.25-20 Components coming together

[blackpowder man]

I picked up an old Savage Model 23 in .25-20 last winter and am finally ready to start loading some ammo. It came with a bag of 40 rounds that the precious owner bought somewhere that had been formed from .32-20 and loaded with jacketed flat nose bullets. I shot 10 of them and they did ok, nothing amazing. I was surprised at how good the trigger is on the old rifle.
I bought a bag of 7.62 Nagant brass and have some of it formed, trimmed, annealed and ready to load. I got a mold from Arsenal molds that is a copy of the Ideal 257283 plain base 86 grain flat nose. I have some cast, sized to .258, and powder coated. I’ve done some searching on loads and will try IMR 4227 and 4198 as those seem to be fairly popular for the .25-20. If anybody has any wonderful pet loads, preferably using an 86 grain bullet, please post them.
And if anybody has a vintage peep sight for a Savage 23 please shoot me a pm.
Thanks
Andy

[Dom]

In my Marlin 94CL , I use the Lyman 65gr GC FN style bullet. Cast from my scrap wheel weights it comes out at 73gr. I use ( SAFE IN MY RIFLE ) 6grs of unique for about 1450 fps. Superbly accurate. BHN is about 10.5. I don't consider the 25-20 suitable for deer except in a dire survival situation. Where legal it makes a great turkey round. Because of the bullet hardness & velocity it is also good for rabbits & squirrel. It will drive thru without expansion. Just a clean hole.

[garandsrus]

This is about as good as it gets for 25-20: https://www.marlinowners.com/threads/25-20-reloaders.26002/

[Larry Gibson]

Occasionally I use this old Ideal loading tool to cast bullets and load them for my M23. However, mostly with cast bullets I just use Lyman 310 25-20 dies with adapters for press use which neck size, have and M-die and a seater. I use the regular Pacific Dura Chrome dies if i have to FL size (almost never unless I come across some cases fired in another rifle, especially a lever action). The Savage 23 in 25-20 is about as close to an ideal cast bullet small game and plinker rifle there is IMHO.

299905

299906

299907

299908

I mostly use the Lyman 257460 GC'd bullet for top end loads or a Lyman 257283 HP for 22LR equivalent loads. Cast of 40-1 and pushed at 1050 fps the 257283 HP is a real thumper on squirrels and rabbits. Performs more like the hyper velocity 22LRs.

299909

[Good Cheer]

For 86 grain mine loves light loads of Unique.

http://i.imgur.com/7Q97S3a.jpg (https://imgur.com/7Q97S3a)

[atr]

I also shoot a M23 and I have found that the 86 gr cast does not seem to stabilize well in that 1:16 barrel twist, nor is the accuracy good. The 65 gr FN cast is the bullet that give the best accuracy and I've never had it key-hole.
If you have good success with the 86gr I would like to hear about it.
best
atr

[blackpowder man]

Thanks for the responses, I will try some with Unique too. I started with IMR 4227 at 7, 7.5, and 8 grains. I hope the 86 grain bullet works since I already bought the mold. Both of your 23s have the cheese grater mags too. I tried to post a pic of the rifle, but this is the one place I seem to always have problems loading pics.

[Larry Gibson]

The Lyman 257283 is an 85 gr bullet but in HP form weighs in much less. With the weight to the rear [center of mass] it maintains stability out to 75 yards at 1050 fps. After that it loses stability. The much shorter GC'd 257420 at 65 gr is a much better bullet giving accuracy at ranges I don't shoot varmints at with it. At 1500 - 1800 fps it really is the bullet of choice unless a simple 22LR equivalent load is wanted.

[rbuck351]

I use the 257460 and 9.5 grs of 2400 for 1950 fps. I use that load in both a Savage 23 and a Win 92. That is about as fast as I can push it without losing accuracy. The 25/20 is my favorite small game round and kills very well without exploding small game.

[tejano]

Are you gentlemen referring to Lyman 257460 or 257420?

[Larry Gibson]

I'm using the Lyman 257420, a 65 gr FP GC'd bullet.

[ATCDoktor]

My favorite load for the 25/20 is 5.5 grains of Accurate Arms #7 with either cast or jacketed bullets.

Gives 1400-1400 fps and exceptional accuracy in my Savage and my Marlin 27S.

5.5 grains of AA #7 5 shots at 50 yards Marlin Model 27S.
https://i.postimg.cc/Xqzzx21m/1951D2E3-8501-4EE6-B843-FE1EFC4C56A8.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

A subsonic load I use is 2.3 grains of Trailboss and a 55 grain .258 hollow point.

Hollow point on the left.
https://i.postimg.cc/C1PmRWq4/0ED0BC4C-45DF-444C-B357-833DD558112E.jpg (https://postimages.org/)
https://i.postimg.cc/635M59y3/51A45E7C-01CD-41B7-AB34-75F2B9F799F4.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

Velocity for that load is right at 1035 fps and shoots right around an inch at 75 yards.

I’ve killed many a rabbit with that load and that hollow point really opens up at that speed.
https://i.postimg.cc/FzyrR0Pb/AA659E36-4D81-4B3B-8354-8B5BCE0773A6.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

[rbuck351]

My mistake. I use the Lyman 257420 gc and lube with WW is 73 gr. I also bought a Lee mistake mold. It's a 50gr 6 cav that was cut to 257 instead of 252 for the 25 auto. I haven't had a chance to work out a load for them yet and it's not looking good for this summer.

[blackpowder man]

Got a chance to shoot a few. The brass I made from 7.62 Nagant is going to need the necks turned. I haven’t done much neck trimming, somethung I have tried to avoid. I had an old Sako rebarreled to a .300 Whisper that required neck turning. The brass that came as loaded ammo with the rifle worked ok. The ones at 7.5 and 8 grains of IMR 4227 did well at 25 yards. Hopefully these 85 grain boolits will work out.The bolt stop isn’t stopping the bolt everytime so I need to take a look at that as well.

[Chris S]

Both my Savage 23 and a custom 16" barrelled Contender carbine like either the 457240 or a Noe 260-63-FN-AR4 sized to .260" after coating. My favorite powder is 1680, 12 grains. Can't remember the fps, but it's up there. Accuracy is very good, well under an inch at 50 yards for the Savage and that good at 100 yards for the Contender.
I have 13 different 25 cal moulds in my collection and only the one 25 cal cartridge to load for, safe to say I have run the 25-20 gammit. Hard to beat that 257420 with a gas check.
Chris

[blackpowder man]

I’d like to use a plain base, powder coated if possible. However if the 257420 is what I need then I’ll go that route. If I get too many .25 molds than more rifle might follow me home. That happens to me and then I trade the rifles for other cool rifles and I keep the dies, brass, and molds in case I get another one in that caliber....

[Brassmonkey]

Thanks for sharing the tech on nagant brass!

[blackpowder man]

Thanks for sharing the tech on nagant brass!

And it is currently available, which has been my issue for awhile. Everytime any 32-20 brass shows up on here it is gone almost immediately. I found a place that had already converted 25-20 from Nagant brass, but it was over $100 plus shipping. The PPU is $25 for 50 pieces.