Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Canada Why a 225 Winchester?

It's great when you can own something that is not only a good shooter, but historical. And a nice looking thing to boot! I am hopeful that I can functionally check Franken-Rifle II tomorrow. Its cousin. the 6x45mm, shoots like a house on fire.

A customer had a Savage model 340 (?) in a 225 - the ONLY one I've ever seen, shot, touched, etc...

Had to order the rounds for it - Obviously NOT popular in sough Georgia.

The more I looked at the round the more convinced I became (and still believe today) it was all Marketing.

220 Swift, 225 Winchester, 22-250.

Same as 7mm and 30 calibers, and now the 416s.

Layne Simpson's article in the Fall, 2018 Varmint on the .225 tells how he was looking for a reasonable method of forming brass from something else. He worred about the strength of .30 WCF brass. Tried reforming Swift brass, but no-go, despite it looking like a good idea in theory.

Maybe you'll get lucky and Winchester (the gun company) or Ruger will trot out a falling block and Winchester (the ammo company) or Hornady will do a run.

Stranger things have happened; ask Hillary Clinton.

I can see why he would be concerned. The 30-30 is rated for 42,000 PSI. The 225 is 56,000 PSI.

I keep my loads 3,000 to 5,000 PSI below what the maximum is for any cartridge. Typically, that's .5 to 1 grain less than max. Velocity drops are generally 50 to 100 fps for most cartridges, and the cases appreciate it.

I have never understood why reloaders want to ride the ragged edge of pressure to gain 50 fps velocity, but that's me. Not surprisingly, most don't even know that they are at (or over) the wall.

I also like odd chamberings. Which is why I picked up a 225 Winchester is Savage model 340. Took it to my gunsmith and he also said it was the first Savage model 340 he had ever seen chambered in 225. And he is a model 340 fan. The nice thing about the Savage is you can pick them up fairly cheaply ( paid 375 for mine). It came with a box of goodies including the dies, a full box of factory ammo, about 30 handloads, and 20 more pieces of brass. So basically got 70 pieces usable brass with it. The stock was previously refinished and did not look that great, so I painted it and sprayed a webbing paint on it. I did not feel bad doing it as it is not a collectors piece by any stretch of the imagination. Before I took it to the gunsmith (the trigger was horrible) I put together a load using 50 grain v max and 4064 powder. With the bad trigger, and the old bushnell sportview that was on, it shot right at an inch at 100 yards. With a better scope and trigger it should get better.

I did get the gunsmith to check the twist and he came up with 1:15. I don't know how he measured it, but factory has it at 1:14. I will probably also try some 40 grain bullets as well. I figure if I can get good groups using those I will use them. A 40 grain bullet at 3800+ fps should be a good little groundhog gun out to 400 yards or so. I had thought about trying it for deer, but with the twist rate I will just make this my dedicated groundhog gun. Good to see some more love for the 225!

That's becasue you can still see, most likely.




I'm reading it because I too plan on building a 225 very, very soon.

WRT to my eyes, I wear reading glasses and have another prescription for driving. My eyes are not what they once were. Buying expensive scopes doesn't guarantee clarity, or absence of aberrations. Regardless of brand, you have to look through them, focus, and zoom in and out. Shoot friend's rifles who own what you are looking for. Your eyes will tell you if they are alright. Price is not an indicator that they will work for you.

Good luck with your build!

The 225 passed its functional check this morning. Everything is tight and the rifle is now sighted in. I will load up some ammunition to play with within the month.

Any updates Steve? My 1965 M70 .225 Win is in the classifieds, but I might pull it out if my vigor is renewed.

Thanks, Dinny

No. I haven't shot it that much since the spring. I will get around to finding some loads for it. I hope that it likes the cheap Hornady 55 gr. SPs. I buy them in bulk. I also have some homemade 66 gr. bullets, made with J4 jackets.

Bingo.

Winchester resurrected the .219 Zipper Improved, gave it a stronger case & "semi-rim" and called it the .225. Browning factory chambered their Sako action rifles for the wildcat .22-250 at the same time and Remington legitimized the .22-250 with factory rifles and ammo. IF Remington sunk that much money in R&D they were foolish, good .22-250 loading data had been around for decades ....

My first bolt rifle was a M-70 in .225 Winchester.....The year was 1964 and the .220 Swift was no longer available.....it was extremely accurate and no handloads I made would equal the 55grain factory loads.

Many times I bet that I could hit a penny on my first shot at 100 yards and then proved it.....I called it my 24 cent rifle as it cost me a penny to win the quarter.

My friend that I hunted prairie dogs with had a Remington 788 in .22-250 and it could keep up with my .225.....together, we decimated prairie dogs.

Groups finally opened to roughly 1.5 inches and it was time for a rebarrel…..it just made sense to rebarrel to .22-250 but for some reason the .22-250 didn't extract well in the M-70 action and further accuracy of the rebarrel wasn't to my liking.....then I discovered the .223 and haven't looked back since.

My first .22 centerfire was a 220 Swift.

Nothing about a 22-250 that ever interested me.

Reloader28 speaks for me. I have a 220. Why would I need a 225 or 22-250.

You don't.

You don't, for the same reason that I don't need or want a 220 or a 22-250. Each person to his own thing.

That little rim makes it nice for single shot rifles.

Otherwise, I don't need one, have fast twist .22-250 Mohawk/Shilen that loves 75's and 80's.

And what's with the "need" word, anyway...

Isn't NEED a 4 letter word?



DF

Yes, it does. Originally, I was going to get an Encore for it, but getting everything would have taken too long. Instead, I got a Shilen prefit, 1 in 9 twist, and it was all over but the shouting.

When he knew that he was dying, my 'smith gave me a BSA-Martini that he'd put together in 225 back in the mid-1980's. He told me that he'd bought a dozen or so of them from Klein's in Chicago for $100. He gave me a couple hundred reloads, but I've never gotten around to shoot it. I've actually been thinking about repurposing the 10x Unertl that came with it.