Winchester 25-20 hand tool

[danski26]

Gents, I know little about these tong type loading tools. An elderly friend of mine ask me to try to sell this for him. It is a Winchester tool in 25-20. It seems in good shape to me for it's age. It has lite rust spots on the outside but quite a bit of finish left. How important is condition to a collector of these? What ball park are these going for? I looked on flea bay and of course there are some near $200 that know one seems to be buying. I dislike flea bay so I'd rather not give them any money from this tool. I can post some pictures tonight if the condition is that important. Any one help me out with some info?

[Pressman]

OK, I will state Clearly that this not an offer to sell outside of swap and sell. No offer to buy from this thread.

There are at least four very different versions of the Winchester tool. With out pictures any information is not going to help you.
Post pictures and we will see if we can help.
Ken

[Green Frog]

+1 to what Pressman said. No pictures and it’s pure speculation. You’ll need a good image of the overall appearance, closeups of any markings, and anything else included such as the decapping spud and powder dipper. An odd variant in that caliber might bring a premium in spite of condition, the more common versions, not so much. Oh yeah, you didn’t mention box or instructions, but they have a HUGE effect on value.

Froggie

[danski26]

I'll work on some pics. No box or instructions. It was actually in a Lyman box.

[danski26]

pics included. If you'd like a different view let me know.

[danski26]

Pressman and greenfrog?? I thought you had some insight on these tools for me??? Pictures help?

[Green Frog]

Sorry... just had this post show up... don't know how I missed it?????

It is indeed an old Winchester Model 1882 tool. There should be a decapping spud with it, a little rod about the length of the finished cartridge with a decapping pin protruding. You would put that in the seating chamber and close it on the fired case to expel the fired cap. You'll notice that sometimes it would hang in the case so the user would tap it against the body of the tool to loosen it. That's why you see the little peck marks on it.

I bought a similar tool in 32-20; not quite as good condition, but it had the decapper. IIRC, I paid about $35-40 for it at a gun show, this about three or four years ago. I would say a realistic current price on it is going to be around $50-75 or a little more, depending on whether you can find a couple of people who want it and bid against each other. BTW,
there might be a bullet mould to go with it... that's they way they were usually found. If you have both and the decapper all in a package, the price should go to somewhere around $150+.

That's about all I've got for you except to say the caliber is for the the 25-20 repeater cartridge so it's a little shorter and fatter in the body than the 25-20 Single Shot cartridge that uses the same size bullet but is longer and has a smaller diameter case.

Froggie

[Pressman]

The tool alone, no decapper pin or mold was selling for $50.00 at the Denver collectors show last week.
Ken

[danski26]

Thanks gentlemen! That gives me some great info! I'll look around for the decapper and see if there is a mold hanging around too.