I am thinking seriously about purchasing a contender barrel chambered in 25-35 Win. I was hoping to run across a 10" bull barrel, but thus far have only come across octagon barrels. I am not opposed to an octagon barrel but am thinking that the felt recoil from a bull will be significantly less. I am considering getting a 10" bull from TC Custom Shop or from OTT if I do not run across one soon. Is anyone shooting the 25-35 in a contender? What pros and cons are there? I am thinking that this barrel will be able to do double duty as a varmit and deer barrel depending on the bullet loaded. Anyone have any comments on shooting the octagon version?

Thanks,

Big Gun #1

I have no personal experience with the 25/35 but I have often pondered what sort of quiet, light kicking close range deer scalpel it would make in a 24 inch Contender barrel. My grandfather used to harvest his annual whitetail
with an 1892 rifle in 25/20 so the 25/35 - even from a 10 inch barrel - has got to at least as good a choice for close range work. Jay Turner had an 25/35 Contender article in Rifle or Handloader several years back that might be of use to you once you find your barrel. Let us know how your experiment works out. Good hunting!

I've got a 21" Custom Shop barrel in .25-35. Nice barrel, nice cartridge. Works ok but I've not had it on deer yet. Not quite the ooomph of the 7-30 Waters. Just about matches the .25 TCU except I think it might do just a mite better with the 117 gr. RN. My loads are 27 gr. BL(C)2 under the 117 gr. Hornady RN and 12 gr. SR4759 under the 86 gr. Remington SP (intended for the .25-20) seated to the same LOA as the 117 gr. bullet. 2 great loads for 2 completely different purposes with no sight changes required.

Hobie,
Who makes dies for the 25-35?
What accuracy do you get with them?

It looks like a great cartridge with reamer and brass available, but I don't see any sliding sleeve seater dies.

Yea , I had a Contender carbine made up in 25-35 Win.

It had a 20" T/C Custom Shop barrel. With a sythetic stock. I loaded the 85 gr. Barnes X at around 2,650 fps and the 90 grain original Barnes soft point at a little over 2,600 fps.

The rifle would shoot 1 1/4" groups at 50 yards. I had a little Simmons 1.5 - 5 X scope on the gun so I was not to interested in benchrest accuracy.

This was an ulta light weight carbine that handled like a Daisy Red Ryder BB gun. It was so light you had to shoot it from a rest to keep it on target.

I killed two 6-point bucks with the 25-35. They both took the little bullets in the ribs and ran 40-50 yards and crashed. I always felt under gunned with the small Contender.
The next year I shot a 8-pointer out of the same stand that I had used the small carbine in. This time using a .444 Marlin with 225 grain X-bullets. Same results as the .25-35 Win. Bullet through the ribs and a mad dash for 50 yards. It just proves the effectivness of the .25-35 Win. - Use a good bullet and place your shot carefully.

Clark,

RCBS, Hornady, and CH Tool all make dies. I wanted RCBS, but the wife got me Hornady. I hear you about the sliding sleeve thing but it works well enough. I can't see any difference in precision. However, I don't like that the stem for the decapping pin and expander plug is not threaded. Now, THAT is a pain. That is a big weakness of the Lee dies as well.