Anyone Else shoot the 25-20SS?

[Kansas Ed]

Last couple of years I've been shooting an 1885 Lo-Wall in 25-20SS. I have a Lo-Wall in .22 Hornet also, but I'm finding more and more I gravitate to the 25-20SS. I'm not sure why I'm so enamored with that little cartridge, but after trying several bullet powder combinations I ended up shooting the Ideal 257464 which is running about 95+/- gr.

I ran this little cartridge up using Bertram Brass, and IMR-4198 till I got good groups and no pressure signs and ended up with 1990 fps over the chrony. Incredible...I normally don't like things that hot, but that's where it really came in at.

I tried the Remington 86gr, and Nosler BT in that rifle along with 4198, 2400, and 4227, and it just seems to like the 257464 with 4198 by far the best. One shout for cast huh...

I've been told that this cartridge/rifle combination likes a lighter boolit, but mine just isn't panning out that way. I recently picked up a Lyman 257463 which with the 1:20 lays them out at 79gr, so that's the next experiment on the table, but honestly I'm pretty happy with what I have going on right now. I may even use it this year for close in Whitetail.

So anyone else shoot this little marvel? Any sweet loads or boolit favorites?

Ed

[wch]

I, too, have an 1885 in 25-20SS; the weather is finally to the point where I can go to the range and be comfortable; I've put off shooting the rifle because I bought it with an old Winchester A5 scope and I couldn't use it until I had the scope's lenses cleaned.
Now, we'll see.
Interesting that your rifle prefers the heavier bullets, as I, too have read that the caliber prefers a lighter bullet.

[single shot jimmy]

I'm using the rcbs mold with no check from midway. Medium load of 2400 shoots vary well up to 100 yards in a stevens 44. Also have a 1 1/2 rolling block that needs a liner. Too many other project's to get that done. Hopefully some day.

[Bent Ramrod]

My Low Wall .25-20SS likes the Ideal 257463 over 6.5 gr of SR-4759.

There is something ineffably cool about the .25-20 SS, all right.

[uscra112]

Yupper. Delightful little cartridge! A looong-time favorite of mine.

Used a Stevens 44 1/2 in .25-20 Stevens for my #1 chuck rifle for several years. 86 grain j-warts could be driven 1800 fps quite easily using several powders. My favorite back them was XMP 5744, but today I'd use Lil-Gun. My barrel looks like somebody dragged a log chain through it, but it will shoot darned near 1 MOA. I never tried cast in it.

Loading the .25-20 Stevens hot was advocated by Allyn Tedmon in the early '30s, and he wasn't wrong. He got to the same place that you and I have done - around 1850 fps. Just don't do it in a weak action. You're about at the limit of a Low Wall with those loads.

Finally gave it up because the J-warts you can get for .25 caliber aren't fragile enough, so they don't expand, and they ricochet easily. So I took up with the .22 Lovell, which is the .25-20 Stevens case necked down to .22 caliber. A seriously good 200 yard chuck cartridge. Still shoot those quite often.

The ASSRA has a group called the "Quarterbore Corps" who shoot the .25-20 Stevens and other .25 calibers offhand at 200 yards, Schuetzen style.

I have been working with another 44 1/2 in .25-21 with plain base cast. An amazingly accurate little rifle when you keep it to about 1400 fps. Best loads are about 6.5 grains of AA #9. Need to work on the trigger to make it competitive for Schuetzen, though.

Jamison, (now Captech International) http://www.captechintl.com/ makes modern brass for the .25-20 Stevens which is far superior to anything else anywhere. A bit thicker, so reduce loads about a grain to start. I used to make my own .25-25SS brass from .223, (yes it can be done), but have quit now that the Jamison stuff can be bought.

[MT Chambers]

Those of us that adore the 25/20 SS usually breechseat bullets for best results, my CPA likes the Hoch 105gr. tapered spitzer and AA4100 powder(among others), lots of info on the 25/20SS on the excellent ASSRA forum. This cumbersome method of loading is only good at the target range where there is lots of time, and you are relaxed.

[Kansas Ed]

Interesting information fellas. I'm now stoked to try that 257463 with a load of 4759. I have a bunch cast up, just haven't loaded them yet. One question, is the 25-20ss the same as the 25-20 Stevens?? IIRC the 25-21 was a longer case. Just haven't run across any of the 25-20 Stevens cartridges. Glad to see this cartridge has such a dedicated following. It sure is a gem.

Ed

[uscra112]

Yes, the .25-20 Stevens is an earlier name for it. It was a wildcat that became a standard about 1882. Maynard was the first to use it, but it became indelibly linked to Stevens because of the huge number of small game rifles they sold for it. It was also offered by Winchester in the 1885 series. Those early 1885 barrels simply say .25-20 on them. When Winchester came out with the .25-20 WCF in 1895, to fit their Model 1892 lever guns, a need to differentiate between the two arose. Winchester continued to chamber High Walls and Low Walls for the Stevens version, but they did not want to stamp a competitor's name on their barrels, so they started calling the Stevens version the .25-20SS, for Single Shot. That soon stuck. Cartridge packaging from 1900 and onward very often call it the .25-20 Single Shot, but Phil Sharpe was still calling it the Stevens as late as 1938 in his book The Rifle in America.

Yes, the .25-21 is a longer, straight-wall case, not quite a variant of the .25-20, but close. Nowhere near as common as the .25-20.

[JHeath]

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?196308-I-bought-an-1892-rifle

Check recent Castboolit lever rifle thread where Clark is single-shotting overlength loads through a Win 1892, with some really interesting loading practices.

[Kansas Ed]

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?196308-I-bought-an-1892-rifle

Check recent Castboolit lever rifle thread where Clark is single-shotting overlength loads through a Win 1892, with some really interesting loading practices.


While that 25-20 is a different cartridge than what we've been discussing, I've done some experiments of my own for my '92 in 25-20WCF. I use an 85gr Nosler Ballistic tip, add a cannelure, shorten the brass so the cannelure doesn't have to end up on the bullet ogive, and then file the plastic tips off flat to just above the bullet jacket. I use a fair load of IMR-4227, and the results are outstanding...pond turtles go into pieces....groups are tiny. But the work of trimming the brass means that I've only got about 50 pieces of brass for those loads.

Ed