25-20 why so high?

It's not the chambering you're paying for, it's the vintage weapons. Your typical Marlin 1894, Winchester 92, Remington model 25, Marlin 27s is gonna go somewhere in the $600-$1,100 range.

It's a really fun little cartridge, though, and awesome to suppress! I have two Marlin 1894s, two Remington model 25s and a Marlin 27s so chambered.

It's a great little cartridge, not a deer round by any ethical standard, but an awful lot of fun walking up woodchucks along a fencerow. My sons and I have made good use out of a Win 92 carbine and a Win M-65 rifle here on our farm. With very light loads, it's done well with gray squirrels as well.

But keeping a .25-20 fed has become increasingly difficult. Brass is virtually nonexistent for all practical purposes. For the last few years, I have been making my own from Starline .32-20 brass, losing just a few out of a hundred in the process. I anneal the new brass before forming, and then again after the neck down operation. While I do have a modest supply of nickeled .25-20 R-P brass, I've found the reformed .32-20 brass works as well.

Bullets are a cypher as well. I've had really good accuracy out of both guns with Remington's 86 gr FP, and to a less extent with Speer's 75 FP. I do have a cpl hundred of the R-P's left but the Speer's are long gone.

But my real success has been with cast bullets particularly Lyman's 257420GC sized 0.259" using straight wheel weight alloy. RCBS' cowboy bullet, a plain base FP, is nearly as good. Groups with the gas check Lyman run right at an inch at 50 yds with a tang peep mounted on my Winchester 65 using 4227, 2400, and 231 for the light loads. If you get into loading for one, you might try small pistol primers as well as small rifle to see which gives better accuracy.

Best regards, Rod Pic below of my Winchester 65....the M-92 currently resides with #1 son up in NY state.

Gotta keep your eyes peeled for deals. They're still out there. I was lucky to score about 600 rds of 25-20, 1500 rds of 32-20, and 500 rds of 218 bee from a local old timer who didn't care. Got it all for $500.

I have a "K" framer S&W revolver chambered in 25/20 Winchester,



it's a nice small game/fox/coyote round.

DM

DM~ said:

I have a "K" framer S&W revolver chambered in 25/20 Winchester,

View attachment 1116990

it's a nice small game/fox/coyote round.

DM

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Is this a model 19 rechambered and re barreled? Or the rarest Smith on the planet?

Larry in wyoming said:

Cheapest I've seen was 850 to start. Most are 1200 to 1600. In rough shape too.

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You just have to stalk GB auctions.

I gave $540 and $570 for the Marlin 1894s. One was less than a year ago, the other in 2018.

The Remington model 25s were $550 and $400. They both needed some work, though. Those were 2019 and this last spring.

The 27s I got cheap, $300, but the magazine was garbage and the gun was rough overall. I had to make a new inner and outer magazine tube set from expensive precision stainless tubing, and the rifle needed refinished. Since it was already being altered so, I cut the barrel to 17" and made a handy little suppressed carbine out of it.

Jeff olson said:

Is this a model 19 rechambered and re barreled? Or the rarest Smith on the planet?

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It's a rebarreled and recylindered "K" frame.

My model 19 is chambered 44 spl..



DM

Jeff olson said:

Is this a model 19 rechambered and re barreled? Or the rarest Smith on the planet?

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Bowen makes or at least made conversions for K frames to 25-20. http://www.bowenclassicarms.com

I personally wouldn’t even bother with gunbroker.

With the fees and taxes they charge I’ve completely stopped trading there.

I picked up this Savage Sporter off Gunsinternational for $450.00, no sales tax, no Gunbroker fees, total to my FFL was $475.00.


This refinished Marlin Model 27S I picked up at a Gunshow last summer for $300.00


And it’s an exceptional shooter.

5 rounds at 50 yards off the bench with my handloads.


As has been shared, if you look around, expand where you shop, know what a good deal is and what is not, you’ll end up with what you want at a price you want to pay before too long.

DM~ said:

It's a rebarreled and recylindered "K" frame.

My model 19 is chambered 44 spl..

View attachment 1116995

DM

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Ok, what model is it?

I’ve got a Marlin M1894CL in .218 Bee.
It’s one of my favorite rifles. 4days after I got it I shot three does! I was using 40gr Armscor hollow point bullets over 13.2gr of Lil’Gun. I’ve since dropped beck to 12.5 with better accuracy.

I formed 200 cases from StarLine .32-20 brass. I lost a few to collapsed necks/shoulders, but not enough to cry over. A year later, Hornady made a run of brass and ammo.
I bought 200 Hornady cases, besides 100 I bought off of the internet.

I have no real interest in a .32-20 as I’ve got 3- .30/30’s. One of which I keep sighted in for a cast bullet load duplicating the .32-20.
But, since I had a set of .32-20 dies from loading for a friends ‘94CL, and I’ve bought.25-20 dies as a mid step to .218 I’ve been wanting a .25-20.
I’ve “almost” got a .25-20 in that I stumbled across a Marlin M1893 in .25-36Marlin. I bought an NOE mold, a 89gr FNGC. It shoots REAL GOOD with that bullet over 5gr of Unique. Opening day of ‘17 I killed a doe with it. One shot neck shot. However, I was using 12.5gr of #2400 for about 2,200fps.

Ever since I’ve been looking for another’94CL or a Remington Mod-30 in .25-20.
No good deals. Just expensive or outrageous!
I gave $800 for the .218 in ‘18, now it would be $1,200+.

It's a great little cartridge and a shame it isn't more popular. Great for small game and varmints. My favorite is the .32-20 in the Browning 53.

ATCDoktor said:

I personally wouldn’t even bother with gunbroker.

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Buyers don't pay any Gunbroker fees. Just shipping and sometimes sales tax.

CraigC said:

Buyers don't pay any Gunbroker fees. Just shipping and sometimes sales tax.

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If your state collects sales tax, then Gunbroker automatically adds sales tax to the sale:

https://support.gunbroker.com/hc/en-us/articles/1260800377490-Sales-Tax-for-Buyers

If an individual is fortunate to live in one of the 5 states that has no sales tax then I concede the point to those individuals

Every single transaction on Gunbroker is assessed a “Compliance Fee” (the buyer pays this fee).
https://support.gunbroker.com/hc/en-us/articles/4403265895579-Compliance-Fee

Although they state that this fee is 1 percent of the “purchase price” of the firearm, I could never get the math to work unless I included the cost of shipping in the calculation.

Again, I have stopped using Gunbroker and choose to use other shopping venues that do not assess these fees.

I'm the guy the original poster mentioned who built a bolt gun for .25-20 and killed a deer with it. Love the gun and the cartridge. But you all are right, that it's hard to get brass. Also scarce are bullets, molds and barrels. I was blessed to find a package of 50 new cases on GB at a good price a couple of years ago. Then my cousin gave me a couple hundred .32-20, so I've got enough materials to last the rest of my life (I'm 74 ;-). One thing I like about my bolt gun is that I can use spitzer bullets and make them fly pretty fast.

jdsingleshot said:

View attachment 1117019 I'm the guy the original poster mentioned who built a bolt gun for .25-20 and killed a deer with it. Love the gun and the cartridge. But you all are right, that it's hard to get brass. Also scarce are bullets, molds and barrels. I was blessed to find a package of 50 new cases on GB at a good price a couple of years ago. Then my cousin gave me a couple hundred .32-20, so I've got enough materials to last the rest of my life (I'm 74 ;-). One thing I like about my bolt gun is that I can use spitzer bullets and make them fly pretty fast.

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That is awesome.

Most people don’t know (CraigC alluded to it in his post) but the 25/20 “kills” all out of proportion to its size.

A 90 grain .258-.260 bullet at 1500 fps is fantastic on thin skinned game (within reason wrt to size and weight) and I could not begin to share how many wheel barrow loads of jackrabbits and cottontails if taken with the 25/20.


A subsonic cast 90 grain .258 bullet kills better than just about any subsonic 22 lr (with the exception of CCI’s segmented subsonics)

I also run a 55 grain cast lead hollow point at subsonic speeds and it is very effective as well.

I came up with this semi wadcutter 25 cal. bullet,



I've swaged a lot of them, they work pretty good at the low velocity of this round, especially out of my 5" S&W revolver.

DM

Of course, you can shorten or lengthen the jacket to get the bullet weight where you want it.

I sometimes take a spent shotgun primer apart and use the cup for a jacket. It swages into a pretty nice SWC bullet too.

DM

ATCDoktor said:

If your state collects sales tax, then Gunbroker automatically adds sales tax to the sale:

https://support.gunbroker.com/hc/en-us/articles/1260800377490-Sales-Tax-for-Buyers

If an individual is fortunate to live in one of the 5 states that has no sales tax then I concede the point to those individuals

Every single transaction on Gunbroker is assessed a “Compliance Fee” (the buyer pays this fee).
https://support.gunbroker.com/hc/en-us/articles/4403265895579-Compliance-Fee

Although they state that this fee is 1 percent of the “purchase price” of the firearm, I could never get the math to work unless I included the cost of shipping in the calculation.

Again, I have stopped using Gunbroker and choose to use other shopping venues that do not assess these fees.

Click to expand...

The compliance fee has only been assessed since last July. It's a paltry 1% and I never even noticed, obviously. Looking at my invoices from last month, it's a straight 1% of the purchase price, whatever the auction total was. Not including tax and shipping. I look at it like this, I'm going to pay sales tax on anything I buy locally, except it will have the 2.75% county tax added as well. I can shop for the best deal and get whatever I want, rather than waiting 50yrsIf for it to show up at the local dealer. I've bought nine guns off Gunbroker this year alone. Guns I wouldn't have otherwise. If I wanted a .25-20, Gunbroker would be my first stop.