25x45 AR ( SAAMI SPECS PUBLISHED)

KAG

KAG

New member
Ok, months ago I ordered a 25x45 20" barrel from BlackHole. After quite few months of production delay it arrived Monday.....WooHoo...........I thought it was beautiful to look at and it felt fairly light.

The barrel is a light Varmint contour, pretty much what the other 6x45 barrel contours are from BH. I opted to NOT thread this one as my last barrel a 18" Shilen barrel in 25/223 was threaded and I just did not like it. With the 25x45 its a straight forward up sizing of the 223 case where as the 25/223 cartridge must be trimmed back some....PITA. As I like simplicity I went with this and it makes the most sense for me.

I had several months ago bought one of those upper kits from Scott at SD that he ran a special on.....Thank you Scott.

Crappy photo from my camera.....

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The upper build was very straight forward and took maybe 20 minutes tops. The longest part as always for me is punching the pin. From then on I just put it together. The barrel nut I just hand tightened and then gave it a little more twist to line the gas tube hole up....I did not torgue it as I think once the hole is lined up after snugging it up the point of would be what??? Or so I believe....people can do as they see fit on theirs but the AR is simplistic in form and I like to try to keep it that way. No thread lock on any of it.

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Once it was all together I ran a very wet bore snake down it and sprayed lots of Rem oil in the upper. I put a lower on it and loaded a 20rd mag of 25x45 cartridges into it and let the bolt go home. It chambered very smoothly and felt locked up solid.....I squeezed the trigger and fired and functioned as it should. I then proceeded to burn the entire clip through it. Perfect feed, fire, and function....yes I know others do it differently but this one is mine.

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As I have been shooting the 25/223 for a while now I have lots of load data compiled to start with and plan to begin working up loads for this very soon. More than likely I will be shooting 70gr Sierra Blitz Kings, 85gr Noslers BT, and 90gr Sierra Blitz Kings also. I have quite a bit of data on these already.

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Its been a long road on this and plan to make it my main predator round this winter and also plan to take a deer with it also to just see how it performs, which I have little doubt it will excel in.

Up next is a another couple of Wildcats, one based off of the 6.8spc case and a one off of a 308 case I plan to play with but that is later in the year....still waiting for reamers on those.
 
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That sounds like an awesome round. The .25 bore is one of the more versatile rounds I think. Will be interested to hear how it does.
 
In the 25cal barrel, twist 1:10. Accuracy....who knows presently as all I have done with it so far is burn a 20rd clip through it...that was fun.

I expect fps w/100gr bullets to be some where near 2400 and 70gr bullets to be very close or at 3000fps. In my 25/223 I was getting that with RL7. The powder I want to use is AA2015 or X8208, we will see as I will be working these up for hunting more than speed.
 
Federal will be but it will be marketed by Sharps as they announced at the shot show they will be building AR15's in 25x45 and want to make it their new signature cartridge. They have been slow in their development news but it does look like it is coming along finally. If you go to their website I think you can look at a couple 25x45 AR15's...very spendy. Over at Ar15.com Sharps posted the packaging boxes they will come it. Sharps wants to concentrate on the 87gr Speer TNT. I spoke with them and told them that the speed just wasn't there to get reliable openings with the TNT. They said they were working with Speer and also stated there may be some 60gr varmint bullet offerings (60gr TNT in .257 ???) from Speer in the 25cal for this round.

Just tonight I picked up a box of Nosler 110gr Accubonds and some Hornady 117gr SST bullets I am going to mess with. Factory ammo I guess would be ok but it is so easy to reload for....no harder than 6x45 or 223.
 
I want one just because I already have 2 other 257s.

Seems like it would be a fun rig but I doubt I will have the patience and will opt for the 6x45
 
Originally Posted By: nitisI want one just because I already have 2 other 257s.

Seems like it would be a fun rig but I doubt I will have the patience and will opt for the 6x45

I would venture to guess they made more than just one barrel and might have another one ready to go
 
Ok I loaded 5 110gr Nosler Accubond rounds tonight. I used 20.8gr of AA2015. Actually it was a gentle round when squeezed off. No idea of speed. Some I am sure has a program that can calculate it.

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I wanted to post a few more photos....some guys over at AR15 had some doubts as to 110gr bullets can be used. In the 1st photo there is a photo of 110gr Nosler Accubond, 100gr Sierra SP, and Sierra 90gr BK. Plus there was some question that I trimmed the bullet tips to make them fit in the mags, didn't happen.

AA2015 w/CCI primers. Cases were just straight re-sized and loaded. The one thing I was wrong about was thinking you could not load several 110gr AB rounds in a mil spec mag and have it function flawlessly....wrong. Real world Actual practical function beat speculation on my part, the rounds were rapid fired and the 25x45 purred like a sewing machine


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In this photo of a loaded 110gr AB you see a slightly deformed tip....caused by the bullet seater....no trimming was done

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The 110gr AB and the Sierra 100gr SP side by side

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I loaded 6 100gr Sierra SP in a Mil Spec Mag, no magazine modification was done. These were rapid fired with perfect feed, fire, and function

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I then loaded and rapid fired 7 Nosler 110gr AB, once again using a Mil Spec Magazine with no modification done. Perfect feed, fire, and function.

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I also tested a few rounds using Thermamold plastic 10rd mags and had 1 failure to feed. I don't know about the rest of you but I am fairly sure 110gr Accubonds are deer and hog killers. Really the 100gr SP I think would do a fine job on either one also. For any actual deer hunting I plan to use 100gr bullets as the 110gr are a long bullet and I think you give up a lot using it. Just wanted to see if they could be reliably used or not

 
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Have you considered pulling the plastic tips from the Noslers and seating the bullet farther out? You should not see any difference in accuracy within 200 yards. Give it a try and let us know how that works out.
 
Originally Posted By: FALFireHave you considered pulling the plastic tips from the Noslers and seating the bullet farther out? You should not see any difference in accuracy within 200 yards. Give it a try and let us know how that works out.

Yes, the 110gr post was more of "it can be done" as some guys running 25/223 AR's (Also have one) saying in the 25x45 it can not be done. If I was going to seriously use the Accubonds for hunting that would be exactly what I would do as then it becomes the same length as a 90gr BK.
 
I decided to top this with a Nikon Buckmaster 4.5-14x40SF with Nikoplex / BDC Reticle. I think and hope this will be a good fit for the up coming fall/winter predator hunting. Of course the Burris P.E.P.R. mount I am a huge fan of.

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Now that I have it scoped I will start true load work on it. Since I have a slew of Hornady 75gr V-max's and Sierra 70gr Blitz Kings I will more than likely be working these up the most.

I will also continue work up and shoot a variety of bullets including some listed as not being able to work in this case. If they don't work, I will post it, but I suspect several will be. 2 are already off list, 110gr Nosler Accubond and the one I shot today the Speer 87gr TNT's. I will post photos of the loaded rounds in the mil spec mag.
 
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The two are basically very close. The 25/223 case must be trimmed back to 1.70 to fit the 25/223 chamber. The 25x45 is just straight running the 223 case through the die sizing it to a .257 caliber, then trimming to 223 case lengths. Sharps Rifle Company announced at the 2011 Shot Show they are bringing the 25x45 into production with the AR15 platform and is in the process of load development and then pressure testing.

Dies for the 25/223 are almost non-existent with CH4 being 9 months behind with with no delivery in site. I have a set of 25/223 dies that work just fine with the 25x45 chamber. The old 25/223 ammo I have loaded fits in the 25x45 chamber but the 25x45 will not fit in a 25/223 chamber. Mike from Sharps is putting together a 25x45 Redding die order right now. Black Hole made my barrel as they have the reamer for this.

The 25/223 fans say you can not shoot heavier bullets in the 25x45, even though I have already started doing just that. 100gr bullets I think are very doable as I have already shown with the Sierra 100gr SP.

I am working with this in the AR platform as a predator cartridge mainly shooting 70-85gr bullets. People can shoot what they want but hopefully this fall and winter I will rack up some fur with this.
 
You should be able to go into Nikon's Spot On web-site and enter all your custom load data as well as your Buckmaster scope to get the ultimate accuracy for each BDC circle.
Check it out and let me know what you think.
Bart
Nikon Pro Staff
 



Bullet Load Work up


Well finally had a little time to start doing more than just shoot all different types and weights of bullets. Everything I have loaded has fired....doesn't mean that's what I am going to use as I am a Predator Hunter much more than a paper shooter. I will be running 100gr Sierra SP though on a Hog hunt down in Texas if I can pull that together in a month or so, my main gun will be my 25x45 this winter for predator hunting.

I have been working a lot with the Vmax 75gr, Nosler 85gr BT, and 70gr Sierra BK. Spent quite a bit of time using AA2015, 10X, Varget, 8208, 3031, and H335. I finally think I found my load using H335. I tried it last because its so dirty but given the number of rounds I shoot in a hunting season I doubt its going to really effect me. All I do is bore snake my rifle anyway besides wipe out and off. I guess I will end up taking the bolt apart every couple of months to really clean it as the cold can reek havick on a dirty bolt.

The load ended up being H335 26.5gr w/ Sierra 70gr BK cci 400primer, of course just seated to mag length. The 70gr BK are proven coyote thumpers so hopefully they will do their job if I do mine.

You need to be easy running the expander ball through neck or you will split it, just ease it through and its all good. I used the OCW method in my work up.

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