[IKE]

About the same time as the thread started below on the 256WM I was in the process of accquiring one (from another fella) and thought I'd hold off till I had some first hand knowledge about the round.

I just got a minty very low mileage 14 13/16" Van Horn custom blue Contender barrel with a 1 in 10 twist and it was made for both rimmed and rimless cases.....I've got two extractors.

Last weekend I fire formed 59 cases formed to 256WM from .221 Fireball brass using a load I came up with of a Sierra 100gr HPBT Match over 10.5grs of H110. By not even developing a pet load yet and just sort of throwing something together to fire form brass I was very pleased with the accuracy shooting from a rest at 85yds.

This morning I headed to the range with five pet loads of five rounds each in 1/2gr increments (12.0 to 14.0grs) of H4227 under a 85gr Nosler BT, Remington 7 1/2 BR primers and a OAL of 2.187.

Again shooting scoped and off bags at 85yds, the load it prefered was 14.0grs and the five shot group could be covered with a dime......needless to say I'm very pleased.

As far as fps go I have no real idea and can only estimate, the Hodgdons data in the TC loadbook used a 10" test barrel with a 87gr bullet, under H4227, and my barrel is almost 15" long and I'm using a 85gr Nosler BT.


Their data showed a min of 13.0grs at 1798 and a max charge of 14.0 moving at 2040.

Now I've heard that you can add roughly 50fps for each inch of barrel and based on that I'm probably pushing the Noslers along somewhere around 2575fps or so.......that sound about right ?

I had no trouble with the Nosler 85gr BT's stabilizing, as was mentioned in the below post, nor do I have any signs of excessive pressure.

This is my first centerfire barrel / handgun in what I'd call a small caliber and it was a pleasure to fire a handgun without the recoil associated with some of the larger calibers I have.

I'm sold on both the chambering and Mr. Van Horns work.

Ike

 

[IKE]

Make that approx. 2290 fps fellars.

 

[RonF]

Ah, 2290 sounds a LOT more like it! I was just about to reply, when I saw your correction, that I thought you were a bit optimistic. I hadn't thought to check your math. Back in the days when I had a Super 14 in .256 I could only barely get 2500 from a 75 gr Hornady or Sierra. I could always stabilize 87 gr Sierras, but the 85 Nosler is a bit longer, which is I guess why some report problems with it. Your custom barrel may have a faster twist than the factory versions, too.

RonF

 

[Joe Kool]

256

Cast bullets work good in the 256. In a Contender, 10" barrel, I shoot the Lyman #257420 (67 gr), 8.0 gr. IMR 4756, Rem 7 1/2 primer. Velocity is 1880 fps. Cheap to shoot. Muzzle blast is low. I never put a rifle scope on this barrel to see just how accurate it really is, but with an aimpoint it will shoot an inch group at 50 yds. I've made head shots on ground hogs out to 125 yds. I hollow point the bullets with my lathe, so they are more effective on ground hogs. Killed lots of ground hogs with this load. 8)

 

[RonF]

With a longer barrel and heavier bullet, I think you ought to try RL-7. I don't recall the specific charge, and probably wouldn't pass it along anyhow, but I got my top velocities with a 75 gr bullet in my 14" .256 barrel with about a case full of the stuff. Factory case life wasn't something to write home about, but the cases made from the .221 are much better.

RonF

 

[MnMike]

I see Ed has a 256 barrel. I would like to play with this round, but I was wondering how much of a pain it is to form the brass and load the round.
Thanks.

mike :?:

 

[Joe Kool]

Case Forming

MnMike, cases are real easy to form. I use brass, not nickel plated, 357 mag. cases. Run them into a 30 Mauser die, then into the 256 die. No need to fireform. Use small rifle primers, I like Rem. 7 1/2. 8)