Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 25-20 Win

Ive never used one...but know people that use them every year as woods guns with perfect satisfaction.

People have been known to shoot black bear with them up here as well.

I’ve always wanted one of the little single shot Husqvarna rifles in 25-20 or one of those Remington 25R pumps but never seen one in person.

All I know is I've sold well over a hundred guns and if I could only have one back it would be my Marlin 1894 25-20

Shot my last deer with a Marlin 1894CL in 25-20, neck shot, stood up on its hind legs and kicked its front legs and then dropped

6 inch Contender from SSK, 75 Speer flat point ,Tightgroup...subsonic. AA2015 will go 1400fps. The Speer is kind of hard but shoots cloverleafs at 50 yards...mix or match. I could see taking a deer with it Alaska Style...I have Nickel reformed 32/20 brass for the Deer Load and plain brass for the Grouse Load. 4X Leupold pistol scope but use to have a 2X both have disadvantages Might go with a red dot for Jungle Use.

My father's favorite gun was a m-92 Winchester in .25-20 WCF When he passed on, he left it to me. He had ordered a higher front sight for it many years back because he wanted to shoot the 60 grain OPE bullet as mostly the gun was for hunting jack rabbits in the corn rows in the winter. On one occasion (around 1932) he used it in northern Minnesota to take three whitetails with three shots in about five seconds. One was a 10 pointer that still hangs in the shop today. Two years later Minnesota outlawed it for deer and my father wound up with a Savage M-99 in .303 Savage and traded it for a new Savage M-99 in .308 Winchester about 1958. That old .25-20 is still hunting today (made in 1917) as I gave it along with 400 rounds of 60 grain ammo to his great grandson.

I took the gun to Africa and used it on duiker, springbok and a dik dik. The discontinuance of the loading of the 60 grain OPE was a blow to my dad as it was his favorite load and he still had a few left when he passed on. I took to reloading the Hornady 60 grain flat point with great success but watched for many years for the 60 grain OPE......and sure enough after about thirty years I found about 300 of them and immediately reloaded them in new cases and as stated earlier gave them to the current owner.

In it's day the .25-20 was considered a varmint round.....fox was a favorite target as well as jack rabbits and a few wood chucks. It even was used for squirrels but was a bit much for them.

I'll never cease to be amazed that the .25-20 held it's own as a varmint cartridge in the days of the .22 Savage high power, .250-3000, .257 Roberts and the .219 Zipper......but some guns seem to survive regardless of their performance on paper! Long live the .25-20 WCF!!!

I have a Winchester 25-20 barrel in my barrel box.Patten date October 14 1884. I was told it came of a 92.

I've probably put more rounds through my old '94 Marlin than all the rest of my rifles combined. Inherited it from my Grandfather over 30 years ago, built in 1906. I had a liner put in because the bore looked like a sewer line. I've only put a few jacketed bullets through it, it prefers cast bullets and so do I. Of all the powders tried, 4198 has been most accurate in this rifle, either brand. I used to run it hot with the Lyman 257420gc bullet, then a group buy mold throwing an 80 grain, gas checked, tumble lube bullet. Now I've been using the NOE 260283 built without gas check shank at a reduced speed to take it easy on the old rifle. Still using 4198

I have an 1892 Winchester built in 1907 with an original Winchester 1927 octagonal stainless steel barrel. Do you know anything about the stainless barrel. It a peears to be a parts barrel by the markings and it also appears to be threaded for a Maxim silencer.
It's a great little fun rifle that I love playing with.
The load I currently use is an 86gn cast flat nose projectile with 3.4 grains of trailboss. It's a very accurate little rifle.
I have just managed to get 200 Hornady 60gn flat nose to load in it so it should work well. The other load I use is 13gn H4198 being the 70gn speer flat point.
I have just ordered a Pearson no drill rai and I'm going to mount a scout scope to bring out the rifles full potential.
The 25-20 is a great little round that I'm looking forward to using in the field
Bob

I dont think its a good idea to shoot deer with a 25-20. Betting they have wounded way more than killed.
Step up to a 32-20 like I have !(kidding). Not a deer cartridge either.

I owned a Marlin 1894 cl shot a few rabbits, a woodchuck and a porpine. I hunted deer with it a few days,as it shot lights out, only saw a fawn at 20 yards. I knew I could have killed it, but let him walk. I foolish sold it, one of the ones you wish you could have back.

I had one of the 1894CLs in 25-20 as well as one in Bee. I regret trading off the 25-20, not so much the Bee. I parted with both of them when little flat noses got hard to find 10-ish years back.

150 is a long shot for it, especially on a deer. I'd pop a deer with one, but at a distance more like 50, maybe 75yards dead broadside. Never used mine deer hunting though. Only things I ever remember shooting with it were targets and a couple possums.

Mine was pretty accurate with the Speer 75 grainers and IMR4227. It also shot cast bullets with Unique (iirc, been a lot of years ago and I mostly shot jackets) fairly well. That was back before I had a chronograph though, so I don't know how fast they were going.

Great thread. Enjoyed the reading! Thanks!