Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats Help an old man out

does your grandson actually want a 25-35? Why not get him what he wants, or what he will probably want later on? I've never met anyone under 70 that wanted a 25-35...

Gotta admit that, in all my 77 years I've never even considered a 25-35.

How about a 30-30?

What's the kid gonna do when Grandpa's no longer around to keep him supplied with 25-35 ammo?

lol.. I raised girls ...both were proficient shooters with .22 bolts by 5. Took first deer at 6 and hunt with me to this day. They can walk in a room here and pick out any caliber they want. He will be able to as well, and if he wants it, it's his. Personally, I prefer the vintage and the oddities, and I hope he will too. At 5 or 6, we will be looking for low recoil calibers. I am going to fix him up a 25-35 for him for all the reasons above. He can always choose his favorite as he learns. This one will just be one of his options. I will have the stock fit to him too. I find that proper stock fit is as important, if not more important, shooters, particularly the young ones. Ammo is never going to be a problem here. I have already started stocking up and will order dies. The 30-30 is a fine round. I have several 30-30's, even a Rem 788. The recoil of the 25-35 is almost half that of a 30-30 too.

https://www.chuckhawks.com/25-35_combination_cartridge.html

Many years ago I walked into a gun shop and they had a custom Krag that had been rebarreled to 25-35. It was a very nice looking rifle probably converted in the late 40s or early 50s, even had a scope on it. I drove around for awhile and came back to look at it again. Of course it was gone........

Well, I learned something today. I had no idea that you could buy .25-35 ammo. I just assumed it was a semi-wildcat and you had to make it out of .30-30 cases.

the last 25-35 ammunition that I saw for sale had 6.35x52mm stamped on the box if I remember correctly. This was probably 5 years ago

I have a couple of .25-35s and one .25-35AI…..it’s a great little round and with the Hornady ammo that’s available makes it even easier to use.

One that I have is an Austrian stalking rifle single shot that is a sweet little gem, one a Winchester 1894, the other a 16 gauge/.25-35 combo gun. The .25-35AI is an MGM barrel on a Contender frame that I got here on the campfire.

Always wanted to make a .25 Krag and have the action sitting around just waiting for some attention - beautiful ones in this thread!!

I thinks it’s a great project and something that they’ll certainly remember getting from you!

PennDog

Don't let anybody dissuade you. I, like you, get a crazy idea involving a particular odd-ball cartridge in my head, and nothing more "practical" can make me settle. Years ago I wanted a modern .25-35 that I could scope. There were no options, so I went the Contender Carbine route with a 20 1/2" Fox Ridge barrel. The itch was scratched, and then a few years later Winchester released the 94AE Trail's End in .25-35 so I bought one of those too.

There was an article in Handloader many moons ago where a guy took a beat up old 788 .30-30 and turned it into a .25-225 Win wildcat, pretty much a .25-35 Improved. If you could find another beater like he found, the 788 would be a simple conversion.

Good luck and keep us posted!

Thanks SC...Ill look for another 30-30 in 788...If you ever put your TC up for adoption, please let me know.

Wowza ..... That's beautiful!

Yup ..... It's boring, but a 30-30 would be a better choice.

Probably a lot easier to find a beater Savage 340 than a Remington 788

Yes, much better. All kinds of 30 cal bullets out there if the kid gets into reloading. But's it's obvious Grandpa knows best.

Spitballing here what about the Steyr 95? The rim is a little larger so not sure. It’s been a while since I held one.

I did something similar for my daughter but built a 250 Savage...opens up your options on a suitable rifle to start with. She is left eye dominant so I took an older steel framed BLR in 308 and rebarrelled it. Shoots very well.

250 Savage

25 Creed

Don't stick your grand son with horrible thin walled brass where problems abound.

Easy button: 25 Creed

Or the supermodel 6 Creed.

how about a bolt action 6x45? (6mm/223), load it with 85 gr bullets instead of 86s or 117s

could get it barreled in a rem model 7

Very wise words. I have seen it many times where the grand parents has unique rifles, then the kids inherit the rifles. Their first thoughts are WTF is this? Down the road the custom rifle goes for a 1/10th of what it is worth.

Lesson: Don't make the kid's life hard by giving them something impossible to work with. A nice rifle in readily available brass and loaded ammo will be a cherished gun, odd ball stuff...gone and forgotten quickly....with the kids thinking, "Grand Pa liked Weird Stuff, we don't know what it is".