25 Stevens now goes bang

[Rockingkj]

Thanks to Sparky45 who provided me some partially re-formed .22 Hornet brass I was able to finish the conversation and loaded 5 rounds. Had not gotten .25 ACP dies yet. Decided to make a crude seating die so I could seat the bullets. Test fired only, Stevens Favorite in 25 Stevens rim fire. Need A trip to the range to see how it shoots. A metal lathe would have simplified the entire process. Made do with my drill press. Necessity is a mother. 67gr tumble alox bullets .22 blank for primer and and a bit of powder ( don’t care to say for liability reasons). Will need to get 25 ACP dies primarily to resize the neck, too loose fit when reloaded.

[Digital Dan]

:bigsmyl2:

[uscra112]

Another successful .25 Stevens shooter! Good for you!

BTW a .25 ACP die set isn't very useful, since it's geared to a round that uses a .251" bullet, and the .25 Stevens needs .257" or even .258". Useful to know that a .277" drill bushing from McMaster-Carr does an excellent job of neck-sizing for me. I've built it into a Lyman 310 tong tool die, but with some care it could be used by itself, using your drill press. (Only about eight bucks, but shipping from McMaster is very expensive.)

[dverna]

Nice. Enjoy seeing stuff like this.

[SSGOldfart]

very nice guess I'm going to have to try this very interested in how the Range testing goes.:bigsmyl2:

[Rockingkj]

Another successful .25 Stevens shooter! Good for you!

BTW a .25 ACP die set isn't very useful, since it's geared to a round that uses a .251" bullet, and the .25 Stevens needs .257" or even .258". Useful to know that a .277" drill bushing from McMaster-Carr does an excellent job of neck-sizing for me. I've built it into a Lyman 310 tong tool die, but with some care it could be used by itself, using your drill press. (Only about eight bucks, but shipping from McMaster is very expensive.)

I may try my 25-20 die as a neck sizer, a bit longer but only need the reduce the neck a small but to hold a bullet. Also thinking a 25 ACP set, as that’s seem to be what’s used to reform the hornet brass.

[uscra112]

I may try my 25-20 die as a neck sizer, a bit longer but only need the reduce the neck a small but to hold a bullet. Also thinking a 25 ACP set, as that’s seem to be what’s used to reform the hornet brass.

Yes, I use a Lee carbide .25 ACP sizer for the initial swaging-down of the Hornet cases. The other dies in the set aren't useful. A .25-20 die will neck size. If it sizes too small a plug type expander like the Lyman M die will be required. NOE makes a very suitable (and cheaper) version.

A Letter I drill makes a hole about .277, for what it's worth.

I initially tried using a .25-20 seater, but soon made a better alternative for my tong tool. But I have the advantage of having a lathe.

[Rockingkj]

Yes, I use a Lee carbide .25 ACP sizer for the initial swaging-down of the Hornet cases. The other dies in the set aren't useful. A .25-20 die will neck size. If it sizes too small a plug type expander like the Lyman M die will be required. NOE makes a very suitable (and cheaper) version.

A Letter I drill makes a hole about .277, for what it's worth.

I initially tried using a .25-20 seater, but soon made a better alternative for my tong tool. But I have the advantage of having a lathe.

Well my home made seater actually seems to work pretty well. With flat nosed bullet and not putting a gas check on the bullet settles in at the right over all length. Actually loading the round backwards. Seat the bullet, pour in powder from the primer end and install the .22 blank. The way to made it, the blank easily presses in. If it’s too loose figure a drop of super glue will hold in place till fired.

[Rockingkj]

I kinda went down the rabbit hole with this Stevens. Originally bought it to engrave and resell. .25 Stevens rim fire being too high priced and collectible to shoot factory ammo. Found the information about making it shoot again with brass formed from Hornet. Had to try that. Been an interesting project.

[uscra112]

Welcome to the Mad .25 Stevens Tea Party. The White Rabbit will be along shortly. :bigsmyl2:

[Rockingkj]

Welcome to the Mad .25 Stevens Tea Party. The White Rabbit will be along shortly. :bigsmyl2:

Thanks. Field test marginally successful. 4” group at 25yds. So nothing to write home to mother about.

[uscra112]

What did you size your bullets to? And how's the bore in your Favorite? For that matter, which model is your Favorite - 1894 or 1915? Later 1915s never saw corrosive priming, and their bores are often pretty good. Older ones not so much. :cry:

[Rockingkj]

Well the bore is so shiny it hurts to look at it with a bore light. Bullets are as dropped at .257. Alox tumble lube. Not marked as a Favorite. Had one keyhole but felt the load was maybe a bit too hot for the Stevens. Probably foolish 3.9gr IMR 4227. 67gr bullet. School me if you must. Right or wrong bought into Lee’s Alox , if you can chamber it you can shoot it.

[uscra112]

A '94 with a shiny barrel! Treasure! If you were using acorn blanks for primer, that load would be low subsonic - you could easily bump it up to 4.5 grains. How energetic the blanks you are using are I can't know, however. I'd look for about 1050 fps if you have a chronograph.

[Rockingkj]

Well the blanks I could find are CCI shorts. Shot it ten times and it felt the action was a bit looser than when I started and cases a bit sticky so stopped playing. Don’t have a chronograph

[Squid Boy]

About a year ago I got involved in a project with a friend that wanted to shoot a new to him 25 Stevens RF and I worked on it a while. My first thought was to find a nail-gun cartridge that would work and breech seat but nixed that idea. Then I got some empty 17 Win super mag rimfire brass and started making tools to open it up. The hardest part was getting the annealing just right to allow the neck to open without collapsing the shoulder. That and finding the right angle for the expander. I believe I needed three total to get it big enough to size back enough to hold the bullet. I ruined a lot of cases before getting it right. I had an oddball unnamed mold that cast a .255" sixty grain bullet and tried that with the case. Re-priming was with strike-anywhere match head tips and the initial loads were a case full of 3F BP. There was a lot of back and forth because he lives on the left coast and costs for shipping were mounting up but they went bang and made holes in the targets so then I tried 4 grains of Unique under the same bullet. That worked pretty well too. You may be able to see the remnants of the shoulder in the picture. Since then I sent him the whole mess but here's the loaded round next to a 22 LR.
315450
It was a very interesting project and has tempted me to get one to play with. Thanks, Squid Boy

[uscra112]

Best blanks are 6mm acorn blanks. Not as cheap as nailgun loads but testing has shown that they are about the same energy as a centerfire primer, so my Quickload models come pretty close.

https://www.airgundepot.com/6mm-crimped-blanks-100-qty.html
https://www.gundogsupply.com/walther-22-cal-6mm-acorn-blank.html

[Rockingkj]

About a year ago I got involved in a project with a friend that wanted to shoot a new to him 25 Stevens RF and I worked on it a while. My first thought was to find a nail-gun cartridge that would work and breech seat but nixed that idea. Then I got some empty 17 Win super mag rimfire brass and started making tools to open it up. The hardest part was getting the annealing just right to allow the neck to open without collapsing the shoulder. That and finding the right angle for the expander. I believe I needed three total to get it big enough to size back enough to hold the bullet. I ruined a lot of cases before getting it right. I had an oddball unnamed mold that cast a .255" sixty grain bullet and tried that with the case. Re-priming was with strike-anywhere match head tips and the initial loads were a case full of 3F BP. There was a lot of back and forth because he lives on the left coast and costs for shipping were mounting up but they went bang and made holes in the targets so then I tried 4 grains of Unique under the same bullet. That worked pretty well too. You may be able to see the remnants of the shoulder in the picture. Since then I sent him the whole mess but here's the loaded round next to a 22 LR.
315450
It was a very interesting project and has tempted me to get one to play with. Thanks, Squid Boy

Wow. And I thought making cases from Hornet was a task. I heard about using .17 cases and that looked way to involved for me. There is loads of 25 Stevens and 32 rim fires out there. Too bad some ammo Co. can’t make ‘‘em for us. It’s a challenge to roll you own but it sure would be nice to buy ready made.

[uscra112]

Long, LONG thread on the .25 Stevens on ASSRA forum

https://forum.assra.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1519327136/0

[Rockingkj]

Best blanks are 6mm acorn blanks. Not as cheap as nailgun loads but testing has shown that they are about the same energy as a centerfire primer, so my Quickload models come pretty close.

https://www.airgundepot.com/6mm-crimped-blanks-100-qty.html
https://www.gundogsupply.com/walther-22-cal-6mm-acorn-blank.html

Well they would have sure been cheaper than what I was able to get locally.

[uscra112]

Rocky Mountain Cartridge will make .25 Stevens cases for you, but they're spendy.

Converting .25 Stevens to centerfire isn't new. I recently learned that Reuben Harwood was doing it in 1894!

[Rockingkj]

Thanks for your guidance. appreciate that. Should I be concerned with what I perceive as a loosing of the action?

[uscra112]

Yes. The Favorite and Model 44 share a serious weakness, which is that the geometry of the toggle linkage is such that the compression load on the link is almost 80% of the bolt thrust. Repeated firing batters the link holes oval, and headspace opens up. The link in the '94 Favorite is thin, and particularly susceptible. I've repaired a good many by fitting oversize pins, (4mm for Favorite, 5mm for Model 44). This requires some chucking reamers, which ain't cheap, but it does the job. Meanwhile keep your loads mild.

Can I assume you are dumping the powder from those blanks? Blank fire powder is extremely fast, and creates unusually high pressures. (A historical note is that the bursting charge in American WW2 grenades was just "blank-fire powder".)

[Rockingkj]

Yes. The Favorite and Model 44 share a serious weakness, which is that the geometry of the toggle linkage is such that the compression load on the link is almost 80% of the bolt thrust. Repeated firing batters the link holes oval, and headspace opens up. The link in the '94 Favorite is thin, and particularly susceptible. I've repaired a good many by fitting oversize pins, (4mm for Favorite, 5mm for Model 44). This requires some chucking reamers, which ain't cheap, but it does the job. Meanwhile keep your loads mild.

Can I assume you are dumping the powder from those blanks? Blank fire powder is extremely fast, and creates unusually high pressures. (A historical note is that the bursting charge in American WW2 grenades was just "blank-fire powder".)

Not safe to assume anything, no did not dump the powder. That fact eluded me in my reading. I guess why use a blank at all? Just pull the bullet from a short, dump the powder and call it a primer. Should that not work?

[uscra112]

I guess why use a blank at all? Just pull the bullet from a short, dump the powder and call it a primer. Should that not work?

Until you can lay in a store of the acorn blanks, that would be a good plan. Combine with your 4227 charges as before.

Or use a #1 or #2 nailgun load, (grey or brown), without any additional powder. This has been done quite a lot, without any major problems, save that the spent case is harder to punch out of your adapter. The powder in nailgun loads is chosen to work against the resistance of the driver piston, so the pressure will be reasonable.

BTW that blank+4227 load may have leaded your barrel. Check and clean before any more shooting.

Going back to that ASSRA thread, poster >ndnchf< has been having good results using RL-7 powder. I would have sworn on a stack of Bibles that it was too slow for this, but it's working for him. Do brew a cup of tea and read through it. It pretty much recapitulates everything we've learned about making the .25 Stevens work over the last 4+ years.

Will look forward to seeing the gun should you decide to engrave it.

[Rockingkj]

Again thank you very much for your help. Ndnchf had mentioned RL-7 and 2400. 4227 is what I used since that’s what I have on hand. Use that in my 25-20 and 28-30 with good results and seems comparable to 2400. I will certainly show off the engraving when done. Thought I had a pics of a .32 rim fire I had done but must have deleted ‘em.

[uscra112]

4227 is about as good as it gets. The powders to avoid are the fast pistol and shotgun powders like Bullseye and Red Dot. They generate a shorter pulse at higher peak pressure to get any given muzzle velocity. And as we know, the powder used in blanks is even faster than those, by a lot. Just what the '94 Favorite does not need.

[Rockingkj]

What are you using to cut the rim for the blank in the hornet case? I used a drill bit but thinking there has to be a better tool than that. Thanks.

[uscra112]

I went to the extreme of having a reamer made, going back to when I started making .32 rimfire adapters. Essentially a .22 chamber reamer with the body diameter reduced.

For the modified Hornet cases, I would otherwise have chucked them up in the lathe and used a boring bar.

It could be done with only a drill press and using a 1/4" mill for a boring bar, but the setup would be mighty tricky.

Some have used a Letter J or K drill, but it removes more metal in a critical area than I'd like.

Which points to a weakness in the converted Hornet cases, which is that there isn't much metal holding the rim to the case body. This can lead to tearing the rim right off when seating a .22 blank, so I made a little steel "bullet" with a shoulder, like heeled .32 bullet. I use this and my seating die to press in the blank. The seating force is thus on the mouth of the case, rather than on the rim. This came about because, when I wrote the specification for my reamer, I was using older Walther copper acorn blanks, which were a few "tenths" smaller than the brass Umarex acorn blanks you get today. Eventually I used a .224 chucking reamer to enlarge the body hole in the adapter, but I still use the little steel "bullet". Seen here next to the "lozenge" decapping pin which is the original way of centerfire decapping with the Ideal tong tools.

315465

[Rockingkj]

Made one of those decapping pins to go with my Winchester 25-20 tong tool. Back to 25 Stevens looks to be several ways to skin the cat. I have a .22 long rifle finish reamer but do not want to ruin it just to cut a rim. Again thanks for your help and advice.

[Rockingkj]

Thought I had finally found a use for .22 Thunderbolts. Pulled the bullet dumped the powder and used the case as the “primer”. When they went off, shot a good group off the bench w 3.9gr 4227. However very anemic primer and a few slight hang fires. Finally had one that created a half hearted ignition would been a dud but sorta went off. Lodged the bullet in the bore few inches ahead of the case. Will try again with better .22 shells and see what happens.

[uscra112]

Thought I had finally found a use for .22 Thunderbolts. Pulled the bullet dumped the powder and used the case as the “primer”. When they went off, shot a good group off the bench w 3.9gr 4227. However very anemic primer and a few slight hang fires. Finally had one that created a half hearted ignition would been a dud but sorta went off. Lodged the bullet in the bore few inches ahead of the case. Will try again with better .22 shells and see what happens.

That long, empty case is shrouding the primer flash away from the powder.

[kootne]

I found in my .32RF travels that when using a .22 LR case with the bullet pulled and powder replaced ignition was not consistent unless the powder was placed in the .22 case and a small tuft of Kleenex to hold it in. Don't recall any load details off the top of my head at this time but it is written down somewhere.

[uscra112]

There's your answer. ^^

[Rockingkj]

Interesting, would have thought the powder would travel into the LR case and that not be an issue. When I was building additional cases and testing with empty Thunderbolt cases barely perceptible that the priming ignited. AND some strong pin strikes that failed to go off at all. But I have seen that issue when shooting Thunderbolts in my .22 LRs Should have sold ‘‘em back in the we will pay anything for .22 shells days.

[uscra112]

They weren't called Thunderduds for nothing.

Have you ordered up some acorn blanks yet? Personally I'd quit experimenting until I had some.

[Rockingkj]

No I have not ordered any. Just dumb enough to believe my square wheel with work just fine. Thanks for putting up with me.

[uscra112]

No huhu. Helping out is what we do here.

[Rockingkj]

Actually thought I was on to something 1” groups at 25yds with a rest, crude sights and poor eye sight. Constant ignition is a fickle mistress when you take the less attractive to the prom.

[Rockingkj]

I found in my .32RF travels that when using a .22 LR case with the bullet pulled and powder replaced ignition was not consistent unless the powder was placed in the .22 case and a small tuft of Kleenex to hold it in. Don't recall any load details off the top of my head at this time but it is written down somewhere.

I can understand that with .32 since there would be empty space around the .22 LR and stands to reason the primer might not be in contact with the powder. The way my cases for the 25 Stevens are built, they fit totally inside the case sorta like a rifle chamber. So when loaded there would not be any “hooding” ,the primer compound has direct access to the powder. My ignited “dud” remains a mystery. operator error, say it ain’t so Betty.

[sparky45]

That's fantastic KJ; looks like you did a real fine job of it.

[Rockingkj]

That's fantastic KJ; looks like you did a real fine job of it.

Thanks. And my sincere gratitude for providing me the cases. If ever return the favor just say the word.

[Kosh75287]

I keep finding .251" as the bore diameter for this cartridge. Does Cartridges of the World say different? I wonder if it's because the round is from the era of "inside lubricated" projectiles that ran slightly smaller than stated bore diameter.

[uscra112]

I keep finding .251" as the bore diameter for this cartridge. Does Cartridges of the World say different? I wonder if it's because the round is from the era of "inside lubricated" projectiles that ran slightly smaller than stated bore diameter.

I don't know where this idea of the .25 Stevens using a .251 bullet originated. Barnes repeated it in his book, but he was wrong. I've now got Stevens .25 rimfire rifles ranging from an 1893 sideplate through '94 Favorites, 1915 Favorites, Model 12 Marksman, Model 44s of varying vintages, and on up to a rare 1938 vintage Model 83 single shot bolt gun. NOT ONE takes a .251 bullet. They all slug .256 to .258. Remington issued their Model 4 in ".25-10", and it also had a .258 groove diameter. (One of my Favorites actually has a Remington barrel on it.) Ditto Hopkins & Allen, which was a prolific maker of their Junior model in .25 Stevens.

You may be remembering the .32 Colt, which went from a heeled bullet to an undersize hollow-base bullet, (which didn't work very well by most accounts). That never happened with the .25 Stevens. It was always inside lubricated. They made a selling point of it right from the introduction of the cartridge back when the Stevens company was still making Tip-Up rifles.

[MEB]

Actually, Wikipedia, The Firearms Forum & my own measurements has the bullet diameter as 0.251”. I have a Marlin / Glenfield Pump Rifles 27S in 25 Stevens Long& about a 100 rounds

https://www.thefirearmsforum.com/threads/25-stevens-ammo-dimensions.48976/

Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.25_Stevens

[uscra112]

I'll put my collection, (now NINE rifles factory bored and chambered .25 Stevens), up against Wikipedia any day and twice on Sunday. I repeat, NONE are bored for a .251 bullet.

Would not be the first time Wikipedia was wrong. Not even the hundredth. Slug that Marlin so you'll know.

Wiki's writer (plagiarist?) doesn't even know when the cartridge was introduced. It is shown in the 1896 Stevens catalog, mentioned in the 1895 Ideal handbook, and my sideplate Favorite was made in 1894 or earlier, possibly as early as 1892.

[dtknowles]

I'll put my collection, (now NINE rifles factory bored and chambered .25 Stevens), up against Wikipedia any day and twice on Sunday. I repeat, NONE are bored for a .251 bullet.

Would not be the first time Wikipedia was wrong. Not even the hundredth. Slug that Marlin so you'll know.

Wiki's writer (plagiarist?) doesn't even know when the cartridge was introduced. It is shown in the 1896 Stevens catalog, mentioned in the 1895 Ideal handbook, and my sideplate Favorite was made in 1894 or earlier, possibly as early as 1892.

Do you know that you can submit edits to Wikipedia. You can make it better, I do.

Tim

[uscra112]

Do you know that you can submit edits to Wikipedia. You can make it better, I do.

Tim

I know in principle, but have no idea how to go about it.

[ndnchf]

Sorry, I'm late to the party, I don't look at this forum too often. Since I was mentioned earlier, I thought you guys might be interested in this two part video I made in the 25 Stevens.

The first part shows how I convert .22 Hornet brass to .25 Stevens centerfire.

https://youtu.be/y_9G-FqDdKk?si=l8Rxcl_Fl5B_9yts

The second part shows how I convert them from centerfire to rimfire.

https://youtu.be/GsEV8MwXDu8?si=R8NHU_v5Z2X6Jmh6

Note: in part 2 I use a drill press to drill the rim recess. This works fine, I've done hundreds of cases this way. But I've since gone to drilling the rim recessusung the lathe because it is faster and more consistent.

Hope you find these helpful.
Steve

[Rockingkj]

Sorry, I'm late to the party, I don't look at this forum too often. Since I was mentioned earlier, I thought you guys might be interested in this two part video I made in the 25 Stevens.

The first part shows how I convert .22 Hornet brass to .25 Stevens centerfire.

https://youtu.be/y_9G-FqDdKk?si=l8Rxcl_Fl5B_9yts

The second part shows how I convert them from centerfire to rimfire.

https://youtu.be/GsEV8MwXDu8?si=R8NHU_v5Z2X6Jmh6

Note: in part 2 I use a drill press to drill the rim recess. This works fine, I've done hundreds of cases this way. But I've since gone to drilling the rim recessusung the lathe because it is faster and more consistent.

Hope you find these helpful.
Steve

I have seen those and certainly recommend those who are interested in getting a .25 rim fire shooting again to watch. Helped me down the rabbit hole. Lol

[northwoodneil]

I know this thread is a few months old but now I'm trying to shoot an old Stevens. I've got another post asking about what powder to use. It seems 4227 should be the answer. Now not to stir any hornets nests but I slugged my bore and get .251/.252. I've slugged a few bores before but not this small could I be doing something wrong? I drove a .310 round ball through and read it with my calipers at .251. When I set the calipers to .257 I can spin the slug between to jaws without it touching. I'm needing to buy some boolits but now you have me nervous.

[ndnchf]

From what Ive seen, Stevens 25s run on the tight side. I have a .25-25 that runs .253" groove size. If yours is around .251" uou can use .25scp bullets.

[northwoodneil]

Update- I drove a boolit from my 25-21 down the bore and read it with my micrometer and now I get .256-.257 I'm guessing my calipers were giving me a false reading on the small round ball or I messed it up driving it through. 257 it will be. A better bullet selection there anyway. I'm thinking my 86 grain 25-21 boolits will be a tad heavy.

[ndnchf]

The Bullshop has some lighter .25 cal bullets. I use the in my two .25 Stevens rifles.

[northwoodneil]

Thank you. The website is a little ***** but I'll try to get ahold of him.

[uscra112]

If you've actually got a .25 RF that small I want it, because I've never yet seen one. I still think they're a myth. (I think I have 7 .25s now, none less than .256", and the UMC factory drawings Tom Rowe published in his latest book call for a .257 bullet.)

4227 is about right. I've fired a few with Blue Dot and 2400. Charge weight depends on what gun you have and what cases you're using.. Crackshots with modified Hornet cases I would not do over 4 grains of 4227 with a 65 grain bullet. A 1915 Favorite maybe 4.5 grains tops.

[northwoodneil]

A Stevens 1894 Favorite followed me home. It's in really good shape with a shiny bore. It even came with the bicycle case. I've got a good supply of IMR 4227. Once I round up supplies I'll start with 3 grains and work up till I get to between 900 and 1000 fps across the crono. Thanks for the help.

[uscra112]

The twist is only 1 in 17, so 65 grain bullets will be a better bet as far as accuracy goes.

Don't seat those 86 grainers any deeper than you absolutely have to. They'll use up powder space which will raise pressure. Even 4 grains looks OK in Quickload if you're using reformed Hornet brass. More is ?????

Does the Favorite lock up tight? The link in the '94 model is none too strong.

[northwoodneil]

The 1894 locks up like a bank vault. This one has the spring plunger to take up slack that my other Stevens don't have. I disassembled it to deep clean it and checked to make sure it wasn't the plunger making snap shut. All the pins and holes are tight. With the barrel cranked down tight the lever gets very tight. I think I found one that didn't see much use.

[uscra112]

Lucky you! One in a million! And you obviously know what you're doing.

[northwoodneil]

Just got lucky and the fact that they haven't made ammo for it in 80 years helps. I ordered a bullet mold for it after spending a couple hours facing off my 86 grain bullets down to 65 grain bullets. I've got 20 made and had enough of that. I'm cheap but not that cheap.

[northwoodneil]

This old Stevens has a round firing pin tip. I'm thinking of making a new one with a chisel tip to hit a bit more of the rim. My test case (just thinned on the Lathe to chamber) fired 5 for 5 but it's not leaving much of a mark. I'm sure it will look deeper when I actually get some powder and a bullet ahead of the acorn blank. Resizing die and chucking reamer show up this week then I can start forming brass in ernest.

[uscra112]

Again I ask: reformed Hornet cases? Are you boring them on-center?

I've done chisel tips in guns that didn't have enough ooomph behind the hammer. Stevens used a rather large round tip, so that the same breechblock (and thus pin location) would catch all three rimfire sizes, .22/.25/.32. The pin impression is thus larger than it needs to be.

The Bullshop has a good 65 grain mould, if you prefer. A couple of years ago you couldn't buy one, so I ordered a few hundred from him. He custom casts, so I specified the alloy and had him send them as-cast so I could size and lube myself.

[northwoodneil]

Yes, reformed 22 hornet. I bored my test case, to see if the firing pin would work, straight on. I plan on resizing the cases with a 25 ACP die and just trimming off the ridge left straight on. This won't be a problem for that last 1/4 inch will it? I know my test case is thin above the rim. I can feel it give by squeezing it. By resizing and moving the metal in, then trimming the belt above the head I should be able to retain the most metal possible in my mind. This is one of the most drastic case reforms I've done, and others were with much larger cases like 30-30 45-70 ect.

[uscra112]

Cram that case as far into the 25ACP as you can with the strongest press you have. Stopping 1/4 from the rim will probably leave you with an extremely thin ring after you turn off the "bulge".

Don't have a Hornet example, but here's a .223 case swaged down to .25-20SS. Do section a case so you are sure. 323840323839

[northwoodneil]

Success! I started with 90 hornet cases and ended up with 83. Once I figured out a routine I could turn out a 25 Stevens case in about 5 minutes. What was the most time consuming was changing out bits to make the primer pocket. My Lyman mold showed up (#257420) which is a gas check bullet. With 30-1 alloy it drops at 75 grains. If I can't get it to shoot with the heavier bullet I'll machine off the gas check which should bring it down to 65 grains. Right now the gas check it pretty handy for getting that little bitty bullet started in the really thin case mouth. You don't want to rush loading these, if you hook the case mouth on a die it's crushed (2 of the 7 I lost). I'll get around to putting it on paper to see what this old Stevens will do but for now I know it will ring my 10" gong at 50 yards 8 out of 10 times with iron sights and old eyes. Thanks for the help. Neil

[ndnchf]

Well done! I have 2 of them and enjoy shooting them both.

[uscra112]

Good show!

[northwoodneil]

ndnchf, thank you for your you-tube videos. It took me awhile to decipher your cast boolits user name and connect it with you.

[ndnchf]

Glad you got it figured out. I really like the .25s. I have rifles in .25 Stevens, .25 Stevens centerfire, .25-20 and .25-25. All are great fun :-)

[Rockindaddy]

I was given a couple of coffee cans full of 25 cal nail gun loads on plastic strips. They just fit in my old 25 rim fire Stevens rifle. I use a 25 cal H&N 31gr pellet in my Beeman Super 12 PCP rifle. The nail gun cartridge really drives the little lead pellet. Wonder how they would work in a 25 caliber rim fire revolver??

[dtknowles]

Don't think there are many 25 rf revolvers.

Tim

[uscra112]

Only the mildest nailgun loads are really safe in the old boys' rifles, even the strong ones like the 1915 Favorite and the Remington #4. Although that tiny airgun pellet will keep pressure down. Don't use anything heavier.