Why isn't the 425 more popular? Would someone give me the pro's and con's on this round. I have a standard Mauser that needs a cartridge. capt david

It's probably a good cartridge but it's not very modern. Long neck, gently sloping shoulder, severly recessed rim, not a whole lot of .435 bullets, not much brass selection. Add them all together into one cartridge and you can see why.

Ray

I have a WR "game Ranger" model that was built on a commercial Mauser action somewhere around 1950. My handloads push the 410 gr Woodleighs about 2300 fps and my rifle feeds slick as it gets. The comment on brass and bullets are spot on, but can be found. For a "nostalgic" round, it's great and I really like my rifle. It won't do anything a 416 Rig or Rem or a 404 Jeff won't do....but then they ain't a 425 WR.
If you have an action and want a 425 WR....do it. There are tricks to make it feed smooth and I'm sure if you ask, there are plenty of 'smiths the boys on this forum can recommend.

Good luck.

Gary
DRSS
NRA Lifer
SCI
DSC

425 WR? Well, the 404 Jeffery was brought back from the dead for nothing more than to be different, so why not?

ROTFLMAO!

Thanks, I REALLY needed this.

Then again, Will, you DO have a point.
There really is no need for the .425 WR (nor the .404 Jeff), but why not?
It's a great caliber, it's there so go for it.

In fact, I recently googled .425 WR just to be curious and came across a newly built custom .425 WR in Finland - I was simply flabbergasted that someone has taken the time and pains to build one. Respect.
New .425 WR

Sorry, text in Finnish only, but the pics speak for themselves.
The gun is not priced, it will be sold on basis of offers.

Form your brass from the now available 404
Hawk offers 8 different bullets and Woodleigh makes the hunting bullets you will ever need.
The best part of using these old rounds (I also shoot an 11.2x70 Schuller and an 8x60 magnum bombe) is in hunting with a rifle that is not off the shelf and requires some due diligence in reloading your own.
Frank

It's not just the round, if you can afford and can get a best grade Westley Richards in 425 you will also have one of the best rifles money can buy.

Hornerber Cases are a good option.

It died because it is very difficult to make it feed, it needs a clip affair in the rear of the magazine. That is an expensive custom touch and not very practical...Also bullets are few and the only quality cases are only by Horneber IMO..and they may not make them this time next year...As to its balistic qualities it is a good caliber.

Brass is available here:

http://www.grafs.com/product/183638

A more practical (say what? ) alternative to the 425 WR might be this round.
425 Improved
Easily formed from 404 Jeffery brass in 425 WR dies using a 404 Jeffery shell holder. Easier to make feed because it doesn't have to ride so high in the mag to be picked up by the bolt face, especially practical for those with the game department grade 425 WRs that lack the mag clips. If you don't want to destroy collector value by altering the bolt face, it wouldn't be the hardest thing in the world to have an alternative bolt with a .540 bolt face & go shooting. Hmmmm.
Steve

quote:

Originally posted by captdavid:
Why isn't the 425 more popular? Would someone give me the pro's and con's on this round. I have a standard Mauser that needs a cartridge. capt david

About the only advantage is that it can fit through K98 length action. The fact that some of those WR Mauser-actioned rifles had stupid 28" length barrels didn't help matters either.

The 425 Improved is the way to go with this caliber. I've made mine using 375 RUM and a spare bolt with the face opened. Brass is even easier to get than the 404. Have also been having good luck with a plinking load using an NEI hard cast 420 Gr gas checked bullet and 60 Gr Varget at 2085 FPS. On the sights, great groups and no leading. Never had a feeding issue with the original bolt and cases, this is just easier to get and form cases. BTW that long barrel is great for offhand shooting.

quote:

Originally posted by 50 Calshtr:
The 425 Improved is the way to go with this caliber. I've made mine using 375 RUM and a spare bolt with the face opened.

50Calshtr,
What bolt head size have you used? Using RUM brass and keeping headsize at 0.532" is kind of an intriguing way to get this old cartridge up and running again. Imagine a modern 425WR (Improved) in a stainless/synthetic Ruger action!!
Cheers...
Con

quote:

Originally posted by captdavid:
Why isn't the 425 more popular? Would someone give me the pro's and con's on this round. I have a standard Mauser that needs a cartridge. capt david

I had a 425 that was a pre-war that was made by Westley Richards. It had the spring clips in the rear of the receiver in order to facilitate proper feeding. The rifle shot very well and I should not have sold it but such is life. You can get cases or loaded rounds from Kynamco and I'll bet Simon Clode at Westley Richards could have the spring loaded clips installed in your action. It is a classic cartridge and a lot of fun to shoot.

Jack Lott wrote an article on the .425 in Gun Digest. In it he stated the reason for the rebated rim was two fold. It would fit a standard length mauser action with standard size bolt face, and it enabled the use of stripper clips for rapid reloading.

Con,
I had my spare bolt opened 10 thousandths over the cartridge rim size, about .544 give or take at bit. It's nice to be able to form the brass without fiddling with the rim.
Buckbrush-That Jack Lott article is exactly where I came across the idea of using a spare bolt and the 404 cases, of course Jack didn't have the 375 RUM available but I'm fairly sure he'd have used them rather than convert valuable 404 cases.
Another reason the 425 WR didn't catch on as I understand it was that it was a propriatary cartridge, you could only get a rifle so chambered from WR. That, and the rebated rim that just won't work reliably in a double killed it.
A quick question, I haven't tried full power loads using the 375 RUM cases, would the larger rim noticably increase bolt thrust?
Thanks and Best.

Especially good rounds when the airline loses your luggage with the ammo in it...Try and find some of this stuff on the shelves in any store...Wildcats and discontinued rounds are not particularly smart for hunting Africa IMO.

quote:

Originally posted by 50 Calshtr:
That Jack Lott article is exactly where I came across the idea of using a spare bolt and the 404 cases,
A quick question, I haven't tried full power loads using the 375 RUM cases, would the larger rim noticably increase bolt thrust?
Thanks and Best.

Now that you mention it, that Lott article rings a bell. Not as smart as I thought I was.
As for bolt thrust, I seriously doubt it would be a issue in a M 98 in good nick especially if your loads weren't complete hell burners.
Steve

quote:

Originally posted by Atkinson:
Especially good rounds when the airline loses your luggage with the ammo in it...Try and find some of this stuff on the shelves in any store...Wildcats and discontinued rounds are not particularly smart for hunting Africa IMO.

From Australia you must pack the Bolt and ammo seperate to the rifle, so if Luggage is lost with bolt and ammo you not using your rifle anyway.

I had a wonderful Westley Richards in 425 WR caliber. It was balanced, fed smoothly and was accurate. This was about 15 years ago and brass was hard to come by. I tried the 404 cases with a differebt bolt abd it worked fine.

I purchused about 20 brass cases from Bertram in Australia and they were fine and handled full power loads.

My son made some cases from Rum brass and they are also fine and handle full power loads.

https://forums.accuratereloading.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/...=260100705#260100705


This is a great cartridge.