25-20 Ver 25-20

[Hooker53]

Since this is one of my Fav's thought I would post this here. I have several 25-20 singles and bolt actions. All use the same cartridge and they shoot very well. I bought a Stevens 44 barrel to start a project, another single. It's plainly stamped on the barrel 25-20, but a 25-20 cart will not chamber in it. Looking at the chamber, it looks almost straight wall and very long. I will pou d cast it to get a better look. I read a post on this forum that stated there were two diff 25-20. Does a hone have any info on the two??? Thanks for your help.

Roy
Hooker53

[quack1]

You might have a barrel chambered for 25-20 single shot. Not the same as 25-20 WCF. Google can be your friend.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

They are two very different cartridges. The .25-20 Stevens was originally called the .25-20 Single Shot, but since Stevens made so many rifles for it their name came to be associated with it more than "single shot". It is considerably longer than the .25-20 WCF and is pretty much a rarity any more. I have seen many old Lyman reloading dies and 310 tools for sale on e-bay over the years for the .25-20 Stevens, so if you've got the brass and a rifle chambered for it you can still use it.

[labradigger1]

You probably have the SS. I have a Stevens 44 stamped 25/20 and it is the SS. Do a chamber cast with cerrosafe to verify. The SS is a very accurate round and one of my favorites.

[MT Chambers]

The 25/20 single shot is still the winningest cartridge in the quarterbore club. Mine is pretty accurate when breach seated with a 105 gr. hoch bullet.

[runfiverun]

I used to see brass for it here and there but it's been quite some time since I seen 25-20SS brass around.

[cherokeetracker]

If you need some ammo for that Single shot let me know. The Single shot and the 25-20 ere big time different. I said Single shot because not only Stevens but some others chambered the SS round. But yes Stevens made it popular.
Charles

[Hooker53]

Now that's been some good Info gents and thank you very much. Now that IV read your post about the SS I can say IV heard of it vegly. I will try to find some brass and dies or at least someone that would sell me a few to try it out with. So, it would seem that i may have an accurite keeper if i can find some brass and dies to load for it. Ha. Again, thank all of you very much for responding this.

Roy
Hooker53

[Wayne Smith]

I think Bertram made some 25-20 SS brass. Check Huntingtons and see if they may have some.

[labradigger1]

Captech int. Usually has it in Jamison brass.

[Bent Ramrod]

The Captech/Jamison .25-20 SS brass is excellent. More easily available and not much more costly these days than the Repeater brass, which seems to be in the midst of a buyers' panic right now.

[gnoahhh]

Buffalo Arms generally has .25-20 SS Captech (Jamison) brass in stock. Good stuff. I use it to form brass for my R2 Lovell and .22 Maximum Lovell wildcats.

[Hooker53]

I found some brass for this cal and as you all stated, I already decided to go with Jamison brass over all other. I would like to find someone that would sell me 4/5 to try it out before I spend too much on this project. The bore is pitted some but the rifling is very heavy. In fact, I can Just barly slip a .250 drill bit in the bore. I guess that means the lands are around .250 and the grooves are .257. Keep the info coming.

Roy
Hooker53

[labradigger1]

Original loads were 20 grains 2f black powder. For max accuracy most people breech seat the bullets.
I load 8.3 grains of 4227 under a 86 gas checked boolit lubed with bens red for my rolling block. All bullets shoot pretty well in the SS. Most of them like it on the hot side. Work up loads carefully as they show flat primers with just 2/10 of a grain increase.
Happy shooting,

[leadhead]

Isn't there also a 25/25? I think I have one in my collection. There very long
and thin like a pencil.
Denny

[labradigger1]

Isn't there also a 25/25? I think I have one in my collection. There very long
and thin like a pencil.
Denny

Are you thinking of the 25/21 perhaps?

[Hooker53]

When I was Googling this one and running down some info on this yesterday, I ran across some info on the 25-25 and the 25-21. So they both are out there. It would seem that the order was, 25-20 WCF, 25-20 SS, 25-25 and then 25-21. Some of this was found in Ken Waters writing.

Labradigger1, what primer do you use for your SS loads? For most of the few loads that I found, a lot of them were with 2400 powder.

Roy
Hooker53

[labradigger1]

When I was Googling this one and running down some info on this yesterday, I ran across some info on the 25-25 and the 25-21. So they both are out there. It would seem that the order was, 25-20 WCF, 25-20 SS, 25-25 and then 25-21. Some of this was found in Ken Waters writing.

Labradigger1, what primer do you use for your SS loads? For most of the few loads that I found, a lot of them were with 2400 powder.

Roy
Hooker53

Small rifle primers. The SS was before the wcf version. It was the 2nd or 3rd cartridge ever to use center fire. Iirc the 44/40 or 38/40 was first.

[Hooker53]

Thanks on the primers. Gotcha on the rest of it. Does anyone just size the neck on the SS and then finger seat the Boolit like I do for my Martini Henry Cadet heeled Boolits?

Roy
Hooker53

[Hooker53]

Ok guys. Thought I would give you a report. Thanks to a very nice member that sent me some SS test brass, I can confirm its a Stevens SS. Very happy with whati have so far. I have wood ordered for it and in the process of cleaning the old gal up. I did finger load a round up and going from some loads I found from Googling, I went with 4 grns of Unique. I think that may have been the max or a little past max as I got a flat primer. I do admit I don't have the firing pin finished like I want it. I stuck a target up at about 25 yards and just sighted down the barrel as there are NO SIGHTS on her yet. Ha. I was very surprised at the test round. It wasn't a bullseye of coarse but it was right above it. A shot of luck mi d you. Ha.

Now I'm gonna look for some dies and more brass. Finnish her up to look more presentable and work on really cleaning that barrel up. I will start with the JB bore kit and I'm thinking if that don't do it maybe even fire lap it lightly Anyway, I think I'm going to enjoy this little rifle and new to me caliper. Thanks to all that helped me with this here on the forum. In the meantime, if any of you have any brass or dies laying around, let me know. I'm in the market for both.

Roy
Hooker53