25-20 Handgun?

I have Colts and Smiths in 32-20. I was wondering if there was ever a handgun, besides maybe the TC Contender, that chambered the 25-20?

If there was, it has been a well kept secret.:)

The .25-20 is much more of a bottle neck configuration than the .32-20. Bottle necks don't do well in revolvers.

Well, the 25/20 is doing just fine in this revolver,

http://www.fototime.com/12FAD71427E1990/orig.jpg

so, i guess the secret is out now...

DM

Colt made a prototype.
H. Bowen will build one for you.

There was an article years ago about a .25 Hornet revolver. Pretty high velocity, no bottleneck.

I would not think that any were made in 25-20 single shot as they are a lot longer than the current 25-20. The idea was to get a rifle/handgun that used the same ammo so less weight and needing fewer rounds so that what you had would would interchange and not run out so quickly.

OK, DM, you have my attention. What is that?

It's an S&W "K" frame that i've had for many years,

http://www.fototime.com/015CC90320FBBEF/orig.jpg

I've shot a lot of small game with it as i wanted something that would kill like a high speed 22 bullet without blowing up what i was going to eat, like a high speed 22 bullet does.

So, i came up with the idea for a 25cal "Keith style" SWC bullet and while i was visiting Ted Smith, he and i made the dies up.

http://www.fototime.com/4BBBD6653183676/orig.jpg

I can adjust the weight to get bullets what ever weight i want, and as you can see in the above pict., i don't have to seat the heavy bullets deep into the case like pointed bullets. (you are limited by the length of the cylinder)

The SWC design also kills MUCH better than other designs at the lower velocites too.

One last note: For light SWC bullets, i can take a spent shotgun primer apart, and use it for the jacket, for FREE jackets! :)

DM

It's an S&W "K" frame that i've had for many years,Somebody converted it.
Or you have one of the rarest S&W's in existence.

S&W never made a K-Frame in 25-20 to my knowledge.

rc

I remember talking to an old guy at our gun club that had a 25-20 revolver. I have no idea what make or model but I don't think he was lying.

The problem in revolvers is not a normal bottle neck case. The .22 Jet had a problem because the basic case was the .357 and when necked down to .22, not enough of the case was straight sided. Without straight sides to grip the chamber walls, the only way to prevent excessive setback was to keep the chambers scrupulously clean. That limitation proved impractical and the idea was a failure. But a .25-20 would be, IMHO, quite practical, though probably not "hot" enough for today's shooters.

Jim

Contact Bowen, if you've got a Model 19 sitting around not doing anything and it could use a re-blue to boot they will do right by you. I've see one close up as it was being shot by the better half of an elderly couple. It was her favorite gun as she explained it to me. The whole reason I got to see the thing is I was standing next to them with my Model 19-4 with its target shooting setup and she stopped over to comment how nice it looked (it got traded for a Sig 228 as I have a Ruger GP-160 6").

I didn't think anything of it at the time when she told me about hers. I didn't even think to ask about shooting it because of the way the short elderly gentleman was looking at me (I could have been his grandson but I might as well have been a mangy dog, he that kind of look). I watched the wife shoot it a few times and she seemed to enjoy herself immensely. I'll admit the revolve and caliber has potential for handgun shooting fun and small game hunting, but alas ammo is a question too big for me to consider paying Bowen to do it to one of my uglier(far past collectability in my opinion) Model 28s with a 6" barrel.

Mayhaps one day.

But a .25-20 would be, IMHO, quite practical, though probably not "hot" enough for today's shooters.

John Taffin wrote up a Bowen .25-20 + .256 Win Mag conversion in AH.
In .25-20 60 gr at 1372 fps, 75 gr at 1274 fps, 86 gr at 1150 fps in top loads.
In .256 Win 60 gr FL at 1874 fps, 60 gr reload at 1556 fps, 75 gr at 1459 fps.
With remark that many .256 rifle loads were too heavy for revolver, and that either caliber called for the same chamber degreasing as .22 Jet.