4895
Member
I picked up a H&R 1871 single shot in .25-06 Rem for a backup whitetail rifle. I couldn't find brass but have a couple hundred .30-06 that I had lying around and haven't had any luck with this combo. I cleaned the brass quite well and used a RCBS FL .25-06 die along with Imperial Sizing Wax inside the neck, outside the neck, and on the case body. Resizing went along fine with no problems. I bought some Hornady 75 grain HP and 117 BTSP bullets to fire-form with 75 grain and load/test 117 grain. Anyway, with the 26 inch barrel I started blasting away while recording on a chronograph. Using 75 grain HP's and H414 my velocity figures averaged 220 fps more than book suggested. I then shot a dozen 117 grain BTSP using Re-22 with, again, velocity above the book expectations with three cases developing separation cracks. I did work the load in ladder style.
The other day I reloaded the cases that were now fire-formed and noticed quite a bit of force needed to pull the expander ball back through the neck after sizing. I loaded about 20 rounds with 75 grain HP and H4350 and about 12 rounds with 117 grain BTSP with IMR7828. I reached about half of the ladder test and had a split neck, another separation starting, and horrible accuracy. I mean they shot about a 4 inch group at 50 yards, some didn't hit the paper (Where did they go?).
I finally broke down and bought 2 boxes of Remington 100 grain factory ammo to see if the bullet weight is better for the twist, and to have some brass later on. I haven't been able to sight the rifle in reliably at 25 yards much less 300 yards.
I am thinking the neck thickness may be a problem, but I don't know. Perhaps I have a headspace issue. Am I resizing too much? FL die is set to touch the shell holder plus 1/8 turn. I would like to get the .25 cal pilot for my neck turning setup but don't know if that is the problem. Anyone have any advice or suggestions. The brass I have been using is R-P, Win, and 6 Fed. I am going to give up on this .30-06 to .25-06 conversion if my results don't improve. I am not looking for lightening speed or absolute accuracy. For this rifle my goal is to lauch a 117 or 120 grain bullet at or above 3000 fps and stay within MOA.
Thanks.
The other day I reloaded the cases that were now fire-formed and noticed quite a bit of force needed to pull the expander ball back through the neck after sizing. I loaded about 20 rounds with 75 grain HP and H4350 and about 12 rounds with 117 grain BTSP with IMR7828. I reached about half of the ladder test and had a split neck, another separation starting, and horrible accuracy. I mean they shot about a 4 inch group at 50 yards, some didn't hit the paper (Where did they go?).
I finally broke down and bought 2 boxes of Remington 100 grain factory ammo to see if the bullet weight is better for the twist, and to have some brass later on. I haven't been able to sight the rifle in reliably at 25 yards much less 300 yards.
I am thinking the neck thickness may be a problem, but I don't know. Perhaps I have a headspace issue. Am I resizing too much? FL die is set to touch the shell holder plus 1/8 turn. I would like to get the .25 cal pilot for my neck turning setup but don't know if that is the problem. Anyone have any advice or suggestions. The brass I have been using is R-P, Win, and 6 Fed. I am going to give up on this .30-06 to .25-06 conversion if my results don't improve. I am not looking for lightening speed or absolute accuracy. For this rifle my goal is to lauch a 117 or 120 grain bullet at or above 3000 fps and stay within MOA.
Thanks.