25 20 to 32 20

[Ruts]

I have a 25 20 with a bad bore. I want to rechamber it to 32 20 but shoot 110 grain .308 jacketed bullets. Can I rebore it for 308 and have it shoot well with a 32 20 chamber?

[Prairie Cowboy]

I'm no expert on these matters, but since the bullet diameter for .32-20 is .3125", this would pose some problems I think.

First of all it would need a custom chambering reamer to be made in order that the chamber would not be oversized.

Secondly you would need custom reloading dies made to reform and resize .32-20 brass to .308/.32-20, and also to neck expand, seat, and crimp specific to .308" bullets.

So, possible but impractical cost-wise.

Perhaps you could have a .32-20 barrel liner installed, which would also include the standard .32-20 chamber.

[turtlezx]

barrel liner keep it 25 20

[curdog007]

It's not that complicated at all.
I've done it (30 cal barrel 32-20) - used a reamer with a floating pilot of correct diameter and it shoots 311 to 313 cast boolits just fine. Using the normal 32-20 reamer leaves the neck portion of the chamber large enough to release the boolits.
Don't need special dies - just normal 32-20 ones.
If you want to use the 110 grain 308 bullets, simply leaving the expander plug out of the die or not neck expanding will probably leave the case neck sized just about right.

[garandsrus]

Redding makes a set of 30-20 dies if you want to more closely match your chamber. All the Contender barrels in 32-20 have a .308 bore so what you are doing has been around for a long time. The standard 32-20 dies will also work fine.

I would think about keeping it as a 25-20 also. Fun little cartridge.

[rockrat]

RCBS dies use to have two expanders, one for .308" bores and one for .312" bores. Thats the way my set came

[Ruts]

I think I will go ahead with it. My rebore guy said to check if the 32 20 die will size down far enough without the expander. I don’t have the dies yet. I can’t get a liner imported here and I have another 25 20 which is cool but I can’t find cast for it that will shoot ok or not lead the bore. I use the 60 gr. Hornady s which shoot well but are expensive and disappear for years at a time for availability. What I was most concerned about was the extra diameter in the neck area when the bullet is released before it enters the bore. It doesn’t seem people have had a problem with it

[garandsrus]

Ruts,

There is a fantastic thread on the 25-20 on the Marlin Owners forum. They tried a lot of different cast bullets. Here’s a link: https://www.marlinowners.com/threads/25-20-reloaders.26002/

[Rodfac]

It's not that complicated at all. I've done it (30 cal barrel 32-20) - used a reamer with a floating pilot of correct diameter and it shoots 311 to 313 cast boolits just fine. Using the normal 32-20 reamer leaves the neck portion of the chamber large enough to release the boolits. Don't need special dies - just normal 32-20 ones. If you want to use the 110 grain 308 bullets, simply leaving the expander plug out of the die or not neck expanding will probably leave the case neck sized just about right. This is really good advice...while I have and shoot a .25-20, finding finding brass is a continuing problem for many that don't want to reform .32-20 to .25-20. Also you'd find a better selection of jacketed bullets for the conversion to .32-20. Best of luck, and get a GOOD gunsmith to do the work. Rod

[sharps4590]

Not that many years ago the 30-20 was reasonably popular. Everything should be available. Practical and not that expensive.

[Ruts]

So I had my 25 20 rebored to 32 20 .306 bore and it shoots well. There is a bit of a hitch when feeding sometimes I have to back off a bit to swing the cartridge into the chamber. Maybe the 32 20 and 25 20 are not made exactly the same. Anyway I'm happy with how it turned out

[ATCDoktor]

My Winchester Model 92 started life as a 25/20 and sometime here in the last 120 years it was rebored to 32/20.

Don’t know who did it but it shoots fine with both lead and jacketed bullets that are appropriate for standard 32/20 ammunition.
https://i.postimg.cc/PqbFTtYS/6399-E2-FC-6574-494-A-B523-A122-E08053-BB.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

[ohiochuck]

Contact here to re-bore, etc. He does excellent work
Jim

John Taylor
Taylor Machine
14119 Military Rd E
Puyallup, WA 98374
253-445-4073

[pietro]

Contact here to re-bore, etc. He does excellent work
Jim

John Taylor
Taylor Machine
14119 Military Rd E
Puyallup, WA 98374
253-445-4073


Take a peek at post #11, Chuck - the OP's already had it rebored. :)

.

[ohiochuck]

Yep missed post # 11

[ofreen]

Contact here to re-bore, etc. He does excellent work
Jim

John Taylor
Taylor Machine
14119 Military Rd E
Puyallup, WA 98374
253-445-4073

Here is the current contact info -

https://johntaylormachine.com/contact/