25 WSSM In an Ar upper. Good, Bad or Other?

[Buckley]

I recently acquired a 25 WSSM upper and I am curious if anyone has any experience with one. Haters will be out there as it is an Olympic Arms product but it was attached to a Leupold MK4 and the price was too good to pass up. Ar 15 platform btw.

 

[supratt96]

I have one. Awesome power in a small frame AR. About the same ballistics as a 25-06. I had mine custom built to use as a hog rifle and it absolutely destroys them using an 87gr Nosler Ballistic Tip at 3700 fps. Accuracy is about 1 moa.

Mine is a bit fussy on mags. Had to try three before I found one that was reliable. WSSM brass is very thick and a bit difficult to work with if you don't have a very robust press. Other than that, awesome rig.

 

[Buckley]

Upper came with 400 rounds of 117gr btsp. I haven’t had an opportunity to take it out with the Covid crap having everything shut down. I am hopeful that it is as accurate as yours! It was also supplied with four mags and I hope to see how they function soon. Thanks for the info.

 

[Constructor]

If you want better accuracy turn the necks of the cases down to .012-.014" thick. Seems like mine were .017 to start.

 

[Buckley]

I haven’t started neck turning yet but this might be the reason to take the plunge.

Forster micrometer die set was part of the package. This should turn out to be a fun experiment if for nothing else.

 

[Buckley]

Any recommendations for buffers? Would an adjustable gas block be advisable?

 

[supratt96]

I run mine with a standard buffer and non adjustable gas block. Seems to work just fine with that although an adjustable block couldn’t hurt.

 

[Burning sensation]

+1 on being magazine sensitive, though mine is a slightly different animal (30 wssm). I ended up buying stainless ASC 20 round mags, raising the mag catch, milling the center out of the follower, and tweaking the feed lips on each one to get it running, just in case the mags you have don’t work out.

 

[Buckley]

Here is one of the mags that came with the upper. If the work done to the follower was hand done then it was done quite well. Hopefully I will be able to get out in the next week or so to give it/them a try.

 

[Burning sensation]

View attachment 7345242Here is one of the mags that came with the upper. If the work done to the follower was hand done then it was done quite well. Hopefully I will be able to get out in the next week or so to give it/them a try.

That should work. I take mine down a little farther, but I doubt it matters. Mine runs best with the feed lips bent to where the nose of the bullet is angled slightly upward. That could have something to do with the larger diameter bullet, though. A .25 may not need it, but it may. The whole magazine does sit lower than with a standard AR15 sized round.