I'll be picking up a very nice Model 14 pump in this caliber very soon. Can't wait to get her up and running with necked-down .30 Remington brass. Ken Waters thought a lot of this cartridge.

I have owned a couple of them Bill..in both the early mod 14 pump and the mod. 8 auto..It is the balistic twin of the 25-35, a caliber I have shot since I was about 8 years old, and thats a while back..

You have a better choice of bullets int then Rem pump as it has a off set magazine and supposedly can shoot spitzer bullets which my Win. 25-35 cannot so I'm limited to 117 gr. Hornadys..I have some loads with 86 gr. 25-20 bullets but they won't shoot in any 25-35 and probably won't in your 25 Rem

I also have a as new 25 Rem barrel that came off a Rem 30-S bolt action...Dennis Oson tells me the threads are thick square threads and can be chased to work on most bolt action rifles so my thinking is to find a junker 722 or 700 and build me a cute little 25 Remington.

As I recall it is best to anneal 30 rem or 30-30 before you neck it down to 25..25-35 is still plentiful so I have not had to do that and I had a lot of 25 Rem brass at one time but let it go with the rifles.

Have fun with it, its a neat caliber and if you stick a 117 gr. Hornady behind a deers shoulder at up to 200 yards or more he will won't make many tracks if any...And btw the Rem 14 on up to the later 81 and 181s are beautifully made rifles, all milled steel, no casting, and polished out, great workmanship and the cartridge case head inletted into the steel stating the caliber is just plain nice..

There is a lot of information in your post I was unaware of. Thanks for sharing.

Ray: Thanks for posting. I know what a fan you are of the .25-25. The Model 14 I found is about 90 percent, and yes, beautifully made. If my luck holds out, I'll find one of the peeps made for this rifle. Wouldn't dream of drilling and tapping. A friend who loads for this one says he runs the .30 Rem cases into a 7mm-08 die first, then into the .25 Rem. die.
I'm probably nuts, but I would love to take a .25 Remington to Africa for the smaller stuff. It would be such a hoot to see the look on the PH's face when I opened the Pelican!

"What in bloody hell is that thing?"

I have a Model 14 in .25 Remington which I inherited from my father-in-law, which he in turn had inherited from his father-in-law.

If the batch of .30 Remington brass you use is new, then you'll probably find no need to anneal the necks. I necked down a batch of 100 without doing anything other than lubing it properly and running it through the .25 Rem FL die. As I recall (and this was a number of years ago) none were lost int he process. Previously, I had a box of new .32 Remington that I assumed needed annealing prior to reforming. After doing so, the necks were so buttery soft that they collapsed in the sizing die. Maybe I just got them too hot, but it illustrated to me that new brass is usually better off without additional annealing.

As I'm sure you're aware, the unique design of the Model 14 tubular magazine allows you to use pointed bullets. I selected the Sierra 90 HPBT since it expands well, but not too violently, at .25 Rem velocities (2900 fps with a load of IMR 3031) and there is no lead tip to deform. I would suspect that a 100 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip would give the old rifle new life.

My rifle (now my son's) is topped with a Lyman Alaskan 2.5X which the orginal owner, his great-grandfather and a gunsmith of some fame, mounted on it. It will shoot 1.5" groups at 100 yards quite reliably.

Stonecreek: Many thanks for your post. It's always great to hear from someone who has been there, done that. Can't wait to see what this little beauty will do. I usually use Imperial Sizing Wax or Corbin bullet swage lube when necking down. I'll see if I can skip the 7mm step with the .30 Rem. brass.
A Model 14 with an old Alaskan on it is a classic indeed.

I've seen a few Rem Model 30S on line here.. that is one of my few "dream rifles" to find in good shape, and have it come my way...

that and a Model 54 in 30/30...

I've thought of just making a 30 Rem or 25 Rem on a Ruger action...

I bought a Remington Model 8 in .25 Remington about 10 years ago after reading Frank Hamer's book. I love it. It has a peep sight and I shoot the 117gr Hornady bullet over a charge of IMR 3031.

I have 50 pieces of jameson .25 Remington brass and I recently sized 200 .30 Remington cases to .25 by just lubing and running them in my sizer die. I lost 3 pieces.

Interesting rifle.

I have never owned a .25 Remington, but I have shot a bunch of deer with the .25 Bullberry, a necked-down .30-30. I had great success with the 100-grain Ballistic Tip bullet at around 2500 fps. Usually complete penetration with broadside shots on Kodiak Island blacktails, and ample tissue damage. I hope you enjoy your M-14!



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Dammit,
I gotta find an action and get that Rem 30-S 25 Rem barrel on it..Anybody got an old bolt gun like a Rem 722 or whatever? How about a worn out Ruger No.1?

I wonder if one could open up a Sako L-461 to 25 Rem length, doubt it..

Ray, a Carcano would work; you just might not want to be seen in public with it.


Got the little 14 today, and what a cutie. Should have dies and .30 Rem brass to neck down here very soon.

This post reminded me that I've been meaning for years to take my (my son's now) little Model 14 out to shoot a Christmas-time doe with. If I can get around to doing that, I'll post the results.

Stonecreek: Please do post!

Here's my little sweetie:

Your Model 14 looks both clean and original. I marvel at all of the hand machining in these old guns.

By the way, although Remington designed the magazine to place the bullet tips against the outer rim of the cartridge in front so that pointed bullets could be used, I'm not aware that they ever loaded anything in this caliber other than the 117 grain RN. It was a somewhat ingenious design, but I don't think that they took advantage of it. Maybe that's because the spitzers of the day were all lead tipped and the lead tips would deform, but with today's HP's and polymer-tipped bullets there's no reason not to shoot spitzers in the old 14.

I have had this new 25 Rem mod. 30-S barrel for years now,,and have never got around to doing anything with it..If anyone wants it I would probably sell it for $150. I said it came off a 30-S, thats a mistake I should have said its for a Rem 30-S. Its a new very old barrel that was never installed for whatever reason.

I did some testing and the 25 Rem cartridge and it fed in my 30-S 404 Jefferys, and the 25-06 without any magazine work..I talked to Dennis Olson about this and he said he had the same experience...I thought that was interesting. Same with the 30 Rem, it feeds in all Enfields and Remingtons.