25 ACP Wildcats?

[Jim B.]

Does anyone know of a wildcat cartridge based on the .25acp case?  I am thinking of something necked down to .22 or .20 - something that would be between a hot reloadable 22 LR and a mild .22 Mag with 40 to 50 gr bullets.  

Are their other  existing wildcats that would perform in this range?

Thanks,
Jim

[Reed1911]

There are some prototypes of the .25ACP and .32ACP necked down to .10 caliber, but there is not a gun to shoot them in to my knowledge.
There really isn't too much you can do with the .25ACP simply due to it's small capacity. I always ask "why", and am usually answered "just to do it"; but maybe you have a nitch you want to fill; so why do you want to do it? There are several wildcats that fall into the small .17 and .20 calibers that have the energy between the .22LR and .22Mag, with flatter trajectories. IF you have a need, you might look there, if not let me know if I can help.

I just tried it (yeah you got my interest). With a neck of .156" it has a cap. of 3.1g.

[bgjohn]

There's the 5.7x28 round from FN. The case head is same size as the 25acp. But it's a much hotter round.
JM

[redhawk44]

I would think that this 17 machII would be pretty close to what you want.  It is based on the regular 22 Long Rifle case and yeilds arould 2100 fps from a rifle.  

I would expect about 1700 from a 6" revolver.

[bull]

I remember a guy on another forum that was playing with a .25acp necked down to .22 called an Epperson Cricket. He was geting either between lr and mag or up to mag results. Seems like he was using the surplus russian .22 trainers with a modified bolt and firing pin. I think it was on rimfirecentral.com , if it's still around. I think there was also info on another website, but i can't remember where.

[rodgervich]

I made this .17 caliber wildcat on the .25 ACP. Ballistics are about the same as the HM2. I shoot 20gr VMAX at around 1200 ft/s and I can get 15gr Berger MEF's over 2000 ft/s but they shoot better at 1800 or so.
I converted a Romanian 22lr trainer to centerfire for this cartridge.
I have been in touch with Mr. Epperson about his Cricket, it looks like my "form 1" case. He did the same conversion of a Rom trainer, he goes by "Vibe" on various forums. In fact he was my inspiration to do this project.
Loads are 1.2 - 1.6 gr pistol powder. Fun for show'n'tell but mostly a pain in the a$$  :lol:
I also made a .17 version of the 5.7x28 case, call it a 4.4x28. It shoots OK and pops jackrabbits pretty good.
There are a few other people who have made similar cartridges and they are all about the same, not much room for variation really! The more famous would be the Eichelberger Dart by Bill Eichelberger, there is very little information about him on the web but he is probably the most experienced wildcatter with subcalibers from .20-.10 caliber.
 

[260 AAR]

Dear Jim,
   If you want a copy of the 22 Pokey[22/25ACP] let me know.  I think I still have 1-2 left over from a job I did for a guy on a pistol. He says it shoots ok in semi-auto also.

Aloha, Mark