WTB 25-20

[Marshall Mike]

Looking for 25-20 ammo.....

[Percy Hallen Sass #1379]

There are two types. Reg & single shot. Specify. 

[Poor Red]

pm

 

[Fort Reno Kid]

Howdy Pard

 

I’m assuming you mean 25-20 WCF. I reload for it (sweet shootin’ smoke pole!) and sympathize with your issue. My supply of brass is running low and I lose a few to neck-or-shoulder splits each outing.

 

Thots for you:

1.)  Keep doing what you’re doing here … advertising in shooting forums. Not just SASS Wire but others as well.

2.) Hit the gun shows. At the recent El Paso gunshow I saw a grand total of 2 boxes of 25-20 for sale. Is it my imagination that the same two guys hit the various gunshows with a table, sometimes two, with a vast assortment of partial and full boxes of ammo?
3.) Do extensive internet search of the various shooting-supply outfits: Midway, Graf&Sons, Brownells, Sportsmen’s Guide, and many et ceteras. Never know which might have received a shipment or have some in stock.

4.) Do internet search of custom ammo outfits. Some of them may do occasional runs of 25-20, often using sized-down 32-20 brass.

 

That’s what I’ve done over the years to keep my shootin’ iron going.

 

Side note. Oh how I wish Starline would make 25-20 brass. They have resurrected so many old or obsolete cartridge brass. They make the 25-20’s big brother, 32-20, but seemingly refuse to make 25-20.

 

Best of luck 

 

Adios 

 

Fort Reno Kid 

 

[Three Foot Johnson]

There are four boxes of Remington and six boxes of Winchester on Gunbroker for $179 per box of 50 + $20 shipping, so $4 a round. 

 

I have three .25-20's - a vintage Winchester, a vintage Marlin, and a modern Marlin 1894CL that I installed a full-length mag tube on. A couple years ago, I contacted Lee Precision about making a few custom .25-20 form dies to make cases from .32-20. Nope. "Well, how big of an order would I have to make? If I commit to 100 units, will you make them?" "Nope." So I made my own. I've read posts from several people who claim they just run a .32-20 case into a .25-20 sizer die. I've tried it with two different makes of dies, with annealed or un-annealed mixed head stamp .32-20's, both new and used, and get about a 15% attrition rate due to excessive "shrinkles" on the neck, collapsed necks, necks folding in and over, and dented or creased shoulders. I size the necks in three increments now, and haven't lost one since. Like Fort Reno Kid said, they also have a fairly short case life.

[Rip Snorter]

Have enough brass and don't shoot the rifle enough for it to be a problem for me, so haven't tried it, but just checked on a recollection.  The Handloader's Guide to Cartridge Conversions says to full length size 32-20, square and chamfer the case mouth, then neck down with 25-20 dies.  I have found it to be a credible source.  Probably be a pain and might spoil some cases, but probably able to be done if the cases were made uniform.

["HH" (a.k.a. Dave)]

I load my own, but also waited over 3-years to get an order of "real" .25-20 Win brass (new Remington/Winchester) and it cost as much per round as .45 Colt brass.

I had actually given up on getting the real stuff, so I bought 2,000 rounds of .32-20 Win brass from Starline and resized it to .25-20 Win.  The learning curve cost me about 30-rounds (crushed during resizing), but thanks to some on-line forums and other's mistakes, I now don't lose any rounds during the process.  It takes multiple steps and dies, but it works and Starline brass doesn't have the neck blowout problem I have with the Remington/Winchester brass.  Start with a .32-20 RCBS Cowboy expander die, set to just round out the mouth, then run it up into a Redding .25-20 trim die, which squeezes the neck diameter down.  Then, and only then, run the round up into a .25-20 Win RCBS Cowboy Sizing Die.  Be careful to check a sized round in your rifle to make sure you have the shoulder set back enough to chamber.  Don't overdo it or you'll get shoulder blowouts over time.  Other than the multiple steps required to prevent crushing your new brass, this is a fairly simple and efficient process and it uses brass that is readily available from Starline (well, normally anyway).  Oh, and buying factory ammo is crazy expensive compared to reloading.

I buy my bullets from Meister.  They're the only ones I found that cast the .25-20 win in 89g.  There may be others, but I found them to have the quality I need and have always been able to get them readily when ordered.

 

Good luck!

[Poor Red]

I have  

675 rounds Remington  25-20 win 86gr soft point.....  did not know i was sitting on gold mine LOL