25 acp load data. Why is it not listed in older manuals?

[FMJBT]

Maybe someone older and more enlightened than myself can answer this perplexing question. I've been bored with my usual loading of the common calibers, so I am wanting to scratch an itch I've had for a while and aquire a 25 acp (for no real good reason other than I want it)

I have manuals that go back to the 50's, but no manual until the recent ones have data. Why is that?

The cartridge had been around since 1905? I figured someone would have wanted to reload it back in the day.

 

[joem1945]

Could be the .25 ACP is fading fast. I may have data in some of my many books but my neighbor loads .25ACP for his wife. He has had difficultly finding bullets. Sierra has dropped manufacture of that caliber at least for now. I found a small bunch of cases @ auction and a few boxes of bullets for him to load. Smallest I load for is .32ACP and that's hard enough for me.

 

[FMJBT]

Could be the .25 ACP is fading fast. I may have data in some of my many books but my neighbor loads .25ACP for his wife. He has had difficultly finding bullets. Sierra has dropped manufacture of that caliber at least for now. I found a small bunch of cases @ auction and a few boxes of bullets for him to load. Smallest I load for is .32ACP and that's hard enough for me.

Yeah. But you would think that the older manuals would have had data when it was more popular. That's why I'm perplexed.

 

[Wil Terry]

THERE WERE NO available jacketed projectiles. There were molds to cast your own though. Cases were as scarce as frog-fur coats.
And so it goes..

 

[FMJBT]

I can understand that. I'm just surprised that the original Lyman cast manual has no data as well. It wasn't until 2nd edition handbook where one piece of data exists

 

[Surculus]

Probably because the same segment of the population that saw fit to carry a .25acp vest pocket pistol had a significant overlap with the segment of the population who'd rather just buy new ammo than muck about with reloading their empties [assuming they ever bothered to practice in the 1st place. ]

I think you're overthinking the issue.

 

[Garrobo]

The .25

I can remember, back in the day, (way back) when we decided to reload some .25 acp empties. A friend had an old set of dies and we go hold of some cast bullets. Now, I'm going to tell you what I remember and it might not be all that accurate. It's been a while. If I remember correctly, the primers we used were marked "something, something 100". We had 35 and 50 grain bullets and two or three different types of pistol powder. The maximum powder load we used was around 1.1g for the 50's and the maximum was less than 2g, maybe 1.8g, for the 35's. I don't recommend any of these loads but just want to give this information as I remember it. Anyway, we had no trouble shooting the pistol afterwards. Good luck and wear glasses and leather gloves.

 

[moxie]

FMJBT,

You're in luck buddy.

My Lyman #46 (1982) has loads for the Hornady 50 gr. Jacketed FMC and the #252435 51 gr. RNL.

Which bullet, which powder? I'll give you the data.

 

[WestKentucky]

I have a bunch of .251 jhp, didn't know they were getting scarce. Maybe I should trade them for something I can use. I also have data in a couple books.

Lyman 47 pictured here.

 

[WestKentucky]

Sierra handgun book pictured here.

 

[Peter M. Eick]

Not much data back in the "day" because there were not many bullets for it back in the "day". It was not until companies started making 25ACP bullets that you found much data.

I view it as a cart and the horse kind of thing.

 

[FMJBT]

You guys are misunderstanding me.

I'm probably not being clear enough.

I have data, lots of it.

It was more of just a why, and start a discussion about it.

I know companies like speer omit calibers they do not make bullets for. Even in their most recent #14 book, they do not have data for x54r.

It just baffles me that my oldest books have data for cartridges like 219 donaldson wasp. I can't for the life of me grasp that the carriage was any more popular than the caliber of choice for Mr James Bond. Someone must have had to want to reload for it.

I've been reloading for years, NRA certified and all that jazz, but I'm only 30. I wasn't around to know the popularity of the cartridge or the pistols. That's why I was seeking someone knowledge who's been reloading for more years than I've been living

Not much data back in the "day" because there were not many bullets for it back in the "day". It was not until companies started making 25ACP bullets that you found much data.

I view it as a cart and the horse kind of thing.

This was what I suspected. I'm still just baffled that my first source of data wasn't until Lyman cast Bullet 2nd edition.

 

[cfullgraf]

This was what I suspected. I'm still just baffled that my first source of data wasn't until Lyman cast Bullet 2nd edition.

When I got into reloading around 1980, I believe Hornady was about the only major bullet company that offered jacketed 25 ACP bullets.

Of course, this was before Mr Gore invented the internet and sometimes the source of suppliers was more difficult to come by. Some of the specialty bullet companies may have offered a 25 ACP.

Molds for cast bullets can be a relatively low inventory item so it is easy and economical to maintain a small inventory of molds to satisfied a small demand.

Corbin probably offered dies for swaging 25 ACP bullets, but they generally make dies to order so they would not have to inventory anything. But bullet swaging gear is expensive.

But yes, not a lot of demand for the little cartridge so not much information.

 

[Hillbilly Jim]

Didnt know the NRA certified reloaders.
Also did not know James Bond used a 25 auto, thought he used 32 autos.
I guess I learn something new ever day.

 

[moxie]

Well, now that you've clarified things, my short answer to your question is that there is little data for and few components for the .25ACP simply because it's a pretty useless round that few are interested in. On a clear day it throws a bullet only slightly bigger and heavier than a .22LR at only about 2/3 or less of the velocity of a .22LR. Boink!...Splat!

And, most of the pistols made for the round were pure junk. So you had a wimpy cartridge crawling out the barrel of a jamomatic, maybe. I know, I know, there are the Baby Brownings and the Jetfires, but the .25 is forever linked to the Ravens and the Jennings.

BTW, Bond did use a .25 at the start but used others as the books progressed.

 

[FMJBT]

I knows bonds caliber kept increasing. I was just using that as a pop refrence.

We have military issued 25 acp Colts. I've heard stories of mailman carrying them. They were out there, it seems with some demand. There was a significant amount of the little pistols made by different companies. I get that the choices for bullets would be few and far between, but it took nearly 68 years for published data to appear for the little round astonishes me.

 

[Wil Terry]

SHUCKS...I just noticed I have a new set of RCBS 25ACP carbide dies, quite a bit of 25ACP ammunition on the shelves, and have never owned a 25ACP pistol in my life.
And so it goes...

 

[joneb]

When comparing equal barrels the 25acp takes the 22lr, and is more reliable?
Now I can not find 22lr, a 25acp I wish I had.

 

[rondog]

Probably wasn't a caliber people were interested in reloading back in the day. Most likely didn't see much sporting or target shooting of .25acp back then, people probably just bought them as needed. Like, a box every 10 years or so.....

 

[TimSr]

I started loading .25 acp in the 80's, and i never had trouble finding load data for it. My Speer manual did not have info, because Speer didn't make bullets for it then. (Speer's new 35gr Gold Dots work great by the way) 'm pretty my old Lyman's has data, as i think that was one of the reasons I got it.

The Hercules load data pamplets you picked up free at the gun store was my main source which listed Bullseye, Red Dot, Unique data, and maybe Green Dot, can't remember offhand.

Back then only Hornady had jacketed bullets for relaoders, though Remington, I think made them as well but not so easy to find. I still have a bunch of cast from the box of 500 I bought from National bullet company back then.

.25 acp was never very popular with reloaders for a few reasons.

It's a pain in the rear to handle them, and do the microscopic loads.

Though very old, it has never been an incredibly popular round. It probably peaked in the 70s-80s when there were so many dirt cheap budget guns being sold.

Ammo for .25 used to be cheap.