Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Old rifle identity

Back in about 1957 on my first whitetail hunt, I used my uncles 32-20 pump rifle, I believe it was a Remington. It had tubular magazine on it. When I pumped it, the tube would slide back I think, but it has been awhile. Any of you guys older than me recollect the model.Maybe a Model 25?

The Model 25 is the only slide action .32/20 Remington that I have ever heard of.

The 32-20 is so interesting to me because it's one of those rounds that folks used for decades without question to kill deer. But if you asked today, it might barely be enough to kill a squirrel...

With whitetails becoming practically vermin in places these days, it’s hard to picture the bad old days when just seeing one was an event. A .32/20 or something of the sort was a practical choice for the one-rifle guy back then for someone that was a careful shot and good hunter. Still is I suspect, but now everyone needs a different gun for deer facing left instead of right, or so it seems. I can see myself paring down drastically in the not too distant future to something light, handy, and maybe marginal power-wise. Already have several like that in hand.

And therein, dear hearts, lies the difference between "deer hunting" and "deer killing".

Shot my last deer with a 25-20

Yep,I never killed a deer with that gun as I only used it once. My aunt though, killed several. My father hunted his entire life with a Marlin 94 in 38-40. I only remember him ever having only one box of ammo for it and some of it was left when he passed away. It was the long octagon barrel, not saddle ring model. It was common back then to see guys hunting with old 8mm mausers, 30-40 Kraigs. My brother hunted several years with a single Shot H&R 20 gauge shotgun with what we called Punkin balls. Round lead balls in an shotgun shell. Rifled slugs were not on the market yet. Until I left home in 64 and moved to New Mexico, I hunted deer with whatever rifle I could borrow. If I was lucky and my mother didn't go, I was able to use her Winchester 94 in 30-30. One time I used my FIL's 348 lever Winchester. He only had 8 rounds for it but that was considered more than enough. It sure kicked though.

I've got one in a m92. One of these days I'm going to load some hard cast bullets and shoot something with it.

It is the Remington m25. I have killed a deer and a couple rabbits with my m25 carbine in 25-20. Marlin also had a pump action chambered in 32-20 and 25-20, but it had an exposed hammer.

Those older cartridges were for putting meat in the pot, whether it was a deer, rabbit, turkey, etc. before game laws and seasons existed. My m25R was build in 1928, about 5 years before Missouri had a Wildlife Conservation Dept.

Could the Marlin have had a helix on the tube magazine that turned when the pump was worked? I seem to remember that, but it has been 60+years ago.

OMG, that's what my granny used!

Any chance it was a Remington 14/141 in .32 Rem?

My grand-mother kept her 25-20 Model 25 close by. It filled the supper pot at times.
I’ve seen several pictures of her with it. My great grand mother (different lineage) also had one. My brother told me her’s was a 32-20. No, pictures but my aunt told stories about her shooting.
They moved to Western South Dakota right after the war between the states. Many adults carried there then.

You are spot on!!!

I think it was Dave Scovil that wrote something like hunters should hunt with a 44-40 to see who the real hunters are.

It surely was. I remember that tube moving. Snow fell on it and when I went to blow it out, my lip froze to the tube.

Thanks

I found this when I searched for Marlin 14/141

The Model 14's design incorporated several innovative concepts. Among them was a spiral magazine tube to prevent bullet tips from contacting the primer of the cartridge in front of them. This magazine moved with the fore-end when pumping the action. Loading was through an opening in the magazine itself located between the fore-end and the receiver. The bolt unlocked via a button pressed through the ejection port though firing the gun automatically unlocked the bolt. The Model 14 was a takedown rifle that featured a single knurled screw on the left side of the receiver that was withdrawn allowing the trigger group and buttstock to be removed from the bottom of the gun.

Don't forget the Remington 14 1/2!

I shot a goodly number of deer when I was a boy using a Savage 23B in 25-20.
Always stalked close, 40 yds or Iess. Never lost a deer.
I seem to remember that The Jordan Buck was taken with a 25-20.
A while back, I found and acquired a 23B in Minty condition with its period correct Weaver scope.
Shoots like a dream.