.25-20 win brass from .32-20 brass

[Marine Sgt 2111]

Gentlemen,
I have made .17 Fireball brass from .223 and .222 brass, I have the forming dies and it's no big deal. I have made .32-40 brass from .30-30 and .32 spl from .30-30 and even .38-55 from .30-30.

Now I am diving into a pool of which I have no experience. I have some .32-20 brass (new) and wish to make it into .25-20 brass. Do I just run it through a .25-20 sizing die? Usually I anneal my formed brass after they are formed, should I anneal these before?

THank you in advance for your input.

[GRUMPA]

I do thousands of those a year, and here's what I use.

All of this is on a progressive press mind you.

32-20 sizer die.....need them round and all the same, if you don't any imperfections just get worse.
22Rem Jet form dies (There's 3 but I use the 2 larger ones)......you need to form gradually with the thin necks.
Custom .270 diameter neck reduction die.....without it I was crushing the necks, so I made it on the lathe.
Last station is the sizer die which needed to be altered to hold the gauge dimension.

I use my own homemade lube, and I have to use it very sparingly or I'll get dimples.

I found out even a little annealing job weakens them to much resulting in a lot of scrap. Now I anneal very last just before they get shipped out. Even though I go through this multi-step procedure I'm still getting about a 4-7% scrap rate. When reducing the neck in steps it's important to size them down far enough or you'll collapse the case at the final step.

[griffiga]

I have a bag of new .25-20 (50 or 100 can't remember) cases as well as 400- 500 already cast/lubed bullets I bought from Midway a year ago. I ended up selling the gun don't have any use for the other stuff. If any of you wanted them, I'd make you a hell of a deal on it. A month ago I spent several hours cleaning/organizing my reloading room and have a pile of stuff I don't need any more. If anybody is interested email me at: musket57@gmail.com

[Jeff Michel]

http://www.marlinowners.com/forum/32-40-38-55-375-other-great-non-standard-calibers/174112-forming-218-bee-brass-starline-32-20-brass-easy-way.html

This is the best way I have found yet. Just follow it instructions and your all set.
Good luck

[enfield]

Griffiga how can you not "need" 25-20 stuff, you just "need" a 25-20 rifle & it will all work out. I bought a couple bags of brass and a set of dies about 4 years before I found a 25-20. It's got a rough bore and rough wood but it's a fun little gun.

[upnorthwis]

I use a .270 REN as an intermediate die with no annealing. Maybe lost 2-3 out of a hundred.

[griffiga]

Ya I know Enfield, I did have a little Marlin 25-20, it had a very rough bore and the internals kept jamming, I got tired of fighting it. I have a .32-20 and a .218 bee so the .25-20 is pretty much more of the same. I suppose I could convert the brass, but I'd rather someone else use it for the rifle it was intended for.

[Baja_Traveler]

Ya I know Enfield, I did have a little Marlin 25-20, it had a very rough bore and the internals kept jamming, I got tired of fighting it. I have a .32-20 and a .218 bee so the .25-20 is pretty much more of the same. I suppose I could convert the brass, but I'd rather someone else use it for the rifle it was intended for.

Sent you an email about the brass -

[Marine Sgt 2111]

Thank you gentlemen for all of your input. I bought a Redding form and trim die and after annealing only lost about 4 out of 150. I slugged the barrel and it reads .2545". Thank God it's not oversized, now onto a good mold. Thank you all again.

[pcmacd]

I just found a Rem Model 25 in 25-20 at the last PHX gun show. There is little to no blue, just a patina, and the bore IS PERFECT?

How can that be?

[FISH4BUGS]

Just came into a VERY early Savage Sporter in 25-20. Pristine condition but missing a magazine, which I found a repro one from Triple K Mfg.
Bought 300 formed cases from Grumpa.
Looking forward to working up some 25-20 loads and reducing the woodchuck population.

[pcmacd]

Thank you gentlemen for all of your input. I bought a Redding form and trim die and after annealing only lost about 4 out of 150. I slugged the barrel and it reads .2545". Thank God it's not oversized, now onto a good mold. Thank you all again.

They now recommend an additional die as a prelude to the form and trim. It is some kind of T/C die in 308. W/O anneal I lost 2 or 3 of 250 going from 32-30 to 25-20. Call them or ask here and I'll check and then update this post. I lost 40% of my first hundred w/o the initial die because I was smart enough to anneal them. Duh.me

[Mk42gunner]

GRUMPA had it right, don't anneal until the case forming is done, at least for the .25-20.

When I was doing this, I didn't have any intermediate step dies or even .32-20. What I did was use the .25-20 seater die as the intermediate step, then the full length resizing die. It worked, but I can see how something in the 7mm-.270 range would be better. I think I had about a 12-13% loss before I figured out how to do it.

Robert

[Chill Wills]

GRUMPA had it right, don't anneal until the case forming is done, at least for the .25-20.
Robert

It is interesting how we get so many different outcomes.
Starline brass I assume.

I was not annealing first and loosing a lot and even the fully formed good ones were very hard to produce.
I changed to annealing as step one and FL sizing in a 32-20 die and not I might not loose one in 50.

Also, the motor oil additive STP is the best lube I have worked with and the smallest amount you can use is the way to go.
Like drilling metal in a drill press, "Pecking" your way into the die - feeling how it feels and re-distributing the STP lube on the case with my greasy fingers if it does not feel right gets it done for me.

Sounds slow?
After a few, it is fast.

I really enjoy the Winchester 1892 in 25-20.

[pcmacd]

Thank you gentlemen for all of your input. I bought a Redding form and trim die and after annealing only lost about 4 out of 150. I slugged the barrel and it reads .2545". Thank God it's not oversized, now onto a good mold. Thank you all again.

Redding is now recommending an additional die as a prelude to the 25-20 form and trim. It is some kind of T/C die in 308. W/O anneal I lost 2 or 3 of 250 going from 32-30 to 25-20 with the additional die. Call them or ask here and I'll check and then update this post. I lost 40% of my first hundred w/o the initial T/C 308 die because I was not smart enough to anneal them. Duh.me

[Mk42gunner]

It is interesting how we get so many different outcomes.
Starline brass I assume.

I was not annealing first and loosing a lot and even the fully formed good ones were very hard to produce.
I changed to annealing as step one and FL sizing in a 32-20 die and not I might not loose one in 50.

Also, the motor oil additive STP is the best lube I have worked with and the smallest amount you can use is the way to go.
Like drilling metal in a drill press, "Pecking" your way into the die - feeling how it feels and re-distributing the STP lube on the case with my greasy fingers if it does not feel right gets it done for me.

Sounds slow?
After a few, it is fast.

I really enjoy the Winchester 1892 in 25-20.

No, I was doing mostly Nickle plated Remington or plain WW brass. Don't remember for sure what lube I used, I have used both STP and Imperial sizing wax while forming cases.

My .25-20 is a Husqvarna single shot so after I got a couple of hundred rounds of brass, I figured that was enough for quite a while.

Robert