Rechambering

[Northern hunter]

With all of the options of the 6.5 chambering I chose a Vanguard in 6.5 x55.  I've been playing with the idea of put an Ackley 40° shoulder on it. All of my research and a 13.9% improvement in performance has had me going about this for a while now. It's the 6.5x 284 performance with 8 to 10 grains less. The barrel life remains the same. Dies are pricey Redding. A very little accuracy difference when fireforming parent cartridge. For about $500 can have this done.

[buffybr]

In the late '70s I had my .30-06 re-chambered to .30 Gibbs and a new .25-06 barreled action rebhambered to .257 Ackley.  The .30 Gibbs with 180 gr Partitions was my favorite elk rifle (along with a couple of Shiras moose, a Mountain goat and an Alaskan Caribou) for over 20 years.  About 15 years ago I replaced it with a .300 Weatherby.

The .257 Ackley is still my go to deer and antelope rifle, and it also put 3 Bighorn rams, a Dall ram, a Mountain Caribou, and my 2nd best 6x6 bull elk in my freezer and on my wall.

[Dino82520]

In the late '70s I had my .30-06 re-chambered to .30 Gibbs and a new .25-06 barreled action rebhambered to .257 Ackley.  The .30 Gibbs with 180 gr Partitions was my favorite elk rifle (along with a couple of Shiras moose, a Mountain goat and an Alaskan Caribou) for over 20 years.  About 15 years ago I replaced it with a .300 Weatherby.

The .257 Ackley is still my go to deer and antelope rifle, and it also put 3 Bighorn rams, a Dall ram, a Mountain Caribou, and my 2nd best 6x6 bull elk in my freezer and on my wall.

Why did you have a 25-06 bbl rechambered to .257 AI. According to the Nosler reloading manual, the 25-06 has a little over 7 gr more powder capacity than the .257 AI? Did you only have a short action available, or did you just want a .257 AI. That last reason is reason enough.

[buffybr]

Why did you have a 25-06 bbl rechambered to .257 AI. According to the Nosler reloading manual, the 25-06 has a little over 7 gr more powder capacity than the .257 AI? Did you only have a short action available, or did you just want a .257 AI. That last reason is reason enough.

Simple answer is that I had just read P. O. Ackley's books and he had nothing but praise for the .257 AI.

I did that back in the late '70s.  I had an FFL then and I bought a new Mauser Mark X .25-06 barreled action and had Les Bauska in Kalispell do the rechambering.  Looking back, I probably should have just had the .25-06 rechambered to .25-06 AI.  But over the years my .257 AI has been very good to me and I don't have any complaints about it.

[eford]

I seriously considered getting a 257 Ackley. The external ballistics are perfect for deer and pronghorn. Even the "ordinary" 257 Roberts is good, judging from what I heard from some older hunters who wax poetic about its merits.