Well, Maynard number 7 arrived in today's mail.  Refinished barrel and possibly the wood too?  Receiver still has some traces of colour case so it likely wasn't refinished.  Tang sight looks correct, but also re-blued.  Combination front sight.  Marked 1873 on one side of the receiver and 1882 on the other.  Looks to be a 26" barrel that was shortened slightly (about 25 5/8" now) possibly to clean up the muzzle and re-crown?  Mismatched barrel to the action with a good bore.  Barrel marked 1-15 twist.  I bought it to shoot so I don't really mind the "warts".  I am going to feel a bit like a "criminal" though, since up here in Canada .25-20 SS brass is scarce as hen's teeth, but I have 49 rounds of WRA .25-25 Stevens (which is even scarcer than hen's teeth ... more like Unicorn poop) that I bought in a recent online auction in Ontario and I'll shorten them up to 1.63" and turn them into "shooter" .25-20 SS cases.  (Someday down the road someone will hate me for having done it, but such is life ...)  I'll try to find a used set of dies, but in the meantime I can neck size with my .25-20 WCF dies.
There have been a few posts on this forum listing pet loads in .25-20 SS, but if anyone has any new suggestions for starting loads, recommended powders, and suitable bullet moulds I'd love to hear your thoughts.

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If you have or have access to a small lathe and a hydraulic press, I can show you how to make serviceable .25-20 brass from common .223 Remington.

IIRC, the .25-21/.25-25 shells have a smaller head size than the .25-20 SS.  When Jamison was selling .25-20SS Basic (un-necked) cases, I read advice that these would not size down to fit .25-21 chambers.

With a lathe, dies, and some effort, usable (though ugly) shells can be made from .223s, as uscra says.

If your collecting hobby is anything like mine, six months after ruining those .25-25 shells, you will find a pristine barrel in .25-25, and have nothing to shoot in it. 

Bill Lawrence wrote on Apr 2^nd, 2019 at 12:27pm:


Yes, the barrel appears to have been shortened slightly.  I suspect it was a 26" barrel and now it is about 25 5/8" putting the dovetail / front sight closer to the end of the barrel.  My guess would be that it was shortened slightly to re-crown the muzzle.  Not worried since I bought it as a shooter ...

Deadeye Bly wrote on Apr 2^nd, 2019 at 8:46am:


I'll keep an eye open for brass.  I missed out on 50 rounds of brand new un-primed vintage G&H 22/3000 brass in it's original slip top box in another auction last year.  It bid up into the stratosphere too, so I gave up well below the eventual selling price.

some more:
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25-20 SS LOAD   
I'm still working on my load for the LoWall 25-20 SS.  Seems to like something close to 7.0g of 4227 with a 71grain GC bullet.  As near as I can tell the twist is 1 in 15.  I started out at 7.5 grains and results seem to be getting better as I lower the charge 0.1g at a time.  Tried 2400 as well, but the 4227 seems better.  I am about to switch to a 77g plain base bullet cast of #2 alloy and start over as I found an original mould dor that at a reasonable price.
George
Salmon, Idaho
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Re: 25-20SS
Alert Board Moderator about this Post! Quote 
From 12 th. Edition: Cartridges of the World:
25-20 Single Shot Loading Data and Factory Ballistics:

60 SP Bullet 8.0 grains 2400 1535 fps
65 Cast Bullet 8.0 grains 2400 1620 fps Lyman 257420
86 SP 8.5 grains IMR 4227 1400 fps
86 SP Factory Load 1410 fps
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25/20 SS
7.5 gr of IMR 4227. No wad. 112 gr Pope style tapered bullet is breech seated in the rifling ahead of the case. Fed SR match primer.

This load is very accurate in my cast iron Ballard. It is also a very low pressure load. Safe in any sound Ballard or original low wall Winchester.         Smiley
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Misc note - interesting
4759 is the one powder that the Harrells has a problem with, as does the Redding, which bridges terribly . I guess it is the one powder that really needs to be weighed after throwing. The Belding Mull seems the best on 4759 for consistency.
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some more:
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From: The Breech-Loading Single-Shot Rifle, N. Roberts, K. Waters

88 - Lyman 257464 - 4.5 - Unique - Kapok wad
88 - Lyman 257464 - 7.5 - 2400 - Kapok wad

From: Handloader #183, October-November 1996, The .25-20 Single Shot
CCI BR-2 primers used for all loads.
Lyman 257420GC - 68 gr
8.5 - IMR4227 - 8.5 - 1430 - Bertram case
9.0 - IMR4227 - 9.0 - 1546 - Bertram case
10.0 - RL7 - 1300 - Bertram case - 1-1.5" at 50yds.
8.0 - H110 - 1350 - Rem-UMC case - 1.5"
9.0 - H110 - 1498 - necked-up .22-3000 Griffin & Howe case
8.0 - 2400 - 1600 - Bertram case - maximum - 1.25"
9.0 - IMR4198 - 1350 - necked-up .22-3000 Griffin & Howe case
9.5 - IMR4198 - 1425 - Bertram case - 1.25"
9.0 - W680 - 1200 - Bertram case
8.0 - SR4759 - 1350 - USC case - 1.5"
9.0 - SR4759 - 1700 - Bertram case

Lyman 257464GC - 90 gr
8.0 - 2400 - 1650 - Peters case
8.0 - IMR4227 - 1300 - Bertram case - 1.5"
8.5 - IMR4227 - 1385 - UMC
9.0 - IMR4227 - 1450 - UMC - 3.5"
10.0 - RL7 - 1290 - 1.5"
11.0 - RL7 - 1500 - 1.5"
7.0 - SR4759 - 1238 - Peters
8.0 - SR4759 - 1450 - Bertram case
10.0 - IMR4198 - 1440 - USC case
10.5 - IMR4198 - 1550 - Bertram case

Lyman 257312GC - 91.5 gr
7.0 - 2400 - 1375 - UMC
8.0 - 2400 - 1675 - UMC - 3"
8.0 - IMR4227 - 1300 - Bertram case - 3.5"
8.5 - IMR4227 - 1425 - Bertram case
9.0 - IMR4227 - 1450 - Peters case - Maximum
10.0 - RL7 - 1300 - necked-up .22-3000 Griffin & Howe case - 2"
11.0 - RL7 - 1460 - necked-up .22-3000 Griffin & Howe case - 2"
7.0 - SR4749 - 1150 - BELL
8.0 - SR4759 - 1350 - Bertram case
10.0 - SR4759 - 1700 - Peters case - Appears OK
10.0 - IMR4198 - 1425 - necked-up .22-3000 Griffin & Howe case - 1"
10.5 - IMR4198 - 1500 - Bertram case - 1"
11.0 - IMR4198 - 1575 - necked-up .22-3000 Griffin & Howe case - 1.5"

This article also has jacketed loads for 60-, 75- and 86-grain bullets.
***
Handloader #196, December-January 1999, .25-20 Single Shot has data for custom 
94-, 105-, 108-, and 110-gr moulds (Boyle, Brockway, Hoch). Do you want it?

Another update. Finally got to try 10 shot groups at 100. Blacked the front sight but my old eyes had a lot of trouble with the fine post. Have an aperture sight ordered. It looks like around 7.5 grains of 2400 or around 8.7 grains of 4227 with the Lyman 257420 or around 7.4 grains of 4759 with the old Ideal bullet similar to 25720 (although there is some tipping) will do the trick. More when I get the new sight. Also, as the old timers had written, .257 (rather than .258) seems to be the bullet si

more to last:
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Pete,  What is the number of that Lyman mold you mention?
     My Stevens 44 in 25-20SS has a 1 in 13" twist rate. I use a tang sight and a globe front with post.
     Tried a squib load today just to see if it may show some potential. Loaded the 85 grain RCBS plain base bullet as fixed ammo over a Federal 205M primer and a powder charge of 2.5 grains of Bulls Eye. I know that the velocity was down but the load shot pretty good. First 4 shots at 30 yards to see if it was going to be on paper grouped 7/16". Went to 50 yards and the first 4 shots grouped 5/8". At 100 yards the group started to open some and 5 shots went in a group that is 1 5/8". However some of the verticle in that 100 yard group was me. Three of the shots cut each other in a horizontal cluster of about 5/8". I plan to up the powder charge and try again.May go to 2.7 and then to 3.0 grains.
    The are some signs of bullet tipping in the prints at 100 yards. However this is nothing like the very poor grouping I had before with 7 and 7.5 grains of IMR4227. I plan to try those powder charges again but with a Federal 205 primer rather than the Remington #6 1/2 I used before. Maybe I just had some bad primers!
I'd like to try a lighter bullet like the one that you make mention of. Have an old Ideal ajustable mold that I may try casting some at around 65 grains with. It should be worth a try just to see what they will do.   Sendaro

Test firing with my Stevens 44 in 25-20SS has continued over the past week. The bullet that I'm using is the RCBS 25-85-CB. Why, because that is the mold that I have. I know that the design of this RCBS bullet was for the 25-20 Winchester and tube magazinerifles, but this is what I have to work with at present.
  Early in my testing I used IMR4227 as suggested by nearly all who use 25-20SS. I used Remington #6 1/2 primers and had very little luck getting anything to look like was group from the same gun. They were all over the palce. I since switched to Federal 205M primers and tested again with IMR4227 at charges of 7.0, 7.5, and 8.0 grains. It shot some nice little groups at 50 yards with the 7.5 and 8.0 grain charges. However, at 100 yards the bullet were leaving holes in the target that show a tip or yaw. Also the recorded chronograph speeds for all three loads were very eratic! SEE NEXT

more:
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I shoot 25-20 Stevens, 25-21, 25-25 and 25-35.  Breech seat in all of them and all provide the very best results with breech-seated bullets of the correct length for the twist using  rifle primers and H108/AA9.  Pistol primers work OK also but usually require a small load adjustment.  However, I do used fixed ammo with the RCBS 85 gr plain base bullet and H108/AA9 in my 25-21 Model 45 on the #44 action.  Excellent results.  I had the same experience with fixed ammo in a 25-21 factory original Hepburn using the same powder and bullet combination.  About the only thing that I have found useful for 4227 is full house jacketed bullet loads in my 22 Hornet and my Ruger Blackhawk in 30 M1 Carbine (again, close to max loads with jacketed bullets).  I gave up on 2400 years ago!  Leon 


Did some testing at our shooting house today with the RCBS 25-85 CB bullet and Bulls Eye again. Have stayed with the Federal 205M primer and all loads as fixed. At a charge weight of 3.9 grains of BE and and OAL of 1.875 it seemed to come together. Velocity was running an avg. of 1347 and the ES was 19 fps. Five shot 50 yard group was just under 3/4" with very little to indacate a yaw. At 100 yards the vertical in the group was under 5/8" but there was some left and right. I plan to test this load again as there was little in the way of a tail on the impact prints at 100 yards and it was grouping. All the other loads that I tried gave signs of a heavy yaw.
  I would also like to add there was little to no fouling. The bore cleaned very easy. I always inspect the bore after a test firing for fouling with a Hawkeye bore scope before I clean.
The RCBS 25-85 CB bullet is no schuetzen bullet but it does make an OK plinker. thanks for getting back to me. Sendaro

here's the last:
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Have been looking for information that will note the orginal factory loading of the early 25-20 Single Shot cartridge. I'm sure that it was with BP, and a lead bullet, but what was the weight of the bullet? At what speed was the factory claiming the load would travel? Cartridges of the World notes a factory loading of a SP bullet of 86 grains and at a velocity of 1410 fps. I'm sure that this is not the orginal factory loading but rather what may have been the last of the factory loads produced.

Has anyone ever come across a reliable report from the early days of the 25-20 SS that tells it like it was for real at that time. So many times writes tend to emblish their reports and make claims that far exceed the fact of the matter. I'm trying to find out just what this cartridge was and did before we started using barrels with the 1 in 10" twist and cast bullets of 100 grains and more with a spitzer nose profile. Would really like to know the truth about of this cartridge before the hybred of modern times came about.  Sendaro 

***

FYI, if you monitor e-bay molds for a short while you may find a Winchester mold or an Ideal tool for 25-20SS (or WCF) and the molds are apparently the same as Ideal #25720-86 whether marked 25-20R (WCF) all are apparently the same.  These tools are plentiful and it is a buyers market.  With luck, an Ideal 25-20SS #4 tool with sizing device can be had reasonably cheap.  8.0 gr MP5744 with this half hard bullet works for me in my Hopkins & Allen 3925.  Haven't tried it in my Stevens 44 or my tip-up yet.  So many guns, so little time.  James
***

Hope this all is interesting -- Bob

Awesome!  Thanks, that gives me lots to work with ...

Looks like this Winchester mould is for a 5 groove plain base .258" bullet of about 77 grains weight.  (A sampling of these supplied bullets were about 77.3 grains on average.)  The brass is rolling around in my ss pin wet tumbler taking a bath right now ...

Buffalo Arms is currently advertising 25-20SS brass for about $2.70 each.  I think it may be Aussie stuff, suggest anneal first.
James

I tried to mention this on another thread today, but the old plentiful Winchester molds and Ideal tools for the 25-20SS, and 25 WCF are the same 85 grain mold as Ideal 25720-86 (my 1926 handbook).  These Ideal tools are marked 25-20, 25-20SS for the single shot, or 25-20 R, 25-20WCF, and some 25-20M(arlin).  the latter may have a slightly different ogive, but all the same bullet cavity otherwise.  E-bay is packed with them.  Occasionally, a Single Shot tool pops up.  Patience.

James

Trying to buy another 130 rounds of brass that is still .22 calibre, but could easily be fire-formed back to .25-20SS with some of my blank cornmeal loads.  If I can close the deal on these that would give me over 100 for each rifle and I'd be a VERY happy camper!