25 Stevens now goes bang

[Rockingkj]

Thanks to Sparky45 who provided me some partially re-formed .22 Hornet brass I was able to finish the conversation and loaded 5 rounds. Had not gotten .25 ACP dies yet. Decided to make a crude seating die so I could seat the bullets. Test fired only, Stevens Favorite in 25 Stevens rim fire. Need A trip to the range to see how it shoots. A metal lathe would have simplified the entire process. Made do with my drill press. Necessity is a mother. 67gr tumble alox bullets .22 blank for primer and and a bit of powder ( don’t care to say for liability reasons). Will need to get 25 ACP dies primarily to resize the neck, too loose fit when reloaded.

[Digital Dan]

[uscra112]

Another successful .25 Stevens shooter! Good for you!

BTW a .25 ACP die set isn't very useful, since it's geared to a round that uses a .251" bullet, and the .25 Stevens needs .257" or even .258". Useful to know that a .277" drill bushing from McMaster-Carr does an excellent job of neck-sizing for me. I've built it into a Lyman 310 tong tool die, but with some care it could be used by itself, using your drill press. (Only about eight bucks, but shipping from McMaster is very expensive.)

[dverna]

Nice. Enjoy seeing stuff like this.

[SSGOldfart]

very nice guess I'm going to have to try this very interested in how the Range testing goes.

[Rockingkj]

Another successful .25 Stevens shooter! Good for you!

BTW a .25 ACP die set isn't very useful, since it's geared to a round that uses a .251" bullet, and the .25 Stevens needs .257" or even .258". Useful to know that a .277" drill bushing from McMaster-Carr does an excellent job of neck-sizing for me. I've built it into a Lyman 310 tong tool die, but with some care it could be used by itself, using your drill press. (Only about eight bucks, but shipping from McMaster is very expensive.)

I may try my 25-20 die as a neck sizer, a bit longer but only need the reduce the neck a small but to hold a bullet. Also thinking a 25 ACP set, as that’s seem to be what’s used to reform the hornet brass.

[uscra112]

I may try my 25-20 die as a neck sizer, a bit longer but only need the reduce the neck a small but to hold a bullet. Also thinking a 25 ACP set, as that’s seem to be what’s used to reform the hornet brass.

Yes, I use a Lee carbide .25 ACP sizer for the initial swaging-down of the Hornet cases. The other dies in the set aren't useful. A .25-20 die will neck size. If it sizes too small a plug type expander like the Lyman M die will be required. NOE makes a very suitable (and cheaper) version.

A Letter I drill makes a hole about .277, for what it's worth.

I initially tried using a .25-20 seater, but soon made a better alternative for my tong tool. But I have the advantage of having a lathe.

[Rockingkj]

Yes, I use a Lee carbide .25 ACP sizer for the initial swaging-down of the Hornet cases. The other dies in the set aren't useful. A .25-20 die will neck size. If it sizes too small a plug type expander like the Lyman M die will be required. NOE makes a very suitable (and cheaper) version.

A Letter I drill makes a hole about .277, for what it's worth.

I initially tried using a .25-20 seater, but soon made a better alternative for my tong tool. But I have the advantage of having a lathe.

Well my home made seater actually seems to work pretty well. With flat nosed bullet and not putting a gas check on the bullet settles in at the right over all length. Actually loading the round backwards. Seat the bullet, pour in powder from the primer end and install the .22 blank. The way to made it, the blank easily presses in. If it’s too loose figure a drop of super glue will hold in place till fired.

[Rockingkj]

I kinda went down the rabbit hole with this Stevens. Originally bought it to engrave and resell. .25 Stevens rim fire being too high priced and collectible to shoot factory ammo. Found the information about making it shoot again with brass formed from Hornet. Had to try that. Been an interesting project.

[uscra112]

Welcome to the Mad .25 Stevens Tea Party. The White Rabbit will be along shortly.

[Rockingkj]

Welcome to the Mad .25 Stevens Tea Party. The White Rabbit will be along shortly.

Thanks. Field test marginally successful. 4” group at 25yds. So nothing to write home to mother about.

[uscra112]

What did you size your bullets to? And how's the bore in your Favorite? For that matter, which model is your Favorite - 1894 or 1915? Later 1915s never saw corrosive priming, and their bores are often pretty good. Older ones not so much.

[Rockingkj]

Well the bore is so shiny it hurts to look at it with a bore light. Bullets are as dropped at .257. Alox tumble lube. Not marked as a Favorite. Had one keyhole but felt the load was maybe a bit too hot for the Stevens. Probably foolish 3.9gr IMR 4227. 67gr bullet. School me if you must. Right or wrong bought into Lee’s Alox , if you can chamber it you can shoot it.

[uscra112]

A '94 with a shiny barrel! Treasure! If you were using acorn blanks for primer, that load would be low subsonic - you could easily bump it up to 4.5 grains. How energetic the blanks you are using are I can't know, however. I'd look for about 1050 fps if you have a chronograph.

[Rockingkj]

Well the blanks I could find are CCI shorts. Shot it ten times and it felt the action was a bit looser than when I started and cases a bit sticky so stopped playing. Don’t have a chronograph

[Squid Boy]

About a year ago I got involved in a project with a friend that wanted to shoot a new to him 25 Stevens RF and I worked on it a while. My first thought was to find a nail-gun cartridge that would work and breech seat but nixed that idea. Then I got some empty 17 Win super mag rimfire brass and started making tools to open it up. The hardest part was getting the annealing just right to allow the neck to open without collapsing the shoulder. That and finding the right angle for the expander. I believe I needed three total to get it big enough to size back enough to hold the bullet. I ruined a lot of cases before getting it right. I had an oddball unnamed mold that cast a .255" sixty grain bullet and tried that with the case. Re-priming was with strike-anywhere match head tips and the initial loads were a case full of 3F BP. There was a lot of back and forth because he lives on the left coast and costs for shipping were mounting up but they went bang and made holes in the targets so then I tried 4 grains of Unique under the same bullet. That worked pretty well too. You may be able to see the remnants of the shoulder in the picture. Since then I sent him the whole mess but here's the loaded round next to a 22 LR.

It was a very interesting project and has tempted me to get one to play with. Thanks, Squid Boy

[uscra112]

Best blanks are 6mm acorn blanks. Not as cheap as nailgun loads but testing has shown that they are about the same energy as a centerfire primer, so my Quickload models come pretty close.

https://www.airgundepot.com/6mm-crim...s-100-qty.html
https://www.gundogsupply.com/walther...orn-blank.html

[Rockingkj]

About a year ago I got involved in a project with a friend that wanted to shoot a new to him 25 Stevens RF and I worked on it a while. My first thought was to find a nail-gun cartridge that would work and breech seat but nixed that idea. Then I got some empty 17 Win super mag rimfire brass and started making tools to open it up. The hardest part was getting the annealing just right to allow the neck to open without collapsing the shoulder. That and finding the right angle for the expander. I believe I needed three total to get it big enough to size back enough to hold the bullet. I ruined a lot of cases before getting it right. I had an oddball unnamed mold that cast a .255" sixty grain bullet and tried that with the case. Re-priming was with strike-anywhere match head tips and the initial loads were a case full of 3F BP. There was a lot of back and forth because he lives on the left coast and costs for shipping were mounting up but they went bang and made holes in the targets so then I tried 4 grains of Unique under the same bullet. That worked pretty well too. You may be able to see the remnants of the shoulder in the picture. Since then I sent him the whole mess but here's the loaded round next to a 22 LR.

It was a very interesting project and has tempted me to get one to play with. Thanks, Squid Boy

Wow. And I thought making cases from Hornet was a task. I heard about using .17 cases and that looked way to involved for me. There is loads of 25 Stevens and 32 rim fires out there. Too bad some ammo Co. can’t make ‘‘em for us. It’s a challenge to roll you own but it sure would be nice to buy ready made.

[uscra112]

Long, LONG thread on the .25 Stevens on ASSRA forum

https://forum.assra.com/cgi-bin/yabb...m=1519327136/0

[Rockingkj]

Best blanks are 6mm acorn blanks. Not as cheap as nailgun loads but testing has shown that they are about the same energy as a centerfire primer, so my Quickload models come pretty close.

https://www.airgundepot.com/6mm-crim...s-100-qty.html
https://www.gundogsupply.com/walther...orn-blank.html

Well they would have sure been cheaper than what I was able to get locally.