Does anyone here shoot the little old 25/20 WCF?I am picking one up in a custom Martini Cadet.I always thought it was a neat little round.Would like to here anyone's experiences or opinions on the old gal.I am planning on trying both Hornady 60 grain FNs and Remington 86 grain soft points.Hopefully it will prove to be a quiet,reliable little rifle for gray squirrels and coyotes.

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I'm out to wrong rights,depress the opressed,and generaly make an ass of myself!

I have a couple of old collecters, they make great beginner guns for kids. Quiet lite kick, cheap to reload. Had good luck with 60fp, 86grn seem to have to much drop.

I have a Win. M53 t.d in 25-20 that is a lot of fun. Accuracy isn't fantastic but it is a neat rifle. The 60 gr. bullets can be pushed in a good rifle but lately I have been playing with very light loads using 75 gr. cast bullets. I would like to try some 85-90 gr cast bullets but haven't had the time. I have found the cases quite fragile; you have to take care in your loading.
C.G.B.

CGB,

For cast bullets,get ahold of Wayne Doudna at ltyler@mwt.net.He sells 89 grain gas checked casts for the 25/20,sized to .257 for only $5 per 100.Hard to beat that!

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I'm out to wrong rights,depress the opressed,and generaly make an ass of myself!

Picked up a little Savage 23D a short time ago in .25-20 and have just started to work with it. The magazine is a bit short for 75 grain spitzers, but it looks like either 60 or 87 grain flats will do pretty nicely. I have a fair supply of some old 86 grain cast with gas checks that I'm looking forward to trying. So far, I've only used IMR 4227. Who else has some loads to suggest?

I have a Win '92 in 25-20 with a new barrel, it's a dandy small game rifle, light fast and quite accurate for open sights. I normally shoot either the 86 gr jacketed flat points or I have some 86 gr hard cast non-gas check that I get decent groups with. I've killed coyotes, squirrels, rabbits and a turkey with it. Recoil and noise are both very mild.

Thanks Brian, I will check it out. We have a guy that shows up at gun shows here that sells cast bullets for about everything (Bonus bullets of Canon City), but I never looked to see if he has any .257's. I will have to check him out also.
Some chrono. data you all may be interested in: Remington factory 86 gr. s.p. avg. vel. out of my M53=1127 fps. This is way below the claimed 1460!

CGB,

I have noticed that "gun show" cast bullets are usualy crap.I bought some .457 305s for my 45/70.The salesmen told me Brinell hardness was 29 and I could push them to 2000 FPS without leading.Those suckers were stripping out at 1700 FPS and shooting 25 inch groups at 100 yards!I went back and complained and then he claimed that he never claimed they were BHN 29,but were BHN of 6 and would strip out at anything over 1400 FPS.I guess it was my fault for looking at them in the last half hour of the gun show while he still had bunches left to move.

Go through Wayne Doudna,the bullets are beautiful and his prices are so low that shipping actualy costs more than the bullets themselves.

25/20 factory loads are grosely downloaded,which is rather funny since all the guns ever made for it are rather strong.I figure I can get 60s up to 2300 FPS and 86s to 2000 FPS from my Martini.

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I'm out to wrong rights,depress the opressed,and generaly make an ass of myself!

When I was a kid, an old hunting buddy of my dad lived with us. He had a Remmington pump in 25-20. What a sweet gun, little recoil, noise and lots of fun. When he was a young man he had lived in the hill country of Texas and had taken many deer with it, circa 1930. How I wanted that gun. When the old gentleman passed he left the 25-20 to a relative. I am sure we only shot factory loads in it, but it was a fun gun.

Good luck and good shooting

Owned a 25/20 years ago, slide action, can't remember exactly but think it might have been a Stevens. Only ammo around came from Canada.

Shot a deer with it, one time. I'm not saying that bullet was slow...but I was gutting out the deer when the bullet hit me in the back of the head.

We had a Win '92 when I was a little kid, what a great combination! It is a neat little cartridge. I would go with the lighter bullets, like the 60 gr you mention.

My Dad has a Win' 92 25/20. A guy with a
rattlesnake problem traded for a single shot
.410 and 10 bucks. This was 30 years ago,
and he STILL gets hot under the collar
whenever the subject comes up, after learning
what the '92 is worth!!! He got his rattlers
though, and Dad has a neat little rifle!

He has only ever shot factory rounds through
it though, and has only killed a coyote with
it (he claimed he could have run the coyote
down and slit its throat before the bullet
hit). He kept the rifle, though, and got a
22/250 for coyotes and deer.

As the rounds were Remington, my guess is
that they were the 86gr softpoints. If you
can shoot them with good accuracy in your
rifle, the 60gr bullets would be a lot
better option, unless you're planning on
keeping your shooting ranges to 100yds or
less.

It's a sweet little cartridge.
Heard of a fellow that was trying to sight one in. He took a shot at the target, and then walked over to see where it hit. He bent down to look at the target when the bullet arrived and hit him in back of the head.
But 25/20 WCF definately has class.

[This message has been edited by crowrifle (edited 03-08-2002).]