So today I received this rifle from my uncle. He is not a shooter. It belonged to his mother. Her varmint gun. It came with 9 rounds. I've never heard of the calibre. Looks like a .22 magnum round. From my use of the search function and google fu I see its a now obsolete round. I've seen a listing for $165 a box of 50. Too rich for my blood. Its in great shape and cleaned up mint. The rear site is v notched and also is a peep. So wish I could regularly shoot this. But think it is now a safe queen with my 9 rounds. Google made me wonder if its possible to alter other brass with relative ease to reload? I would post a pic but if you've seen a Cooey it not a lot different.
Cooey Canuck .25 calibre
- Thread starter ice2152
- Start date
- Location
- Behind a large rock
I always thought it'd be cool to convert one to .25ACP...
Too high a chamber pressure, and .25ACP generates even more bolt thrust than a .32 long or .32 SW. Neither advisable nor safe to do.
- Location
- Behind a large rock
Errr.... what? We aren't talking about .32 s&w.
We're talking about a .25 rimfire the OP made mention of a conversion to .22lr. I'm sure you know .22LR and .25 ACP have similar pressures.
Advisable? Not so sure.
Safe? I honestly don't see why not.
@edit... I honestly can't see how you could think it's unsafe to convert the gun in question to .25acp. It's a bolt gun, strong steel, made for smokeless.
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I am in the process of making 25 rimfire using primed cases from 17 WSM, the case length will be somewhere between the short and long version and loaded with black powder. It will not be cheap to shoot but the one I have was my grandpas so cost does not matter all that much.
Want another opinion?
I REALLY do get the desire to hear an old gun (with a family connection) go "bang"....but honestly..I'm sure the idea is more appealing in theory than it will be in practice. I've owned enough Cooeys...trust me. Loads of charm, great piece of Canadiana, wonderful family connection~sounds like a perfect wall hanger to me. I would never alter it to shoot a modern/accessible ammo~there are enough 22 Cooeys out there for $100 or less if that's what you want to do. I'd much rather have a gun in exactly the form it was used by those who owned it before me, and if the itch is SO bad that you just HAVE shoot it...then overpay for original, correct ammo and make it a yearly ritual to blast a few tin cans and take lots of pictures.
I REALLY do get the desire to hear an old gun (with a family connection) go "bang"....but honestly..I'm sure the idea is more appealing in theory than it will be in practice. I've owned enough Cooeys...trust me. Loads of charm, great piece of Canadiana, wonderful family connection~sounds like a perfect wall hanger to me. I would never alter it to shoot a modern/accessible ammo~there are enough 22 Cooeys out there for $100 or less if that's what you want to do. I'd much rather have a gun in exactly the form it was used by those who owned it before me, and if the itch is SO bad that you just HAVE shoot it...then overpay for original, correct ammo and make it a yearly ritual to blast a few tin cans and take lots of pictures.
I would never alter one either but if I can figure out a way to make ammo I am all for it, I have a few other obsolete ones that need a similar treatment.
Once I get the loads going I will document everything properly, calling it the 25 Stevens Intermediate.
The problem with the old rimfire ammo is that it tends to go bad easier than CF ammo, I have collected short and long 25 Stevens, I think I have about 50 shots worth now but my plan is simply to take 3-5 shots of the short and long to get baselines before shooting this Intermediate stuff and see what it runs at. Looking to get around 1000fps from my 70ish grain dead soft lead bullet sized to .251 over 10 or so grains of BP, going to start with FFFg and maybe look at FFFFg if the velocity lower than expected, the original ammo was loaded with a full case of fine BP, closer to FFFFg than FFFg but starting with what I have.
That is pretty much what I have, what length is the barrel? It is a Cooey or stamped with the store is was sold at? I bet that one has the 1/2" dovetail sights too, nice and old.
Keep an eye for my posts, still working to get my basement back but when I do I am only a weekend away from a very detailed write up on the 25 Intermediate I am working on, hoping to get these old 25 Rimfires shooting again, I will have no problem answering questions about the work I am putting in, even the cost involved.
