25-35 win.

[pastorp]

Anyone shoot the 25-35 win caliber?  How does it work? I like the quarter bore & thinking about a contender barrel for deer & varmits...

Regards,

[Wyo. Coyote Hunter]

   pastorp, I have a rebarreled Marlin..it has a 24 in barrel and half mag...for me it is a fun gun..I have shot gophers, p. dogs, rockchucks, jacks, and coyotes with it..Also have shot antelope, whitetails and mule deer...but all of the big game were does..I am mainly a bolt action shooter..but this is a fun change of pace..and really a pretty fair killer on game..I am glad I went to the trouble of making this one up..not sure if I would do it again, but glad I have it..depending on what you want if for, I would think it would be a fine additon to anyones battery..I wouldn't choose this caliber if I were hunting big deer or pressured deer...surely elk have been killed with it, but there are much better elk rounds available and I am sure you have them if you hunt elk at all...

[tuck2]

The 25-35 Win is on the low end of the bullet velocity 25 Cal  rifles. The 250-3000, 257 Robets, 25-06 Rem all put out bullets with more velocity.  You can shoot but be close with the little old 25-35.

[rvtrav]

  Pastorp,
 
  I shoot a vintage 1894 in 25/35, I've hunted Antlope and mule deer with it with excellent results (one shot kills) If you build one up in a TC you won't be limited in bullet selection, like a lever action shooter would be.
 
 I've got a 120gr RCBS mold for casual shooting, there are still 86gr Flatnose available. but for most big game hunting, really the only jacketed bullet available is  Hornady's 117gr round nose, however within the gun/cartridge range limitations it works very well, and it is a neat old gun to get out of the safe once and a while and "walk the woods with."
 
 Rvtrav
 

[Darrell Davis]

Well, the 25/35 is no barn burner, but with a single shot or the Savage 99, you can use something other then the round nose or flat nose bullets.
 
For a friend's Savage, we have loaded the Hornady Interlock.
 
Brass is a snap to make.  I use new 30/30 brass and one past in and out of a set of Hornady dies and it is ready to load. 
 
Imperial sizing wax works great!
 
Keep em coming!
 
Crusty Deary Ol'Coot

[cwlongshot]

I have a H&R Handi rifle stubbed to 25/35 Winchester.
 
I have shot 100 and 117 bullets so far. I would like to try some light weights just have not done so yet...
 
I get good accuracy with Hornadys 117 RN. The 100G Speers also shot well, but I am conserned at expansion as the vel is pretty low...
 
CW

[Lloyd Smale]

ive never personaly shot anything with one but we had an oldtimer that used to come to camp when i was a kid that had one and swore by it. He killed alot of whitetails with it.

[84Jim]

A Mod 94 25-35 was my first deer rifle as a kid.  I got a 30-06 a couple of years after I started hunting so never really shot anything with it back in the day.  For nostaligia reasons I take it out from time to time and actually killed of of my better bucks in 1994 and a doe about 3 years ago.  Neither shot was your classic heart-lung hit so its hard to rate its performance other than it will kill a deer.  Both my uncle and dad hunted with it long ago - my uncle called it a Hollywood gun, " it makes a lot of noise but doesn't do anything."
I load Horn 117 RNs with IMR 4064 and 60 gr. Hornady RNs (they might actually be pistol bullets?) with a reduced charge of 4895.  The second load is a fun groundhog load if you don't mind open sights.
 

[T.R.]

My Dad's Aunt Lillian hunted with a slide action rifle in 25 Remington.  She toppled many Pennsylvania whitetails with her mild recoiling outfit. 25 Remington is a rimless 25-35 with same ballistics.
 
TR

[RevGeo]

Lots of deer have been killed with the good old 25-35. My uncle Lyle swore by his (my dad swore at it). I've heard the saying 'anything bigger than a 25-35 is showing off', so I must show off an awful lot.
I'm a fan of the old calibers and the 25-35 is one of my favorites.
Kinda funny how some guys praise handguns chambered for old rounds like this as big game guns, but call the rifles chambered for them 'marginal at best'.

[T.R.]

Rev:
 
I know what you mean.  A gun magazine will praise the 44MAG revover for taking moose but a few pages later, different article recommends 375 H & H MAG for moose. Yet same animal.  So it goes.
 
TR

[spooked]

Had a 1906 vintage 94 in 25-35. Killed one deer with one shot about 30 yds, another I shot at about one hundred yards.    First shot put the 100yd deer down but not completely out. I walked up to it and gave it a "finisher"in the brain to stop it suffering. Only 3 shots I ever fired at deer with it , then family needs forced it's sale..

[pastorp]

Well it looks like I will finally get to scratch this 25-35 itch.  I've got a contender carbine barrel on the way chambered for it. New, to me, wood as well. Now I've got to order a set of dies. I have everything else I need to load for it.

Regards,

[Darrell Davis]

Pastorp,
 
Wish I knew where my friend was going with his 25/35, as I have the set of dies sitting here and a 50count bag of new Winchester 30/30 brass.  Dies have maybe a 100 cases through them.
 
But ------------------
 
Anyway, I found the Hornady dies to work very well, and as said earlier, using the Imperial Sizing Wax, forming the 30/30 brass was just one quick pass in and out of the full length die.
 
Hate to just set on the dies forever, but as said earlier, "but------------------".
 
Crusty Deary Ol'Coot

[JPShelton]

I once briefly owned an old Savage lever action in .25-35 that was a delightful rifle to shoot, being surprisingly (to me) accurate with very mild recoil and report.  When I first got the rifle, I bought ten boxes of Remington factory ammo to "make brass" for reloading and shoot through that in one range session.  My rifle shot that acceptably well.  But I reloaded it with an 87 grain spitzer -most likely a Sierra, because I lived near the factory and used to buy bullets there by the pound in paper sacks.  Anyhow, the first handload I tried with the 87 grain bullet shot so well that I didn't bother with further "load development."  I kept shooting that same load the whole brief time I owned that rifle.
And while I had it, I got a lot of use out of it.  I know I shot a passle of coyotes with it, and jackrabbits, too.  I knew of a place on public land that had some feral goats, and I shot a few of those with it.  I took it deer hunting a few times for blacktails, but don't presently remember ever killing a deer with it.  I shot a little feral hog with it a couple of months before I sold it. 
I probably wouldn't have sold it had it not been for some very persistant old fella at the range who offered me several times what I had paid for it after seeing me shoot it and shooting it himself.  I really wanted a 99 in .250 Savage when I got sidetracked by the older model in .25-35, and I figured I'd let the gun go and get what I really wanted.
I know the .25-35 isn't a barn burner and I know it doesn't make many "favorites lists" anymore, but I also know that old .25-35 I had is one of a very, very few rifles I've parted ways with that I regret ever getting rid of.  It was just sooo much fun to shoot....  I used to think of it as a .22 Hornet on Steroids, rightly or wrongly, and my 200 cases weren't nearly enough because I'd shoot them empty with ease every time I took the rifle out.  While I had it, that was every time I went someplace where I could shoot it, be it the range or camping out in the desert. 
Don't own one, but did, and I'm a huge fan and always will be.  I do get to shoot one every know and then, thanks to an old feller I know who has a custom single shot .25-35 built on a Martini action.
JP

[ratherbefishin]

I knew an old guy on the Gulf Islands[Pacific North West] who shot a lot of deer with his old Winchestor 25-35.I saw him pole axe a big buck with it with one frontal shot right in the brisket.Unless you are shooting way out,pretty much any rifle will put a deer down  if  get close,pick your shot and hold it straight.I love my swede 6.5x55,but truth be told a 22 LR would serve me just as well in most situations-and has done so.The swede is handy in case I run into a black bear, thats all.

[gcrank1]

I had a custom stub barrel 1:10 twist 25-35 on an H&R and worked it out to know that that twist was as accurate with cast bullets as I was, and where the old 25cal. rifles (25-20, etc.with the 1:14) were mostly only good for up to the 87gr. traditional bullet the 1:10 would do the 25 cal. heavies. My interest was to shoot better BC bullets for schuetzen style.
I messed about with just enough jacketed to determine that for me the 60gr stubbie didnt get me any more performance than my 22WMR and that the 120ish was too heavy for good velo and optimul expansion except for up close. I considered the 90-100gr'ers the better weight as an all rounder. It is a good, efficient little cartridge if you are more of a stalker and/or have some tight country or woods huntin'.
It was (is?) also a favorite in Europe where it can be found in combination guns and drilliings. Much of the game there has long been smaller than here and hunting opportunities and locations limited (kinda like what has been happening in many places here in the USA of late).

[gomerdog]

I understand this an old topic but chose to reply anyway. 

I don't have a 25/35 but have two 25 Remingtons, which is ballistically similar. One is an old Model 14 slide action that I inherited from my dad. I have killed two doe antelope and a doe mule deer with it before my eyes became too old to use iron sights. Used 117 Hornady RN's on one antelope and the deer. Worked well enough at about 100 yards. Killed one antelope with a 100 gr. Nosler BT used single shot fashion. It worked well also at about 100 yards.

I also have a H&R Handi Rifle in the same chambering and have taken 3 mule deer does with it so far, two with Hornady RN's and one with a 117 gr. SST. Each died quickly.

There are better choices for big deer, though.

[Dancing Bear]

I shot 3 deer and one pheasant with my aunts 1894 SRC when I was 12-13. It killed well using the 117 gr factory load.


I had hunted a couple of years with a 24" octagon barrel .25-35 but had only shot rabbits, crows and the odd squirrel with that one.



I was using it in preference to a 99R[size=78%] [/size][/size]Savage .300 dad had purchased for me. The Savage was pretty heavy for me to carry around.[size=78%]

[/size]In a Contender I would suggest you try some 87 gr Speers spitzers They work very well in my 1899 250-3000 Takedown.[size=78%]