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.25-20 Anyone?


Tom Bullweed

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I have an opportunity on a Win 1892 SRC in .25 WCF (.25-20).

I already load .32 WCF and .38 WCF, so I know the challenge of these little bottlenecks.

Who shoots the .25 WCF in cowboy action?  Your thoughts?

I have lots of good .32 WCF that I can anneal and resize.

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I used an 1892 Winny Carbine 25.20 for about 10 years off and on.   When I used real black, I found the barrel fouled out within 10 rounds, so switched to APP.  Used it a few times to ding steal that was 150yards out.  At first, I was hunting down all the factory ammo within 150 miles of me, always old stock with antique price stickers on the boxes.  When I started rolling my own, I used boolits from King Shooter Supply in PA.  Brass was always hard to come buy, so I swallowed that pill and pay the price.  I was lucky enough to have reloading dies given to me years back.  But when shooting, I would notice that I would get little case splits right on the bottle neck.  Never found out what was causing this. Last time I used this rifle, I got a split case. Split right at the bottleneck.  I didn't realize this until I tried loading the next round and really jammed the remaining case in there good.  Had to disassemble the whole gun and ended up having to take the barrel off, and using a threading tap and die to screw in and pull and poke it out.  Probably could taken it to a 'smith, but don't trust local 'smiths with my guns.  Anyway, actually realized just how bad the condition of the barrel was in and never reassembled it.

 

If you can resize your 32's, that's better than hunting down actual 25.20 brass, because you'll really feel the pain when brass pickers only bring back half of what you shot.

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According to the most recent handbook I have, the 25-20 isn't an authorized caliber any longer, rifle and handgun ammo must be at least .32 caliber.

 

That said, a friend from years ago occasionally used his nice little 1892 in 25-20.  Like Cemetery said, he did not get a lot of brass back.

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2 hours ago, Jackalope said:

According to the most recent handbook I have, the 25-20 isn't an authorized caliber any longer, rifle and handgun ammo must be at least .32 caliber.

 

 

You sure about that?  I just looked it up online and it says the same thing it always has...

Rifle Calibers - Must be centerfire of at least .32 caliber and not larger than .45 caliber. - Must be in a caliber commonly available in revolvers. Examples include, but are not limited to, .32-20, .32 Magnum, .357 Magnum, .38 Special, .38-40, .44-40, .44 Special, .44 Magnum, and .45 Colt. The only allowed exceptions are the .25-20 and .56-50. No rifle calibers such as .30-30 or .38-55 are allowed.

I have a friend who has an old Winchester 92 in this caliber.  I remember when he first started reloading for it back in the 80's.   He found a lot of brass somewhere, but I don't know where.   I never did get him to a Cowboy shoot.  :( 

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I have an original model 92 in 25-20 that I like to shoot occasionally. If the stage doesn’t look good for brass retrieval, I just shoot a different rifle on that stage. 
Laramie

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1 hour ago, H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619 said:

You sure about that? 

 

Not any more!  Thanks for pointing it out.

 

Looks like 25-20 is OK for rifles but not handguns.?

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As far as I know, nobody ever made a revolver for .25-20.   Based on things I remember hearing here on the Wire, (so take it with a grain of salt) Colt tried it, but found that it didn't work.  Something about the brass backing up after firing and jamming the gun, or too much black powder fouling to keep the gun running, or something like that.

It has  been speculated that with smokeless powder that it might be able to work, but nobody has tried it.

As to it's legality for SASS, according to the rules as written, it would not be okay in a revolver anyway.

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I've got three - a '92 from 1912, a Marlin from who knows when - 1907-1935, as best I can tell, and a modern Marlin Classic that I replaced the half mag with a full length tube so it holds eleven rounds now instead of just six.

I make brass from .32-20 in a multi-step process to avoid shrinkles or crushed cases. Some folks say they just run the cases into a .25-20 sizer die and have never lost one... they're stretching the truth a bit or I'm not holding my tongue right when I pull the handle, because my attrition rate is around 15% or more using that method, and a good number of the ones that don't get crushed or neck folds have very noticeable shrinkles in the neck. It takes a little extra time, but I size the necks down in three progressive steps before a final sizing in a FL .25-20 sizer die.

Marlin1894CL.jpg

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Howdy Pards

 

Lot of good info on 25-20.  Bot my Winchester 92 in 1957. Still have it. Still love it. Use it for Cowboy Matches. I get ribbed for using a “mouse  gun” (my usual go-to is a Uberti Model 1860 Henry in 45 Colt) but the Model 92 , an original-not-a-replica, gets plenty of well-deserved, admiring attention.

 

Also use it for Lever Action silhouette matches. It certainly has the accuracy. Now if only I was a better shooter …

 

I cast for it. Bot a Lyman 257420 right after I bot the rifle. Cast the bullets of linotype or lino-blend and lube with Lee liquid alox. It’s a gas-check design. I shoot it plain base for SASS and gas checked for silhouette.

 

After experimenting with several powders, I settled on a pet load of 9 grains of IMR or H4198 with the Lyman 257420. Great accuracy in my rifle and it takes down SASS knockdowns and 100 meter silhouette rams with plenty of authority.

 

Brass? That can be a issue. Wish to “H” that Starline would produce it. Be alert for it at gun shows and peruse the various classified sections of shooting forums, not least, of course, the SASS Wire Classifieds.


Welcome to the world of 25-20! Enjoy!

 

Adios

 

Fort Reno Kid

 

Side note. Agree with earlier comments that there were no factory-produced 25-20 pistols. Multiple years back I recall an article, if memory serves in “The American Rifleman “, of an outfit that made custom 25-20 revolvers. My suspicion is that a pistol in 25-20 would have modest recoil but tremendous flash and bang.


 

 

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6 minutes ago, Fort Reno Kid said:

After experimenting with several powders, I settled on a pet load of 9 grains of IMR or H4198 with the Lyman 257420. Great accuracy in my rifle and it takes down SASS knockdowns and 100 meter silhouette rams with plenty of authority.

 

 


 

 

Have you ever chrono'd that load? I've shot an 85 grainer with 9.5 grains 4198 over the screens at about an even 1500 fps. The 257420 is only 65 grains, so probably over the 1400 fps limit for CAS with 9.0 grains of 4198.

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Hey Three Foot Johnson

 

You bring up a good point. Best default response I can come up with is “Hmm … hadn’t thot about that”.

 

Chronygraph the load? Nope, don’t own one and, tongue-in-cheek , I state that if’n I cain’t spel it I prolly ain’t surposed to use one.

 

Think you have a good point. Perhaps dropping the load to 7 grains might toe the mark better. Forgive the reluctance as I experimented with a lot of powders and lots of load weights to determine that this gave optimal accuracy in my rifle.

 

So far my shootin’ buddies haven’t complained. Don’t think that 65 grain bullet does much damage to a clanger. For sure won’t use it for another SASS group.


And in the meantime it rocks for Silhouette matches.

 

Adios

 

Fort Reno Kid 

 

 

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I have two both Marlins.  One was made in 1912 and the other is a ducks unlimited made in the 1980's.  The Ducks Unlimited was used several years by a young gal using Ruger .32 H&R's.  I got her a .32 rifle when Marlin came out with then.  Finding brass is a problem, you will have to from your own.  I use both on tree rats, other small game and coyotes.  It is a light lead bullet that doesn't make much noise when it hits steel.

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:FlagAm::FlagAm:

I used to shoot my Win 1892 in a couple of matches per year.

It worked fine, but not much of a splash on the steel (and not much ding, either).

I'm pretty sure I got a few misses called because of that. :P

I still cast bullets for it.

 

Now it's used as a varmint buster and plinker. 

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There is a store here that has a box of ammo if anyone is interested.

                                                                                                                                  Largo

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