Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors 23B 25-20 86 gr jacketed loads???

I recently acquired a 23B 25-20 and have fired off all my old factory ammo. Now to reload.
Does anyone have a pet "accurate" load for 86 gr jacketed bullets. I have a selection of IMR powders and see IMR 4227 is fairly popular.
BillR

86 g seems a bit heavy for 25-20, but I've never loaded for it. I have some 25 cal 60g (hornady I think) that I tried to get to work in my 250 sav. with no luck.

Let me know if you'd like to try them, I'd be happy to send them to someone who'll use them.

86 grain bullets are standard for the .25-20. Get hold of Ken Waters' book "Pet Loads," or the issue of "Handloader" magazine which is reprinted in the book, and see what he loaded up for his 23B.

If you can't find those, give me a PM and I'll send you some of his loads, copied from the article. I'd mail you the copied page, but that book is almost impossible to put on a copier without destroying the binding. Or the copier.

Mike Armstrong aka Mesa

Best load in my 23b with 86s is 9 grs of IMR4227. Groups 1 1/2" (+/-) @ 100yds.

My Winchester single shot .25-20 shoots 87 gr. pointed Sierras very well, too. They might be a little long for the magazine of a 23; never tried it.

When it stops snowing I will give the 25-20 a few rounds of 4227 to see how it groups. Big problem is my eyes will not shoot as well as any good gun when using open sights.
I have a 32-20 as well and will reload some rounds for that one but the bore is only about a 6/10 so won't expect too much.
It would be nice to find a receiver sight for the 23s but I don't recall ever seeing a 23B or C with the receiver sight in the factory drilled holes.
A friend of mine was checking his trap line last week when he heard a real ruckus coming through the tag alters. A large buck ran out and passed him and a second or so later a large female coyote. He dumped the coyote with a headshot from his 23B 25-20 which my Dad had sold him 20 years ago.
Thus my sudden interest in shooting these guns. My bushlot has a few coyotes passing through and a quieter rifle won't annoy neighbours.
BillR
BillR

Bill, try ten grains of 4227 with a Sierra 75 gr. hollowpoint seated deep enough so that it will feed OK in your Savage. Very accurate in my late 23B, quiet (about like a .22 LRHP) and should expand OK at close range (haven't had the chance to kill anything with it yet). The other IMR powder that the loading manuals suggest is 4198, if you have a supply of that.

I have the same problem with old eyes and iron sights, but won't buy any rifles any more that aren't drilled/tapped for a scope mount; all my 23s were already scoped when I bought them, so I didn't have the guilt of drilling a "cherry" one. But I suspect that as little recoil as these guns have, you could glue a mount onto one and later remove it with a heat gun if you wanted to. Haven't done it, but have seen it done.

I used the 60 grain Hornady flat point with good results in a Remington 25 pump 25-20. Fun caliber.

60 gr. jacketed bullets work very well in most .25-20s. You need to keep the speed down if you're looking for a quiet load, or want to keep the meat or hide of the critter you're shooting, tho.

Always wanted a Remington 25; never found one I could afford that was in just the right condition: good shooting shape, but not a collector's jewel.

I used to "ranch sit" for a friend up in Lassen County CA. He had let a mystery writer of the 1940s and '50s live on his ranch for many years (Courtney Cameron who wrote as "Owen Cameron") in a little cabin. Court was famous for "living off the land"--he wasn't a very successful writer, I guess. Always used a Remington 25 in .25-20, but never reloaded or policed up his brass. We found his empties in the woods for years after he passed away. I still have a couple marked "W-W .25-20 HV". Guess the 25 CAN take HV pressure!

Shot my last deer with a .25-20, about 50 yards neckshot.

I killed my first two, both forkhorn blacktails, from the hayloft of our barn with a .25-20 Marlin '94 in 1958 and 1959. Both were full of windfall apples. Didn't make it out of the pasture and ate real good.

I later learned not to shoot at RUNNING deer with a .25-20; painful lesson, although I did get the buck home in the end. Grounded for getting home in the early AM, scaring my mother half to death. No guns for a month. In quail season. That hurt.

With that Remington 86 gr Flat Point, I've had good luck with 9.5 gr's of 4227 with Winchester Sm. Rifle primers, in nickeled brass and no crimp. This load does an inch at 50 yds with a peep sight on two Winchester Model 92's. Can't say how it'll do on your Savage. As always...that load is safe in my rifles as I load it. Your's may vary...work up slowly...and Plus one to Ken Waters' Pet Loads...great book! Rod

This thread will be useful, since I just picked up a decent Remington Model 25 tonight. Looking around for a source for brass, I notice that all my normal sources seem to list it as out of stock or seasonal. Does anybody have a good source?

I'm told that 32-20 brass can be necked down to make 25-20. Is is easier to find 32-20 brass?

Thanks,

Rod

Rod,
Did you get the pistol grip rifle or a straight grip carbine? I'd like to try a carbine someday...

It's a pistol grip rifle with 24" barrel.

Rod

My brass is reformed 218 Bee, but that's probably just as hard to find. I sold my Remington 25 rifle but would replace it with a carbine given funds and opportunity. They are a super weapon, accurate, light, and well made.