I have a Winchester lo wall in .25-20ss that was built in 1904.  My question is, would you recommend shooting smokeless loads in this rifle or should I shoot blackpowder only loads?  Or can I shoot either?  I have not shot the rifle yet but do plan to reload for it.

First thing I would do is have a gunsmith go over the rifle to make sure it is ok fire.

The rifle can easily be reloaded and shot with either smokless or black, however, today it is mainly used with smokeless (eg. 8gr.wt of IMR4227 with an 86 gr.bullet would be a good starting point).  Accuracy is excellent out to 200 yards and with the proper load/bullet combination you could expect 1/2 - 3/4" groups at 100 yds and 1 1/2 - 2 " at 200 depending on the conditions.

Brass is easy to come by, though not inexpensive as are reloading dies from Buffalo Arms.

As for Black powder, the problem would be with fouling in the small bore which would require cleaning between shots.  I personally do not know anyone who shoots black in a .25.

This is a fun round to shoot, accurate and with minimal recoil and noise.
Good Luck

Wings,

  Sure! Go ahead and use it on Turkeys with either smokeless or black. Wish we could use rifles on Turkeys here in Iowa as I think it would be a blast to shoot one using BP. It'll also make a real nice varmint gun to if that's on your agenda.

  One of my .25SS is in a Low Wall and I haven't had a bit of problem with it other than the quality of the commercial brass that was available several years ago. I make my own now so can't tell you if the quality has improved any since then.

  As mentioned earlier...... Since you haven't shot it, it would be best to have a gunsmith go over it to be sure it's in decent shape. I haven't seen one that wasn't, but you never know.

  Have fun and let us know if you get a Turkey with it.

David,

  Head shots only tho!

WOuld the general agreement be to use only black in an original maynard in 25-20ss? I have asked this before and I think most say so. The one I have isn't ready to go yet. One of my hang ups is it is a converted percussion model NOT done by the factory and the firing pin hole is large. Is it safe to shoot BP loads with this situataion in a 25ss? It makes me a little nervous. Not keen on gasses in my face.
Merwin

Enlighten me on the .223 case idea! Is this easier than turning a complete case and just boring the inside straight? I have considered trying this to give me a reduced cap case and give me more cases, but then SOMEONE helped me out with my case quantity issue!! I am also toying with turning a "thin rimmed" case for my percussion/1882 barrel lock up issues. An experiment that gets me more time at the lathhe, which I need!
Merwin

I will try to email this weekend about the maynards

tenx,
Is the procedure written somewhere?
Merwin

Pete, I think most of the cases we were using, and for sure all of mine were made with 222 Rem.  I suspect that was the early edition, are the .223s better?