DAVE WOLFE Publisher

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ROGER T. WOLFE, Ph.D. Associate Editor

HOMER POWLEY Ballistics Adviser

MAJ. GEORGE C. NONTE J R . General Assignment

WALLACE LABISKY Shotshells

JOHN WOOTTERS Gun Tests

KEN WATERS “Pet Loads”

EDWARD M. YARD General Assignment

DON ZUTZ General Assignment

BOB HAGEL Hunting Adviser

JOHN BUHMILLER African Cartridges

AL MILLER Competition Handgunning

BOB MILEK Handgun Hunting

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RICHARD L. ALDIS Staff Photographer

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Handloader The Journal of Ammunition Reloading

January-February 1974 Vol. 9-No. 1 Box 3030, Prescott, Arizona 86301

FE AT UR E S:

.25-06: A Realistic Look . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .John Wootters 18

.257 Roberts Bob Hagel 22

.357 Astra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Bob Milek 26

. . . Don Zutz 28

Pet Loads: 7x61 S&H . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ken Waters 32

Unloved .32’s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .George Nonte 34

.348 Winchester. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Clayton Harvey 38

400-Grain .45-70 Data Speer Laboratory 43

. . . . . . . . . . . .Don Roberts 44

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Trap Load Uniformity

Loading Gas Autos

DEPARTMENTS: Editorial. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 Tip to Tip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 Lock, Stock Et Barrel . . . . . . . . . . .IO Reader Bylines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .I3

Loading the Old Ones. . . . . . . . . . .I4 Answers, Please . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .I6 Cartridge of the Month.. . . . . . . . .42 ProducTests. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .62

Propellant Profiles. . . . . . . . . . . . . .66

The HANDLOADER, Copyright 1974, is published bi-monthly by the Wolfe Publishing Company, Inc., P.O. Box 3030, Prescott, Arizona 86301. (Also publisher of Rifle Magazine.) Telephone (602) 445-7810. Second Class Postage paid at Prescott, Arizona, and additional mailing offices. Single copy price of current issue $1.25. Subscription price: six issues $6.50; 12 issues $11.50; 18 issues $15.50. Outside U.S. possessions and Canada - $7.50, $13.50 and $18.50. Recommended foreign single COPY price. $1.50. Advertising rates furnished on request

Publisher of The HANDLOADER is not responsible for mishaps of any nature which might occur from use of published loading data, or from recommendations by any member of The Staff. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written permission from the editor. Manuscripts from free-lance writers must be accompanled by stamped self-addressed envelope and the publisher cannot accept responsibility for lost or mutilated manuscripts.

Change of address: Please give six week’s notice. Send both old and new address, plus mailing label if possible. to Circulation Dept., The HANDLOADER Magazine. P.O.Box 3030, Prescott. Arizona 86301

Off icial Publication of Santa Barbara Reloading Associat ion

Your January-February Cover

This precision handloader is checking case neck thickness wi th a tubing micrometer. The case neck was turned to a uniform - to ,0001-inch - thickness wi th the Marquart Precision neck turning tool. Read what John Wootters says about the tool i n the ProducTest section of th is issue. Transparency by Dick Aldis.

4 HANDLOADER Magazine

By Maj. George Nonte

SINGLE SHOT rifles of sort or another abound

today. I can quickly rattle off the names of a t least six new actions that are currently being produced, and if I thought about it a bit more, several others would come to mind. Heading the list, of course, is the Ruger No. 1 (and its variations), but there are reproductions of a half-dozen long-obsolete actions as well as several newer ones following right behind.

While I certainly do have a fondness for single-shots in modern calibers, they seem to be much more pleasing when chambered for the old-time, big-bore numbers of a t least .40 caliber and using finger-length cases. Brass for the really big black powder numbers is scarce these days, but it can be had if one wants to spend a bi t of time and money.

There are other solutions, though, as when John Amber, the noted editor of Gun Digest, called me one day and asked what case we could use to produce a typical British-style cartridge for a Farquharson action he had been hoarding for many years. I dug out some new .45~2%-inch brass cases available a t that time from Numrich Arms, and we found that by just a wee bit of neck reduction the case would take .416 bullets and assemble into a respectable British-style, flanged, medium-bore cartridge such as was popular in the Farquharson rifle’s heyday. John A. now has his completed custom-built Farquharson - utilizing readily available modern cases and bullets, all without deviating from contemporary cartridge patterns. I really don’t know what John will do with that gun, nor how he will load for it. I suspect that he just might shovel the case full of

For Black Powder Revolvers A super accurate bullet that is easy to load straight and true. The base of the bullet slips into the chamber while the next two lands guide and seal with a perfect press fit. Two lube grooves prevent flash ignition and lead fouling. More energy and far greater ac- curacy than round balls.

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8

IMR-3031, stomp a 300-grain bullet on top of the charge, and blaze away into the hundred-yard backstop from the window of his Creedmore Farms shooting house.

All of which is really a bit beside the point - which is that I predict an even greater interest in the old-time cartridges, particularly those suitable for long-range shooting, with the increased availability of good single shot rifles and actions. I’m having one built to handle the .45x3’/4- inch Sharps cartridge and I know of a couple other people around the country who have similar notions. If a fellow wants to go modern with a gun so chambered, there is no shortage of superb telescopic sights, and he can have a monte-carlo, beaver-tail stock and a plain tapered round barrel without reducing his fun.

On the other hand, if he wants to enjoy shooting as great-grandpappy did, then he needs an octagon or half-octagon barrel, a hooded wind-gauge front sight combined with a tall vernier tang sight, and traditional stock styling. When it comes to triggers, I’ll concede that the modern set triggers such as Matt Canjar makes for the Ruger No. 1 should probably be chosen rather than try to duplicate the old designs.

With a gun like that, shooting it boils down to a choice of caliber or cartridge and precisely made components. The old-timers did their best shooting with swaged, soft lead, paper-patch bullets and massive charges of black powder. That is what my gun is being made up for, with Pope-type rifling and a twist of one turn in twenty inches to stabilize long, heavy bullets. It is being chambered for the long .45x3 114 Sharps mainly because I still have a double handful of cases in that caliber left from a batch Kynoch made for me in 1960. No, I don’t have any for sale - only a small lot was made up, and all but these few I’m keeping for my own use were sold long ago. I have heard rumors, though, that one or two people (with money enough to get the job doie) are dickering with certain manufacturers to produce a substantial lot of .45x3 1/4 cases. Should that happen, then .45 cases

HANDLOADER Magazine

of any practical length will present no make up cartridge cases to fit the problem. In the meantime, if you want old-time single shot rifles. He has made such a gun, the longest case available is up everything from the .5Ox3% Sharps the 2 3/4-inch .45 from Numrich Arms. down to the small .25 calibers. including

Ballard (Box 656, Billings, Montana 59103) and he can supply moulds for both flat base and hollow-base bullets, in either fixed or adjustable weight type. Swages to match are also available, and Bill advises that for best results bullets should be hammer-swaged after casting and then weighed very carefully. While he will supply flat base, round-nose moulds and swages, he is thoroughly convinced that hollow-base, flat-nose bullets produce the best accuracy and recommends them instead.

The fine old big-bore single shot target rifles are extremely scarce today - but with good actions now available, there is ti0 reason a fellow who wants one can’t have it. And with a few people like Bill Ballard around who can furnish the accessories, it’s no real problem to put together a superb outfit.

* * * Incidentally, the re-introduction of Du

Pont SR-4759 powder is a most welcome event to the aficionados of big-bore, large-

produces straight-line bullet seaters ol conventional type, as well as breech seaters for placing the patched bullet intc the rifling ahead of a charged case. He can also supply wadcutters for making the hard card wads which he recommends seating snugly over the powder charge.

For those desiring them, Ballard also capacity, black Powder cartridges. The most accurate shooting has been obtained when a small chargeof 4759 was used under the main black powder charge. I doubt that anyone can say exactly why and how this combination improves accuracy, but it is known to do so. The

But, in my opinion, Ballard’s piece de resistance is his reproduction of original wind-gauge front sights and Winchester and Remington long-range tang sights. These are produced virtually by hand, and are nicely finished. He turns them out in small batches to meet the demand as it develops, and doesn’t list a standard price. After each batch is finished, he calculates the price - which is always reasonable - and takes it from there. I expect to use a set of these sights on my new .45x3%.

While Ballard prefers to stick with the other metal work, he will on request also

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proper weight of 4759 is no more than ten percent of the black powder charge by weight, and a tight-fitting card wad needs to be seated over the black, compressing it moderately, to keep the 4759 against the flashhole and to prevent the two powders from mixing.

Whether one is using lubricated or paper-patch bullets with such charges, a grease wad often improves accuracy. Al- most everything has been used from time to time, including tallow and various mixtures thereof. I’ve always preferred a simple mixture of refined beeswax and enough petroleum jelly to soften it to the point that it can be squeezed fairly easily between thumb and finger. The mixture can be melted up in a double boiler, then made into a sheet by any of several methods. Probably the easiest is to float a layer of it in the molten state on the surface of hot water and then let it cool, but it can also be rolled out between sheets of wax paper with a rolling pin, or you may flatten smaller quantities between your hands or a couple of boa+ Makes no difference. To use it, simply press the sheet over the case mouth to cut out a neat-fitting wad which remains flush with the case mouth in the event you are breech-seating bullets, or will be pushed down to the proper point in the case when the bullet is seated. 0

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,-February 1974 51

A REALISTIC LOOK AT THE

HERE ARE SUCH things as

“in” circle of local shooters will get hot on some cartridges, perhaps a wildcat, and the local gunsmiths push it hard to extract a profit from their custom chambering reamers. Suddenly, a rifleman in that town is nowhere without a specimen of the currently hot caliber. Thus it was, 20 years ago, around my home town of Houston, with the .25-06, then a wildcat. I’d be willing to bet that, during the middle ’Fifties through the early ’Sixties, Fred Huntington peddled more sets of RCBS reloading dies for that cartridge in Texas than in any other state, and t h a t most of them went to Houston-area jobbers.

One fellow of my acquaintance who was fond of the Birowning Safari Grade bolt action rifle was badly put out to learn that Browning would not chamber to non- standard cartridges, but he found that they would (at that time) chamber to any SAAMI-standardized round for a mini- mum order of six rifles. So he ordered six Brownings in .257 Roberts and sold the other five in order to get one for himself which could then be rechambered to .25-06! My wife still hunts with one of the other five, still in .257 Roberts.

One day I pinned down one of the leading local adherents of the .25-06 and tried to get him to verbalize the virtues which made the cartridge such a hot item around Houston. He couldn’t do it. He kept mumbling about sOme rare and wondrous perfect matching of bore diameter versus case capacity, although when pressed he admitted that the wildcat was essentially a one-powder, one-bullet cartridge. The one powder in those days was Hodgdon’s 4831 and the bullet was the 117-grainer (or thereabouts). He mentioned trajectories which patently defied all natural law, and raved about killing effectiveness out of all proportion to the obvious ballistics of the cartridge. Finally, after listening for about half an hour, I observed, “In other words, what you’re really trying to tell me about this super cartridge is that it’s magic.”

“Right!,” he yelped, “That’s exactly right. It’s just magic. There’s no explaining it any other way!”

With that kind of holy fervor abroad in

T regional fads in cartridges. An

18

By JOHN WOOTTERS

the land, is it any wonder that Remington elected to standardize the cartridge in 1969 with no changes whatever?

And did the Remington version inherit the mantle of “magic” which so impressed my friend about the .25-06? No, they did not, but they did cash in on a large reservoir of similar sentiments (plus the long-felt need for some sort of -25 caliber cartridge, which was then completely out of the commercial lineup), enough to make the cash register ring merrily. The .25-06 has been and will continue to be a commercial success.

Why? Just because it was new? Hardly, since it had been around in wildcat form for better than 50 years, and its potentials for handloading were pretty well established. Because it will do a11 things for all people? Nope, the .25-06 is, in this writer’s judgement, a rather specialized number.

Is it because the cartridge will do something unique, offering performance not available in another case or caliber? Not at all; the .25-06 is badly outclassed

by the venerable .270 WCF as a big-game caliber, and owns no visible advantage over the 6mm category of cartridges as a varmint round, bullet weight for bullet weight. In the Hornady line of custom bullets, for example, the .25 caliber 87-grain bullet and the 6mm 87-grain bullet have almost identical ballistic coefficients, .313 versus .315, and can be driven to approximately identical muzzle velocities in barrels of similar lengths. It should be added that this is by no means damning with faint praise, since the 6mm group comprises some of the finest long-range varmint cartridges that ever snuffed out a pasture poodle, especially when the wind is blowing. As a varminter, the .25-06’s forte, however, is with the 100-grain slugs with ballistic coefficients in the high .350’s. With these, the .25 round can outclass the 6mm Remington by a couple of hundred feet

These are a few of the many fine .25 caliber bullets available to handloaders for the .25-06: from left, Lyman No. 257463, Lyman No. 257312, 60-grain Hornady, 75-grain Hornady HP,

87-grain Sierra, 100-grain Hornady, 115-grain Nosler spitzer, and 120-grain Hornady HP.

HANDLOADER Magazine

turn it around, is a cartridge which is as good or better as a varminter than the .243-6mm-.240 axis, and almost as good as the great .270 with its classic 130-grain slug as a medium big game cartridge. Come t o think of it, as the TV commercial goes, that’s saying quite a lot.

This is the .25-06’s niche in the scheme of things: it is probably the best available commercial cartridge in existence today for a two-way rifle which is to be used on varmints, predators, deer, antelope, sheep, and game of similar bulk and tenacity to life. This span of utility takes in about 98.3 percent of all the shots a t living game any American hunter will fire in his entire lifetime. The .25-06 is far better than any of the 6mm’s for the larger mammals on that list, and just as

good, at least, on any of the smaller ones. It’s a bit noisy for varminting in certain areas, but so are its 6mm competitors. It kicks a bit more than the sixes, but not enough to disturb any but the most extremely recoil-sensitive shooter.

Accuracy is, of course, more than anything else a matter of good bullets going through good barrels; there is little magic in case-shape. But the .25-06 has always had a reputation for accuracy. Twenty years ago most experimenters believed that the cartridge could never be made to d o its best with bullets of less than 100 grains, and some thought even that was too light. But when Remington

introduced the first commercial ammu- nition in the freshly standardized .25-06 Remington, the bullet weight was 87 grains, and I have never seen more accurate factory ammo in any big-game caliber. I believe Remington must have taken special pains to make certain that that early 87-grain .25-06 stuff would give premium accuracy in the Remington Model 700 rifle.

In any case, I was forced to reluctantly change my mind about the .25-06 being solely a one-bullet cartridge, with tha t bullet being the 117 or 120-grainer. Since the appearance of the standard cartridge and the subsequent

January-February 1974 19

Magnum. And a little thought will make it clear that the .25-06 will readily equal the 6.5mm Remington Magnum with all bullet weights selected for factory loading.

Two complaints have been leveled a t the .25-06 for years, one being that it is temperamental, and the other that it’s hard on barrels. To a degree, both are justified, since the .25-06 is somewhat over bore-capacity with most, if not all, powders now available to the handloader. This condition always makes a cartridge a trifle touchy as maximum charge weights are approached, and does accelerate barrel erosion. However, the .25-06, in my experience, is not notably more temperamental or more erosive than many other modern cartridges, and the introduction of propellant powders of much lower relative quickness than those available back in the pre-World War I1 period has largely eliminated both beefs. When IMR-3031 was the slowest powder a handloader could buy, I’ll bet “temperamental” was an understatement concerning this and a few other large- capacity rounds. Today, Norma 205 almost (but not quite) takes the .25-06 out of the overbore category. The .25-06 is flanked by its competitors: from left, 6mm Reminglon, 6.5mm Remington

Magnum, .25-06 Rernington, .257 Weatherby

resurgence of interest in the .25 caliber on the part of components manufacturers, I’ve seen many spectacularly small groups with even lighter bullets. The 75-grain Sierra or Hornady HP’s, whistling along at 3,600 fps or faster, are sometimes and in some rifles astonishingly accurate and absolutely devastating on small varmints.

On the other hand, the .25-06 Remington is one of the better one-bullet cartridges around, meaning that a shooter can standardize on only one weight and style of bullet for everything from jackrabbits to mule deer. Other than obvious economies and smaller compo- nents inventories, this procedure has undeniable advantages, in tha t the rifleman has only one trajectory to memorize. The best bullet for such standardization is, I suspect, the 100-grain one. Remington has now offered this bullet weight in factory- loaded ammo. At really long range, from 300 yards on out to 500 or more, the 100-grain slug actually shoots flatter than either the 87 or the 120-grain bullets, and has almost overtaken the heavier bullet in the energy department. The 100-grain bullet is, however, somewhat more subject to wind deflection than the 120-grain.

The principal American quarter-inchers: from left, .25-06 Remington, ,256 Winchester

Magnum, ,2520 WCF, .25-20 Single Shot, .250-3000 Savage, .25-35 WCF,

.25 Remington, .257 Roberts, and .257 Weatherby Magnum.

Magnum, .256 Newton, and ,270 WCF.

For the reloader, the .25-06 is very, very nice. It’s easily formed from .30-06 brass (military cases do require a reduction in charge weights), and, for a miracle among modern designs, has more than enough neck. It is blessed with the absence of a belt, although the .25-06 might have been branded a “magnum” with at least as much justification as many other modern magnums can claim, delivering only six percent less velocity with the heavy bullets than the thundering .257 Weatherby

There is one aspect of the commercial version of the .25-06 that the handloader must pay some attention to - the matter of bearing length on the various custom bullets available in this caliber, especially those weighing from 115 to 120 grains. Most - if not all - the custom reloading bullets have substantially more bearing length than the Remington 120-grain pointed soft-point Core-Lokt slug around which the cartridge was presumably designed by Remington-Peters. This is true even of the Hornady 117-grain round nose and both Noslers (115-grain spitzer and 11 7-grain semi-spitzer) with their

20 HANDLOADER Magazine

relief belts. This simply means that breech pressures must be watched carefully as maximum charges a re approached.

It also means that some of the custom bullets have too much bearing surface to achieve full velocities at normal pressures. This is a point Mike Walker of Remington first called to my attention several years ago when I criticized the M-700 .25-06 rifles for having a too- short chamber lede, and he’s absolutely right. Some careful work with a micrometer on case heads and a chronograph proved beyond question that there is an exceptionally wide range of “maximum” velocity levels with the heavy .25-06 bullets, almost perfectly correlated with bearing surface. This is one cartridge with which the use of the case-head-expansion method of establish- ing maximum charge levels is mandatory when switching components.

However, although Walker was right about that, I still feel that the Remington Model 700 rifles chambered for the .25-06 have chamber throats which are too short. His comment is simply that Remington, quite understandably, chambers rifles to accept Remington-Peters ammunition, and not for the convenience of the nation’s handloaders. No argument with

January-February 1974

Bearing length on the heavier bullets must be watched carefully in reloading the .25-06 because most have a much longer bearing surface than Remington factory bullets, resulting in higher pressures. Bearing length is easy to measure on this 115-grain Nosler, since it’s the full-diameter bullet shank between relief belt and heel radius.

that logic, but it’s still a fact that a Model 700 serves its reloading master better when the chamber lede is lengthened slightly. I have not measured the throating on Colt-Sauer, Browning, Ruger, or other makes of .25-06 rifles.

The .25-06 Remington is made for slow-burning powders. Except for the lightest bullet weights, IMR-4350 is about the quickest propellant which will offer top velocities, and IMR or Hodgdon’s 4831 and Norma 205 are usually better or at least as good with any loading. In the old days (post-World War 11) we thought of the .25-06 as a one-powder cartridge, and that powder was 4831. Not much has changed in that department since the round went legit. Norma’s 205 is probably the single all-around best bet, but it depends to some extent upon which lot of N-205 you’re using. I note some apparent discrepancies in the relationships between 4831 and N-205 in the newest, hard-cover Hornady Handbook which can only be ascribed to the well-known burning-rate variations between N-205 lots. Here again, the case-expansion routine is recommended for reloaders.

(Editor’s Note - As an example why: we recently received a letter from reader Craig Jeffs who reported tha t after experiencing excessive pressure with a new lot of N-205 he had his .25-06 load - 61.O/N-205/100-grain Nosler - pressure- tested by a ballistics lab. The test gun

At left is a factory-loaded .25-06 with an 87-grain bullet. 3.010 inches, as compared to handload at right with a 120-grain Hornady seated to overall length of 3.345 inches. The Model 700 must be rethroated for such loads.

Overall cartridge length is

showed an average velocity of 3,707 fps, a pressure low of 62,000 C.U.P. and a high

A couple of years ago I took a Floridian friend of mine deer hunting in South Texas, and loaned him a Remington Model 700 .25-06 loaded with factory ammo. When his chance came a t a really nice 10-point buck with plenty of spread, the deer was running up a long slope, already a couple of hundred yards out and shoving the gravelly terrain behind him a t an impressive rate. My friend opened fire with the M-700 and failed to touch the buck with the first two rounds. As the deer topped the ridge, a long way away, he pulled the male deer stunt of turning to look back a t us, and Cliff tried one more time with the .25-06. Watching the big buck through binocu- lars, I saw him collapse instantly a t the shot, remaining with his head up and his mouth open for a few seconds. Then, just as I was about to tell my companion he’d better whack the mossyhorn again, the great crowned head slowly sank.

It was an almost straight-line hike to the deer, without gullies or canyons and not enough undergrowth to impede taking yard-long strides. I paced the shot both directions, and it came out 414 yards the first time (uphill) and 424 yards on the way back to the firing point. The bullet had struck just ahead of the buck‘s hips, too low for spinal damage, too far back for the liver. There was not much internal bleeding when we dressed out the trophy. To the last day I go hunting, I will never know exactly why that buck went down as though struck by lightning and died within 20 seconds.

Maybe my old-time buddy was right about the .25-06. Maybe it’s magic! 0

21

of 71,000 c . u . ~ ! - N.K.)