Remington 25-20 brass

[Czech_too]

This post doesn't really seem to fit into "Reloading Equipment" nor any other thread, but ...

Recently picked up a new to me Marlin '94CL in 25-20 and located some reasonably prices ammo, Remington. Earlier this week I fired off 30 rounds and then reloaded these with an 85 grain commercial cast using IMR 4227. Starting load was 5.5 gr., increased this in .2 gr. increments to 5.9 gr. Manual showed a starting load of 6.1 gr., but with H4227, so I started low. Max load shown was 7.0 gr., with H4227.
Out of the 30 rounds fired, now this is brass that has been fired twice, 11 pieces are either partially split at the neck or are showing signs of splitting.

So I guess what I'm getting at is a word of caution. Brass availability is scarce, so I would strongly suggest that one anneal this brass after first firing. I'm certainly going to anneal the remaining cases, and any other rounds that I fire, especially with this headstamp. Will it make a difference in case life. I'd like to think yes.

Brian

[Bad Ass Wallace]

You are correct, anneal after first firing. I had some Rem factory rounds that did the same 4/10 split on firing. After annealing, I have not lost a case.

[farmbif]

one of the pitfalls of 25-20 the brass is very thin

[Dom]

This seems odd to me. I have been shooting my Marlin CL 25-20 since I originally bought it decades ago. Neck splitting has never been a problem for me . Cases have been loaded several times & crimped into the groove on my cast bullets . The only difference I see is that I use the Lyman 65gr GC bullet. 73grs cast from my COWW.

[Three44s]

That would hurt a plenty losing that much brass that’s hard to come by in the first place.

If you do not know about it, over in the Marlin Gun Owners forum, down in the reloading section there is a sticky thread for .25-20 Win. and it’s a whopper!

Three44s

[square butte]

What time period is your Rem. factory ammo from. I have several boxes of factory Rem. ammo from the 80's (green & yellow boxes) that had split neck in the factory boxes - About 30%. Some had bullets that could easily be pushed into the cases one twisted with ease. Remington brass for me has equaled thinner case necks than others. Might also be poor quality brass (aged) or poor factory loading spec.

[Kevin Rohrer]

Does Starllne sell that caliber brass?

[cwtebay]

My youngest son and I have reloaded the 25-20 brass from his rifle with a Lee Loader for a couple of years now. We anneal each new piece of brass, and every 3rd reloading. A quick peek at his supply - looks like he's got around 75/100 that are 6+ times loaded. We have lost a number on the first reloading in the past, and I believe that they were mostly NOS loaded ammunition. Another sure fire way to split my cases has been to FL resize and load to original high velocity speeds.
I did manage to squirrel away a few thousand new cases in the past couple of years. We have 3 rifles in 25WCF and it seems like they are favourites with the young shooters that come and hang out, betting my meager supply of brass won't be enough eventually!

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[Wayne Smith]

Does Starllne sell that caliber brass?

No but they sell 32-20 that can be made into 25-20. First run the mouths through a reloading die or M die to make sure they are absolutely round. Second trim the mouths lightly to make sure there are no irregular openings. Lube well and slowly run into a 25-20 size die with the decapping pin removed, using multiple up and down movements, turning each case slightly each time you release it from the die. If this process is overly difficult consider annealing the necks first. If not expect to load, fire once, and anneal.

If you happen to have a 7mm or 6.5 die this can be used as an intermediate step.

[Czech_too]

What time period is your Rem. factory ammo from. I have several boxes of factory Rem. ammo from the 80's (green & yellow boxes) that had split neck in the factory boxes - About 30%. Some had bullets that could easily be pushed into the cases one twisted with ease. Remington brass for me has equaled thinner case necks than others. Might also be poor quality brass (aged) or poor factory loading spec.

All of the boxes are green & yellow, so I take it they are newer production. Never the less, I intend to stash it and confine my use to what's left of the first box. If I had some Winchester brass, maybe someday I will, I'm going to compare the thickness against the Remington. Starline has had a number of requests, based upon postings that I've seen, to do 25-20 brass but have not yet acted upon them. My brief attempt at forming from 32-20, I do like that cartridge, wasn't successful so I'll hold off on that for the time being.

[Dom]

I have Win & Rem 25-20 brass. They both are thin in the necks. This is the way 25-20 has always been made. Same as 44-40, thin.

[Dale53]

I had a Marlin CL ‘94 for years. I LOVED that rifle and caliber for edible small game. I used nothing but cast bullets in it. I had Winchester brass and shot it a LOT! My local club held lever action matches and the rifle was VERY competitive! When I was testing my “High Speed” load ( equal to the factory high speed load), I could get 20+ loads with no problems. Brass life was nearly FOREVER, and I never annealed my brass.

YMMV
Dale 53

[cwtebay]

I had a Marlin CL ‘94 for years. I LOVED that rifle and caliber for edible small game. I used nothing but cast bullets in it. I had Winchester brass and shot it a LOT! My local club held lever action matches and the rifle was VERY competitive! When I was testing my “High Speed” load ( equal to the factory high speed load), I could get 20+ loads with no problems. Brass life was nearly FOREVER, and I never annealed my brass.

YMMV
Dale 53I would love to hear about your recipe! I can't say I've ever gotten 20 loads from a case.

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[Dom]

That is interesting. I have never had problems with split necks in my Marlin 94 CL. . Very odd. I drive my Lyman 65gr( actually 73gr as cast ) cast bullet at about 1450 fps with a load of Unique. I will temper the necks about every 10 shots. Maybe it has to do with the alloy process of a particular batch of brass?? Still, strange.

[cwtebay]

Guess my lesson is: use a Marlin!!!

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