Does anyone currently reload/use the .256 Winchester Magnum cartridge for varmint hunting? I might have the opportunity to pick up a Marlin Mod 62 in .256 with some factory ammo and am looking for some feedback on the effectiveness of this round out to 150 yards and the accuracy of the Model 62 Levermatic. The action is pretty slick and the rifle is like new, I'm just not sure it is worth getting into. The resizing of .357 brass sounds a bit tricky, but the caliber has piqued my interest. There's not a lot of information on either the cartridge, or rifle out there. Any info would be appreciated. Is this a white elephant, or a combination that would be fun to play with for small to medium varmint at short to intermediate ranges?

I don't currently own one but I wish I did! I had a 10" T/C Contender back in the early eighties and it was a screamer. I shot 200M metallic silhouette competition with 87 grain bullets and varmints with 60 grain HP's. You can resize 357 magnum by annealing it first and then running it (well lubed) into a FL .256 die. Sounds like it wouldn't work but it does. P.O.Ackley and I had a 6 month long argument about this once. I finally ended the argument when I sent him a box of resized and fired .357 brass. It is a very cool round. Killed a coyote at just under 150 yards with it once. Sorry I don't remember the loads but it was most certainly with Herc 2400.~AMMOe

Thanks for the response. Sounds like the little .256 would be an interesting intermediate range cartridge. Have you any recollection of the Marlin Levermatic and its accuracy? I have a CZ 527 in .223 that I use for varmint hunting and am very pleased with it. It's just that the .256 sounds like it would be a kick to shoot and the ballistics are impressive for a pistol cartridge.

The Marlins were known to be minute and a half guns at best but with modern ingenuity, that might be bested. Let me ask you this: How much is the gun being sold for. On or around $300 I'd be sorely tempted. I have a Martini Cadet action and a Green Mountain octagonal blank I'd like to make a 25-20 out of but, as the rifle is already a 25-20, a .256 WM might be just the ticket. Years ago I rebuilt a 1922 Springfield (the 1903 in 22LR) that had been converted to CF and chambered for 223. I made it a 25-20 with a 1-14" twist. It shot like no-ones business. I had a thought of making it a 256 WM but before I could, someone offered me a lot of money for my handiwork and it was gone. If I'd made a 256 out of it it would still be in my gunrack! I have often thought of taking a 1894 Marlin lever gun and whittling/welding on the action to make it a single shot in 256.

Yeah... I miss it.~AMMOe

Shakey,

I have one of the Marlin 62 rifles in .256 Win. mag. The trigger on the rifle is not the greatest. The brass is difficult to form from .357 brass. it must also be annealed after forming. I have never used the rifle to hunt. I have no doubt that i would be able to nail a 'chuck at 150 yards.

Jeff

Thanks for the feedback. It looks like it would be a lot of fun to shoot, but I'm still mulling around the idea of reloading for it. Might not be worth the effort. .256 brass is spendy and forming .357 sounds like a PIA. It about floored me to see new .256 brass selling on Midway for about as much as a box of commercially loaded .338 win mag.

In the world of brass forming, it is only a mild PIA. I did it with a coffee can full of water and a propane torch waaaaay back in 1980. Not much science there and they worked... even with nickle plated cases! I annealed and FL resized. That was it. You can actually reform 50 pcs of brass in about an hour. I would howl to the moon for a 256 WM! It's second only to the 25-20 as a quarter-bore varmint round for me, but I'm a cast bullet nostalgiac so the 25-20 rules. ~AMMOe

I just picked up a set of 256 Winchester Mag dies... Uh-oh I feel a gun coming on... ~AMMOe