Author Topic: 25-20 (Read 1928 times)

ratherbefishin · « **on:** February 27, 2005, 11:33:11 AM »

was there any single shot chambering in 25-20?

marlinman93 · « **Reply #1 on:** February 27, 2005, 12:15:25 PM »

Might be easier to list who didn't chamber a single shot in .25-20!
Marlin chambered their Ballard #2, Winchester their Hi Wall and Low wall model 1885's, Remington chambered their #2, Stevens chambered their 44 and 44 1/2, Hopkins and Allen chambered their medium frame single. I'm sure there were a lot more if I think about it.

ratherbefishin · « **Reply #2 on:** February 27, 2005, 04:17:33 PM »

is anybody making it today?And-did anybody ever come out with a ''k'' version,similar to the hornet?
It looks to be an interesting cartridge-about the velocity of a 22 magnum, but with a heavier bullet, which might be just the thing for woodchucks

2520 · « **Reply #3 on:** February 28, 2005, 06:58:11 AM »

Marlin made some in a lever action a few years back. Most others are probably in collections. There was a high velocity factory load and at least one wildcat, the 25 Dean about which I have never been able to find out much about. In some of these old rifles (Ballards and Stevens 44) the 25-20 is not a round to hot rod at all. In a bolt action, maybe. The high velocity load with a 60 grain bullet is plenty of power for chucks if you limit your range to 100-125 yds and in a strong action rifle. A TC Contender barrelled to 25-20 should handle anything that you might come up with. My experience is that the cartridge is more accurate at slower velocities. The 25-20 was your great grandfathers idea of a varmint rifle. There are many better options today. That said, it is one of my favorites and it is very cheap to reload. Good luck. 25-20

Flash · « **Reply #4 on:** February 28, 2005, 10:10:12 AM »

Oh, a new 25/20 thread!! I just purchased a Savage 23C clip fed repeater and I can't wait to shoot it. I also have a Remington Model 25 which shoots like a dream. The Contender is about the most affordable and practical in today's world for a 25/20 platform. If you get a chance to purchase one, do it. You'll love the cartridge and it can serve as a good squirrel, rabbit, woodchuck, crow and plinking gun. I shoot a Lyman cast Spitzer in my Remington loading it one at a time and it groups just as good as jacketed.

ratherbefishin · « **Reply #5 on:** February 28, 2005, 02:49:18 PM »

when did they make a savage 23c?

Somerled · « **Reply #6 on:** February 28, 2005, 04:17:49 PM »

I have a T/C G2 Contender Rifle with a 24" T/C Custom Shop .25-20 barrel. It wasn't much more expensive than the regular barrels. I have peep sights on it and use it to put the kabosh on varmints around the farm outbuildings. It is no .25-06. But I can load hundreds of rounds with one pound of powder. It likes Meister cast bullets and it shoots the 75 grain .257 hollowpoints by Hornady and Sierra extremely well.

ratherbefishin · « **Reply #7 on:** February 28, 2005, 04:29:50 PM »

I live in an rural/urban area where I don't particularly want to advertise to all and sundry I am shooting-how loud is it?

Flash · « **Reply #8 on:** March 01, 2005, 01:22:21 AM »

Excuse me, I've owned the 23 C for so long that I refer to all the calibers as that model. The 23B is the 25/20 and the 23C is the 32/20...another fine caliber. The Model 23's were made from 1923 to 1942 and since corrosive ammunition was the only thing available during that time, you have to inspect the bore closely when you find one. Ive seen them priced as high as $600 in good shape.

23AA = 22lr 1933-1942

23D = 22 Hornet 1923-1942

Somerled · « **Reply #9 on:** March 01, 2005, 04:48:38 AM »

With the 75-grain bullets at around 2,000 to 2,100 fps it cracks pretty good. I've loaded the Meister cast bullets down to about 1,350 fps with H4227. I get onch-inch 50 yd. groups with it. That is what I use around the farm. The horses don't bolt through the fences!

The Meister is a great quality cast bullet. I've not gotten leading up to 1,575 fps with it. I buy them through Midway USA.

Prince of Wales · « **Reply #10 on:** March 01, 2005, 06:55:34 AM »

ratherbefishin if you like the 25/20 you might also check out the 256 Win Mag and the 218 Bee. Both deliver a little more in power and performance but would not be period correct in a single shot. I had a marlin 62 (lever) in 256 Win rechambered for 357 Mag awhile back. That barrel would be a good single shot candidate on something like a Martini. POW

ratherbefishin · « **Reply #11 on:** March 01, 2005, 06:51:23 PM »

I'm not afraid to use a 25-20 on deer-providing you take a rest, and shoot it right behind the eye at under 50 yards.Even a 22 LR will drop a buck right in his tracks with that shot.

Dr. A · « **Reply #12 on:** March 11, 2005, 05:23:50 AM »

I just inherited a 23B, and noticed that Petloads book has a picture of one with a scope. Any idea what set-up that is? This gun is terribly inaccurate with the 50's ammo it came with. I am hoping to improve on that. I reload, but didn't want to buy dies/bullets until I tried out some more ammo. That factory stuff is pretty expensive to a guy that never buys it. Is it accurate at all?

Lone Star · « **Reply #13 on:** March 11, 2005, 10:14:09 AM »

Lots of .25-20s were ruined by the use of corrosive ammo, it is a well known problem with the older guns. Hopefully Dr A's just needs better ammo or a good bore cleaning.

I have a BF falling block pistol in .25-20 and it is a tack driver; BF used to make a single shot rifle in that chambering, maybe they still do. With a Simmons 2-7x and Sierra 75HPs it will agg into 0.8 moa. If you want a quiet small game round it is a lot better than the .256 WM or the .218 Bee, those have a lot more crack unless loaded way down, and that means you'll be reloading for any of them for best performance.

My 1894CL likes the Speer 75FNs, shoots them very well and they are great killers on rabbits, grouse, etc. The flat nose of that bullet transmits shock well and kills small game great, far better than a .22 at higher velocity IME. Loaded up to 1900+ fps it would work on deer, but IMO headshooting deer is a fools erand. Seen far too many deer with jaws shot off, eyes shot out, all from macho men who thought thye couldn't miss a tiny target. Yes, my old man did it in the 40s to feed the family, but I have no idea how many got away wounded..... :evil:

marlinman93 · « **Reply #14 on:** March 11, 2005, 12:25:26 PM »

PO Ackley shows a number of pretty peppy loads for the .25-20 in his book, and all on the original case. He also mentions the .255 Dean in particular, as a hot one!
My one and only .25-20WCF is my Marlin model 27S, and it's one of my favorite shooters. Very accurate, and a all around fun shooter in this mid sized pump rifle.

2520 · « **Reply #15 on:** March 12, 2005, 01:09:12 AM »

Dr A: The setup in Petloads is a Weaver side mount and a Weaver V-22 scope. Don't know anything about the scope but I think that Weaver still makes the side mount. My experience in reloading 25-20 is that the high velocity ammo does not shoot well in my rifle. Neither do 60 grain bullets. My best accuracy is with 75 gr hollow points ( I have a single shot and can shoot these with out problem). However, I have not tried them on game and do not know if they would expand at the slow velocity that they travel. My rifle is a Stevens Model 44 and with scope weighs about 11 pounds so I don't take it hunting. The 25-20 is very inexpensive to load once you have some cases. It is not difficult to load but is fussy about what you feed it as Waters notes as well. My best group with 75 gr HP ahead of 8 gr of 2400 is .75 center to center. I use the same formula with 86 Gr SP as well (and a larger group). A pound of powder yields about 875 reloads. In Water's tests, his Savage bolt action did not like standard velocity 86 gr factory ammo either. Good Luck.

Drifter Mike · « **Reply #16 on:** March 12, 2005, 10:29:10 AM »

DR A; You can buy LEE dies for around $20 from Midway and they also sell Winchester brass for about the same amount for 100 cases. Loading should not be a problem as well. I have a 23B and with the open sights it came with I can hit oranges all day long at 50 to 100 yds. If your rifle is not drilled for a scope please think before you drill it as it will lose some of it's value. It is hard to find them in nice shape anymore!
Drifter Mike

Flash · « **Reply #17 on:** March 12, 2005, 09:54:30 PM »

DR A, I have a 23 B and C....25-20 and 32-20 and both are really accurate with handloads. I scrubed the bore on them both and tried cast bullets first and was surprised. I have open sights on the 32-20 and can easily group within 2" at 50 yards. The 25-20 has a side mount just like the Water's book but I haven't found a 3/4" scope for it yet, although it does equally well with open sights too. These are dandy little guns and I'd love to see them remade in a few other small calibers. Regarding the comment by Drifter Mike about drilling the receiver, whatever you do, don't do it. I have seen these at gun shows as high as $600 in unaltared condition. My 25-20 was drilled by a professional but not Savage(no bluing in the holes)so I have to contend with it. Good Luck.

Drilling Man · « **Reply #18 on:** April 07, 2005, 02:07:23 PM »

I have two 25/20's at the moment and have had others in the past. One is a single shot T- bolt action rifle (we copied the Browning T-bolt 22lr and made it center fire) that was built in my shop long ago, and the other is a Revolver.

I thought i'd show you a picture of the revolver. It's a custom S&W "K" frame 5" bbl. chambered for 25/20 Win. that i had built many years ago by Spokehandguns.

For bullets, i swage my own and because the loaded rounds will have to fit in a revolver cylinder, i designed a "Keith style" SWC bullet that i could swage. For the jackets, i take a spent shotgun primer apart, and use the cup for the "jacket", then swage a final SWC bullet of around 65 to 70 grains. (i can make them lighter or heavier if i want)

Anyway, i've shot a lot of small game with it, and i like it very much!! Hope you like the picture,

Drilling Man

Prince of Wales · « **Reply #19 on:** April 09, 2005, 08:54:34 AM »

Drilling Man wish you could have included a few rounds of your swagged ammunition in the photo. It sounded very interesting. POW

Drilling Man · « **Reply #20 on:** April 11, 2005, 08:55:30 AM »

Hi POW,

Here's another pict. of my S&W "K" frame revolver chambered for 25-20 WCF along with a few rounds of ammo in the pict..

L to R is a 86 grain Win. factory round, an 89 grain swaged SWC useing a shot shell primer for the jacket, and lastly a pointed 25 cal. bullet showing how deeply you have to seat them to use them in a revolver cylinder.

The SWC design works the same way in this case as it does when used on lead 44 cal. bullets!!

Hope this allows you to see better what i was trying to describe in my eariler post.

Drilling Man