I love the Winchester featherweight. just a good looking gun. I know it's not a BR gun and will not shoot like one. I have four of the featherweights. All of the guns needed a tuneup to shoot good for a hunting gun.
The last one I bought is in 25 WSSM. I bought it not even thinking about the calibure. I also have one in 25-06. I reload for all the 30 something bolt guns I have. looking in the manual it says the 25 WSSN will do everything the 25-06 will do. Well!!!! The 25-06 runs at about 55 to 56 CUP and the 25 WSSM runs at about 62 to 63 CUP. Thats not the same! Case life must be short and that pressure must be hard on the lands
From all I've heard of the WSSM's their cases are thick and heavy so that case life is probably similar to the case life of a standard round loaded to max SAAMI pressures. That doesn't help out the throat or barrel though. Anything pushing that much hot gas at high pressures down a small diameter hole has to be harder on the bore than one working at lower pressures. That being said the .25 WSSM is likely the best of the lot.
I agree that the 25WSSM is the best of the lot, which is generally swimming against the tide, because it seems most shooters were pining for a 25 WSM instead. Also, the Model 70 Featherweights in the WSSM's are really sweet little rifles!
It is also true that factory loaded WSSMs are loaded hot, and indeed, reloaders may need to do the same because of the thick necked brass. However, I suspect there may be a bit of a misunderstanding here concerning the pressures the 25-06 and the 25 WSSM "run" at. I was scrambling trying to find the SAAMI specs for these cartridges, and I came upon this in the latest Speer Reloading Manual #14. This manual states that the industry maximum average pressure for the 25-06 is 53,000 CUP. This same manual states that the pressure limit for the 25 WSSM is 65,000 psi. NOTE that these pressure limits are given in different units! CUP and psi are NOT the same! Probably most modern cartridges are rated in the 64,000 to 65,000 psi range. Furthermore, there is no way to directly correlate CUP and psi. But, I doubt the 25-06 is pressure rated by SAAMI very much less than the 25WSSM. Now, if I could just find those SAAMI specs, I know I have them around here somewhere!
yep mudstad I looked again in my Lyman 49th edition and the 25-06 is in CUP and 25WSSM is in PSI.
I looked at the gun today and saw that the barrel was tight against the left side of the stock. That needs to be fixed! I will float the barrel. I have a 270 featherweaight that had the same problem. It was a scatter gun till I floated the barrel and loaded it with 135gr Sierra matchkings and AA3100 powder. It will shoot a five shot group inside of a dime at 100 yards. With factory ammo it's an 1.5 inch gun. good for a hunting rifle.
I have Featherweaight in 243 that is my best shooter. I think I can shoot a tick off of a hogs ass at 100 yards. It's a good shooter with good factory ammo. Better than I can shoot. I hope this 25WSSM shoots good as well.
The Ramshot webpage has a listing of SAAMI pressures for many cartridges. The 25-06 is shown as 63000 psi. The 25 WSSM is not listed, but the 223 WSSM is, and it is 65000 psi. I'm sure the 25 is the same.
On the left side, go into "Load Data" and click on "SAAMI PSI".
BTW, I've had a ton of rifles that needed work in the barrel channel. 700's being one of the worst offenders! Now, when I'm looking to buy a new rifle, one of the very first things I check out is the barrel channel, to see if the stock is bearing on one side or the other. I'm just trying to save myself some work!
