Anyone make 25 Cal on a 308 case?

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Captcurt

Captcurt

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I have always been a fan of the 243 Win. and 260 Rem. Have any of you built a rifle for 25 caliber based on the 308 case? It seems to be one of the few missing from the 308 family and should be interesting.
 
There are several .257” wildcats on the .308 case. Any would be an expensive build. But, there is only 0.007” difference in diameter between a .25-308 and the .260. What one will do so will the other. Except that you can find heavier bullets for the .260. I’ve been a big .25-caliber fan for decades, but I bought the .260 because....there was no practical difference for me and it was easy to obtain.


.
 
Simple neck down of .308 to .25 is the .25 Souper. Not Super.
Said to be a grain less powder volume than .257 Roberts but nobody is afraid to load .308 derivatives up and brass supply is unlimited.
 
I recall reading an article a few years back... Wayne Van Zwoll's personal wildcat is a .25 Souper, or that's the first I ever recall hearing about it. Yeah, it sounds interesting, but if you already know/like/have .243, .260, .25-06, .257Roberts, then a custom built .25 Souper looks more like a hobbyist's project than a hunter's necessity.

I don't see why Winchester didn't bring the .25-308 to market at the same time as .243. They had it in the works.
 
Dunno, I'll hazard a guess that because they had so much overlap they would've competed against each other (and the .257 Roberts) to the point of damaging sales?

The .243 Win was a marketing stroke of genius...and pushed the earlier .244-6mm Rem (based on the .257 Roberts) to the edge of obscurity fast since it was given a 1-10" twist rate that allowed the 100 gr bullet to be used on deer-antelope, while the .244-6mm was initially thought of by the public as more of a heavy varmint rig with a slower twist geared for lighter bullets of 75-90 grains (A 1-12" twist if I recall correctly?).

Another idea is since the older .25's (.257 Roberts, .250-3000) were slowly fading at the time the .243 was offered (the new-fangled Weatherby magnums had been around, leading to the .264/.338/.458 Winchester Mags coming out a few years after the .243), I also think they saw the future in the .25 bore as more of a niche rather than one for something new to put out.

There are still very few .25 caliber choices out there, and only three are regularly cataloged in new rifles...but not by everyone (.25-06, .257 Roberts and .257 Weatherby Mag).

But since I wasn't there in the boardroom when these decisions were being made I'm just a-guessing... :)

Stay safe!
 
Well, 25 cal on a necked-down 7x57 case in a short action OAL (2.8”) is called a 257 Roberts. Other than plentiful cases if you want to reform your own instead of buying factory, I can’t see the advantage of starting with the 308 as a parent case instead of the 7X57.
 
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rbernie said:
Well, 25 cal on a necked-down 7x57 case in a short action OAL (2.8”) is called a 257 Roberts. Other than plentiful cases if you want to reform your own instead of buying factory, I can’t see the advantage of starting with the 308 as a parent case instead of the 7X57.
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I thought the 7x57 and .257 Roberts were intermediate length.

I like Someguy's 250 AI however. Kinda reminds me of a big 6.5 CM :D
 
Newtosavage said:
Gotcha. That would fit the short actions. I was thinking the .257 Bob was a necked-down 7x57, which has an OAL of 3.00" Learn something every day!
Click to expand...

It is just a necked down 7x57. Case length is the same. The long oal spec for the 7x57 is due to the long bullets it was originally loaded with in military applications. Original loading was like a 170 grain pencil of a bullet.
 
I had a Ruger 77 in 7x57 for a while. I really liked that caliber. When the Ruger continued to have accuracy issues (no matter what I tried) I started imagining that 7x57 in a Savage rifle. I figured I "might" be able to squeeze it into the 3.00" magazine box that comes with SA Savage actions, but never could find a 7x57 Savage barrel. So I eventually just gave in and got a 7mm-08.
 
As has been mentioned, 25 Souper.

I bought a 25-06 Rem 700 on a lark many moons ago, back when a guy could draw KS antelope rifle tags at will. Made for a great speedgoat and coyote rifle. I traded into a Ruger 257 bob almost as many moons ago, which was closer to what I really thought a quarter bore should be. Had I stuck with either long enough, I probably would have favored 25’s over 6mm’s for whitetail deer hunting.

Quarter bores are getting a bit of attention these days in precision games, as a few new bullets are bringing some interesting new flavors to the table. A friend of mine is shooting a 25x47 Lapua this winter, less recoil but higher velocity than the 6.5, better barrel life and more target response than a 6, pushing some very slippery 130’s in a fast twist. Early results are looking very promising.
 
25-20 WCF said:
There are several .257” wildcats on the .308 case. Any would be an expensive build. But, there is only 0.007” difference in diameter between a .25-308 and the .260. What one will do so will the other. Except that you can find heavier bullets for the .260. I’ve been a big .25-caliber fan for decades, but I bought the .260 because....there was no practical difference for me and it was easy to obtain.


.
Click to expand...
Aren't you feeling the pinch on reloading components with 260?
 
someguy2800 said:
300 savage is the parent of both the 308 and 250 savage.

The 300 Savage is not the parent cartridge of either the 250 Savage or the 308. The 250 was introduced in 1915 and the 300 was introduced in 1920. The 7.62 Nato (308) was developed to shorten the 30/06 and provide similar performance. Some argue that the 300 Savage was the intellectual forerunner of the 308. Since the 308 development was driven by NATO specs ,and not US only specs, this seems unlikely to have ever been a serious consideration. The military powers of NATO outside of the US would have had little or no knowledge of a cartridge chambered for a moderately popular lever action rifle. However , no one really knows for sure. No one seems to know why Winchester brought out the 270. There was a Chinese military cartridge of that diameter, but, it was pretty well unknown. So it could be coincidence or blind luck the 270 came out.

Anyway, enough of my babbling with the keyboard. Back to the original question. There have been Wildcats built on the the 308 case since it came out and some have been 25 caliber. I always thought one would be great fun. Have always been too cheap to get one built. The 257 Rob does whatever a 308 based wildcat would do. However if you want to put it in a short action, that will not work. Since any wildcat is a handloading operation you might as well build what you want.
Click to expand...
 
I recently completed a number of quarter-bore builds. For the short action rifles, I chose the 'Bob over the Savage in large part based on my ability to get 257 Roberts brass and dies from a number of different sources much more easily than the 250/3000.

If Berger started making a 130+gr .257 VLD, the slightly shorter case length of the 250/3000 would definitely make more sense than the 'Bob.
 
Unless you prefer headstamps that match the chambering - especially if you also shoot 22-250 . :)
 
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