25-45 has caught my eye.  It looks like a good deal of energy considering it is a bbl-only swap.  I understand some here have the 25-223 and have had various levels of experience with it.

I have an AR with nothing particularly fancy going for it - an A2-buttstock lower with an SSA-E trigger standard flat-top upper.  I don't have a bolt (do have carrier) barrel or handguard / tube for it yet.  I have been thinking about trying this caliber out here on a hog hunt (figure 20" bbl - yes I know the velocity figures published so far are for 24").

I've also considered sticking a generic float tube on it with a big 24" 204 ruger barrel on it and going p'dog hunting.

Anyone?

I wish it would gain more traction... Doesn't seem to be selling all that well, I don't ever hear anything about it. But I like that as I understand it, it's just a barrel change away and offers more than any 5.56 loading.


Maybe I'm wrong though? I hope I am.

I recently had two built, a 16" and a 20". Unfortunately, I have no range report to offer due to my busy work schedule.

Thanks for the pics - nice looking rifles.

Now - just send them here and I will range report them for you...

Anyhow - I wouldn't mind seeing more done with it.  Perhaps the 'ar-not-223' field is too deep already what with the socoms, blackouts, spcs, and even grendels hanging around (yes - I know there are others).

Is there an equally powerful barrel-change-only alternative round?  300BLK probably is in pistol bbl length (apples to apples) but I mean real full rifle?

I actually like the idea for a military application, if you could get the speed with higher BC projectiles, but the case length inside the AR15 doesn't allow it.

I'm pretty fond of .257", but haven't seen one that offers anything over 6.5mm that would justify them enough for me to invest in dies and projectiles for it.

The barrel is a very limited fixed cost and negligible to me personally.

Since there aren't any projectiles with good numbers on them compared to 6.5mm, it would only add another cartridge that can fit in my 5.56 mags, which I would have to implement some type of procedure to segregate in order to avoid any issues with loading one in the other.

For a replacement for 5.56, I like the idea, as there isn't really a noticeable recoil difference and you can get a lot of speed from the same case due to neck-to-case diameter ratio without pushing pressures.

It doesn't warrant enough change for military adoption, but probably would have been a better route to go in 1957.

I agree at gotta keep em separated.  25-45 is apparently just a necking up so a 223 in theory could chamber.

It looks like most of the 257 pills run out of gas at 200-250 using the hottest loads possible.

I really think I'll keep my AR-15s to defensive and target use and use my AR-10s for meat production.  I mean hunting.

In my opinion the reason the 25-45 won't really survive is because the 6x45 outshines it, and has been around for quite a while. As far as simple neck-ups go, the 6x45 with its higher BC bullets with way better bullet selection makes a .25 version a moot point, except for those that just live quarter-bores.

Nice cartridge though.