Is 25-20 worth acquiring?

Semi-local auction is advertising a Stevens single-shot in 25-20. Since more of these were chambered in 25 Stevens (rimfire), I'll have to make sure they identified it correctly. If I can acquire it at a decent price, is it worth reloading for? What's it good for?

The little .25-20 sort of falls into the .22 r.f. category, mild recoil and low report. But a lot depends on the condition of that rifle.

Bob Wright

I have a 1892 Winchester in 25-20. Cheap to reload. I did take my first deer with it in 1979. And the James Jordan record whitetail was taken with a 25-20 Win. In 1914. No recoil, accurate old round. If you like to step back in time with firearms, it would be a good choice.

There is also a .25-20 Single Shot that is different yet.

When I was in high school, Nebraska, I used to hunt with a guy who used a 25-20 and he got his deer every year. The 25-20 single shot is a different cartridge and IMHO is best forgotten! You need to reload, factory loads are real pricy.

Sure it is, depending on it's condition.

IMHO
The 25/20 was/is a small game round from a time when rimfire cartridges were problematic. Sure, it will kill a deer and is even legal in some places but certainly falls into the "underpowered" category for practical use on hoofed game.

The 25-20WCF is legal for deer in almost all states. It will push 60 to 86g bullets at 1900 to 2200 fps. It's a popular farmer and rancher deer rifle in congested areas. (Good for varmets too.) Good in the 100/150yd range.

Brass can be a bit hard to come by although cowboy action has Winchester supplying it.

Make sure that it's .25 WCF not .25 Stevens (rim fire) or single shot (very different centerfire cartridge-now obsolete)!

Midway USA was supposed to get 25-20 brass. One thing Starline Company told me was to use 32-20 brass to form 25-20

Had one in a model 43 Winchester & it was a great Ground Squirrel/Badger gun. Shot the old Lyman 257420 cast bullet in it & it did great on small game. One of my son's took a couple of deer with it at close range. Sure wish I had kept it.

Dick

daveg.inkc said:

There is also a .25-20 Single Shot that is different yet.

Click to expand...

Hi,

An acquaintance has been looking for .25-20 brass for a couple of years, to no avail last time I talked to him about it. I found some .25-20 Single Shot brass available one time and told him about it, which is how I learned there are two cartridges using the .25-20 designation. The SS isn't the one most people need.

Personally, I'd look at a rifle in either of those cartridges as more of a collector than a shooter unless one has a reliable source of ammo. While a lot of deer have been taken with it, methinks it's a rather close range proposition with that cartridge. A buddy grew up in OR and his Dad had one, Win 92 he may have bought new, that was reputedly so shot out the bore looked like a shotgun except for a slight hint of a wave where the rifling should have been. Even so, Dad shot deer year after year with it. Heavy brush where he hunted kept shots within 50-75 yards, and it did well at them.

Rick C

Checkout Midway: https://www.midwayusa.com/product/689001/winchester-reloading-brass-25-20-wcf-box-of-1000
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/198389/winchester-reloading-brass-25-20-wcf-box-of-50
25-20 WCF readily available due to cowboy action.
25-20 Savage is rimfire and unavailable.
25-20 Single shot can be made from .223 with some machining. The last two cartridges are obsolete and the rifles only of limited interest to collectors. There is a lot of confusion about 25-20 WCF (a necked down 32-20 to 25. In gets confabulated with he two obsolete .25 cartridges.

grobin said:

Checkout Midway: https://www.midwayusa.com/product/689001/winchester-reloading-brass-25-20-wcf-box-of-1000
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/198389/winchester-reloading-brass-25-20-wcf-box-of-50

Click to expand...

Hi,

Does the word "Unavailable" jump out on anyone else's screen as it does on mine?

For the adventurous, several sources, including the Levergun Scoundrels forum, talk about resizing .32-20 brass to make .25-20 WCF brass. http://levergun-scoundrels.com/thread/1421/25-20-brass-last Starline has .32-20 in stock, with a couple of notes and a caveat about resizing.

Rick C

Comes up just fine in FireFox 61.0.2 64 bit under Win 7 pro.

Yes you can use a resizing die to neck down .32-20, but why? The Winchester brass is widely available.

grobin said:

Comes up just fine in FireFox 61.0.2 64 bit under Win 7 pro.

Yes you can use a resizing die to neck down .32-20, but why? The Winchester brass is widely available.

Click to expand...

Hi,

In that case, you should be seeing the same message I do; "UNAVAILABLE," so in memory of Flatgate, "RTFM!" Other sites use shorter words: "NOT IN STOCK" and "OUT OF STOCK," but the message is the same. Where is all this "widely available" stuff?

And that's why folks resize the .32-20s!

Rick C

Mid Way is out of stock. I'm going to use the 32 brass. Starline tech told me to run 32 -20 brass thru 32 sizing and bullet seat die. (With no bullet). Then 25-20 size die. Then will need trimming

I just got off phone with Midway. They have no idea when 25-20 Win brass will be available

Midway has 86 gr Remington 25-20. Box 50 for $70.00.

Apparently I'm wrong as Winchester no longer makes the brass. Midway has it as limited production. They had some a couple days ago. Midway has starline 32-20 brass and has both 25-20 and 32-20 ammo. The factory ammo seems to be available but the brass no longer is. Sorry about my screw up.

I bought a rifle in 25-20 WCF a couple of years ago and couldn't find ammo for it. I liked it because it had a cartridge case head on the receiver.
I put it aside and may have to go find it and see what I can do with it. Let me know what you do and how it works out.