25 TCU or the .25-35 Win Carbine ?

[chrome]

I've been out of the T/C game a few years and have decided to get back into it with a G2 Carbine.
I've owned a .25-35 18" T/C Custom shop carbine barrel and killed a few deer with it. I was not tickled with the accuracy or the thin walled brass in the old winchester. But overall it was O.K. and a pleasure to shoot.
The .25 TCU will cost more for dies and fireforming. But the .223 brass is much easier to find.
Any suggestions or tips ?

[alan in ga]

I would like to have a .25-35 Win also. I like rimmed cases for the single shot rifles, Contenders included. I also like any of the TCU rounds but believe I would build them on a bolt action rifle of the .223 size....seems like a better choice for a rimless round to me.
I will suggest that you spend some money on an aftermarket barrel. For one thing it would be hard to find a bull T/C barrel in .25/35 but then the factory barrels have not astounde me with anything like super accuracy. I'm playing with an MGM barrel now in .357 Max and am very impressed with it's accuracy.
I'd get a .25/35 Win in a BULL barrel, and get at least a 22" barrel if not 24". You could always cut the barrel back to shorter if you really wanted to do that.
I like .25 bore anyway, my Ruger 77 Mark II in .250 Savage Ackley Improved is doing everything I could ask of it, and very accurately [Shilen barrel].
Check out MGM or any of the custom Contender barrel makers, that's what I did.

[chrome]

I have found some dies for the .25 TCU and would like to go with MGM for a 22" sporter barrel.
 
I was building a 25-.204 on a Rem 700 action, it took 6 months to get the reamer and dies and lost interest so I sold them.
 
It seems we try to reinvent the wheel, the 25-204 Ruger was about the same as factory loads from a .250 Savage.
 
I believe a straight .25-223 would be nice in a Remington Model Seven.

[Ladobe]

The 25-35 Win is a fine old cartridge, as is the 25TC/U, and I've had both, although in handgun lengths.   My first choice in this class though was the two 257JDJ's I owned, both handgun lengths.  Dies are no problem and not expensive from SSK, 225 Win brass not hard to get like it once was (I still have 1000 new) and is very strong, and like the 25 TC/U they do not need to be fireformed to start hunting with them.   Solves Alan's rimmed brass choice, but that never mattered to me due to the way I headspaced rimless in my Contenders.   I'd go with a 20" barrel if it were me.

[Hopalong7]

     I've always wanted a 25-35 carbine barrel...don't know exactly why...it's just one of those itches that won't go away.  I love playing with nostalgic old rounds(most have rimmmed cases, which I like) and I already stock 25-35 brass to feed my .219Zipper.  I've also had excellent results with 6, 6.5 and 7TCU's as well.  But in handgun length, I'd have to side with Ladobe and go 257JDJ....no experience with it but lot's with the 6.5JDJ and they gotta be close kin....and in a word it's WONDERFUL!!!
Walt

[bobg]

        I had a 14" Virgin Valley Contender barrel. Never hunted with it but shot it a lot. Most accurate Contender barrel i owned.

[Ladobe]

Walt,
Matters not whether hangun, carbine or rifle, these all would peform very well in any length.   I actually liked my 257JDJ's more than the two 6.5JDJ's I had, they shot flatter, and because I also had a 6.5 Super Bower that was in another class and was far superior to the 6.5JDJ in every way.   I like the quarter bores, very accurate and with more than enough punch for DRT on game.  But any 225Win based cartridge would be a winner in any length IMO having had so many wildcats in various calibers based on it.   I wanted a 30 Merrill bad, but never did get one.   Why I still have the 1000 new 225Win brass and a 1000 TNT's so long after I sold my last JDJ that used this brass.   I held on hoping for a 30 Merrill right up until I sold my last Contender frame.  I too enjoyed playing with the old and discontinued cartridges, and had a bunch of barrels for them.   Some were so wild that they were the most fun.   The kink sometimes was finding parent or making brass for them, and often quite expensive, especially those I had to buy and have brass shipped in from foreign countries.   And some took years to find a source for.   But I got them anyway, a higher priority than food to me.   The 25-35 is a natural for you with your 219 Zipper already in hand along with a supply of brass (I had one of those too).   It's another one of those fun quarter bores, so how wrong could it be for you?   
Larry