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OP
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Has anyone else in here ever used a 25 Stevens for hunting? Years ago, I inherited a Favorite and several boxes of ammo which I promptly shot the h*ll out of. It really whacked woodchucks. Curious, with all the interest in rim fires now, if the 25 Stevens was resurrected if it would find any interest. Perhaps not, because it isn't a high velocity round, but it seems as though it would make a utilitarian round, maybe even in handguns.
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Joined: Nov 2005
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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Good point. What with the .22RF Magnum and a couple of .17 rimfires available though, I doubt a resurrection of the .25 RF would gain much of a following. From reading old copies of Outer's, Arms and the Man, American Rifleman, etc. it would seem that the .25 Stevens RF was the cat's ass at one time for knowledgeable small game hunters. Kind of a shame it slipped into obscurity.
"You can lead a man to logic, but you cannot make him think." Joe Harz "Always certain, often right." Keith McCafferty
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
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If the .25 Stevens interests you, look into the stillborn .267 Remington.
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Joined: Oct 2005
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Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
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I can't see any company resurrecting any of the old rimfires , production can't even keep up with the current ones.
Mike
Always talk to the old guys , they know stuff.
Jerry Miculek
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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What's the diameter of the .17 WSM parent case? A tricky guy could buy some of the stud driver rounds, trim off the crimp, and seat a larger diameter bullet of some sort over a new powder charge.
Or he could just buy a .22 Hornet and make use of the myriad choices of pointy, flat-nosed, and roundnosed bullets out there; not to mention cast bullets. Works for me.
What fresh Hell is this?
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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Works for me too.
I do wish they would resurrect the .22 Autoloader ammo for at least a while. I have access to a M1903 Winchester if I want it, but don't feel like paying $50-100/box for ammo just to plink with it.
"You can lead a man to logic, but you cannot make him think." Joe Harz "Always certain, often right." Keith McCafferty
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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In a drawer in my grandmother's house in Pennsyvania, was a fancy little cardbord box that held a single .32/20 jacketed bullet round, a magazine for some undetermined round longer than a .22 (but not the .32/20), and a number of .22 Auto rounds. I have no idea where all this came from as the only guns in that house were a J.C. Higgins 16ga bolt action shotgun and a Remington 513 (I think) with no bolt or magazine.
The .22 Auto rounds facinated me as a boy.
Old Western Scrounger might have some .22 Auto rounds, but I bet they'd come pretty dear.
What fresh Hell is this?
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Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
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I think the .25 Stevens would be a fun little round. I know I would like it. But as already stated every body or most everybody is into the high velocity craze. I use a 25-20 WCF for a lot of my small game shooting. It has more knock down power on the critters than a .22LR and very little meat damage occurs.
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Campfire Kahuna Emeritus & Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Kahuna Emeritus & Campfire Outfitter
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Yep, when I was a kid spending my summers on my Grandpa Hank's farm out of Corvallis, Montana, I shot a .25 Stevens quite a bit. Actually, we had four really great rimfires on the farm; the standard 22 LRs, of course, the fantastic .22 Special (WRF), the .25 Stevens and the one I loved dearly, a tiny Remington Rolling block in .32 Long Rimfire.
I actually killed a deer each with the .25 Stevens and the .32 Long Rimfire. Hey, tuck the bullet tight behind the ear and they die most sincerely dead.
By the way, the .32 burned semi-smokeless powder, to it was a good smoke show and it rolled the crap out of gophers.
I always thought that the .25 Stevens would sell well if reintroduced. And talk about a fine "kit gun" cartridge for a light revolver ... it would beat the heck out of a .22 LR every day of the week.
Yeah, the .25 Stevens is a cool cartridge.
I don't know if Bay's Store is still alive and kicking in Corvallis, but that's where Grandpa Hank and I bought our ammo. If I remember correctly, .22 Long Rifle HPs were about fifty cents a box and shorts were thirty-five cents. The .25s and .32s were almost a dollar a box and I got a silver dollar a day when working off the farm ... it was a major purchase for a ten-year old.
Blessings,
Steve
"God Loves Each Of Us As If There Were Only One Of Us" Saint Augustine of Hippo - AD 397
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Campfire Tracker
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OP
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I wonder what the odds are of there being another person on here that grew up with both a 25 Stevens and a 22 WRF?! The WRF I used was a Winchester 1895 model pump, and I can still recall the sounds it made when I dropped a round in the tube magazine and it slid down towards the action, and then the sound as you worked the slide back, solid well machined and fitted parts snick- snicking as I prepared to terrorize some poor woodchuck. If I remember correctly, they made 25 Stevens ammo in both short and long versions, just like 22 ammo. We might have been poverty stricken and deprived in those days, but I surely, thoroughly enjoyed being poverty stricken and deprived.
Royce
Last edited by Royce; 07/28/15.
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Campfire Kahuna Emeritus & Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Kahuna Emeritus & Campfire Outfitter
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Friend Royce, Indeed, snick-snick ... bang. Snick-snick ... bang. Dead a pair Your buddy Steve
"God Loves Each Of Us As If There Were Only One Of Us" Saint Augustine of Hippo - AD 397
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Campfire Tracker
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OP
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Steve Sure glad to see you back!
Last edited by Royce; 07/28/15.
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
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I grew up around a Remington 12 CS in .22 Special and also used the .22 WRF in the barn gun, a Savage 24 in .22 Mag over 20 gauge, to avoid the over-penetration of the standard .22 Mag FMJ and JHP ammo.
Our closest neighbor was a retired dairy farmer who was a pump gun man; Winchester 1906, Rem 121, Rem 25, and Rem 141. I liked the Winchester 1906 and the Remington 25 in 32-20, but thought that the 141 in .32 Rem was very obsolete and uncool.
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Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
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One of my best good friends has his dad's old Stevens Favorite in 32 Long rim fire. I keep searching high and low for ammo for him, no luck!
“There are some who can live without wild things and some who cannot.” ALDO LEOPOLD
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire Outfitter
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One of my best good friends has his dad's old Stevens Favorite in 32 Long rim fire. I keep searching high and low for ammo for him, no luck! I think Federal occasionally makes a run.The last time they did I bought a brick for my Marlin 92.What was cool about the Marlin was you could switch the firing pin around and shoot 32 centerfire.
Its all right to be white!! Stupidity left unattended will run rampant Don't argue with stupid people, They will drag you down to their level and then win by experience
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Campfire Kahuna Emeritus & Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Kahuna Emeritus & Campfire Outfitter
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I found this.
Blessings,
Steve "Old Western Scrounger has said that the supply of .25 Stevens rimfire has dried up.
All primary production of .25 Stevens ended in 1940. Canuck made a short run in the 1970's and some of that is available. Navy arms made a VERY short run in the 1980's but I've seen none of it at any price for quite a while.
Ammo-one.com has .25 Stevens short for $2.75 a cartridge, and .25 Stevens long for $3.75 a cartridge.
There is an opened box of Remington UMC .25 Stevens short on gunbroker as of now ( 1 Sept 2010 ) at $175, a box of Winchester .25 stevens with an opening bid of $175, and a box of Canuck at $60 which I expect to go up.
Note that ALL this ammo is old. The first two are black-powder rounds from the 1940's or before and will probably not fire. The Canuck rounds are at least 30 years old.
I will also note that if you just HAVE to fire a Stevens Favorite in .25 short, you can buy .25 caliber rimfire cartridges designed for driving nails in power-hammers. These come in long plastic strips, but the cartridges can be removed and used. A pure lead shotgun ball can be inserted in the chamber, and the power hammer round put behind it.
While this WORKS, I certainly can't recommend it, and if anyone tries it on their own, it's not my fault and I abjure responsibility."
"God Loves Each Of Us As If There Were Only One Of Us" Saint Augustine of Hippo - AD 397
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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Ray Giles, at rtgammo, has several boxes of .25 RFs listed, from a low of $100 (in the "bargain bin") up to $195, some of which is the "recent" Canuck stuff. I would have to be pretty desperate to shoot grampaws old squirrel rifle before I paid that kind of money for ammo for it!
By the way, Ray is a pretty straight shooter when it comes to selling vintage "collector" ammo.
"You can lead a man to logic, but you cannot make him think." Joe Harz "Always certain, often right." Keith McCafferty
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Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
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In a drawer in my grandmother's house in Pennsyvania, was a fancy little cardbord box that held a single .32/20 jacketed bullet round, a magazine for some undetermined round longer than a .22 (but not the .32/20), and a number of .22 Auto rounds. I have no idea where all this came from as the only guns in that house were a J.C. Higgins 16ga bolt action shotgun and a Remington 513 (I think) with no bolt or magazine.
The .22 Auto rounds facinated me as a boy.
Old Western Scrounger might have some .22 Auto rounds, but I bet they'd come pretty dear. Aguila still loads 22 Auto: http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/product/7-AMS22WAPretty impressive since the sole justification for the 22 Auto went out the window when black powder 22LR loads went out of fashion. No such luck for 25 Stevens.
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