

I didn't even think of that but now it's on the brain too dang it. My buddy even has a 28 Nosler…perhaps some of his brass needs to be donated for "science"

He could at least give you 3 peices for dummy rounds to get a reamer made lol

 

[DUCKMAN11]

You'd need a water cooling jacket built around that one!

That aint no lie!

 

[unclecroc]

Personally I'd do a 257 weatherby. With a 32 inch tube that thing would scream. I'd be trying to send a 95 hht to 4000 fps with it.
I think any larger in case capacity it wouldn't gain enough to be worth the hassle. Just my .02 cents.
I'm looking forward to seeing where you go with this.

 

[HNDLDR]

I've also gone down this road with the 257 Arnold (25/7mm Rem mag) and a 25 WSM. They are fun but don't expect the barrel to last long. I personally wouldn't go anymore over bore then the 257 Weatherby.
I would like to turn my standard 25-06 into a 25 Sherman.

 

[RYEWSKY25284]

Hey all, I have a barrel I want to build with, not now but in the next few years. Originally I was going to go full throttle and pursue the highest velocity possible just for fun, no practicality needed.

It's a 32 inch bartlein .257 1:10 twist very heavy barrel, and is presently chambered in 25-06AI. Throat is in good shape at present.

I was originally going to build either a 25-300 wby, 257 stw, or even a 25-300 RUM off of it, leaning mostly towards the .25-300 wby for a few reasons, Peterson making 300 wby and 6.5-300 wby brass among the greatest reasons but also I already have 257 wby dies for the neck sizing portion of this and 450 ackley dies that with the decapper expander unit removed should do just fine to resize the body. And with the lightweights that the 1;10 twist is limited to I have serious doubts that even out of a 32 inch pipe the RUM capacity would meaningfully outrun the full length wby or stw case but I could be wrong. It's already threaded for a savage action which I have. And if I went full length magnum it'd clean up the existing chamber completely without any need to set back or rethread the beast.

But now I'm second guessing this too…

I already have a 257 wby and a pile of brass for it…and I'm sure that out of a 32 inch barrel the .257 would already be STUPID FAST, perhaps there's not much to be had going bigger than that, again with a 10 twist and the bullets were limited to here. If I could shoot the 130+ grain bullets it would be different. I would have to have the barrel set back and rethreaded I think though based on my studying of case dimensions/chamber prints.

I'm also reluctantly considering just leaving it alone as the 25-06 AI that it is except inexpensive dies for that chambering seem to not exist or be hard to find so that's the downside, I'd also need to obtain brass and fire form it which kinda lessens its appeal regarding longer barrel life if I'm using that life to fire form cases too. But maybe that's a non-issue, I've never actually had to fire form before, no experience yet with builds or wildcats. But I do imagine that a 32 inch .25-06 ai would likely outrun my current 24 inch .257 weatherby, possibly by a bit.

Anyway, what would YOU do if you wanted a .25 cal speed demon on a bit of of a budget with the supplies on hand I've mentioned? Leave it as a .25-06AI, set back and rechamber to .257 weatherby on account of existing supplies and that round being about the practical top end, or just listen to your heart and go flat out with a full length magnum overbore monstrosity to take full advantage of the 32 inch barrel length and see just how fast we can go, barrel life be damned….it is a long enough barrel that a person could easily set it back quite a few inches after the first 500 rounds or so if need be.

Input please, and as always I just like talking about all this stuff with you people so do chime in!

@Fiftydriver you're about the foremost authority on big 25s in my opinion, again IF LIMITED TO A 10 TWIST what route would you suggest?

Hmmm.

 

[txaggie1]

257 with 30" barrel and twist to accurately shoot the heavy EOL's would be pretty cool IMO - but 257 wby is my all time fav so i'm bias, If you choose to go that route keep us posted on the status so i can live through your wallet and not do it myself!

 

[K.E.C.]

Easy button for Hyper Speed.
257/300 Weatherby.
6.5/300 Brass and bushing dies.
For a little more barrel life, rebarrel your 25-06ai, but that's Boring.
Sounds Fun.

 

[KS2506]

Why not go to the 257 STW? Cheaper brass than others suggested. The 1-10" twist will be the limiting factor. However my 25-06's have handled 117 and 120 grainers just fine. With that long barrel you might be able to use the 130 range of bullets.

 

[KS2506]

Why not go with the 257 STW? Cheaper brass than the others, and with that 32" barrel you might be able to use the heavies like the 130gr. range of bullets.

 

[Calvin45]

Why not go with the 257 STW? Cheaper brass than the others, and with that 32" barrel you might be able to use the heavies like the 130gr. range of bullets.

A former pastor of mine always said if it's worth saying it's worth repeating!!!

I certainly haven't rules the stw out but at present it's not at the top simply because it seems a heck of lot easier to obtain 300 wby brass than stw or 8mag brass (I'd prefer 65-300 but that's much harder to come by) and I already have 257 wby dies that should take care of the shoulder and neck resizing.

 

[Phil Rizzo]

It's a terrific let down, ask the experienced ones.
Butterbean? My Dad also.
RL25 is a good one for it, if you like to torch a whole bunch of good powder for minimal gains.

 

[Phil Rizzo]

If you want big over bore and super velocity go as large as you can in diameter.
leave the length short as is reasonable and life will be better. For you and the barrel.
Like a WSM case or Mega or even 7PRC.
With 100gr pills you will be in the upper echelon, you definitely have the twist and barrel length.
Kudos to you for not handicapping yourself with anything shorter than 26".
No need to handicap the banshee!

 

[19elkhunter51]

Because I am old and incredibly in love with 25-06, my first thought would be to follow up with the 25-06AI. I would agree that may be boring but it hits all the easy buttons in my opinion. If the barrel life is of no consequence, and me being not fond of Weatherby anything, the 25-300 RUM would be my choice.
Just remember, it is your nickel and we are living this build vicariously through you!