New toy has arrived - .25-45

El Jefe

El Jefe

Active member
My gunsmith just completed a new toy for me! I’ll post up a few pics. Just some close ups of the important parts since we all know what a rifle looks like! Haha!

I’ve always been a fan of 25 caliber rounds and the 25-45 is no exception. I used an AR for a while night hunting and it does deliver a pretty good thump! Im not much of an AR guy so we had to go bolt action and with the AICS this thing is so smooth you don’t feel it strip a round off when working the action!

I settled on 87 grain bullets in the AR but expect better numbers in the 24” bolt gun especially when I load the next batch since I’ll be able to seat further out.

I have it in an extra HMR stock and will give it a new paint job soon.
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El Jefe said:
My gunsmith just completed a new toy for me! I’ll post up a few pics. Just some close ups of the important parts since we all know what a rifle looks like! Haha!

I’ve always been a fan of 25 caliber rounds and the 25-45 is no exception. I used an AR for a while night hunting and it does deliver a pretty good thump! Im not much of an AR guy so we had to go bolt action and with the AICS this thing is so smooth you don’t feel it strip a round off when working the action!

I settled on 87 grain bullets in the AR but expect better numbers in the 24” bolt gun especially when I load the next batch since I’ll be able to seat further out.

I have it in an extra HMR stock and will give it a new paint job soon.
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Dude I am in LOVE with that rifle ...LOL . You also did it Right and top shelf, that thing is a sweetass coyote hitter . been running that Cal. for 7 years for just Night coyotes, and with that barrel length and also with not being confined the AR magazine COAL with running AICS BM . I would expect you 'easy' in the 2900 vel. area with those .25 cal. 87 grainers popping out a 223 case.

I running the 70 grn sierras now. but with ( 16" barrel ) and confined to AR Mag. coal . but with 87's I was getting a respectable 2740 Vel. with the 87 tnt's . So you going 24" length and AICS mags . I am really interested in what you getting when all broke-in .
The 70 blitzkings are no slouch, their killer, but 87's are the way to go on the .25-45. They visibly hit so much harder energy over the 70 blitskings . You using the AICS bottom metal will really let you stretch-out the 87's in the 223 case and let them breath.
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Saw your pm first and replied there but will copy my reply here too…

Hey thanks! Yeah 24” is the only way. When you are short on capacity you need more barrel!

The 87 is the sweet spot in the 25-45 in my opinion. The ballistics have it hitting harder than a conventional 22-250 beyond 325 or so yards. Saying that though , I’ve been running a 7mm-08 with 120 grain V-Max’s so thats be a tough one to beat! Haha!

I have a Rock 6mm 1:8 in a 700 varmint contour on the shelf but haven’t decided what to do with it yet. That barrel is the only thing I own that is 6mm. I am liking what I read about the GT cartridges and might go that direction. I know my next 22-250 that gets shot out will be a 22GT when it’s re barreled.
 
Im repainting the HMR stock so I put it into an extra HS Precision I had lying here. Put an Athlon Ares 4.5-27 on it to fart around on some paper and do some load development. Should be a fun one!

Forgot to add - it has a Shilen select match barrel with a 1:10 twist in a No.5 profile. Threaded muzzle of course!!

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El Jefe said:
Im repainting the HMR stock so I put it into an extra HS Precision I had lying here. Put an Athlon Ares 4.5-27 on it to fart around on some paper and do some load development. Should be a fun one!

Forgot to add - it has a Shilen select match barrel with a 1:10 twist in a No.5 profile. Threaded muzzle of course!!

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You should give the 85 Noslers Varm. BT a try also . Could not use them in the AR magazine, as they were really to long of a profile to shove down the .223 case . The 87 grn. Speers tnt's were pushing the COAL to the limit, as they were seated all way to the Ogive . The 85 Noslers are a little better BC also .

Speer on the L .. Nosler on the R-side .
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I like Nosler and have had good luck with them over the years in my 25-06’s but they are too proud of them anymore. For my needs I top out at Sierra money! :LOL:

I have a pile n a half of the 87 grain sp hot cores and they did a nice job out of the AR. I picked up a couple of boxes of the hollow points for the bolt gun so we will see. I run 90 and 100 grain in my 25-06’s and recently stocked up heavy on some Sierra 90 grain Blitzkings. I have a 25 Creedmoor due to be built hopefully by end of summer also and have high hopes of the 90’s shooting in that! Come fall it is looking like it’s going to be the season of the 257’s!
 
cropdamage said:
Nice build !

I admit don't know anything about the 25-45 . Will have to look into it.
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Thanks! My gunsmith gets all the credit. He does excellent work!

The 25-45 is quite the over achiever in the 223 case. When you compare it to one of my favorite 22-250 loads it surprises you.

22-250 , 63gr Sierra sp on top.
25-45 , 87gr Speer below. Assuming the velocity according to published data in the 24” barrel at roughly 2900. I got 2780 out of my 18” AR barrel.

22-250
3480 fps. Energy @ 300 - 718 , @ 500 - 370

25-45
2900 fps. Energy @ 300 - 805 , @ 500 - 476
 
El Jefe said:
Thanks! My gunsmith gets all the credit. He does excellent work!

The 25-45 is quite the over achiever in the 223 case. When you compare it to one of my favorite 22-250 loads it surprises you.

22-250 , 63gr Sierra sp on top.
25-45 , 87gr Speer below. Assuming the velocity according to published data in the 24” barrel at roughly 2900. I got 2780 out of my 18” AR barrel.

22-250
3480 fps. Energy @ 300 - 718 , @ 500 - 370

25-45
2900 fps. Energy @ 300 - 805 , @ 500 - 476
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.25-223 and the 70 Grain Blitzkings are pretty kickass moving out the 20" barrel .
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edit add:
The load used is Not over-pressure Hot either . Yesterday I was using same load on the 20" barrel, as shot out same 10-1 3P 16" barrel I did workup on 100 Deg. day .

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It has been too dang hot to do much shooting around here. About all I have done is run some ammo I have made up for the AR over the chronograph. Speer 87gr Hot Cor bullets using Tac powder just under max using Sierra’s load data. They run 2785 out of my 18” AR and averaged 3010 out of the 24” bolt gun.
 
Nice.. getting 3-k Vel. with the 24" barrel, and 87 weight . that is really efficiently using the .223 Brass to it's potential in .25-223 .
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I had one in an AR and was unhappy with the bullet selection that fit in the mag. A bolt gun in 25-45 would be a better fit. Very nice looking build!
 
MPFD said:
I had one in an AR and was unhappy with the bullet selection that fit in the mag. A bolt gun in 25-45 would be a better fit. Very nice looking build!
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Thanks! My reasoning was with an 87 grain bullet even in the AR you can carry more energy out there than a heavy 223 load. After seeing what it does , I don’t think there is a good reason to load anything over a 90 grain even in the bolt action. If I need more than that there are better rounds available.

My AR has an 18” barrel and I was getting 2780-2785 fps averages. I never took shots past 250 yards mainly because I never really needed to but when I did take a few at that range it put them down pretty hard.
 
I'm currently running a 14.5" & 20" 6 arc's with a Silencerco Harvester Evo. I really like 87 g. vmax and 90 eldx with 31 grains of leverevolution. That load gets 2750 fps out of the 14.5 and 2980 fps out of the 20" 6 Arc.
 
MPFD said:
I'm currently running a 14.5" & 20" 6 arc's with a Silencerco Harvester Evo. I really like 87 g. vmax and 90 eldx with 31 grains of leverevolution. That load gets 2750 fps out of the 14.5 and 2980 fps out of the 20" 6 Arc.
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Have you tried the 75 vmax?
 
Yes, it shot extremely well also. 75 grain Vmax and 27 grains of IMR 3031 shot a sub 3/4" group at 3000 fps from the 16" faxon barrel. I haven't tried it again out of the 14.5 or 20".
 

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