.25-20 barrel

[Catshooter45]

Gentlemen,

I'm gonna do it.  I've got a 20 gauge barrel that I'm going to have stubbed into a .25-20.  Don't have a chambering reamer, probably going to have to buy one.

Any advice from those in the know/who've done it themselves?




Cat

[torpedoman]

i have not done a stub project but i've cut a lot of chambers and i find that rentals are the way to go just type in chamber reamer rental and you'll find a few places that rent them reasonably.

[Antietamgw]

A great small game cartridge. I believe a better choice is .256 Win Mag.  Why? Better brass and easy to form from .357 Mag, You can load it to higher velocities than .25-20 if you like. If you load .25-20 to the "high speed" load level you will likely find that you will trim fairly often even with a close chamber. The .256 has a short neck but this hasn't caused me any trouble with 1500 fps cast bullet loads. My initial 50 cases were probably loaded a dozen times each working up max and mild cast loads. No losses and I don't believe I've had to trim them. As much as I like my Sav 23 in .25-20, I'd like it better if it were a .256. I had a 10" Contender barrel but wanted a carbine, not being much of a handgun shooter. I have a chambering reamer and a barrel blank but haven't had the time to stub a donor barrel yet. I did barrel a Highwall for a friend and chambered it for .256 - he really enjoys it and doesn't worry about losing a case now and then in the field. Since you have to cut a chamber, you might consider the .256.  The only improvement I can think of would be a longer neck, maybe .325 or so. I believe there are some .25 cal wildcats based on the .357 Maximum case but unless you want some faster jacketed bullet loads they probably wouldn't be of much use. Souns like a good project!

[eskimo36]

I have a contender carbine in 25-20.  It is a great cartridge.  My grandfather fed his family with deer through the depression with a 92 in 25-20.  I am not saying it is a deer cartridge by today's standards but it is a versatile cartridge.   I shoot two loads mostly.... 10.5 grains of H-4227 with the Sierra 117 grain bullet with Remington 7 1/2 primers & Remington cases and  Remington 7 1/2 primers, Hornady 75 grain bullet, and 6 grains of N-340.  I haven't chrono'd them but the light bullet is very mild and heavy one smacks pretty hard on a 100 yard 4' gong.

I have a few factroy loads also with the 86 grain bullet that shoot very well out of my 24" barrel.  

Graybeard himself has the only Handi 25-20 I know of.
 

[Graybeard]

I doubt mine is the only one but yes I do have one. It started life as a .22 Hornet and Wayne York of Oregon Gunsmithing turned it into a .25-20 for me. I've not shot it a lot but do have two loads worked up that shoot as well as I can see to shoot the factory iron sights on it.

I now have just short of 200 cases for it all new unfired when I got them which I figure is likely a life time supply no more than I'll be shooting it. I have a variety of bullets to try in it but so far have been working primarily with the Remington bulk 86 grain JSP bullets.

The Jordan buck which held the typical white tail world record for 60 or more years I believe was taken with a .25-20. Back in the day it and the .32-20 were both considered adequate for deer hunting. Of course that was back when folks actually hunting game rather than using game animals for long range target practice.

[Spanky]

The Jordan buck which held the typical white tail world record for 60 or more years I believe was taken with a .25-20. Back in the day it and the .32-20 were both considered adequate for deer hunting. Of course that was back when folks actually hunting game rather than using game animals for long range target practice.

Amen to that GB.



Spanky

[Catshooter45]

Thanks for the responses gentlemen.

I used to have a Savage 23 in .256 mag, and have a 23 in .25-20.  I want a very light, short & quiet woods walking gun and I think this may well be the candidate.

I'll keep y'all posted.


Cat

[gcrank1]

FWIW, I have a Win.'85 LW in 25-20 orig. twist 1:14(?)and an H&R stubbed 25-35 with a 1:10 twist. The old std twist will not shoot heavier bullets than about 85gr. while the 25-35 can go up thru the 117s.
If I were doing as you intend, I would use the faster twist barrel which will still shoot the lighter bullets fine and though you wont get the velocity of a larger case capacity, the heavies would have a lot of 'thwack' at sub-sonic or speed of sound. If you wanted to later you could rechamber to a larger case.
The 25-20 is a nice American version of the 'rook and rabbit' rifle.