25/35 Stevens

[chrispy]

25/25 Stevens

I found one of these long, slender cartridges at a local gun show. Anyone used one, seen one, know of it?

Can you give a users perspective? I am looking at possibly a build on a Martini Cadet action.

Lastly, would it be suitable for, God forbid, smokeless as well?

Chris

[Bent Ramrod]

I've shot black (duplexed) and smokeless in my relined Low Wall in .25-25 Stevens. So far it's not been too accurate; more a hunting than a target cartridge. This may be due to the extreme variability in length and diameter of the Bertram brass which is the bulk of what I have to use. Another factor might be my attempts to get more velocity out of the cartridge. After about 1600 ft/sec, the groups start to open up. I wanted something faster than the usual .25-20 velocities, WITH accuracy, i.e., 87-100 gr boolits at 2000-2200 ft/sec. Only sporadic good results so far.

Best smokeless loads so far are the Remington 87 gr flatnose jacketed bullet and either 17 gr of VihtaVouri N-133 or 12.5 gr IMR-4198. These will keep most shots under 2" at 100 yards with flyers out to 3" or more. Using 100-gr cast boolits with the 4198 load gives most under 3" with flyers out to 4" and beyond. I got 7"-10" groups at 200 yards with this load. The Magnum Small Rifle Primer seems to help slightly (sometimes) in this case.

With duplexed black powder so far it's about 2" at 50 yards with flyers.

It's an interesting cartridge and no doubt can be made to work well, but it's like the .45-120 or .50-140 of quarter-bores--needs a lot of finagling to get going right. The brass is quite expensive and even with annealing tends to split on the sides; alas, too close to the bottom to be able to trim to .25-21 size.

But since when has mere practicality been a consideration here?:mrgreen: It's "hours of annoying entertainment"!

[det]

I also shot the 25-25 some times. My rifle is a Stevens 44 with 28 nch barrel and open sights.
I get the best results with 86 grain cast breech seated with 4759 powder, Remington 7 1/2 primers and a 1/8 inch cork wad in the case mouth.

Det

[6pt-sika]

The 25-25 Stevens and 28-30 Stevens were pretty much in the same vein !

I think the schuetzen guys now who mess with the 25 cal stuff usually go for the 25-20SS or possibly the 25-21 Stevens !

Personally a nice CPA Stevens in Pope Schuetzen style would be awesome with three barrels !

One in 32-40 , another in 28-30 and the third in 25-21 or 25-20SS ;)