.256 Win.Mag. - looking for your input!!

[Del]

A little over a year ago I purchased a T/C factory [b].256 Win. Mag[/b]. barrel, 10" octagon, w/a Bushnell Phantom scope mounted on it.

Due to some events in my life I put that barrel on the back burner in my gun safe, but now that hunting season is over it's reloading time again!  :grin:

I'm looking for any information from everyone with with expericence reloading, shooting, or hunting with the .256 Win. Mag.!!
Please reply here or send me an e-mail if you'd prefer!!
Thank You!
Del

[Blackhawk44]

First, take off that Phantom and keep as a curiosity to early handgun scope efforts.  The lens' are glued in (not too well) and the crosshairs are not centered (and love to relocate of their own volition).  Get a Weaver base and rings and any other scope you like.  Next, brass can be made by annealing the upper third of the case and slowly and carefully running the cases into the sizing die.  Mulitiple passes and good lube are the key.  Usually less than 10% losses.  Don't try nickel cases.  Size to the chamber.  Headspace off the shoulder, not the rim.  Reading a good article on the 30 Herrett is good instruction.  Data still listed by Hornady and maybe others.  WORK UP loads.  Sometimes the Contender won't take loads the Hawkeye will.  4227 usually the best general purpose powder.  Stay with 60 and 75 grain bullets.  87gr too heavy for decent velocity or bullet performance.  You may not get to 1" groups, but 1.5-2" are consistant.  What more do you need for 150yds?  Velocity lose pretty well keeps it from being a 200yd load.  BUT, wait until you see what it will do to a jackrabbit (or javelina or coyote).  Much more impressive than 22's.  Enjoy.  Can you imagine what fun a rebarreled .357 Rossi '92 would be...

[Johnly]

This is one of my favorite contender chamberings. I have a pair of 10" bull barrels and wouldn't think of parting with them. My favorite load is:

75 grain Sierra HP or 75 gr. Hornady V-Max
14.0 grains of H-4227
Federal 100 Small Pistol Primer
Re-formed R-P 357 Magnum case
LOA 1.705"

I shot a 5 shot group using the V-max bullet that was under 1/2" at 100 yards.

I'll be forming up another batch of brass her pretty shortly. If you need some just drop me a message.

John in Oregon

P.S.  There isn't a safe load that can be fired in a Ruger Hawkeye that wouldn't be safe in a Contender.

[clodbuster]

Del  I have a 256 but its a Marlin but I love it   ( i have Contenders also)
I use 60 gr Hornadys over 17.5 gr of AA1680 cci small rifle primer.  I build the brass exactly as described.  It gets 2800 fps from the 24" tube and it hits hard at 100 yds with 1 " groups.  Been thinking about building a Marlin 1894 .357 rebarrelled to it.What a coyote chaser!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Jim S]

Lookup Rocky Rabb and the load work he did with Little Gun and the 256. His 60 & 75 gr loads are pretty fast out of the little round. The last week end I worked with the 86 Gr remington SP--25/20 bullet and found 14.5/H4227/Rem 7.5 primer& 15.0/AA1680/Rem 7.5 primer to both group well and run about 2000 out of my 256TC barrel. With the exception of looking like a flare gun the AA1680 loads hold some promise. I did not get any pressure signs at 15.5 AA1680 but it was not as accurate as the 15.0 load. I am going to work up on the AA1680 load and see where i find pressure.  The little gun load with the 60 grain Hdy is supposed to do 2588 or right at 2600 and the 75 grain load is supposed yto do just under 2400. Both loads were accurate enough for hunting ,1.5-2" @100 yards and I am going to try the 75 V-max . I would be interested if any one has tested this bullet on meat from a 256WM ?
I have a form die set and make my brass out of Starline brass and only loast 1 case out of 200 I made. The starline brass seems to be good stuff. Good luck and keep us posted on the 256 work. I like mine and will probably keep this one ,have had 3 before and traded them away.
The Hornady 60 grain with the cannular is a better 256 bullet than their 60 gr hi vel bullet. I shot jackrabbits with these and 15.0/296 and while it killed them not much evidence of bullet expansion. The speer 75 gr flat nose is made for the 25/20 also and may be a good small to varmit sized game bullet and pretty accurate with Rabb's load with little gun.

[haroldclark]

Hey Del,  I have had the 10" Octagonal barreled 256 for over 15 years and it is a neat little cartridge.  I tried making the cases from new brass 357 cases.  I had about a 10% loss on forming (I annealed them prior) and then, I had another loss after first firing of about 10%.  When the case splits at the neck on the original firing, the shot is very wild.

I obtained an extractor from TC for the 223 Contender.  A minor cost is involved.

With a bunch of once fired military 223 brass on hand, I decided that I would make cases from 223s.  I never lost any cases after that.  I have outlined the process below.  The loaded round is a great and neat looking little beast.  I have shot 100 grain Saeco #256 cast bullets in mine and I use 5 grains of SR IMR 7625 for a mellow plinking load.  The new brass holds up well and I have fired them 3 times without splits.

.223 Cases to .256 Winchester Magnum

This works like a charm.  Much easier than the 357 mag cases.
Use Lee case trimming case holder for 223 to hold a case in it and put it in a drill to spin it.  Use a tubing cutter to cut the case off just below the shoulder (about an eigth inch).  With the tubing cutter in place on the case, spin it with the drill until it cuts it off.  The remaining case will be a little long for the finished .256 case.  Lube with Imperial sizing wax and size it in the regular full length sizing die with the depriming shank in place in the die.  Trim to length with the Lee case trimmer and fire form.  Inside neck reaming was not necessary.

I used LC 69 and LC 72 case.  I have fired these cases several times since forming.  The accuracy and performance is excellent.   I changed the extractor in the Thompson barrel to a 223 instead of the 357 standard.

Harold Clark

[Del]

To the guys that have responded, "Thank You" for what you've shared!

There's got to be more guys out there that are shooting or have had experience in the past with this neat lil' magnum!!??  Any information would be helpful, I'd especially like to hear about experiences with this round on critters in the field!!

I plan to replace the Bushnell Phantom w/a Leupold 2X or 4X scope and have this set up as my "truck gun", one to throw in when ever I head out of town for that coyote, fox, etc. out to 150 yards or so.  I want something w/a bit more punch & reach then the .22 mag revolver I have, yet that I can till shoot off hand if needed.

If you've had one experience or hundreds on critters, whether it's technical bench data, or a hunting story - I'd love to hear it!!

Thank You, I look forward to more responses!!  :grin:
Del

[wheelgun]

Harold
I know nothing about the 256 win mag but I thought it was a 357 necked down to 25.The 357 is a rimmed case 223 is rimless.You would have to do more than change extractor I thought.

[Steve P]

The .223 brass will work, but you should probably change the extractor, unless very mild load where the brass just falls out.  If you have some extra $$ laying around, you can get some 5.56x50R brass, trim it, and do the annealing thing.  It worked great for my 7 Super Mag and should work for you also.  It is about $.15-.19 for each brass, if you can find it, but does last for lots of reloads.   RP brass is a little softer and a little more forgiving than other 357 brass.  Once fired is cheaper than new so the cost of split cases does not hurt so much.  Anneal before sizing, but DO NOT over soften.  Then you end up with junk.

Good luck and enjoy that 256.

Steve  

[clodbuster]

Del  Just an additional 2 cents.  At the loading bench this am I started having a ridge form on the shoulder during crimping.  These rounds would not chamber.  I wasn't using  hard pressure so be careful, this is soft brass.  In order to crimp Hornady 75gr. hp bullets( no cannelure)  I had to follow up with a partial pass up into the stripped down sizing die to remove the shoulder ridge.  Less of this problem using the Horn. 60 gr as they have a cannelure to crimp into.

[redhawk44]

If you will email me at ytod601@aol.com, I will send you what I have on the 256 Winchester.  

I used a 10 octagon barrel, so the results shou;d be similar.

Just put "256 data" in the subject line so I don't delete it thinking it is junk mail. :roll:

[Del]

Thanks for all the replies so far guys.

Now another question, any of you have experience with the factory Winchester load?  

I have a line on 5 boxes of the 60 grn soft point ammo and wonder if it's worth messing with.  I figure I'd use it to get me up and running with this barrel, and be able to use the brass for relaoding when it's all shot up.

This is mainly going to be used for a "truck gun", thrown in for that occasional opportunity at a coyote / fox / or lynx.

Look forward to  more replies!
Del

[Blackhawk44]

Factory loads are not nearly as consistant or accurate as handloads.  Varied a good bit over the years.  Look for a good many 3-4" 110yd groups.  Still have 3 boxes hidden away for the brass.

[RonF]

I have never been a great fan of the Winchester factory ammo for the .256 although the hollow point is quite explosive.  I will never forget my father's reaction to an armadillo he saw me shoot over 35 years ago.  We usually hunted them with .22 rifles, which worked fine, but that day I had brought along the Contender in .256; the armadillo fairly exploded, and to say Dad was impressed would be a gross understatement!

I load my .256 custom Contender carbine and my 10" barrels pretty warm and have not had very good case life with the Winchester brass.  Formed cases from Remington brass seem to last longer for me, but I lose quite a few in forming.  Basically, I've come to two solutions.  First, I've changed the extractor to a .223 one as mentioned above, but I form cases from .221 Fireball as there is less trimming and the case necks aren't so thick as to need reaming.  This brass lasts a L O N G time.  In my Merrill pistol, which has a spring loaded extractor and requires a rimmed case, I use blown out .22 Jet brass, which forms to a bit of a short case, but the neck is long enough to hold the bullet.  It works fine, lasts much better than the Winchester stuff, and you never have to trim it. :-D  Yes, .22 Jet cases are hard to find, but I've amassed a supply that will last me until I die and leave plenty for whoever ends up with the Merrill.  If you want to go this route, try Graf's; they sometimes have them.

Good luck with your .256 Win!

RonF

[Del]

RonF,
Why are you not impressed w/ the .256 Win. factory ammo?  Is it because of poor accuracy or poor performance on critters in the field - or both?!

Wish I would have been there to see the Armadillo shot!!  :eek:
Thanks for the reply!
Del

[clodbuster]

Del I was shooting the  factory ammo received with the gun and had 2 case heads separate! No good to say the least.  The velocity was slower than my handload  (18 gr of AA1680 under a 60 gr Hornady)  2650 vs 2800 fps and less accurate by 100%.  1' vs@" groups.  I sold the farctory stuff and bought new 357 brass to anneal and form.  No separation since.

[RonF]

Three reasons I didn't much like the factory ammo, Del:  First, it wasn't as accurate as my handloads and there was lots of muzzle flash.  Second, the 60 gr. bullet has a pretty low ballistic coefficient and I was hunting prairie dogs at long (for me) range.  Finally, case life was very short.  Like clodbuster, my chamber was made to near maximum dimensions and the ammo is minimum.  There was a lot of stretch on first firing.  I never suffered a separation on first firing, but there was thinning of the web ahead of the case head which weakened the case and limited its life.  I finally started pulling bullets, reducing the powder charge, reseating the bullets and using them for fire forming loads.  This did extend case life some, but it was still shorter by far than any of the Remington case based ammo I've loaded.  I have also used new Winchester brass when it was available and was not able to get the case life I can with Remington brass which I form, whether from .357, .22 Jet, or .221 Fireball.  This is not the only caliber I've had this experience with.  I know many people swear by Winchester brass, but I often end up swearing at it.  It may have something to do with the age of the brass and/or storage conditions - don't know.

RonF