Casting for Winchester 25-20

[slk]

Hey guys I am going to be casting for a 25-20. I have always used Lyman molds. I do see that the only one they offer for .25 you use gas checks. Also it is a 65 grain bullet. I assume that the GC will add some weight to the over all. I do see other molds on the market that do 75 grain bullets without GC's. Do you have any recommendations on molds for this caliber?
Thanks
Steve

[ole_270]

Now 260283, mine is plain base and throws 88 grains with my alloy. Really works well with my old Marlin

[square butte]

Delete double post

[square butte]

NOE has a pretty good selection of 25-20 appropriate molds - Whether or not they have any in stock or not is another question. One suggestion is to go to the Marlin Owners website and locate the thread titled 25-20 reloaders - 135 pages of some of the best info you will find on reloading for 25-20 wcf. Literally days of reading there.

[Digital Dan]

Keep your eye on EBay or similar haunts for an Ideal 257283. Plain base flat nose that casts around 85 gr. They shoot OK.

100 yards, first two shots, bag rest with an ancient Marlin 94 w/tang sight.

[runfiverun]

look for a Rapine 70gr mold, it's plain base and casts to 259.
it feeds through the lever guns and is accurate.
I tumble lube mine and don't even bother to size them. [only boolit I do that with]

[quack1]

I'll put another vote in for the 257283. Got it from the swap and sell section of this site. Very accurate in my Savage 23B, shoots better than 257420 and 257454, which are both gas checked.

[44man]

Many years ago I had an original 1892 Marlin and used the Lyman boolit. I don't remember the load or powder but it did 3/4" at 100. Wonderful guns.

[Dale53]

When the Marlin 94CL hit the market, I bought one. I got a Lyman mold for the 257420 gas checked flat nose bullet. I had a bunch of Linotype, so cast my bullets of this. I sized them .258" and worked up to three levels of loads. My squirrel load was 4.0 grs. of Unique. I have been a serious squirrel hunter all of my rather long life. This load flat out WORKS! One shot through the head or body and out of the tree they come whether the smaller grays or large fox squirrels.

My "mid level" load was 11.0 grs. of RL-7.

My "'high speed" load was 14.0 grs. of RL-7 (this will give just over 2000 fps. and essentially mimics the old factory high speed load).

Any of these three loads would shoot possible's on the small bore target at fifty yards. They didn't shoot many "X's" but sure did wear out the ten ring.

We ran lever action matches at our local club for several years. Any caliber, both jacketed and cast were allowed. My rifle and these loads dominated the matches. The loads were entirely reliable and I used them until I lost the vision in my right eye and got rid of my long guns. (Pardon me while I wipe a tear from my eye).

Dale53

[slk]

Ok let me understand this. At what FPS is it recommended to use gas checks. I would think when approaching that 2000fps one would be needed.

I like the idea of those cast boolits that don't need a gas check. It saves a step. Then on the other hand if you do want to work up a hotter load I would think gas checks would be a plus.

I will be shooting out of a Winchester 1892

Steve

[runfiverun]

there isn't an exact cut off for gas checks.
I'm using [I'd have to double check] around 11-12 grs of AA-2230 with the plain base boolit.
it ain't slow cause it will tip over the 100yd rams in the half size silhouette shoots.

in some rifle/boolit/load combinations you might struggle to get to 1400 without them and in others 1600+ is doable by simply adding more powder.

[44man]

Really don't need a check in the 25-20 but they were dirt cheap back then. Seems to me $3 a thousand. Then Herter's were cheaper.

[30CalTy]

I've got a Winchester 92 in 25-20. It really likes the 257420 bullet. Don't bother with a GC for 3'ish gr loads of stuff like unique, Win231, etc. When I shoot 2400, 4198, 4759, etc, I use the GC.

Winchesters have a 1:20" twist, so a lot of the advice here isn't going to fly well (Marlins are I think 1:14"). I have the 257312 mould which is 89grs. It keyholes badly (too heavy to stabilize well). If I push it pretty hard, it'll go into the paper straight-on, but with ho-hum groups. I'd be surprised if you didn't run into similar issues with the 257283 bullet.

The thread on marlinowners is the most useful thing going.

Either of the appropriate J-bullets you might stumble onto these days (Rem 86gr FP, Speer 75gr FP) should shoot very well.

[wrench man]

Haven't cast any boolits with ti yet?, but I have the 257283 on hand for my Marlin 25-20.

[beagle]

Well, I'll throw my $.02 in here. You didn't mention the rifle you were using. If a Marlin M1894, you can't beat the 257420 because of the short length. The Marlin has a 1:14 twist and has trouble stabilizing longer and heavier bullets. You can get them to shoot by jacking up the velocity but brass life will suffer and there's no worse sight than a 1.5" group at 100 yards with elongated bullet hole. With a faster twist like a 1:12 or 1:10(probably won't encounter) you can shoot the heavier longer bullets like Lyman's 257312 which is my preference for a 1:12 twist./beagle

[ole_270]

My Marlin has been relined with a 9 1/2 or 10" twist (not my choice). I shoot the NOE 260283 version of Lyman's 257283 as a plain base powder coat. I used to shoot the 257420gc bullet for years but this one does better in my rifle. Another that this file really likes is the Noe 80 gr rf Bullet. Normally use 4198 with all three bullets. Granted my rifle is twisted faster than most so your mileage may vary

[slk]

Can the lyman 257420 be used without the GC, or is it recommended to use the GC.

Also I will be shooting these in an old Winchester 1892. So if anyone here has any experience with this combination please chime in.

Steve