The “out-of-print” .256 Winchester is an excellent performer in John’s T/C Contender.
In the early 1960s there was a great deal of interest in long-range, small-bore handgun cartridges. Remington introduced the radical (at the time) XP-100 bolt gun chambered in .221 Fireball. Smith & Wesson contributed the ill-fated .22 Jet, and Marlin brought out a modernized lever-action rifle chambered in .256 Winchester Magnum.
Both of the latter two cartridges were based on the .357 Magnum necked down. The .256 was at least prototyped by Colt — in 1963 they produced a brochure showing four .256 sixguns — a Colt SAA, a Buntline Special and a Python, all priced at $125 each, plus their $89.95 .357 Magnum.
I have no idea how many, if any, were actually produced and sold as they simply couldn’t get it to work right; case setback with the cartridge case jamming the cylinder was the problem.
Marlin’s Model 57 .256 Levermatic was a modernized, box-magazine short-throw levergun.
Ruger Hawkeye, Marlin Levermatic
Ruger made the .256 work in their single-shot Hawkeye “revolver.” Instead of a cylinder, Ruger went with a single-shot breechblock fitted to a Blackhawk frame. The cartridge is a good one, however, the Marlin Model 57 Levermatic did not go over well perhaps because it was too modern-looking a departure from the traditional Marlin levergun. The Levermatic was hammerless and designed with a short action and very short lever throw which takes some getting used to for those of us raised on standard (and far smoother) Marlins and Winchesters.
Although the operation of the action is nothing to get excited about, the Levermatic shoots quite well with the .256 — a modernized version of the old .25-20.
It was made to be scoped and gives me excellent results for three shots at 50 yards using the Speer 75-gr. JFN over 14 grains of IMR 4227 for just under 2,300 fps and a group of 5/8″. The Hornady 60-gr. JSP over one more grain of the same powder gives the same muzzle velocity and the same accuracy.
John’s preferred powder? Alliant 2400.
John’s Contender Concoctions
Thompson/Center also chambered their Contender in .256. Mine has a 10″ bull barrel and is topped with a Burris 4X LER, my scope of choice. I do not know of anyone offering .256 Winchester brass today, however, I’ve always tried to keep a good supply of all pistol brass on hand and have often purchased brass found at reasonable prices long before I ever had any gun to accept it.
Since the .256 Winchester is based on the .357 Magnum case, I surmise you could make brass from the latter, but I’m guessing cases made thusly would need to be inside necked reamed. Fortunately, I have enough brass so this should never be a problem. Dies are available from RCBS and with the .256 being a bottlenecked case, only a full-length sizing and seating die are required.
My powders of choice for the .256 are the same two I use for most handgun loads — Alliant 2400 and IMR 4227. Hornady, Sierra and Speer all offer .25 caliber bullets in the proper weight range (60-75 grains). Accuracy is excellent with all loads I have used with three shots at 45 yards. They all average under — well under — 1″. Factory loads from Winchester use a 60-gr. JHP that clocks out just under 2,500 fps from the 10″ Contender barrel and places its shots in 7/8″.
My favorite loads include the Hornady 60-gr. JFP over 14.0 grains of 2400 for 2,440 fps. One grain more gives me just over 2,500 fps with both loads grouping 5/8″ for three shots. The most accurate load I’ve found is the Speer 75-gr. FP over 14.0 grains of 2400 (3/8″ at 2,250 fps).
John’s favorite bullets for the .256 Winchester are the Hornady 60-gr. FP, Speer 75-gr. FPFN and Sierra 75-gr. JHP.
Bottleneck golden oldies: The .256 Winchester (right) is a modernized version of the .25-20.
Missed Opportunities
The plan behind the .256 Winchester was to come up with a 2,500 fps small-bore sixgun load. It was an excellent idea. It’s unfortunate the engineers on the project did not do all the homework necessary to make this cartridge work in a revolver chamber. My friends Gary Reeder and J.D. Jones learned how to make bottlenecked cartridges work in sixguns, so you have to wonder why the original engineers couldn’t figure it out.
The Contender-chambered .256 Winchester is an excellent choice for small game and varmints as is the Marlin Levermatic (which is certainly more powerful than my old Marlin 1894 .25-20). The cartridge itself is quite potent for such work and — combined with its accuracy potential — gives everything needed.
This cartridge should not have died.
Categories
Winchester Model 12.
Gun: Pocket Model 1849
Manufacturer: Colt Patent Firearms Manufacturing Co. (London, United Kingdom)
Caliber: .31
Manufactured: 1855
Condition: NRA Excellent (Antique Gun Standards)
Value: $4,950 (As cased, with accessories)
The 1849 Pocket Model was one of Colt’s most successful revolvers, being produced in greater numbers than any other of the company’s percussion-cap guns. Introduced during the first years of the California Gold Rush, it had the added distinction of having put Colt solidly in the black, as this diminutive, .31-caliber, five-shooter became a valued companion of argonauts heading west.
Manufactured between 1850 and 1873 (and later chambered for six rounds), some 325,000 Colt Pockets were eventually made. Basically an improved version of Colt’s earlier Model 1848 Pocket Revolver, also known as the “Baby Dragoon,” the ’49 was updated with the addition of an integral under-barrel loading lever, a roller on the base of the hammer for smoother cocking and a rounded trigger guard that reduced snagging on clothing when being brought into action. To enhance its marketability, the gun’s cylinder was roll-engraved with a dramatic stagecoach hold-up scene.
Over its lifetime, the Model 1849 was available with a considerable variety of options. Barrel lengths were 3, 4, 5 or 6 inches, with 4 inches being the most common. The usual finish was a blued barrel, cylinder, trigger and screws and a case-hardened frame, hammer and loading lever.
A silver-plated, brass trigger guard and backstrap and varnished walnut grips completed the package. Like other Colt products, the ’49 Pockets could be ordered with special features such as exotic finishes, intricate engraving and exotic wood or ivory stocks. Single or multiple gun cases with full accessories were not uncommon.
Initially produced at Colt’s Hartford, Conn., factory, ’49 Pocket serial numbers began around 12,000, toward the end of the Baby Dragoon’s lifespan. Both were made side-by-side and shared numbers for a few months in 1850, after which the Baby Dragoon was discontinued.
Ambitious and entrepreneurial, Samuel Colt was ever-interested in expanding demand for his products overseas. In 1851, he presented an impressive display of the company’s line at the Great Exhibition in London.
Many of his British and Continental rivals at the fair, though extolled for their quality and inventiveness, lacked two main advantages in which Colt’s guns excelled—interchangeability of parts and efficient production methods.
Encouraged by his generally positive reception at the show, and always anxious to gain elusive government contracts, Colt, in 1853, opened a factory in London’s Pimlico district.
Here, he would produce Colt Model 1851 Navy revolvers, Model 1849 Pockets and a small number of 3rd Model Dragoon .44s assembled mostly from Hartford parts. Recognizing the English upper-class familiarity with elegantly constructed firearms, Colt’s Pimlico pieces were finished to a higher standard than those made and sold in America. London bluing displayed a deeper, more-lustrous hue and the case-hardening was more radiant.
About 5,000 London-built 1851 Navy revolvers were purchased by Her Majesty’s War Department (and an unknown number were acquired privately by British military types) and saw use in the Crimean War and Indian Mutiny.
Despite some favorable domestic testimonials by gentlemen, serving officers and such luminaries as Charles Dickens, authorities eschewed Colt’s .36-caliber single-action Navy in favor of the double-action English .442 Beaumont-Adams. Commercial sales were simply not enough to keep the costly London establishment afloat. Colt closed his overseas factory in 1856 after a scant four years of operation.
The London Model 1849, while of secondary importance to the Navy, was still an important product and sold well, some 11,000 of them being made; about two-thirds less than the total number of Model 1851s. Like the ’51, British Pockets can be found with either silver-plated brass or blued iron trigger guards and backstraps.
The London Colt Pocket Model seen here is in excellent condition, retaining approximately 50 percent of its original bluing. Most of its case-hardening has minimal fading. Its cylinder scene is crisp and deep, and the mechanics are perfect. The 4-inch-barreled revolver is English-oak-cased with original accessories. A London ’49 in this shape, on its own, would be worth $2,150. The case and accoutrements add another $2,800, bringing the value of the outfit to $4,950.