I have 2 rifles chamberd for the .243 win. Thinking of ding a 25 Souper on one , or a 257 X2 84 on the other.
One is a CZ 550 American, and it shoots fine as a .243 , but it has a detachable magazine that tells me it would not make a good .257 X 284. Its a little big and bulky for a .243 , if I went to the super I would go 22 inch light sporter barrel and have the stock thind out and reshaped. I thnik that would be a fine hunting rifle,
the other rifle in the equation is a sako browning. It would make a good 257 X 284. And I would probably go 23 inch and try to have the barrel contouerd like the factory sako. (gracfull double step tapper). The sako has not shot real well as a .243, but I have not shot it much. I did find a decent load with a 100 grain hornady over RL 22. But for me a .243 has to be very accurate or I don't want it.
Love to hear your opinions. Kind of funny how i go to thinking about this,
I acidentilly ran 20 .243 brass into a Robers size die and it was so easy I though, hey a 25 souper would be real easy to make brass for...tj3006

25-284 by a wide margin. Think of it as a short 25-06 (powder capacity)...like 3/8" shorter.

Rich

how about a 25-350 on the one without the detachable mag. I think your stuck with the 25 souper on the other unless you can change mags

Thomas this was my response to your "dumb" post.

I didn't think it was dumb by the way...

Thomas, I currently shoot a 6mm/284 and a .257 AI on the L579 actions. In both cases I would rechamber to either the .25 Souper or the .260 Rem. Not quite as sexy, but definately smoother feeding and a little less brass work. Should you choose the 284 based cartridge a little trick is to remove the magazine box to allow the wider cartridge case to stack better! Yes, it works.

Thomas:

Duane Spooner (Duane's Gun Repair) has designed a very intelligent quarter-bore on the .308 case (or .260 Rem.) called the .257 DGR. The case dimensions allow you to seat a 100 grain bullet to the base of the neck and still fit a loaded round into a 2.80" magazine. The case holds a few grains powder more than a .250-3000 Ackley Improved and with one pass through a FL sizing die the case is 95% formed, which is a huge advantage over the .250-3000 AI.

This cartridge makes alot of sense to me for a short barreled quarter-bore walking rifle. In fact I have one on a Kimber 84M, but have never fired it. I hope to come close to 3000 fps with a 115 grain bullet from a 21" barrel. It should be a nice high country mule deer rifle.


Jordan

Jordan,
I will lookinto it. I will go probably with a 22 inch tube. I have a Roberts with a 20, and another with a 24 and a 25,06 with a 26 inch tube.
If I can get close to 3000, with a 115 or 120 grain bullet i would be real happy.
what do you have to do other than neck size ? just fireform ? and what will I have to pay for a set of dies...tj3006

Thomas:

You just FL resize .260 Rem brass and fire. You can also FL resize 7-08 or .308 brass and fire, but you may have to use an intermediate step or two (perhaps .260 Rem on 7-08 before using the .257 DGR FL die). But the bottom line is, once the .257 DGR is FL resized, case forming is virtually complete. Fireforming blows it out some, but you don't have to blow it out like the .250-3000 Ackley to obtain the benefit of the cartridge.

Duane Spooner is the developer of this cartridge. Look him up on the web. He is in South Dakota and a real nice fellow. The reamer is proprietary, but Duane sells dies for the cartridge. He allowed me to purchase a reamer, but in a moment of weakness, I sold it back to him. Never should have done that!

Sounds like you already have quite a bit of experience with the quarter-bores. I confess, I have never shot my .257 DGR, but what I like about the design is the neck length accomodating most 100 grain bullets seated to the base of the neck, and still remaining just under 2.80" OAL, and stuffing about as much powder as you can get into the case at the same time and still have a cartridge that feeds in a bolt action repeater.

I also like the idea of a cartridge with just a few grains more powder capacity than the venerable .250-3000 Ackley Improved, but without the case forming hassles of that classic wildcat. I think the main selling point of the .257 DGR is in comparison to the .250-3000 AI in that the .257 DGR, like the .250-3000 AI is a modestly sized quarter-bore, but with a little more juice than the Savage improved and without the fire forming hassles. So, in a really short barreled rifle, it would make alot of sense, but it will never run with the big dogs like the .25-06, .25/.284, etc.

I have heard it said (but have not yet tested the theory) that .308 Lake City National Match brass is very tough and thus can be loaded hotter than most. I purchased a bunch and some day would like to test my theory by seeing what kind of velocity I can get from the .257 DGR using LCNM .308 parent brass.

Jordan

I currently have a 25 Souper and 3 25-284s. I think that the Sako would make a nice 25-284. I think that the 25 Souper is the best short action solution with shorter barrels, 21" or less. I think that the 25-284 is better/faster, but not that much beter/faster to show a meaningful difference in the field.

If I could only have 1 0.257" bore rifle, it would be a 25-284 built to mirror the Remington 700 LSS MR, except it would have a slightly heavier and slightly longer barrel. If you are a hand loader, it would be hard to argue agains the 25-284 as being darned close to a perfect varmint thru medium game cartridge.

Jeff

If I read this right, you already have two .243's, a Bob and a 25/06...is this right?
If so, "why" you would want a 25 Souper or a 25/284 is simply beyond me..
I would go for a good .260, 270/08 or the stellar 7mm/08 and have something new and more effective on medium game - peeking into an elk qualified cartridge.
Also, a good rebore can save you a ton of money and bedding issues.
A nice L579 in 26/27/28-08 would be a wonderful light walking sporter capable of 99% of anything in the lower 48....IMHO, 4 what that's worth.

I only have one 25-284, but it is a favorite of mine.

I have had nothing but success with the Barnes Triple X bullets, and RL-22.

No pressure issues at all, and extreme accuracy (0.5 inch for the first 2 shots at 200 yards, with the third shot going to 0.75 inch).

I am shooting with a featherweight contour barrel too.

For such a slim bullet, it sure does a number on deer.

Garrett

actualy black tail 53 I have 2 .243s 2 .257 roberts and a 25,06. Can't think of anything wrong with anoy of the calibers you mention, and a rebore is not a bad Idea, nor a rechamber to 6mm X 284. I have lots of rifles and ruth be known i don't need anymore preiod.
I am just playing with ideas. i really like Quarter bores, and and while I rspect your opinon , i don't agree that a 260 or a 270 08 or a 7mm08 is a better deer killer.
I have killed deer with .257 Roberts.308 280 300win and some more I can't think of, and seen them killed with lots more rounds.
Inside 300 yards the .257 Roberts will kill as fast as any thing.
the 7mm08 is a great round, but I have a 7X57
and a .308. The only advantage i see to the 7mm08 over the .308 is it kicks a little less.
Some will say it shoots a littlle flatter but not enough to matter as far as aI am concerned.
I also have a VZ 24 sitting here, mabye i should just do a Roberts AI on that one and sit on my .243s awhile.
Going hunting one friday, might lern to like the .243 browning just fine...tj3006

TJ,
Not knocking your choices, just throwing ideas your way...sound's like you have all the bases pretty well covered and then some !!
Your right about what's best to kill a with deer too, it's the one you have confidence in !! While I've killed several deer with my .243's, they've never impressed me. Now my old .270 that I bought back in 1969..that impresses me.
I thought I might rebore my Sako .243 to the Souper a few years back, but there isn't enough metal removed to clean up the bore...then I decide that it was a sensible bridge between my varmit rifle (.204) and the .270. I have bigger guns for bigger stuff...more bridges, I guess.
Have fun with your project. We should all be saddle with such problems !! BT