I just bought one of these rifles at a gun show and am very impressed.

Bought some ammo and took it shooting when I got home.

got an old box of rem kleenbore 86 gr jacketed ammo and a box of Premium Alaskan Ammunition.

Missed out on dies though by a few minutes. They were gone by the time I decided I was going to buy the rifle.

Also got 200 rem jsp 86 grain bullets.

I let my kids shoot it as it is like shooting a 22.

I plan on reblueing the metal and refinishing the wood.

I had never noticed this kind of rifle before. At first I thought it was a 22 but I noticed the magazine seemed too long and wide to be 22.

Anyone else shoot the 25-20 WCF?

I have a Winchester Model 53 in 25-20. It is a hoot to shoot and very easy to reload for. My rifle is partial to 60 grain jacketed bullets and H4198 powder.
Pete

Mine shoots the 60 grain FP as well.....it's a M-92 winchester made in 1917 and it's hunted in Africa......an excellent choice for small antelope and other animals of 30-100 pounds under 100 yads

I also have a 23B. They are nice rifles and the 25-20 is a lot of fun to shoot. If you reload, cast bullets work great.

Mine is a 100 year old Marlin M94 with 24" octogon barrel and a Williams receiver sight. All I've used in it for the 20 years I've had it are cast bullets. Lyman 257420GC and a custom 6 cavity 80 gr.GC tumble lube design. Both are very accurate with 4198 and great small game/varmint loads. The heat treated 70 gr.(with my alloy) Lyman version goes over 2000fps with 13-4198 and is too destructive for anything other than head shots on small game.I used to shoot over a thousand rounds a year with that load. Living in the country, I could just pick it up and head out the door for a lot of plinking, hunting and just plain fun shooting. Made some lucky shots to store in the memory with that one. Just loaded some this afternoon for the 1st time in too long, got to get it back in action.

I have a 23B 25-20. As said it is a real hoot to shoot. It is easy to load for, but don't get tempted to hot rod. It is a safe enough, but if it gets worn at the locking lugs it is nearly unreparable. Factory standard velocity equivalents are fine and are just right for edible game.

Shoot a friend's pump and he has one that is restored that he uses for small bore silhoutte....and on running jack rabbits...they are deadly guns....I have been looking for a Marlin CL94 of a few years ago as it would make a fine jack rabbit rifle as well...the 25-20 will zip along at 2000fps easily with today's powders...fine little weapon...

Factory ammo is crazy expensive. Good thing there is a local company; Premium Alaskan Ammunition that sells 84 grain lead loads for $21 per 50.

quote:

Anyone else shoot the 25-20 WCF?

Well, no. Not yet anyway. But I am real interested in that cartridge. I want to build myself a very lightweight bolt gun using that cartridge as a base. My aim is to drive a heavier bullet just a little bit faster. About 2400fps would be just right for a 100gr bullet. Cast bullets would be on the menu too. 120gr cast bullets at 2000fps would be good.

Search the caliber in several forums. There is a lot of data and experience available here for the seeking.

I did do a search and read several pages of good info.

I picked up a Savage 23B a couple of years ago. Unfortunately, it had been chopped and hacked on a bit, so it's not a very representative example.

The big drawback in doing anything with the gun seems to be that the barrel and receiver are a single, solid piece of metal. (On the other hand, there was never a stronger way to mount a barrel to a receiver .) The barrel has a far too heavy contour to make a lightweight kid's rifle. I've explored having it turned down to a lighter contour, but I think this would be a fool's errand. I'll probably just play around with it as is until someone wants to take it off of my hands for a lot more than I gave for it.

Kimber (of Oregon) chambered a few of their Model 82's in .25-20. That would be a real jewel. One could be built on a Ruger 77-22H action, but then Ruger can't seem to consistently make that gun shoot well, so I'm not sure branching out into the .25-20 (or perhaps .218 Bee) chambering would be a winning proposition.

By and large, there's a dearth of good Hornet-Bee sized bolt actions available on the market. I just don't have much interest in putting a little bitty cartridge in an action large enough for a .325 WSM like some of the Hornets currently on the market.

What should a person expect to pay for the Savage bolt gun or the Marlin lever gun, both in fairly good shape?

There is a pretty nice looking 23B on gunbroker for $400 minimum bid.

All the metal on mine is either free of blue or brown splotted. The finish on the wood looks like it is if from 60 years of handling and a piece of wood is missing from the top of the barrel where the wood is thinnest.

It looks like the typical old 22 at a gun show. Which is what I thought it was at first except I noticed the magazine was too wide and long to be a 22.

It has no bad rust pitting and I think a rebluing and a stock refinishing will make this rifle shine again.

It will be a good shooter for my kids to shoot with and when I am a grumpy old man and get tired of rifle recoil I'll probably do most of my shooting with this rifle.

Paid $140 for the rifle , one box of vintage 86 grain remington ammo and 200 86 grain remington bullets. Offered the man full price too.

The Savage 23's are becoming somewhat collectable. I had a 23D Hornet that I sold for twice what I paid for it. I've been wanting a 23C 32-20, but they are getting to be a bit too pricey for what they are.

I own a Winchester Model 43 Bolt Action in .25-20 Win. Great rifle and I use it for small game hunting as well for Varmints. The rifle is very accurate with both jacketed bullets and cast lead with gas checks. SR-4759 JSP. & Unique Cast Lead, produce the best accuracy.

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I had a lovely little Rem pump in 25-20 carbine when I was a kid, I shot an antelope 18 times before it expired, on one ocassion, chased the poor damn thing all over the ranch and finally cut its throat, I think I weighted it down..after that little ordeal I swaped it off.. I also had a couple of coyotes run an awful long ways before expiring. Some of it was my shooting and some of it was the caliber just doesn't have much poop on those edge shots. I went back to my 25-35 and all was well.

That little Rem. pump rifle was a beautiful little gun..I have always wanted another one but in 32-20...

I shot my very first coyote, with my .25-20 Winchester M-43 (Pictured two posts up). Used a factory 86 grain Soft Point, and shot him at 50 yards. Also killed several woodchucks large & small, plus a ton of Fox Squirrels, over the years.

Guess that is why it is called the gophers nightmare and not the antelopes nightmare.
I am kinda surprised that the 35 is so much better than the 20. But antelope can be crazy to kill sometimes.

Sounds like the first robin I killed with my red ryder bb gun when I was 7.

One antelope we got when I was a wee lad. My mother had shot a doe through the rear leg with out breaking any bones. My father followed the beast for several hundred yards before it stopped and stood broadside at around a hundred yards.
My father then shot it in the eye with his 300 win mag and.............. we were of to the races again. Another several hundred yards more and we caught up with it again. This time the antelope was very tired and my father got around 15 yards from it and shot it in the head with his 357 mag.

I killed many whitetail, turkey and feral hogs with my 25-20 Savage Sporter when I was a kid.

I now use the 60gr Hornadys and H4227 for right at 2K fps.

quote:

Originally posted by kelbro:
I killed many whitetail, turkey and feral hogs with my 25-20 Savage Sporter when I was a kid.

I now use the 60gr Hornadys and H4227 for right at 2K fps.

Never thought of using my .25-20 for game the size of Deer. Mainly because here in Indiana it would be illegal. I like the 60 grainers for hunting Woodchucks. Drops 'em right in their tracks! I've use this same 60 grain bullet with Unique powder 4.0 grains for light Small Game loads.

quote:

Never thought of using my .25-20 for game the size of Deer.

My father once killed three deer with three consecutive fast shots (one an eight point whitetail) in northern Minnesota. I don't know if he used the 86 grain lead bullet or the 60 Grain OPE from winchester.....I suspect the former as the year was 1932 and I don't think winchester had bought out the 60 grain OPE yet.

The following year the cartrdge ws outlawed in Minnesota, and he found a .303 Savage for deer hunting.

I killed more than my fair share of deer with mine. Imagine how disheartened I was when I grew up and discovered that my 25-20 was anemic and that you needed a magnum whatever to kill those deer. Must be some sort of evolution thing .