Salty Dog, that's about the size of it! Somewhere earlier in the thread,someone mentioned .250-3000. A .25/.308 can do more than that for sure. The late, great gunwriter, Bob Hagel, did an article on the .25/.308. His had a 22" barrel and showed him with a nice size black bear. I remember that his 100gr. loads were about 100fps or so off those of a .25-06 Remington. Hagel tended to load fairly hot loads as I recall but the notes he had indicated no undue/high pressures. He favored the Nosler Partion 100gr. bullet (the black bear had no objections to it either). My guess is that, loaded to it's safe, full capacity, the .25/.308 would have essentially the same ballistic relationship that the .308 has with the ole .30-06. The problem for the .25 on the '08 case is that it's NOT a military cartridge. The .308 is a great cartridge but who knows how it would be been received in the fifties if it had NOT been a military cartridge first. Being a military cartridge ensure longevity in the civilian market. In the case of the .308, I believe that an argument (i.e. rationalization, justification, selling-point) was made in that it was a "short-action" cartridge and that shorter, lighter, faster rechambering rifles could be made. Honestly, prior to 1955, how many hunters and shooters really thought that they were being "deprived" with the longer case of .30-06 or .270??? When you take into consideration that these are generally thought of as "all-around" rifles with applications for western open-range hunting as well as eastern brush closer ranges, then the point is all the more clear (at least the way I see it) that the short-action benefits were, as much as anything, to sell a cartridge that couldn't quite match up to it's nearest (and beloved) rival, the .30-06. Did it work? Yes, partially because people bought into the ligher, more compact aspect of things (even though the differences are pretty small all things considered) and partially because the .308 was and is a really great cartridge on it's own merits. So how does this relate to the .25/.308??? It does in the sense that the kind of hunting that most would do with a big .25 (or even a medium .25) would not be such that a person would begrudge a longer action and a 22" or even a 24" barrel. Yes, the .243 IS a big seller and always has been but the '08 case makes some sense there because the more efficient fat case could be used with a .24 bore without being too over-bored. The public would be treated to a very low-recoiling rifle that would serve for both deer and varmints. The varmint bullets could be pushed at some really fancy speeds (and we know how the public loves speed) AND the public would have a totally new caliber NUMBER to play with in their imaginations. In 1955, we had the .250-3000 and the .257 Roberts. Bringing out another .25 that would have been in essence a fairly hot Roberts would NOT have captured the public's imagination. A .24 was something they did not have and the .308 was an ideal case for it in many ways.
Even though we have WAY more 7mm's and .30's than we really need, I think the market would reject a .25/.308. Be nice to see some manufacturer give it a whirl though! --- Mike
