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Post by Lee Martin on Jul 5, 2018 19:43:25 GMT -5
Digging through my gun box, I found a briefcase full of Contender barrels. Back in the 1990’s, my dad cranked out a lot of them. He would mill 10 blocks at a time, buy extractors and two-piece bolts from Thompson Center, and later we’d weld and chamber them. One of my favorites is this .256 Winchester Magnum he built me in 1996. Haven't shot it in 20 years, but that’ll change soon. I believe we used Douglas blank cut to 10.5”. I had it hard-chromed by Mahovskys and the scope is a 3X Burris.  I’ve loaded original Winchester brass, Jamison, and our own formed from .357 Magnum. The latter is done in two steps; first to .30, then to .25. Case life is excellent and I attribute it to tight sizing. We made the reamer to match our dies. A Wilson headspace gauge also measures shoulder bump, which is held to 0.002”.   A favorite load is 13.5 grs of IMR 4227 with Speer’s 87 grain TNT.  These fit nicely in MTM’s BR/PPC ammo box:  We went on to build BSA Martini Cadet in .256. I'll post photos of it soon. -Lee www.singleactions.com"Chasing perfection five shots at a time" |
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ericp
.327 Meteor
Posts: 522
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Post by ericp on Jul 5, 2018 21:03:22 GMT -5
Looking forward to pictures of the Cadet, a 32-20 Cadet that my grandfather worked over was my first centerfire. What kind of numbers does the 256 put out in rifle?
Eric
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Post by onegoodshot on Jul 5, 2018 21:03:52 GMT -5
I played with one of those a few years ago. I had several .25 cal wildcats at the time. Sixshot got my last (25tcu) a couple months back. I liked the 257 juju the best, but the best shooting contender barrel I have is a 6.5jdj and I didn’t need both. Was in your neck of the woods last weekend. I ran 5 miles Sunday morning through and around Williamsburg. It was crazy hot, but I’d slow down enough to snap a pic. I was running and dripping wet, but those guys dressed in the colonial outfits were probably sweating as much as I was.
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Post by sixshot on Jul 5, 2018 21:18:39 GMT -5
The 256 Win. is a great little cartridge, had one for a while & it shot great. I'm sure Encore64 will jump in here, he likes the 25 calibers as well. Joe, you actually RAN 5 miles, yikes, don't they have taxi's & a Burger King handy?
Dick
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Post by bigbrowndog on Jul 5, 2018 21:30:38 GMT -5
I wonder what a 256 Win. Max. Would do???
Trapr
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Post by sheriff on Jul 6, 2018 8:51:31 GMT -5
Really enjoy the .256 WinMag. I've got an old 'octagon' T/C and a custom MGM. I use Jamison and reformed .357 brass. I like the 70gr Hornady.
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Post by contender on Jul 6, 2018 9:23:24 GMT -5
I have a factory Contender bbl in 256, and a pair of Ruger Hawkeyes. I do enjoy the .256 Win. It is a varmint killer. I got lucky years ago & got a set of C/H forming dies,, and make my own brass when needed. Plus,,, I've managed to squirrel away several factory boxes of ammo to enjoy if needed.
Your T/C looks great!!!!!!
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Post by bradshaw on Jul 6, 2018 10:32:52 GMT -5
Beautiful pistol, Lee.... reckon you should paint some detail photos of the block and breech end of the barrel(s) your father made. This is important dope for Contender practitioners. Warren Center told me that some folks got the welding wrong, with a barrel flying off on recoil, or the chamber shrunk and distorted by the weld.
And, without doubt, your making reamers to match dies contributes mightily to brass life. Not to mention that last tightening of accuracy.
David Bradshaw
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cmh
.401 Bobcat
Posts: 3,745
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Post by cmh on Jul 6, 2018 11:45:55 GMT -5
Love the 256wm ...... just didnt care for the rifle I had it in. Lee, did you ever do the modern day hawkeye 256wm that you talked about building a few years back?
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Post by squawberryman on Jul 7, 2018 1:19:30 GMT -5
Lee when you take a tube .357 inside diameter and squeeze it down 10 do you have to turn the necks or is that taken into account by other items?
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Post by 2 Dogs on Jul 7, 2018 2:12:47 GMT -5
All I know is I hate you guys.
Maybe not so much though because I’m pretty sure I have a Super 14 25-35 barrel in my goodie box. It might be able to keep up...
What I wouldn’t give to dig around in that box of barrels Mr. Martin built!!
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Post by Encore64 on Jul 7, 2018 4:56:33 GMT -5
Have a Marlin 62 in 256 Win Mag. Great little cartridge. Also, a few TC barrels of different variations.
Have gotten performance completely out of character with Lil Gun powder. Something in the line of 2700 fps with 75 grain VMaxs.
Never met a 25 I didnt like.
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Post by AxeHandle on Jul 7, 2018 6:51:30 GMT -5
Yup... We have a 10 inch bull 256 barrel here too! Never shot mine. No factory brass and only one of the two case forming dies in hand. Tried to do it with the one die and crunched a few cases. Need to order the second form die and get busy shooting it. Maybe next year!  |
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Post by 17tombstone on Jul 7, 2018 9:43:17 GMT -5
I have a .256 Winnie in a Rossi lever gun which is a a lot of fun to shoot. Always wanted one in a Martini.
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Post by ezekiel38 on Jul 7, 2018 13:43:50 GMT -5
Nice Contender Lee, it is pleasing to my eyes in form, and the 256 Win is a great cartridge in the Contender format. In other words a "fun gun"!
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