Okay, a smokeless ML project that went south left me with a #1 action. What to do, what to do....

I have two .204's, a .22-250, a .223, three .30-06s, a .35 Rem, and a .338 win mag. All of these rifles get used and all of them have their place.

That being said, I'm feeling like this action could carve out my "medium bore" niche. Seems to me that the .25-06 is the darling that I'm missing. I'm a handloader, so necking down -06 brass is a piece of cake and cheap. The bullet selection and BC seems to have the .243 beat hands down.

The .257 Wby is intriguing, but components get expensive. Maybe it is worth it???

.257 Roberts, 7mm-08, .25-06, 6.5X55 Swede, .257 Wby mag... What would you build your "ultimate" med bore #1 in?

Intended use would be, heck, this rifle flat out shoots, so I'm going to shoot coyotes at 300 yards on a windy day, woodchucks at a sick distance just bc I can, WTs at 300yards, and speed goats out to 400. It wouldn't be my primary rifle, just something to "tinker" with.

Sky's the limit here folks. The action is bought and payed for and I'm looking to spend GW's economy booster on the bbl. I've saved up enough to have the barreled action stocked.

So, what would you do???

What in himmel is a "speed goat?"

Prong Horn

I would give thought to a 270 .

Not a bad choice. Just a little too vanilla for this project.

.257 Roberts AI

Why? Why not!

Hank

I would go with a 260 Remington.

Alternate choice maybe a 7 mag.

I guess my first choice would be something like a .280 Remington. But, as I prefer rimmed cases, that would be a 7x65-R.
Come to think of it, have already done that, and love it.

If I ever get round to doing another one, it will be something like a .260, but again not quite...something in 6.5 with a rimmed case. Probably a 6.5 Krag Improved or a 6.5/.303 Brit Improved.

I mean, WTH(eck), you have plenty of "conventional" cartridges already, dontcha?

.264 Mag

I have a No. 1 in 25-06. It really likes sierra 75 grain hollow points.

I would not build anything I could buy ready made.
I might build a 25-35 or 6.5X53R Mannlicher though.

You handload,you don't mind forming brass,you want something different but accurate for varmint and small game, you have all the money you'll ever need so buld a 219 Donaldson Wasp. Use it on antelope with a nice Nosler Partition. Accuracy is equal to any and it's a rimmed case well suited for single shots. 30-30 brass is inexpensive. Had one on a TCR Aristocrat and wish I still did.

Good stuff guys.

Points well taken. Why build something I can buy? That's true, especially when I am sure I could buy it for less.

A 219 Donaldson Wasp... Now you've given me something to do some homework on. Sounds intriguing.

Okay, grantid, my knowledge of the .219 DW is VERY limited. I know only what I have read for the past hour or so...

That said, I think I want something a little "beefier." Seems the triple deuce kinda put the DW out of business. While both are great rounds, I'm not sure either is what I'm looking for.

The search continues.

I love my 6.5-06 imp very accurate and flat shooting.I also love the bullet choices for 6.5 cals

I have a Ruger No.1 action that I want to make into a varmint rifle.
My thoughts on what caliber to choose.... If you decide on a caliber that was available from the factory you will be money ahead selling your parts or trading them on a No.1 already chambered in that caliber. I am also wanting a caliber that I can either buy brass for or a caliber that brass ir relatively easy to make brass for... I don't want to spend a ton of time making brass. Another consideration is resale value. I doubt I will ever get my money out of a project rifle.

6.5x284 Norma.

I have a #1V in 25-06. The only things I can think of to make it better than how it comes from the factory is a flutted bull barrel and a Kiplinger trigger.

The 25-06 is a good choice. Are you limited by cartridge selection by the extractor?

why did the smokeless ml go south? clint

Ahhh yes, the 6.5s. Great idea. Lots of bullet and brass availability. Good medium bore round. That could be fun. I'll will have to look into the 6.5-06 and the 6.5X284. That gets me something that I couldn't buy a #1 off the shelf in.

Clint, with the advent of Buckhorn 209, I don't see the pressing need any longer for smokeless. I was looking at smokeless primarily for the benefit of less recoil and EASY cleaning compared to black powder subs. With 150gr of BH209, I should be able to push the Barnes 195gr bullet with a MMP HP sabot out of my 45cal Elite at just shy of 2500 fps. That will give me a 200yard rifle easy. Three inches high at 100 and 4 inches low at 200.

For "Yotes to Goats" how about a 257 Wby Mag with a 28 inch tube? Or if you thought you might want to chase something bigger than deer with it someday you could try a 264 Win Mag instead.

A .25/'06 before a .257 Weatherby!! But a .257 Roberts would be nice, although the No. 1 will accept much larger and longer cartridges........

Yah, the .257 Roberts is definately on my short list.

Why so absolute on the .25-06 over the .257 Wby?

I have a 6.5-284Win and a 257 Weatherby, love both, but would probably choose th 6.5 if I could only have one. But have to throw in the 280 AI as a choice how that Nosler mades pre-formed brass. Take a look at it, it may be another option for what you want to do.

Can't help but reply to a fellow Nimrod. A 25-06 would be a great choice. I have one that is my "go-to" long range deer / coyote rifle. You could go with a 26" (or longer?) bbl. and get the most out of ot. A standard 25-06 is hard to beat. Having said that I think my next caliber is going to be 6.5-284. Not replacing my 25-06 just another caliber in the battery. It would be hard to go wrong either way. just my $0.02. Good luck with the project. Nimrod308

I think either the 25-06, 257 Weatherby, 6.5-06, or 6.5-284 Norma with the 28 inch tube so you can wring all the speed available out of any of them. They are all quite over bore. With the short receiver of the #1 you would still be shorter than a 26 inch barrel on a bolt action. DW

quote:

Originally posted by dwheels:
...or 6.5-284 Norma...

I'm told the No.1 extractor works fine with rimmed, rimless, and belted cases. Does it work with the rebated rim on cartridges based on the 284 Winchester? If not I suppose another choice in the 256 Newton, 6.5'06 and 6.5-284 range would be the 6.5 Rem Mag.

From what I can tell, the only real advantage of the 6.5-284 is that it can be used in a short action. Not really an issue with the #1. Seems like the 6.5-06 might be the way to go on this platform.

quote:

Originally posted by NimrodRx:
From what I can tell, the only real advantage of the 6.5-284 is that it can be used in a short action. Not really an issue with the #1. Seems like the 6.5-06 might be the way to go on this platform.

That and some folks say the short, wide bottle is God's gift to interior ballistics. In that case a 6.5 Rem Mag might be fun, any certainly fits the "can't buy it off the shelf" category. If you want a 256 Newton or 6.5'06 you can simply rebarrel one of your many '06s...you have two more than you need anyway.

6.5-284 or 7mm stw Both sound like winners and are just far enough outside the box to have that "cool" factor.

the great thing about your #1 ruger action is its short sooooooooooooo put a long barrel on that puppy 28 inch easy!!!!! the 25-06 is a heck of a fine choice its limited only by bullet weight 120 gn. sure there are flatter shooting rounds but they recoil more and cost more to feed...so heres mho....go 25-06.... 28 inch custom barrel a #5 or 6 conture should bee fine and not 2 heavy....flutting is always an option,....1-10 twist Krieger cut-rifled barrel,eather in chrome-moly or Stainless-steel....the biggy is finding a smith that EXCELLS in building ruger#1''s.......... sorry i couldn''t talk ya out of this fine choice i'm smitten with my 25-06....26 inch pipe built on a 700 bdl action. regards and keep us posted!!!!

take a long look at the 6,5x68Shuler. Definitely a different breed, and will out velocity the 264WM.
I blew the taper out of one and necked it to 25 caliber. 100gr VLD bullets at over 3800 from a 28" barrel.

Rich
DRSS
Knowledge not shared is knowledge lost...

I would go .257 weatherby.
With a 280 inch tube. You can make the brass from 7mm Rem mag...tj3006

Well, I have #1B's in .257 Bob (very accurate and not the most common of #1's) and two in .25-06. (one very accurate and the other need a bit of tinkering. Both are releatively new to me so have not yet been shot very much. The one that is not very accurate just may end up being the donor for the .35 Whelen #1 I've always wanted. Just a simple rebarrel.
One idea for the #1 that I've always considered playing with is either a .264 Win. mag. or .300 Win. mag. with a 28" barrel. The .300 mag. is a real nice round with 26" barrel as my #1's in the "B" and "S" model both do better than 2900 FPS with the 200 gr. Speer Hot Core and both shoot under one inch.
I do like the Ruger #1 rifles, and it seems like I have to fight off the urge to buy every one I see at the gun shows. It's ain't all that hard as I usually don'r have that kind of money anyway.
Paul B.

I can't think of a better Pronghorn Antelope rifle than the 25-06, its the darling of the Wyoming locals and I have seen it put to use on Mule Deer and antelope many many times and it is just an awesome killer..

quote:

Originally posted by NimrodRx:
That being said, I'm feeling like this action could carve out my "medium bore" niche. Seems to me that the .25-06 is the darling that I'm missing.
...
Intended use would be, heck, this rifle flat out shoots, so I'm going to shoot coyotes at 300 yards on a windy day, woodchucks at a sick distance just bc I can, WTs at 300yards, and speed goats out to 400.

I have a #1 in 25-06, and it's a solid 400 yard performer. If you want to stetch it to 500 yards, you'll need a caliber that has bullets with a higher BC, like 264.

6.5-06 or the Ackley version is the happy medium between 25-06 and 270. Just don't look for ammo at Wally World...

6.5 bullets generally have a higher BC than either 25 caliber or 270 caliber, and there are sooooo many good bullets to choose from.

100 grain Partitions
120 grain Ballistic Tips
125 grain Partitions
130 grain Accubonds
130 grain Sciroccos (with an incredible .571 BC)
129 grain SSTs
129 grain Interbonds
and the list just goes on and on and on...

Oh, was I supposed to be talking you OUT of this?

.240 Weatherby with a 28' med barrel if you are looking for a fine caliber long range larger varmint rifle !

Just match the twist ordered to the bullet that you want to shoot. Use Forster benchrest dies .

Do a search here for a #1 target rifle chambered in 6 Br. Rem that was made in British Columbia.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v104/catnthehat/DTODD6BRrs.jpg

http://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php...70246/page/1/fpart/2



Or this style :
http://www.treebonecarving.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/3893.jpg


Glenn

About the only thing that hasn't been mentioned is the 25 Super.

think for yourself, why not build a 25-284?

Rich
DRSS
Knowledge not shared is knowledge lost...

I have had out standing luck and respect for my .25-06. I get the great accuracy from resizing Lapua .30-06 brass shooting 100 grain Sierra MK bullets. I can’t see myself ever being with out a .25-06. I have busted a ton of PD's out to 700 yards with my .25-06. Past that distance you have to go to a 6.5, 7mm or .30 cal to get the stability and energy to keep 1/2 min. of PD accuracy.