25/20 Brass

[Spooksar]

So I live in Canada and just picked up a 25/20, brass in not available up here. So can I make 25/20 out of 32/20? Thanks in advance.

[Pereira]

Yes sir, you can neck it down, and you can also use 218 bee and neck up.
The 25-20 is a fun round, congrats on the new toy.

RP

[beshears]

There are two 25-20 cases.One is WCF and one is 25-20 Single Shot. Single shot is very hard to make brass for.

[greenwart]

What rifle did you get? I have a Remington 25 pump. Fun little gun.

[cwtebay]

How far are you in Northern Alberta?
I have some good friends in the Bonneville / Cold Lake area that have found oodles recently (they are using it as a trapline gun).

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[hoodat]

If you neck down, 32 to 25, check the neck diameter of your new loaded rounds (bullet seated) to make sure that it isn't too large for your chamber. The resized brass will be thicker than it was at 32 cal. which isn't bad as long as there's room. jd

[Spooksar]

What rifle did you get? I have a Remington 25 pump. Fun little gun.

Winchester 92

[Spooksar]

How far are you in Northern Alberta?
I have some good friends in the Bonneville / Cold Lake area that have found oodles recently (they are using it as a trapline gun).

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North west of Grande Prairie, local gun store thinks he can get ammo but we will see

[Chill Wills]

North west of Grande Prairie, local gun store thinks he can get ammo but we will see

I am going to say, not likely or not likely at a price you will want to shoot it.

As said above, you will want to make it from 32-20 brass. A lot has been written about making it. I have my way. I won't go through the whole thing here but make it in stages and for sure, anneal the brass cases before you start.

[Spooksar]

Thanks for the replies, I also bought a 32/20 a couple of weeks ago, so now I’ll just order double the amount of brass. Three places I deal with have lots of Starline and one of them also has Winchester. Just need the dies to show up.

[sharps4590]

If it's their nickel 32-20, I don't know I'd bother necking it down, loss rate is high, at least mine was. If it's brass you should do well. I've been shooting the 32-20 for 40 years and necking the brass to 25-20 for about that long. So far I've never had to thin necks and I shot a bunch of it in a '92. Of course there is always the first time for everything. 32-20 necks are generally pretty thin to start with.

[ulav8r]

Do NOT know, but suspect Winchester "might" neck down easier. Get both, neck down 5 of each and see which works best. Then reserve the best for 25/20 and and the other for 32/20.

[Jeff Michel]

Best information I've found for making 218 Bee/25-20 from 32-20.

https://www.marlinowners.com/threads...sy-way.174112/

[cwtebay]

Yep ^^^ Jeff Michel nailed it. Great information there.
I was sure glad that I hadn't known that I couldn't create 25-20 and 218 Bee from nickel cases!! Because I made buckets of them from those cases before I realized that it couldn't be done.
I have been quite fortunate to have happened into quite a little appropriately headstamped brass since then however.

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[sharps4590]

I didn't say it couldn't be done, I did it. What I said was my loss rate was high, even with annealing. I bought 100 Starline nickel, 32-20 cases and during forming and over 3-4 loadings I've lost 35%. That's high to me. Mostly case neck splits but on some the shoulder has cracked. I'm shooting it out of a Daw actioned, Jeffrey Rook Rifle and it's loaded to 255 Jeffrey ballistics, which are about 1/4 - 1/3 less than 25-20 WCF so it isn't the load and the barrel liner is new so the chamber is good. Brass 32-20 case that I've formed to 25-20 have stood over 35 years of reloading but, I don't know exactly how many times. Probably no more than 6.

I'm glad it worked so well for you but, the results were less than satisfactory for me and, it wasn't from lack of experience in re-forming or turning brass.

[nhithaca]

Bought a factory 17 Ackley Bee barrel for the Contender and the only brass I could find was an auction on GunBroker for nickel 25-20 converted Remington cases. Bought 50 for a reasonable price. Being a single shot I think I am set for a while. Not sure how he made them but they work well, look good and fit the factory chamber with no issues. Got the dies from Graf; in stock! Haven't really shot it much but I'm sure it will be a good barrel.

[cwtebay]

I didn't say it couldn't be done, I did it. What I said was my loss rate was high, even with annealing. I bought 100 Starline nickel, 32-20 cases and during forming and over 3-4 loadings I've lost 35%. That's high to me. Mostly case neck splits but on some the shoulder has cracked. I'm shooting it out of a Daw actioned, Jeffrey Rook Rifle and it's loaded to 255 Jeffrey ballistics, which are about 1/4 - 1/3 less than 25-20 WCF so it isn't the load and the barrel liner is new so the chamber is good. Brass 32-20 case that I've formed to 25-20 have stood over 35 years of reloading but, I don't know exactly how many times. Probably no more than 6.

I'm glad it worked so well for you but, the results were less than satisfactory for me and, it wasn't from lack of experience in re-forming or turning brass.

Oh heck, it wasn't directed as a knock towards you. Just saying God watches over the young and the dumb - and I ain't been young for a while!

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[Spooksar]

I am going to say, not likely or not likely at a price you will want to shoot it.

As said above, you will want to make it from 32-20 brass. A lot has been written about making it. I have my way. I won't go through the whole thing here but make it in stages and for sure, anneal the brass cases before you start.

Just found Remington loaded 25/20 ammo $135 for a box of 50, it is steep

[smkummer]

Just found Remington loaded 25/20 ammo $135 for a box of 50, it is steep

I was going to add that in the USA, it almost seems 32-20 has surpassed 25-20 in un-availability and price. I have been loading and casting for both. Finding loaded ammo in any quantity may in the long run be best for case life. With my friends 25-20 Win. 92, we seldom had any issue with original 25-20 cases and that’s shooting cast lead bullets at reduced velocity.

[cwtebay]

Well, loading another 350 25 WCF early this morning. All properly headstamped brass.
I am truly grateful that I (for once!!) had enough foresight to purchase enough to last at least 2 more generations of shooters in my family.


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