Rusty,

I was looking at somthing Violator 22 posted – he made a .25-35AI Model 99 for his daughter using an 18” barrel.

Thinking on this I am wondering about the age of your rifle. You may not want to run the highest pressure loads in your rifle.

Back in the 1920’s J.R Mattern, Townsend Whelen, Paul Estey, Al Barr and a few others wrote of the .25-35 in terms we do not read about today. Back in those days the 100 grain bullet at 2,400 to 2,500 fps were commonly discussed as deer and varmint loads.

I regularly shoot the 100 grain bullets in my 20” Winchester model 94AE at 2,550fps+ with no ill effects. I have never experienced sticky extraction and believe I have not lost a case in several years.

J. R. Mattern considered the 100 grain bullet at 2,400 fps to be ideal for deer.

Robert Hutton developed several loads for P.O. Ackley using 100 grains bullets at 2,400 fps from 29.0 grains of IMR 4895 – this in a 26” barrel Mauser I believe.

The Ideal Handbook No. 35 (1948) lists loads using 27.0 grains of IMR 3031 driving the 100 grain bullets to 2,450 fps.

In my standard .25-35 28.0 grains of Alliant Reloder 15 will just nudge 2,450fps using the bulk 100 grain Remington PSP.

Paul Estey used 28.6 grains of DuPont 17 ½ for 2,450 fps with the 100 grain bullet. This in a Sedgley Krag with 24” barrel

I am taking the long road to ask what your velocity goals are with the 100 grain bullets.

My goal in the standard .25-35 was 2,500 fps which I achieved with no difficulty. I primarily use the Speer 100 JHP which I feed through the magazine with no difficulty. This bullet was designed as a varmint bullet for the .257 Weatherby.

The 100 grain Speer JHP performs very well on West Texas deer (my furthest shot to date was just a bit over 125 yards). I prefer the Speer JHP to the 110 grain Hornady FTX bullet. The FTX bullets expand quickly and in my experience tend to wad up as they penetrate. The Hornady holds its weight pretty well but other bullets will out penetrate it.

With the standard .25-35 you can easily reach 2,600 fps without difficulty. 26.0 grains of Alliant Reloder 10x is a pretty good load which does the deed.

 

Getting back to the Improved load. I like the Improved case in the Contender as it eliminated sticky extraction.

Hodgdon 4895 is a good powder to start with. In my 24” Contender 31.0 grains of Hodgdon 4895 will push the 100 grain Remington bullets 2,525 fps and break the magic inch for 5 shots on most occasions. It pretty good shooting for bulk bullets.

32.0 grains of Hodgdon 4895 will get 2,617 to 2,625 fps but group size increases about ½” for 5 shots. If your rifle is anything like mine I predict you find happiness between 32.0 and 33.0 grains of Hodgdon 4895.

My father insisted I would be happy with 2,700 fps and he was right. If your barrel is 22” or longer you should have little trouble reaching this velocity with good case life. I use only new .30-30 cases to form.

 

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