25-06 AI - what do you think

I'm sure I did once, but I didn't shoot it a whole lot.
The only reason I shot the babies was that big fat one you shot would have been to easy
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Originally Posted By: ackleymanLet me throw in this story.

Last year a friend called and wanted me to work up a load for his brand hammer new 25/06, McMillen stock, Rem long Non blue printed Action, 26" Shilen 1-12 twist barrel, #5 contour, 6-24 German scope.

I called the gunsmith and asked him if he had made a mistake in putting a 12 twist on the gun, he just laughed softly, and said, "I want you to load this exact load, 63g R#25, Win Case, Fed 215, 100g Sierra Flat base, and second load-58g of R#25, Sierra 117g Flat base".

I thought to myself, "this guy is smok'en crack".

Off to the range I go.

Loaded the 63g of R25 with the 100g Sierra flat base. After a three shot sight in, I shot the group with the 63g load, and all three bullets touched. Ohler 35P said that it was 3603-3615 fps, and bullets were touching at 100 yds.
There was no pressure with this load at all.

Next, the 58g of R25 with the 117g Sierra flat base chronographed at 3350 fps, three shot group was in the fours, chomping on the heels of a max load.

I could tell that the chamber was minimum spec with a very short leade.

I don't know if you could beat these velocities with an AI or not.



Thanks for the feedback. I would like to get this thread back on track of the topic. If you have any specific feedback for 25-06 vs 25-06AI please post your opinions. I am not interested in any other calibers.
 
Help us to help you, what are you going to be using this rifle for? Opinions are only tolerated in the absence of facts. The fact is you may get more speed with faster powders and varmint bullets, than you may with slower powders and heavy bullets depending on barrel length. Dies are harder to find for the A.I. .

I've owned both the standard 25-06 and the Ackley Improved version. One has a bigger boiler room than the other. Case stretch is minimal on the Ackley as long as your loads are moderate. My brass has lasted me this long and w/o trimming.

I tried to demonstrate its minute of rockchuck accuracy by posting my varmint hunting photos. Was that helpful?
 
Mndog, I can't say anything bad against the AI. I was quoting my expreience in this one rifle. I did meet three other guys that used the exact same load for Texas deer with the exact same load built by the same gunsmith.

Those velocities are exactly what the 257 Weatherby factory ammo does in the Mark five that I had for a short while in the eighties.

I shoot a std Rem with a ten twist. I can not shoot those loads in that particular barrel. I do shoot the 100's at 3475 with a max load of R 19 and a win primer.

I think that the twelve twist along with the shallow rifling of the Shilen allows more speed due to longer burning chamber facilating a very gradual pressure spike with the R 25 powder.

I can tell you one thing, the twelve twist will not stabalize any 100g bullet other than the Sierra flat base, and it amazes me that it will stabalize the 117 Sierra flat base.
 
Sorry. I will be using the gun mostly for longer rang (600m) comps and varmint hunting. I may use it for some deer, but mostly lighter weight 80-100 gr bullets. My plan is to have the factory barrel recut to AI at first. My gun is a model 70 sporter classic that is beatiful and I would like to keep it mostly original to start with. I am going to get the action squared and barrel refit (the basics). I am going to stick it out as long as possible with the wood stock after it is free floated. It will be putting either a Elite 6500 6-30X50 or my NXS 5.5-22X50 on it for glass.

One question is the gun is unfired from 1983 ish time frame. It has a controled round feed and a g serial number. the sporter barrel in ~25" long. Any idea of the factory twist rates on these guns.

I apologize for my last response mybe not worded the best. All post around tha AI are great. sometimes posts turn into blogs and are hard to follow. I was not trying to offend anyone.
 
Ackleyman has alot of experience with the 25-06, he's the one who turned me onto RL-19 and I'm glad he did. I'm using it for for the 95s and 100s, it groups better than IMR-4350 and more speed to boot.

If you already have a decent set of 25-06 Rem. dies already it would be hard to justify the extra cost of a A.I. dies. But when I converted to A.I., all I had were standard RCBS FL dies, so I upgraded to Redding.

If you just want something cool and different, have at it. I magazine feed my A.I. cartridges while hunting and notice it is not as smooth feeding as the standard 25-06. Still though there are no serious feeding problems with the A.I. if your smith does it right. The control feeding on your rifle may help.

25" is on the minimum side for barrel length when your burning that much powder. Even with my 26" I still don't think its burning all the powder it can, because the significant amount of muzzle blast. Since you are setting your barrel back you don't have much of a choice on length but the plus side is shorter barrels are stiffer though.

Chances are the bullets your rifle are shooting well right now, will be the same ones you'll be shooting when you rechamber. That will give you an idea what bullet you want to throat the new chamber for. When I did mine I went with a happy medium between the 75 grain and 100 grain bullets, I had it throated for the 87 grainers. I haven't played around with the "zero freebore" thing yet but ackleyman sure makes it sound interesting.
 
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