.25-20 WCF SAvage

[DonH]

"I just love those rifles. My other 2 are in 25WCF or 25-20Win. " (From another thread)

Tpr Brett,

I too have a Savage 23B .25-20 WCF. It is wonderfully accurate with jacketed bullets but success has eluded me with cast bullets. I only have one mould, a Lyman Loverin type which drops a bullet of about 90 grs. Sized .258 or used as cast they make perfect keyholes at 50 ft or 25 yds. A moderate load of 4.5 to 5.0 gr of Unique was used. I wondered what you might have to share about your rifle with cast bullets i.e. bullet style, weight, hardness, velocity, etc?

The Lyman 257420 mould has been recommended to me as a preferred bullet for this cartridge and I wil get around to trying it. The project does not yet rank high enough on the priority list to purchase the mould. For now, however, given the twist rate of the barrel I see no reason why the 90 gr bullet I have on hand should lnot be capable of shooting point forward. It is a challenge.

[Bret4207]

Don- my exreience with the 25WCF is far less than with the 32WCF. Mine likes the 75 gr Loverin ok. 90 gr may just be too long. Dep Al has the info on his 25 WCF, maybe he'll chime in.

[9.3X62AL]

Don--

My 25-20 WCF rifles are both Marlins, an older Model 27-S slide action that needs some TLC and a newer (1989 version) levergun--a Model 1894CL. The levergun gets most of the range time. It has a 1-14" twist......it will keep Lyman #257312 (88 grain round flat nose/gas check) going point-first very well, and is a slightly better performer than Lyman #257420.

The latter boolit is pretty close, though--and the faster I run the castings, the tighter they seem to group. We called that a "clue" at my old job. :-) The rifle did likewise with the Speer 75 grain flatpoints, and was immediately accurate with that projectile when new. A lot of the tweaks I've had to do on the cases have more to do with the chamber in this example (chambered "long") than with the caliber itself, so I won't beat you up with that.

I found an RCBS 25-85-CB mold last week at a good price, and will be giving this boolit a try in my quarter-bores. Early in its cast boolit career, the 94CL did about as well with some RCBS samples as it had with other castings, and the accuracy has improved steadily as the barrel smoothes out or seasons (or something). If I could get a sub-sonic load for the 25-20 to shoot well with that plain-based boolit in either the 25-20 or the 250 Savage, life would be great.

[Dale53]

Deputy Al;
My Marlin 1894 (modern version like yours) wouldn't shoot cast bullets worth spit until I had about 500 cast bullets through it. Suddenly, it started shooting quite well and has remained excellent. Using my heavy load (14.5 grs of RL-7 behind the 457420 GC Lyman (compressed load) it gets just under 2200 fps. This load shoots all tens on the NRA 50 yard smallbore target at 50 yards. My medium load (not chrongraphed) is 11.0 grs of RL-7 shoots as well. My Squirrel load (4.0 grs of Unique) shoots just as well.

In my carefully considered opinion, this 25/20 is the best item out there for an edible small game rifle.

All of the above loads are with the Lyman 257420 with a GC. the bullet alloy is linotype. When I got the rifle, I also bought a bunch of Factory bullets but to this day have not fired a jacketed bullet in this rifle.

It is definitely a keeper.

Dale53

[dk17hmr]

My dad has a Savage 23, actually the whole set, 22lr, 22Hornet, 25-20, and 32-20...as well as the Savage 19 versions.

They are fun little rifles for sure, havent shot any cast out of the 25 yet though. Jacketed bullets work pretty nice on rabbits and squirrels.

[9.3X62AL]

Dale--

There were about 300-350 copper bullets run through the rifle when it was new, then I sold it for a time before getting it back. I de-coppered the bore really well, than started with the castings. The first couple hundred were UGLY SHOOTING, then things started to straighten out--and that improvement process is continuing as I pass the 1K mark in total rounds fired.

[Dale53]

I have years of experience (probably about like you) of shooting and reloading and I really have no concrete evidence WHY this rifle suddenly started shooting really well (and continues to do so). Things like, "Now it is broken in.", etc really don't explain much. For some reason, I never lost heart and really expected to find the right "prescription". Suddenly, the rifle will shoot nearly anything well. Go figure...

Early in the stage of development, I discovered that the barrel has a visible "flaw". However, flaw and all, you won't get the rifle OR the barrel away from me. It works entirely too well to diddle with it.

Yours sounds like it is now behaving itself, also.

Ain't it grand?[smilie=1:

Dale53

[9.3X62AL]

Yes, the rifle got away once, it won't do that again.