Need Help With My 256 Winchester

[Jr.]

I recently restored an old Marlin 62 that I picked up off at a coworker. It is chambered in 256 Winchester and I have been unable to find any loaded ammunition to try it out.( loaded ammo for fear that there may be something wrong with the rifle and not wanting to invest too much) This rifle was abused something fierce. I had to pin the stock in several places as it was broken. But it is too looking good now about 6 months later.

My question is about load data. I have found a few pieces here and there but nothing for what I am looking at loading. I ordered some brass and some 85g rnfp Meister cast bullets to start with. ( the only thing I could find in weight range). So who loads something like this. And what do you use.

Thanks in advance.

Aaron

[Guesser]

I've formed a lot of 357 cases into 256 and loaded a lot of Hornady 60 gr. bullets for Ruger Hawkeye single shots and Marlin 62. I know I cast a few bullets with a borrowed mold 25 years ago, I'll look and see what I did. Memory fades.
Lyman Book #46, page 421 gives data for an 89 gr. cast GC bullet for use in a Contender. Starting loads are: Blue Dot-5.0; HS-7-5.0; SR4759-7.0
Good luck.

[shdwlkr]

reed's ammo might have some loaded 256 win mag but pricy
got a file on various powders for the cartridge but don't know how to attach

[Shuz]

Before you go and spend a lot of money and time on this Mdl 62, you should check the chamber for out of roundness if you can. About 40 years ago I had one of these rifles and I could only get about 3 reloadings from a brass case before it had an incipient head separation. I found that I had to f/l resize all brass down close to the base to insure re-chambering due to the chamber being out of round.

Perhaps my chamber was simply oversize. In any event, cases had to be completely resized as far as I could in order to get them to re-chamber, and thus, many failed after 3 resizings!

[shdwlkr]

check this out
http://www.gmdr.com/lever/add256wm60fn_dat.htm

[Jr.]

Thanks to all who have replied. I wouldn't even know how to check my chamber for being round. How would I go about doing this?

I checked Reed's for loaded ammo. Everything was on back order so I got some brass to try out instead.

I was looking at using maybe aa2015 or hp38( not sure if this powder will even work) as I have excess of both after changing powders in a couple of my firearms. I only have a couple of reloading manuals and all my listings in both are for jacketed rounds. My hornady lists loadings for an 87g sp but not sure where to go with cast.

[MT Chambers]

Well be careful, those 2 powders are at opposite ends of the small cartridge spectrum.

[JFE]

If you go to the 'Castpics' section of this site you will find some old reloading manuals with loading data for the 256 Win, including data for cast bullets.

FYI the Lyman manual notes :

"Many of the rifles chambered for this cartridge have slightly oversize chambers which create a problem for the reloader. These chambers cause excessive case stretching which makes it impossible to resize brass after two or three firings."

[GRUMPA]

Making cases for those isn't all that hard to do, real simple once you've done a few. Using 357mag brass the end result will be a 256 case that'll be about .030 shorter than spec. The only way around it is to use 360DW cases which are a longer version of the 357mag and the 360DW has a beefier web.

And JR.....I use j-word data all the time, I just lower the charge weight to the very low and work up. But I'll admit I do own a chrony which takes the guess work out of it.

I have everything here, well......a few powders anyway. You can always stop on by if your in my neck of the woods.....

[Jr.]

Thanks Matt if I'm ever up that way I'll definitely stop by. I need to see your shop anyhow and learn a thing or twenty.

[Blackwater]

Jr., I had a .256 Contender barrel and loved it. It just didn't suit much of anything I did very well, so I let it go and sold nearly 1,000 brass cases for it to another friend. 752 of them were original WW's, and the rest I formed from .357's as described above. The only thing I can add is that I think you'll get much better, much longer lasting brass if you anneal the case necks before and again after forming. I got pretty good results doing this, and the brass formed that way lasted well. The stuff I didn't anneal got cracks in the neck pretty quick. The brass is thin and heats up quick, so be very careful and alert when doing this for best results. FWIW?

[Jr.]

Thank-you for your input Blackwater. I will probably be forming brass after I figure out if this rifle performs.

Found a PDF of the Lyman 44 manual that had the information I needed so now its to the store for some 2400 or h4227. Never dealt with these powders but they seem to be what the cartridge likes according to the manual. And I will report back on the progress.

Here is a picture of the little guy after fixing the stock.

[Three44s]

I am impressed!

Three 44s

[tward]

Jr, I've got a 256 win contender barrel, like to shoot it. I have a set of RCBS dies and I found that if you went slow and ran the cases up in stages that I got about 96 percent success. I could have done better by annealing the cases. I have three 25 cal molds and I would be happy to send you some samples to try. I've had good luck with cast Boolits and unique for just plinking. Shoot me a PM if you would like some samples, some guys on the forum did the same for me. Tim:bigsmyl2: ps used Lee lube thinned with water for forming cases.

[Artful]

JR - Nice job on that rifle, looks great

- I have a contender barrel and I tried cast but never got the speed I thought I needed (was younger and dumber then) it was great with 60 gr speer SP bullets - blew stuff up real good.

[rking22]

Nice work!I am a 256 fan too, have a 10 inch and a 24inch Contender barrels. I traded the 10inch for a hornet 35 years ago and missed it so much I went back and bought it back a year later! I got an NOE 80gr mould but have not started working up squirrel loads yet, too many other projects! Can't offer any insight on load data ,memory is not so hot, and no records from "back then". So, I too am interested in any insight from those who "been there done that" , no need in reinventing the wheel :)

[Blackwater]

Jr., that's a very nice Marlin there! I've always wanted one, but the few I've seen in my parts have been too spendy for me to go for. I've heard complaints about them, but I think most have stemmed from folks who simply didn't know what they had or how to go about tuning one. I've heard some say that they got much improved accuracy from glass bedding theirs, but can give no testimonials personally.

That seems logical since most rifles can benefit accuracy wise from glassing them. Just keeps the barrel and action stable during firing and keeps it from rattling around in the mortises for them. Some have said the chambers are generous and not conducive to long case life, but that's not uncommon with many rifles, and maybe particularly leverguns.

With .357 brass being so plentiful and cheap, that really shouldn't be a problem. Only "drudgery" when I had my little T/C barrel was annealing the cases before and after firing, but in that gun, case life was good provided I did the annealing before and after sizing.

I started with H-4227 and never found any reason to want anything else, so can't give you a lot of data. It shot best with max. or near max. loads from the Hodgdon's manual, IIRC. It's really a very neat small game and varmint rifle, up to coyote class, though it can of course be pressed into use for bigger stuff if one knows how to place his shots.

I'm honestly envious of your new rifle. Always wanted one of those and never got one. I guess in getting older, we all have some of those regrets. Enjoy your new toy. It's a good one!

[Jr.]

Thank you all for your kind words words. This is the first stock I have tried to save so it is nice to hear. I also appreciate the generous offers from the members here as well as the advice. This is why I keep coming back to this site.