Introducing the .257 Ferguson Hot Tamale
Extreme velocity, pinpoint accuracy and devastating long-range results on game describe James Ferguson’s incredible wildcat.
By Russell Thornberry
For as long as ballisticians have been stuffing powder and bullets into brass cases, they have been engaged in an ongoing race with gravity. Since all objects respond to gravity’s pull at the exact same rate of drop, regardless of their weight and design, the object of the race is to launch the bullet as far as possible from the muzzle before gravity pulls the bullet into terra firma.
Magnum velocity (3,000 feet per second) was considered the ultimate conquest for many years. Today, however, we take 3,000 fps for granted. The next hurdle – 4,000 fps – remains somewhere on the very distant horizon for factory big game rifles. Notice I said “factory.”
After years of experimenting, gunsmith James Ferguson of Wharton, Texas, has actually achieved the formidable muzzle velocity of 4,000-plus fps in a caliber that will tantalize the imaginations of those who relish ultra-flat bullet trajectory – especially the .25-caliber aficionados. Ferguson has necked the 7mm STW case down to .257 caliber and, with a 100-grain bullet ahead of a specified load of Reloader 25, he’s managed to break the 4,000-fps barrier without exceeding safe pressure parameters.
Is Ferguson the first to wildcat a .257 x 7mm STW? Perhaps not. But to my knowledge, he’s the first to realize the staggering velocity of 4,000-plus fps muzzle velocity while maintaining half-minute-of-angle accuracy.
I received my Ferguson .257 Hot Tamale (my nickname for cartridge) last fall, and it put five shots into a 3/8-inch group off the bench at 100 yards. Recoil wasn’t excessive to me, but I am a big fellow and used to rifles that bite back.
Then, in December 2002, I met Ferguson in Laredo, Texas, en route to our destination for a whitetail hunt in Mexico (he’s also an outfitter). Hot weather slowed the rut to a crawl, and the mature bucks went underground for a few days. So, being anxious to feed the Hot Tamale to some wild critter, I suggested that we spend a few hours looking for some javelinas.
We found plenty of them at a variety of ranges. The first one was at 305 yards, according to our range-finder. “Hold dead on him,” Ferguson announced. I did, and the bristly little critter dropped in its tracks.
The next one we ranged at 410 yards. Ferguson repeated his previous instructions with confidence, but when I looked at the javelina through the crosshairs a quarter-mile away, something in my mind just wouldn’t believe I could just aim at him point-blank. So I held over him just a hair and touched off my shot.
“You shot over him!” Ferguson scolded. “Where did you you aim?”
“Uh -- a hair over him,” I confessed sheepishly.
“Aim right at the pig – I’m telling you that you don’t have to hold over him!”
The javelina was so far away that the first shot didn’t even register as a problem to him. I lowered my crosshair into the black silhouette and squeezed the trigger. I saw him drop through the scope before the recoil registered against my shoulder. To say that I was impressed was an understatement.
My rifle was zeroed at 350 yards. With a muzzle velocity of 4,060 fps, my 100-grain, all-copper J-36 bullet (manufactured by Lost River Ballistic Technologies Inc.) with a ballistic coefficient of .532, registered as follows:
+ 1.89 inches at 100 yards
+3.15 inches at 200 yards
+1.78 inches at 300 yards
Dead-on at 350 yards
-2.58 inches at 400 yards
-10.27 inches at 500 yards.
Incredibly, the velocity at 500 yards is still in excess of 3,000 fps. Energy in foot-pounds generated at the muzzle is 3,660, and at 500 yards, it still maintains 2,057 foot-pounds of energy – plenty enough for any whitetail!
Later in the week, a beautiful white-tailed buck crossed a sendero about 300 yards from my tripod stand. A center lung shot curled him up like a scalded spider. The Hot Tamale had spoken.
James Ferguson’s son Jimmy shot several feral hogs with his rifle chambered for the same cartridge, and in each case the pigs dropped in their tracks. The amazing J-36 all-copper bullet displayed incredible penetration, driving completely through bone and heavy tissue of each hog and exiting in every case. Ferguson had originally loaded the cartridge with 100-grain Nosler Solid Base Ballistic Tip bullets, which performed exceptionally well in terms of accuracy. The softer lead-core bullet, however, expanded rapidly upon impact. It dropped animals, too, but at such velocities it didn’t always pass through and exit like the J-36 did.
I shot a blackbuck and an axis deer in the Texas Hill Country and numerous whitetails in Alabama after my Mexico experience, and in every case the bullet passed through, dropping the animals like stones.
Extreme velocity produces some astounding effects that seem to defy physical laws. This was brought to my attention years ago when I read an article in Volume I of P.O. Ackley’s classic “Handbook for Shooters & Reloaders.” Ackley noted that his experience proved that a .220 Swift was the most deadly caliber ever produced for deer and similar-sized game. His book was copyrighted in 1962, but his understanding of the compound effects of extreme velocity remains as true today as it was then.
In addition to some extensive shooting tests on animals, Ackley demonstrated his findings by firing two 48-grain bullets from a 220 Swift into half-inch armor plate on the front of a U.S. Army half-track. He also fired 100-grain bullets from a .270 Winchester and armor-piercing rounds from a government .30-06. All shots were fired from a distance of 30 feet.
The results were amazing. Both of the .220 Swift factory loads penetrated completely through the half-inch armor plate, leaving holes approximately 3/8 inch in diameter. The 100-grain .270 bullets managed no penetration whatsoever, leaving only shiny spots on the armor plate, and the .30-06 armor-piercing bullets made only shallow craters.
Suffice to say Ackley made his point about the compounded effects of hypervelocity (muzzle velocity of 4,00fps or more). His .220 Swift bullets exited the barrel at 4,100 fps, practically the same speed that the 100-grain .257 caliber bullet is leaving Ferguson’s Hot Tamale. That’s twice the bullet weight of the 48-grain .220 bullet at the same devastating speed! Little wonder the animals shot with the Hot Tamale were dropping in a heap.
Another and most important aspect of the effects of hypervelocity on game must be understood in order to fully understand its advantages. Liquid can’t be compressed, so when the force of hypervelocity impacts internal organs, the liquid contained therein becomes a deadly weapon in its own right. It explodes away from the impact with such force that it destroys all in its path. Crossing the 4,000-fps threshold of speed creates such intense hydrostatic shock within the animal that the liquid in its vital organs becomes something of an internal bomb. Magnum velocity of 3,000 fps does not approach this devastating threshold, regardless of bullet weights.
I refrained from mentioning the specific powder load used in my cartridges because it would be misleading and potentially dangerous as general information. James Ferguson doesn’t just build you a rifle and send it to you to develop your own load. He works with each rifle, measuring pressure generated and accuracy. Not only do you get a phenomenal rifle, but you also get a proven load that is safe and extremely accurate. That’s part of the package.
Two Ferguson rifles of the same caliber might not have identical handloads. One thing is for certain, assuming he makes a rifle for which factory loads are available: His handload recipes will exceed factory ammo both in velocity and accuracy. With a wildcat cartridge like the Hot Tamale, Ferguson’s predetermined loading data is an essential part of the equation.
I have long been enamoured with 1/4-inch calibers, so when Ferguson told me about his Hot Tamale, I had to have one. It has certainly exceeded even my wildest expectations. The hardest part of hunting with the Hot Tamale is believing that I can aim right at a critter at a quarter-mile away (and farther) and make clean killing shots without holding over the target. This rifle might put quite a hurt on the range-finder market.
My rifle is built on a Remington 700 long magnum action. The components of my rifle include a 26-inch, No. 4, fluted, Shilen Stainless Select Match Grade barrel — the finest barrel Shilen manufactures. The stock is a McMillan Remington Classic, and the trigger is a Jewell Hunting Trigger set at 40 ounces. Ferguson has built numerous .257 Hot Tamales on other actions as well, according to the preferences of his clients.
Extreme velocity, pinpoint accuracy and devastating results on game describe the Ferguson .257 Hot Tamale.
If P.O. Ackley were still around, I have no doubt that he’d agree that the .257 Ferguson Hot Tamale is now “the most deadly caliber for deer and similar-sized game ever produced.” And I can’t imagine a more lethal sheep gun, especially in terrain that makes judging distances difficult. The Hot Tamale is truly a rifleman’s dream.
Post Scrpt
Since this article was first published in Buckmasters GunHunter Magazine, the Hot Tamale has been used successfully on several continents. It has take the largest of game including Alaska,Yukon moose, bull elk, prairie bison and African eland with a single shot through the point of the shoulder. Even on these large species the 100-grain, all-copper bullets achieved complete pass through and dropped these animals in their tracks!
Ferguson Custom Rifles
www.fergusonrifles.com
5320 FM 1299
Wharton, TX 77488
(979) 533-0140
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