.25 Ackley Krag Improved

[.22-10-45]

I will be coming into a rifle of this caliber soon. Case forming dies are included. What load would you recommend for fire forming brass to Ackley chamber? Present owner thinks rifle is unfired...if so, I would like to do some barrel break-in while fire-forming..would a start load of say 3000fps. or slightly under form case? (want to minimize copper fouling) I have bullets from 75 thru 117grs. Thanks!

[Mk42gunner]

Knowing that you need fairly significant pressure to move brass satisfactorily, two ideas come to mind.

1. Load a middle of the road load with your longest bullet touching the origin of rifling. Or-

2. Try hydroforming. I saw an article by Major Nonte in one of the older Digests that made it seem fairly simple.

So what type of rifle is it? You can't just say "I have a rifle in this interesting caliber coming, but I'm not telling you guys anything else."

Robert

[Teddy (punchie)]

PM me and I'll look it up in a manual if I can find it.

[Reverend Al]

I would go to Mr. Ackley's reference books and see what he shows for load data since it was his cartridge ...

[Dryball]

It's very easy to do. Use regular 257 data and a moderate burn powder and load. The only thing to keep in mind while doing this is to seat the bullet to "jam" slightly. Or if you'd like...just use red dot and COW...there are several threads, here, how to do this

[.22-10-45]

Thanks guys! Rifle is built on Sharps Borchardt action, 26" brl. custom stock.

[Mavrick]

This is a rimmed case, so you don't HAVE to jam a bullet, it you don't care to.
The fireformed capacity is very close to the .257 Improved Roberts, so any .257 charge that will fit into the case should be fine.
Personally, I would probably put 10-15 grains of Bullseye or Red Dot (the powders I have the most of) into the cases followed by filling the case with Cream of Wheat (COW) and NO bullet!!! The shoulders may be a bit rounded, but you can put a full charge in, ready to shoot.
That's a great little case for single shots, especially, and you should have endless fun with it, right up 'til you decide to part ways with it, and call ME to take it off your hands so I can give you a donation large enough to make down payment on your next project.
Have fun,
Gene

[.22-10-45]

Well, the RCBS .25 Ack. Krag Improved 2 die form set arrived from Huntington via Midway..when ordered they said expected delivery to be sometime in March..arrived the 1st.! Set dies up so shellholder touched die mouth at top of ram travel. Ran a couple of new Win. .30-40 Krag cases thru both. Instructions said to next full-length resize & trim before fire-form. The full length sized case slipped right in chamber...the case that only went thru #2 form die was contacting chamber shoulder & slight drag was felt when closing breechblock...but in no way was extra force needed to close action. Formed cases have two shoulders..the full length sized one has same dia neck as the one from #2 form die..but the new shoulder has been pushed back forming a rather sharp corner in the brass. Since the case from the #2 form die was making firm contact with chamber shoulder & new shoulder in case was rather rounded I am thinking I could skip the full length sizing. What do you experts think? Thanks!

[Mk42gunner]

Never having messed with a Sharps Borchardt, I'm kind of flying blind here. Since .30-40 Krag brass doesn't exactly grow on trees anymore, and cases from both steps will chamber; I would load one of each and fire to see what happens.

Robert