.25 Rimfire

[publiuss]

My father just bought an old Stevens Favorite in .25 rimfire. It is essentially unusable in it's current chambering of course. Could it be safely, and economically rechambered to maybe .25ACP? I imagine the firing pin rearrangement won't be too difficult. Thank you

 

[rcmodel]

Safely, yes.
Cheaply, no.

In order to do it, the barrel whould have to be cut off at the chamber end and set back in the receiver far enough to cut a .25 ACP chamber in order for it to headspace on the case mouth. Then, the breech block would have to be welded or the hole bushed from the front and a new hole for the firing pin drilled.

Finding a gunsmith able & willing to do it would be one thing, but finding a gunsmith who has a .25 ACP chamber reamer would be a whole nother matter.

Perhaps a better alternative then the .25 ACP would be to have the barrel relined so it becomes a .22 Long Rifle RF.
But even then, the larger .25 Stevens (.333" rim) might present a firing pin location problem with .22 RF ammo. (.275" rim)

You might give Redman's a call and see if it is possible to do it.
http://redmansrifling.com/relining_prices.htm

rc

 

[Zeke/PA]

I handled a Stephens Favorite in .25 Rimfire not long ago that was in exceptional condition in every respect.
I considered purchasing the rifle but after some research found that ammo is virtually non-existant these days.

 

[rcmodel]

I forgot to mention that a change to .25 ACP would also require inventing a new extractor that would somehow work with the semi-rimmed .25 ACP case.

Not a whole lot of rim there to get a hold off to extract it.

rc

 

[Jim Watson]

Also consider that a .25 ACP bullet is .251" whereas most .25 rifle calibers are .258".

If the bore is good it could be converted to centerfire and .25 Hornet but that would be a lot of work. I'd look into the reline to .22 LR project.

 

[Hammilton]

sure they make .25 rim fires - for nail guns.. Not much fun in shooting blanks though, and while I've known a few people who've fired pellets out of ramset 22rf's I don't know anyone intelligent who has done so.