From: toby@u.washington.edu (Toby Bradshaw)
Subject: Re: BR Recomendation
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle

In article <199501060137.UAA05447@beauty.magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu>,
Kim <place.22@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu> wrote:

#I really would like to build a 25 cal with 243+ power.  What caliber in this
#range do you think would be most accurate?

The one with the smallest case capacity, as a good rule of thumb, if
we're talking about 300 yards or so.  If you can find a good riflesmith
with a .25 Souper reamer (.308 necked down or .243 necked up, depending on
how you look at it), you might try that.  It will push bullets a bit
faster than the .250 Ackley, using a little more powder.  The .257
Roberts or .257 Ackley would be in the same general range, perhaps a
tad swifter than the .25 Souper (but a lot more commonly available,
though with probably more trouble finding benchrest-quality brass).

Poor availability of good bullet jackets keeps the .25s from shooting as
well as .22, 6mm, and .30 cal.  With hunting bullets, e.g. Ballistic Tips,
you probably won't notice the difference.

#The Leup 6-20 was my choice if I couldn't get anything stronger.  I looked in
#my Guns Ilistrated and found Premier Reticles Co. Is this the company you
#referred to?

Yep.

#What are you referring to as a fitted neck?

The neck is fitted to the chamber with such a small clearance, typically
<0.001, that it requires no resizing after firing.  Since the pressure
ring at the base of flatbase bullets can vary (among brands) as much
as 0.0005 (or more), and religious neck cleaning is required to keep
the clearance above zero, they're not for everybody.  In fact, outside
competitive benchrest I'm not sure if they have anything to offer at
all.  Still, many benchrest gunsmiths' reamers have smaller-than-SAAMI
neck dimensions, which will require neck turning if not neck fitting
on the brass.  Turning necks is a pain in the ass, especially in large
volumes.

#What kind of a price should I expect to rebarrel and what type do you
#recommend?

Fit and chamber runs about $100-$175, depending.  The better barrel
blanks (Hart, Shilen, Krieger, Obermeyer, etc.) are in the $220 range
these days.  Figure on $400 not including any action work.

#You specifically mentioned the 700 action.  Is it better than a 40XB action?

No.  But for 40XB money you can get a custom action, which IS better
than either.  That is, unless you already have a 40X lying around.
The factory actions are true (i.e., square, parallel, and in-line)
only by chance.  Good custom actions are true, period, or they're
replaced by their maker.  For instance, it's the norm for Stolle actions
to be made to such tight tolerances that barrels from one action can
be screwed into another, and fireformed brass from the first rifle
can be used in the second.  Their headspace dimensions are within 0.001,
on actions made years apart.  Impressive.  Also cheaper to rebarrel,
since a capable smith will not require the action to be returned for
fitting.

-Toby Bradshaw
toby@u.washington.edu