25/20 or 25/35
- Thread starter brybenn
- Start date
If you are going to spend the money on building such a rifle you are going to want to shoot it. Neither 25-20 or 25-35 is readily available BUT 25-35 brass can be readily formed from 30-30 brass. I would suggest you give consideration to the 25-35 Ackley Imp and plan on headspacing the case on the shoulder not on the rim. Cases will last far longer this way. Hope that helps.
What action do you plan on using for this rifle? I have a 218 Bee Ruger No.1, that is similar to what you are planning and have loaded 32-20 for a Contender back when I played silhouettes, as mentioned the case situation for that family of cartridges is limited and /or pricey. If using something like a Martini action there is the .256 Win. that is rimmed an I assume can be fairly easily made from .357 cases. If a rimless case is not a problem there are 25 wildcats on the 221/222/223 family , John Wooter's 25 Copperhead on the longer necked 222 Rem case would be my pick.
- Location
- Golden Lake
The .25-20 is a great little cartridge. I used to load 60 gr Winchester hollow points to about 2300 fps with 11.5 grs of IMR 2400. That load killed groundhogs dead out to 100 yds or so. I'm sure it would do the same for a coyote.
I've had no problem getting all the 25-20 brass I want from my local pusher. As for which one to get, they are two totally different cartridges, so I'd say look at what sort of ballistics you want and see if you can load them up to achieve that. If it is mostly paper to be shot at, then I'd give the nod to the 25-20 and load it on the light side to give around 1,200 fps. A load like that would not be loud, have no recoil and be a pleasure for anyone to shoot.
Brass for both can be found. Recoil is of little concern. For most of my varmint hunting I use the 25/06. A conversation with a buddy brought up a discussion as I stated I wanted a 250 savage and an even lower powered 25.
The idea of a slim octagon barreled single chambered for a rimmed 25 cal sounds just right.
The idea of a slim octagon barreled single chambered for a rimmed 25 cal sounds just right.
I'd go with the powder capacity of the 25-35, and in a single shot you could use any 25 cal bullet you wanted so if you wanted to shoot 100-120-125 gn bullets you could. Not so with the capacity of the 25-20, you're pretty much stuck with 87 gn and down if you want enough velocity to actually hit and kill something at 100 mtrs.
- Location
- Southern Vancouver Island
This^^ Another fun option is to do up a Lee Enfield actioned sporter in .25-35. I did this one up in .32-40 as a swap barrel unit to give me the option of another tube in .25-35 or numerous other rimmed cartridges.
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A Parker Hale deluxe sporter stock set would look good on a lee enfield so chambered. Thanks for the idea
Doug I agree with you but if this becomes a reality this year I'd use aperture sights so I wouldn't shoot at game much more than 50 yards. I hunt a lot of thicker areas and bush lots and ditch banks where shots are generally 30 yards or less. For this type of hunting I usually use a 22 mag as my 25/06 at close range tends to be...devastating! A scatter gun is fun but it's I wouldn't say un sporting but I think id get more satisfaction from a rifle
A classy looking single would make for a nice choice when calling fox and coons in
Keep the ideas rolling!
Doug I agree with you but if this becomes a reality this year I'd use aperture sights so I wouldn't shoot at game much more than 50 yards. I hunt a lot of thicker areas and bush lots and ditch banks where shots are generally 30 yards or less. For this type of hunting I usually use a 22 mag as my 25/06 at close range tends to be...devastating! A scatter gun is fun but it's I wouldn't say un sporting but I think id get more satisfaction from a rifle
A classy looking single would make for a nice choice when calling fox and coons in
Keep the ideas rolling!
The nice thing about the bigger case BB, is you can always load with Trail Boss and go down to 25-20 ballistics if you choose. But you can't go up once you've built a 25-20. I have a couple of each but haven't shot any of them enough to even have a comparative opinion, just going from my general knowledge.
