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Very Hot Topic (More than 25 Replies) Breach seating the .25 Stevens Rimfire (Read 26948 times)
slumlord44
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Breach seating the .25 Stevens Rimfire
May 22nd, 2014 at 9:24pm
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This subject has been discussed here and on other sites. Finally got some bullets to try this. Got 50 grain .258 bullets form Carolina Cast Bullets yesterday. $21.15 for 100 delivered. Have .27 Caliber Ramset #3 Power Loads from Home Depot for around $9 per 100. That is about $.30 a shot. I used some black powder bore butter and hand lubed the bullets. Inserted in to the chamber and gently pushed it in until it stopped with a wooden dowel. Loaded a power round and started shooting. Fired cases would extract but had to use a ramrod to get them out the rest of the way. Got a little blowback but nothing serious. One case out of the 10 I shot ruptured but again no serious problem. Seemed to me to be as accurate as the Canuck factory ammo from the '70's. Need to fire up the chronograph to see how fast they are going. The process is a little slow but it is workable. Still looking for a 70 grain bullet source. Western Bullets listed them but I talked to him today and he either sold his mold or just can't find it. Only tried 10 rounds because of other things to do but will play some more as time allows. Rifle is a Stevens 44 with double set trigger and Stevens windage adjustable tang sight with flip up front sight. Range was 25 yards shooting off the rail of my deck in my back yard.
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« Last Edit: May 22nd, 2014 at 9:47pm by slumlord44 »  
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slumlord44
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Re: Breach seating the .25 Stevens Rimfire
Reply #1 - May 22nd, 2014 at 9:48pm
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Ran out of room for photo's. Sorry about the upside down rifle. Rotated it on photobucket but it still posted upside down. You get the picture anyway.
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« Last Edit: May 22nd, 2014 at 9:55pm by slumlord44 »  
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RobertS
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Re: Breach seating the .25 Stevens Rimfire
Reply #2 - May 23rd, 2014 at 1:14am
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Thanks for posting, this is encouraging.  I picked up a .25rf a few months ago with a great looking bore and have been wondering what to do with it.  I just may have to give this a try.  Please keep us posted on any further progress!
  
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Bent_Ramrod
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Re: Breach seating the .25 Stevens Rimfire
Reply #3 - May 23rd, 2014 at 2:53pm
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That's good progress!  You have ten yards on me already, with at least equal size groups!  I'll have to try alternate lubes to the Alox/Beeswax that are on my bullets; maybe that will help.

Now that hurricane season seems to have abated temporarily here in the High Desert, I hope to get back to my own experiments along this line,  Your 44 (pic is rightside up, nice rifle) obviously has a more robust extractor than my Stevens Buckhorn, which tends to pop over the rims and fail to extract.  The inexact rim size of the blanks probably doesn't help, either.  I'm using the .27 Ramset blanks also.  Haven't had a ruptured "case," at least not yet.
  
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Re: Breach seating the .25 Stevens Rimfire
Reply #4 - May 23rd, 2014 at 3:55pm
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One more question for you both, I just want to be absolutely certain that I understand.  Both of you are using these .27 caliber ramset blanks in the chamber, and not using a brass cartridge case or any sort of sleeve, and there is no other propellant, only the ramset charge?  I have a Stevens 44 in 25 rimfire with a pristine bore, but not quite as nice as the photo that slumlord44 posted.  Thanks again!
  
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slumlord44
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Re: Breach seating the .25 Stevens Rimfire
Reply #5 - May 23rd, 2014 at 6:09pm
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Yes, no case, only the Ramset cartridge with the bullet seated to where it hits the rifling.
  
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bisaacson
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Re: Breach seating the .25 Stevens Rimfire
Reply #6 - May 23rd, 2014 at 9:33pm
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I went to a lot more trouble than that, and documented it in the June 2010 Single Shot Exchange. They still have back copies available. But, I was able to make reloadable .25 Stevens RF cartridges that look like the real thing from 3 feet away, and with 2.3 gr. of Unique or 3.1 gr. of Blue Dot, I got 1.25" at 50 yds., and 3.0" at 100 yds. with a 1/50 65 gr. cast bullet without the gas check in my little Marksman. Very satisfying.
  
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Bent_Ramrod
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Re: Breach seating the .25 Stevens Rimfire
Reply #7 - May 24th, 2014 at 4:06pm
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bisaacson,

I think I read your article.  In my experiments I was just trying to see if any of those .27 caliber drivers would work as-is.  I wish I could find some of the lower power levels, but apparently the 3's are as low as anyone actually sells.
  
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slumlord44
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Re: Breach seating the .25 Stevens Rimfire
Reply #8 - May 24th, 2014 at 9:50pm
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I read the article also. It was a well done article and I like what you did. The problem is I don't have a lathe or the talent to run it well. Same with reloading equipment. This is cheap and dirty and does actually work. I also don't know who has the lower level power loads but they show them on the box so I would assume that they are available somewhere. I will post info when I manage to run mine through the chronograph. Where did you get the 65 grain bullets? I would love to try those with the .27 power loads. The groups with the little Marksman are excellent to say the least.
  
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bisaacson
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Re: Breach seating the .25 Stevens Rimfire
Reply #9 - May 25th, 2014 at 3:26pm
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Thanks. I just enjoy making obsolete guns shoot again. I'm lucky enough to have a machine shop at work - good reason not to retire yet. I like the idea of the nail set cartridges, but making the reloadable cartridges lets me tune the set up to the gun. The mould is the Lyman 65 gr. GC flat nose for 25-20 Win. I have a couple of those, too, but also use the 65 gr. in a Stevens tip-up as it isn't very strong. As we say in Hawaii, main thing, stay safe. Nothing wrong with cheap and dirty if it gets another old gun to the range safely so you can have fun with it.
  
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slumlord44
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Re: Breach seating the .25 Stevens Rimfire
Reply #10 - May 25th, 2014 at 7:52pm
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What diameter are the 65 grain bullets? They should be close enough to the 70 grain factory load to be a good substitute. You sure got good results with them. Correction, the factory bullets are 67 grain. Anyone know what the .25 Short bullets were?
« Last Edit: May 29th, 2014 at 10:00pm by slumlord44 »  
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slumlord44
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Re: Breach seating the .25 Stevens Rimfire
Reply #11 - May 29th, 2014 at 10:48pm
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Just checked my ammo supply. Canuck longs and shorts are both 65 grain. Old Peters longs not marked as to bullet weight. Cartridges of the World says 67 grains for longs and does not give weight for shorts. Now I am confused again?
  
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BP
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Re: Breach seating the .25 Stevens Rimfire
Reply #12 - May 29th, 2014 at 11:41pm
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From the 1914 WRA Catalogue No. 79:

.25 Stevens     Powder 11 grains     Bullets, Solid Lead 65 grains     Bullets, Hollow Point 60 grains

.25 Short Stevens     Powder 4 1/2 grains     Bullets, 65 grains



  

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Chev. William
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Re: Breach seating the .25 Stevens Rimfire
Reply #13 - Jun 26th, 2014 at 4:49pm
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Gentilmen:
PTL Blannks mostly seem to be available generally at "Lowes" and "Home Depot" on the West Coast, but the caliber versus Power Grade availability is generally .22 Cal in Grades 2, 3, 4, 5, and sometimes 6; .25 caliber in grades 2, 3, 4: .27 Caliber sometimes 2, generally 3, 4, sometimes 5, and very infrequently 6.
Lately Amazon,com has had a listing for Grade 1 in .22 Caliber labeled "Simpson Strong Tie" for about $8/100 and noted this morning that there are still 3 boxes in stock.

From other Threads, I note that people have found the .22 and .25 Stevens firing pin locations will still fire the other size in a suitable Barrel with a suitable extractor fitted.

I personally have reformed .22 Hornet Brass to .25 Stevens sizes (diameter, rim, and case length) so it is possible in a home without a 'Machine Shop' in the Garage.

Others have found that a suitable RF Adapter case may be made from a Center Fire one by drilling out the primer pocket anmd flash hole to take a .22 Caliber RF Blank, obviously adding a 'rebate' to the case for the .22 rim.  they also found that the rim of the adapter should be cut to give about .010" to .012" of crush clearance for the firing pin tip, either by a cut on one edge or by reducing the remainder rim thickness all the way around.

Personally I have not made and fired an adapter case yet as I am still gathering the cutting tools to make one repeatably.  I intend to use a Drill press to do the rim rebate to better control depth of cut than using a portable drill.
I did find a potentially suitable dimensioned "Drill Point Counterbore for Cap Screws" for #8 screws at "McMaster-Carr" (Stock Number 29445A13 which will cut the rim rebate to needed size but the drill point will leave the central hole undersize for a .22 case, which can be remedied with a suitable diameter Drill bit.

I hope this information is of use to all.

Best Regards,
Chev. William
owner of Stevens Favorite 1894 and 1915 Rifles, Stevens 44 action in buildup.
  
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JLouis
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Re: Breach seating the .25 Stevens Rimfire
Reply #14 - Jun 26th, 2014 at 5:33pm
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If memory serves me right the Hilti guns are 27 caliber as well and your local Hilti salesman might be able to help you out with a variety of power loads?

JLouis
  

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