Winchester 25-35 cal guns

Here in N.B. the .25/35 seem to be the hardest 1894 chambering to come by. I think it is a regional thing because they seem more common in the west. Believe it or not the .25/35 had a reputation as an antelope rifle years ago. I have seen more .32/40 rifles than .25/35 here in the Maritimes.
 
i have a 25-35 made in 1949 and it has been an excellent deer gun. i reload and found some original brass , use 117 weight bullets and found it compareable to the 30-30 cals i have.
....
 
It was introduced in 1895 by Winchester and production wound up in the 1940's. I did hear a story that Winchester used a pile of brand new .25/35 barrels for scrap during WW2. Never used one but I don't think you would have any trouble knocking off a deer at woods ranges. I think Savage chambered a few in the 99 and Marlin had the .25/36, kind of a clone, I think.
 
I've seen many more .25-35's tan .32-40 rifles.
I did read somewhere that they were more popular in Canada than in the U.S.
Sam Fadala wrote an article in praise of the .25-35 AI, as well.
 
Winnipeg Toymaker said:
anyone have any idea of the rarity of this neat caliber and how many rifles and carbines were made and what years of manufacture.
Click to expand...

To quote George Madis
"In sales by caliber, before 1,000,000 the old .30-30 out sold all other calibers combined by a total of 857,613 as compared with 142,387 for combined sales of 25-35, 32-40, 32win spl and .38-55

In sales by caliber, here is how they ran in count made in 1941 when most of the records were still extant:
30-30 857,613
.32 win spl 101,423
.25-35 16,581
.32-40 12,186
.38-55 12,197

A seperate study made by Winchester in 1943 has the following figures for sales from 1925 to 1943 inclusive;
30-30 217,850
32 win spl 76,482
.25-35 8,661

Poor sales of the .25-35 caused Winchester to discountinue production of barrels in this caliber in 1936, but production of barrels in this caliber began again in 1940 and continued to 1950."
 
I've had more 32-40's than 25-35's come to cross my path. And of the 25-35's they usually had a horrid bore. I had an SRC that I upgraded to a half mag, but other than those two, they have been few and far between. I don't know if or when I saw the last 25-35 rifle.......

But its a zingy and fun caliber to shoot. I think its got some more kick, that powder load goes out a smaller hole than any of the other calibers.
 
Not a Winchester but I have a Savage 1899F in 25/35 from 1909, that I have not tried yet. Just handling it tells me what a sweet rifle it would be to walk throught the woods with. :)

Also I have read that S&B 6.5x52R is a good modern and more affordable ammo alternative to the Winchester loads.
 
A few 25-35 were produced again in 2005 as far as i know. the 1949 issue i have has proven to be such a neat deer caliber. I like it more than the 30-30 carbines i have, but as i am going to Philippines, i have it for sale in the EEs. Can't take 'em with me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom