256 WIN MAG

[Hawkeye28]

YES, CONTENDER offered 256 barrels and I recall noting a single Colt Single Action noted in the gun Digest........lots of those H'Eyes live here along with bases, scopes, ammo, and brass.........had 51 of them some times ago....Collection, accumulation, hoard,,,,,a sickness.......whatever, it worked for me.......

[JAYDAWG]

Thanks guys!
I too have the 30 Carbine Marlin and take it when I break out the 30 carbine Blackhawks.
Guess I'm kind of a geek for rifle/pistol combo's of the same caliber.
I have seen the M1 Uuniversal one time for sale, maybe if I see one again I will bite.
I don't need a Contender...... !!
I will give a report after shooting, although the 30 carbine model 62 is fun to shoot.
Hawkeye28........51 Hawkeyes???
Can't wait to tell my wife, she thinks I have a problem

Cheers,
JAY

[Hawkeye28]

NEVER CONFESS..........

[contender]

Nice ones for sure. KUDOS!!!!!!!!!

I have a shooter Hawkeye,, but no Marlin. I do have a Contender barrel. (Go figure!)
I reload,, and while I've accumulated several boxes of factory ammo, I got the stuff to form brass properly. I also built an annealing machine, just for my .256 formed brass. The only issue is the occasional lack of finding the 60 grn bullets I prefer. When Hornady makes a run, & they become available,, I tend to buy several boxes.

The Hawkeye pistol was my nemesis for 35 years. At the tender age of 17, I shot my first one. Young & dumb,, I said; "I'd like to have one of these. I'll get one someday." Well, little did I know back then. Being young & broke,, I never seemed to find one when I had some money. Only found a few when I was broke. Finally, after several close attempts,, after a 35 year wait, a FINE ROCS member had one & I was able to buy it. (Thanks again Mike!) Sadly, it's a shooter because of the extra hole drilled in the topstrap. But a shooter it is. I took it to Idaho several years ago, & got my first kills with it. Ground squirrels were the targets, and with plenty of them vermin,, my Hawkeye & my .327 Single-Seven,, I helped some ranchers out with a nuisance critter problem.
But I have also used it to educate many folks on Rugers. Many had never seen one,, much less gotten the chance to shoot one. We do so with mine, and it always seems to instantly cause lots of smiles!
And, I'm currently looking into adding another Hawkeye to my collection in the next week or two.

Now,, if I could find me a Marlin like that,, it would come to roost here.

[Watertender]

Tyrone I bet you would sell your shoes for one!!! Hope to see you in Ohio in 2021

[JAYDAWG]

Contender,
Thanks & Cool story.
I would like to learn more about your brass making for this round.
When you mentioned the 60 gr Hornaday's I got my Hornaday reloading manuals out,
I have the third edition from 1980 and the ninth from 2012.
The bullet number is 2510 and there are several sellers on Gunbroker right now in the
$22 to $25 range per box of 100. Is that an acceptable price?
Also in the Hornady manuals it gives a history of the round and guns associated with it and
of course the Hawkeye, Marlin & Contender were mentioned, but it also said there was a
Merrill Single shot made in the 256 win mag!?!
This worm hole keeps gettin' bigger!
I'm betting Watertender is the only one OLD enough to have seen one of these

Cheers,
JAY

[SteveRuger]

After the Contender barrel posts in 256 caliber, it got me thinking that I purchased years ago from Lynn Laudise a group of contender barrels that he had left over from a collection of guns he purchased from an estate. He asked if I knew anything about the Contenders? I told him I had a Contenders with the 223 14" barrel that I had enjoyed shooting, Lynn said I got a deal for you & we settled on a price then a few days later I had a box. I went out in the garage safe & found it last night. It was like Christmas I never opened it for some reason but, there was 6 barrels in there;
45/410
22 Jet
256
22 L.R
22 Hornet
32 H & R
All of them high gloss finish & octagon barrels.
Thanks all for the reminder for this old brain, if they were Rugers they would be on my inventory list.

[chet15]

We had late Will Sprunger (old timer RCA rep) use a Marlin .256 barrel to make a Hawkeye for us, using a Super Blackhawk cylinder frame that had been in a fire. Will machined the Hawkeye breech block and made the unique ejector rod, hardened everything blued and it is a wonderful shooter!! We then had it engraved and cased i. I think Will made three or four including one in stainless that I believe our Texas friend still has today.
Chet15

[JAYDAWG]

That would be cool to see.........
Anyone have a picture of the "custom Hawkeye"?

JAY

[contender]

"Tyrone I bet you would sell your shoes for one!!! Hope to see you in Ohio in 2021"

Yep,, in a heartbeat!

Jay,, forming brass for the .256 Win is a bit more work than some calibers. You start with .357 Mag brass.
First,, it's BEST if you have a set of proper form dies. The better ones are the 2 die sets. C-H & Redding sell them. (Ain't cheap.) But careful shopping & all, can have a set appear for a good price.
Some folks just try & use their normal reloading dies,, and all. I found it actually destroys too many cases to get some good ones.

Next,, the way to extend the case life is to anneal the case mouths after forming.
I built an annealer just for them.

Then once made,, you can use normal .256 dies to reload the converted brass. Always measure them after the .256 sizer work is done. Trim if necessary.

At $20-$25 a box for the 60 grn Hornady bullets,, it's a fair buy. I'd buy them for that.