Howcome .25 left out? ( The 25/308 or 25 Souper )

[Alan in GA]

No.
I have owned and shot and reloaded for several other 25s:
25-06 [2]
250 Savage [3]
250 Savage Improved [2]
257 Roberts Improved [1]

I am just convinced after working with factory [Winchester] .250 Savage ammo/cases,,that the .308 case is 'better'. I guess having .243, 308, and .358 Winchester rifles, using factory ammo and reloads, using NATO cases for .358 Win cases has made the difference obvious.
Could be it's all in my head.
I always have to assume the factory bean counter's research has told them the offering of a 25-08 would not sell enough to make it profitable.
What about the 258 Federal? Seems Federal is 'for' making a .338 Federal, might as well ad to "their line" of new rounds~!
Alan in GA.

[700X]

Hey guys,
How about a .25/284? I've been kicking around that idea for awhile. Don't worry about feeding problems. My .284 Win is in a Rem 700 switch barrel rig, with the other barrels in .22/250 and 6BR, and functions flawlessly. Seems to me you could have as much fire power as you want in a short action (not a WSSM fan) and quality brass is available now that the 6.5/284 is so popular, although not anywhere near as cheap as .308 brass. What do you think? X

[Quarterbore]

Well, I know of a couple guys shooting the 6/284. One is a varmint rifle and the second is a 1000-yd bench rifle. These are some really fast shooting rifles but they are accurate.

I see no reason that the 257/284 would not just about equal (perhaps exceed) the 25/06 in performance...

[700X]

Based on my research I think it may exceed the '06 case ever so slightly with the lighter bullets, but I've never talked to anyone who's shot one to be sure. My 'smith doesn't have the reamer but I'm considering another 'smith a little closer to home that does have one. That project isn't the highest on my list, but it's on it. More people should consider the .284 and it's offspring. It's an amazing case....looks cool, too!!X

[Big_easy51]

I shoot a 25 Souper. I had it built by Hill Country Rifle in New Braunfels, TX, after reading an article on the cartridge written by Rocky Raab in an old Reloader's Bible. (Google him and you will find the article).
The rifle is built on a hand-honed Rem 700 BDL action (I bought a slightly used youth model .308 and discarded everything except the action). Dan Lilja made a 23", #6 contour fluted barrel...a 3 groove, 1:10 twist stainless. The stock is by McMillian, and the trigger is a Timney set at 2.5 lbs. Optics are a Zeiss 4.5-14 mounted with Conetrol rings and bases. The barrel, action, rings and bases are finished in black teflon.
Uning 75 gr Hornady V-Max bullets, I can get 3 shot groups that look like a slightly enlarged single hole at 200 yards. And with a Sierra 120 gr boat-tail hollow point Game King, accuracy at 400 yards is about 1.3 ".
There is no recoil with the 75 gr rounds, so the impact can be observed through the scope. There is a slight jump with 100-120 gr loads, bu not really any different from a .243.
To sum it up, this is, hands down, the most accurate rifle I have ever owned, and by far the sweetest to shoot. Other than having to search for dies (RCBS makes them but you will wait for them) and finally finding them reasonably priced at CH4D (and in stock to boot), the whole experience has been a real pleasure.

[KBL]

Wow, it's great to find this place!

My favorite deer cartridge is the .250 Savage, and it seems that there are few places to discuss this caliber with much feedback from others. Quarterbore sounds like the right place!

I do handload, and this is where the .250 Savage is transformed from an OK cartridge using anemic factory ammo, into one of the most efficient medium bore cartridges I've found.

I'd be curious to hear from owners of the .25 Souper, as to the kind of ballistics they get with this cartridge using 100 grain bullets. I currently shoot a load in my .250 Savage that pushes a 100 grain bullet @ 3109 fps (chronographed 5 shot average). How much better does the .25 Souper do?

[257Koevoet]

I see a lot of questions on this forum as to why there are not more 308 Win based 257's out there and the consensus seems to be that it would offer basically 257Roberts type performance. It so happens that I have a F Class rifle built around a 308 Win necked down to 257, taper removed from the case and a 35 degree shoulder. I shoot the excellent 115gr Berger VLD's from a 32 inch Krieger and it is truly an excellent round. It consistently shoots 1/4MOA groups at 110yds (100m). I easlly get 3180fps with the 115VLD's and the 110gr Sierras (with which I have admittedly not done any load developments) does an average just shy of 3500fps. At this level there are absolutely no pressure signs. I have 1200 shots through the barrel and it still shoots like new. Even taking the longer barrel into account, the inherent efficiency of the 308Win case seems to come through and this one clearly punches above its weight. I have just last week finished building a hunting rig around the same calibre with a 28inch Border barrel - I will soon be in a position to report on what kind of performance I get from that set-up.

[Alan in GA]

so you have a cylindrical case body? I read an article on zero taper cases somewhere [Rifle magazine?] and it seemed there were 'not' the problems a zero tape case would seem to have. Extraction was fine with his cartridge, too.
Responses like yours makes me think once again about building the 'perfect' 25 caliber round using the great, tough .308 case. My .250 Savage Ackley Improved is as close as I've gotten to the 25-08.

[257Koevoet]

Thanx. Yes, that is correct. I have to date not had any extraction problems - I did notice that after the 8th reload with only neck-sizing inbetween (using wilson hand dies) the bolt started to close a bit more tightly. Measuring the cases showed they were basically just in spec, so I full-lengthed them, immediately restoring hassle-free chambering and extraction. For the record, as I could not obtain Lapua brass at the time, I am using PMC brass, which in theory should be inferior to the Lapua goodies. The only thing that I did notice with the body taper removed, is that feeding from a magazine is a bit more tricky (this is from my hunting rig)- I think I will get it sorted though with a bit of polishing on the underside of the action. In my F-Classer this is no issue, of course, as its a single shot set-up. I don't know if this is the "perfect" 25 solution, but it certaine meets all my requirements. Here in darkest Africa where I live and hunt, its useful having something with enough punch to knock down a big kudu bull (which the 257 has, provided good bullets are used and shot placement is right) and also to hunt Springbuck on the desert plains where shots at 400yds are not uncommon. This round does both admirably - what more can I ask for? By comparison, the various 243 calibres are good for the small plains game, but very marginal for the big African antelope.

[Alan in GA]

when moving from a clip/magazine to chamber. Polishing helped a TON when I built my .458 x 2" American on a Ruger 77 short action. Fed like buttered cases after that. Also polished bolt face and extractor lip.