Feeding with Ackley cartridges?

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prosper

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I have a large-ring mauser 98 (I was told it was a Portuguese mauser) that I'm going to spin a 25 caliber barrel on. The rifle is currently chambered in 308, and feeds fine. I'd like to know which of the 25 cal cartridges will feed best.

From what I can tell, I have the option of the following: 250 savage/250 ackley, 257 bob/257 ackley, 25-08 or maybe even 25-06. I'd prefer to go with the 257 ackley, as dies are relatively easy to come by.
 
prosper said:
I have a large-ring mauser 98 (I was told it was a Portuguese mauser) that I'm going to spin a 25 caliber barrel on. The rifle is currently chambered in 308, and feeds fine. I'd like to know which of the 25 cal cartridges will feed best.

From what I can tell, I have the option of the following: 250 savage/250 ackley, 257 bob/257 ackley, 25-08 or maybe even 25-06. I'd prefer to go with the 257 ackley, as dies are relatively easy to come by.
Click to expand...

The rails may need some modification for the AI's or for the 25-06 because of the length... the less steep shoulders tend to be easier feeders...

The 25-06 needs a 26 inch barrel for best performance... the 25-08 would be a sweet 25 to have... it should feed fine with no alterations.
 
AI cartridges

prosper,

It's not a Mauser, but, I have a M70 that recently went from 30-06 to 25-06AI. It feeds just fine with no modifications to the action. Noticeably less smooth, but no reliability issues.
 
guntech said:
.. the 25-08 would be a sweet 25 to have...
Click to expand...

The 25-308, aka the 25 Souper - and no that is NOT a typo ;) ) - is one hell of a nice cartridge. It performance is nearly identical to the 250-3000 Improved and as mentioned it should feed well without any modifications.
 
Well, I filled the magazine full of 6mm remington cases, and they all feed fine, so I'm probably OK going to 257 roberts. Likewise for 270's - though the magazine is about 0.05" too short to fit 270's when seated to standard OAL. This wouldn't be a problem with the 25-06, this gun is purpose-built for varmint bullets so OAL shouldn't be a problem. And, of course, the 308's feed fine. So I'm guessing that the world's my oyster; 25-08, 257 or 25-06.

I'm still leaning towards the 257 or 257 ackley; it just seems fitting for a genuine oberndorf-built mauser 98 varminter.
 
prosper: I converted a 30/06 on an FN action to 257 Rbts. Ackley Improved.
Did not feed well at all. Had to do mods to magazine box and rails. Frankly if I were doing it again I would stick with the standard Roberts. The Ackley is fine on paper but doesn't do anything much better in the field than the standard and I've had 3 of those over the years to compare against. The 25/308 is an excellent cartridge and seems like a best choice for you.
 
My suggestion is stay away from AI shouldered cartridges. Maybe it work, maybe it don't. Kind of an expensive way to find out.

Most of my Mauser based rifles DID NOT FEED AI CASES WELL. I built them to single feed but tried the mag and had issues hitting the top of the chamber and getting stuck.

A shallow shouldered cartridge would just slide off the chamber top and go it.

Saying all this, I build a 30Gibbs on a Parker Hale Midland which is a weird marriage of Mauser and Springfield. It fed just fine but was certainly not as smooth as the orig 30-06.

Go with the Bob. A classic cartridge in a classic rifle. Sounds like a hunting rifle and having it function far outweights 100fps.

Nice match.

Jerry
 
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Mauser magazines and feed rails can be pretty specific in what they will feed well. The issues with the FN commercial action I used involved the shoulder in the magazine box not being quite right for the sharper shoulder angle and the box being not quite wide enough at the same point for the fatter case of the improved cartridge. The feed rails also had to be adjusted for the fatter shoulders. It can be an easy conversion with many other rifles, not necesaarily so with Mausers.
 
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