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Nice to read a bout a .25-35 in use...I had a Marlin 336 rebarreled to .25-35...When I first had it done I shot it quite a bit...now the fascination has cooled, but I still use it some each year...have shot p. dogs, coyotes, antelope, whitetails and mulies with it...a fun gun and at medium ranges very deadly...

I know the WSM guys all need big ballistics to kill stuff, but I have hunted with a 25-35 since I was a kid. To this day it is still one of my favorite go to guns. I have killed deer, antelope, rabbits, turkeys and even a 7 foot grizzly with one...

One of my �someday� guns will be a Marlin 336 with 24� barrel in 25-35 Tomcat similar to Francis Sell�s. I want a 14� twist as my critters are smaller than his.
I have a 20� 25-35 and a 24� 25-35AI, I figure the Tomcat will cover the �middle ground.�

As promised, here is the new one.





I don't know what it will do at 100 yards yet, but at pistol ranges, it will flat-out explode stuff.

Just like this...

That just looks sweet.... Nice rifle.
....SmokeRolls

Steve, I decided to answer your question on bullet length and twist rates here as others may have had similar and or different experiences we could both benefit from.
I personally feel the 14� twist will give fine accuracy with the newer and longer 87- and 100-grain .25 caliber bullets. I have shot the 100-grain Nosler BT in the 14� twist 250 Savage and it delivered some of this rifles best accuracy.
While there has been quite a bit of writing in pre-WWII magazines on the 25-35 as a varmint rifle it is lost to most of us. One of the more interesting articles is from the November 1939 issue of the American Rifleman, �The 25-35 Cartridge� by John Schnerring the former Frankfort Arsenal Superintendent of the Proof House. Schnerring had a Stevens 44 � and a Winchester Model 70 barreled for the 14� twist 25-35. He reported excellent accuracy for the bullets of his day out to 200 yards � the furthest distance he shot the rifle on paper. In 1939 he felt the most accurate .25 caliber bullet available was the 87-grain Western Open Point bullet.
I feel one of the best bullets available for the 25-35 single shot rifles is the 75-grain Sierra JHP. It is unusual for me to shoot at varmints beyond 200 yards and the 75-grain Sierra will deliver the goods for most of our windy days.
For deer I feel I get quicker kills on our little West Texas deer with the 100-grain Speer JHP than with the 117-grain Hornady round nose bullet. The Hornady bullet will open up on our deer even on lung shots but the smaller Speer bullet opens quicker and yet is strong enough to retain weight on a shoulder shot. The 100-grain Speer hollow point will punch a shoulder and cross the chest cavity with enough retained weight to create a an impressive exit wound.
The Speer bullet also has the advantage of reduced tendency to ricochete on hard ground. This bullet will wrrrr off into the distance on occasion but not like the longer round nose bullet.

As far as case capacity is concerned I measure the water capacity with a bullet seated .257� deep as, 42.8 grains of water for the 250 Savage, 33.9 grains of water for the 25-35 and 40.9 grains of water for the 25-35AI.
I have a 24� 25-35AI and � at the expense of higher pressure � it is a smoker. The 25-35AI delivers performance far beyond what you might imagine when loaded to those higher pressures. I have shot it beside two 250 Savage rifles � Remington Classics that are in my immediate family � and with the advantage of 2� extra barrel length I am able to easily exceed the performance of the 250 Savage with the shorter barrel.
There is no need to run the cartridge at these high pressures it is just an interesting aside that it is possible to do so.
For the single shot rifles I prefer the rimmed cartridges, it is just a personal preference. My personal thoughts are the standard 25-35 is where I would start and I believe the Ruger No. 3 will make a nice light weight walking varmineter. I wanted to suggest a straight 6X scope in my original post but thought better of it and suggested a 2-7X compact as they are generally short and light, with the added advantage of the low power for game on the move. It is exciting to shoot at rabbits on the move and coyotes called in close when they are smart and aware they are falling into a trap. This is shooting best served by a light rifle with its center of gravity a bit further forward to help it follow the moving critter, the low power scope giving you the advantage of shooting with both eyes open.
Those are some of my thoughts on the matter and with input from some who have more experience you may end up with a useful and interesting rifle.

William, interesting information...I have read a bit about the .25-35 on varmits, both in the older information in the Rifleman, and from Francis Sell...I load 75 grain Horn.Vmax for varmits, but load those single shot into my Marlin...Lately, I have done my biggame shooting with Hornady 117 RN..I had a couple 100 grain Serria sptizers fail badly on a nice buck antelope...oddly they killed well when fired out of a .25-06...May have just had a bad bullet...My little rifle is a fun gun..I enjoy it each fall...and some varmiting in the summer..it is fun to read about what riflemen were doing in the 20's and 30's...Davis tried the 25-35 and 25 Rem. on turkey in his quest for a perfect turkey rifle...I tried mine on gobblers..did a fair job...with a different bullet it would be excellent....

Interesting about the 100-grain Sierra troubles. Perhaps they were designed for a higher velocity. I�ll look them up to see what velocity range they were intended for. I shoot the bulk Remington 100-grain bullets single shot and they appear to open up for me at 25-35 veloccities. I admit I am shooting new rifles and I blast right through published load data intended for older rifles.
Good to see a mention of Davis in this thread, he has several articles in the pre-WWII American Rifleman with at least one giving the 25-35 a good mention.

I prefer the 25-20 for our turkey shooting.

F. C. Ness gives good mention of the 25-35 and the 25 Remington in the book, Practical Dope on the Big Bores. A good bit of discussion on the various twists.
There is quite a bit of discussion of the 25 Remington and the 25-35 in the late 1930�s Rifleman articles and in the Dope Bag.

I had intended to mention the 100-grain Speer JHP came my attention from Ken Waters wrting. Waters gave a good recommendation to the bullet for use in the 250 Savage. The little hollow point performs well in the 25-35 too.

William, I will have to try the 100 grain Speer HP. Shot some of them many years ago in a 25-06..Impressive..bet they would be great in my .25-35..But I have more bullets than I will probably shoot now..but my friends will enjoy them and hopefully think of the guy who bought them...It is nice to see someone who reads and has knowledge of our past shooters..those guys praticed experimenting under very difficult conditions...I never shot a gobbler with a 25=20...Had a beauty in a newer Marlin, but foolishly sold it to my pal..he won't part with it..It is also nice to know someone who takes turkey with a rifle...that takes skill...I have shot the last dozen birds with a shotgun...when at all possible, I will switch to my rifles again..but I guess we are not talking about turkey hunting here...keep up the good information...

I have to be honest, my wife brings em up close, and I just do the shooting. It is not difficult in Texas to bring turkey up within 50 yards, getting them closer is the tough part.
As you know there is nothing more exciting than to be 10 or 15 yards from a strutter, the stomping feet and the rattling wings will get your heart pumping.
In the square, Brady to Ozona, Big Spring to Sonora there are a number of women who can call turkeys as well or better than the men can. Locally, the Outdoorsman guides a few women from back East who know how it�s done and enjoy bringing them in close.

We have several 25-20�s but the Savage Model 23 is probably the most fun - and the hardest on brass.

The fun part of the books and magazines is there is NOTHING new, if you know where to look. It will work you pretty hard looking, even today. You know the movie quote, �For the Sunrise Student, there is Treasure among books.�
As a kid Francis Sell, Harry O. Dean, Ed Yard and Vernon Megee sure had an influence on me. They were small game hunters who were interested in the critters, the guns and the cartridges. Now that I am a �Hundred Aire� I would sure enjoy meeting Francis Sell in his old apple orchard and sharing a cup of tea while watching the deer.

William, that is certainly some interesting info. Thanks exceedingly for sharing it.

Thanks for sharing the pictures of the rifle and a proud young shooter. When I was a kid I carried a Model 94 deer hunting and there were days when I hoped I would not see a deer as that darn rifle seemed to kick harder than my Dads 308. 25-35 is a great start. You see rifles in better condition than we do.
You are fortunate to have children to pass the love of the outdoors, hunting and shooting to. Like a lot of folks when I am gone my �stuff� will scatter to the four winds or end up in a landfill.

William, I went to Oregon one trip just to visit with Francis Sell...as luck would have it, the time I was there was his birthday..so I did not try and arrange a meeting..I have made several trips to the area since that time...sad to say, he is rapidly being forgetten even by relatives...
On a brighter note, I just saw a Savage model 23 in .25-20..if I get back that way, I may take a close look at it..

Like you I have no children to pass my stuff on too when that time comes..but fortunately, I was in education for years and have lots of "kids" that love hunting and shooting as much as I do..plus two of my "kids" named their sons after me..so they will receive some of my stuff..the rest will be divided among those who I feel will appreciate them most..One young man is a pistol, shotgun, rifleman; while another cares only for rifles, but not custom ones...so I will have to think this through and assign each what I feel will be most suited to their likes...something to consider...

I am indeed blessed and don't thank God enough for what I have.

William,

Many thanks for sharing your wisdom, experience and time.Your information is invaluable and I will put it to good use.

I'm meeting with my gunsmith next week to get started on the project of converting my #3 375 Win to 25-35. When I talked to him, he said he thought the only problem that he would have was finding a 25-35 reamer in good shape that he could rent. My guess is that there is not a lot of call for them!

I share your respect and admiration of Francis Sell. I think he was one of a few gun and hunting writers who were far better than they were popular. Not saying he was not popular, but that his skill exceeded his popularity.

Again, thank you for your thoughts and experience.

Best regards,

Steve

Steve, my pal and I had .25-35's built on Marlin actions with in the last 10 years, maybe less....the gunsmith had no problem renting a reamer at that time...good luck, this is a fun caliber..

Steve

Glad to help you �scratch an itch.� Others on this board have shot bigger critters than me - appears to me Shrapnel could use a 2lb. Sledge in a cross draw holster as a backup�

WCH has posted on other boards about his rifle, he may post a link or two. Dr. A has hunted a bit with his Angle Eject Model 94 and has posted about it.

I had no trouble purchasing a new production 25-35AI reamer so someone is shooting these cartridges. I wish they would talk about it some.

I am looking for a new production 25 Remington reamer but it looks like I am going to strike out. I will probably have to have one custom made for my slow twist 25 Remington project.

Steve,
I thought I would answer your msg here as other may have different thoughts.
I bought my 25-35AI reamer from Midway as a stock item. This is a PTG reamer which reamed a good chamber for me. One of the flutes of the reamer did not cut as well as the others but this did not seem to affect the end result. I had shot this 24� barrel quite a bit but it is still a very accurate barrel.
I enjoy loading for and shooting the 25-35AI. The cartridge is similar to the 30-30AI in that the case does not appear to be fragile at all. Case life is excellent with the highest pressure loads. Eventually you will wear out a primer pocket � this is to say the pocket has less resistance when seating the primer. I use hand priming tools and I am able to feel the difference when seating the primer. All of my cases will accept 10+ high pressure loads. The majority of my cases will be loaded many more times.
The 30-30AI and the 25-35AI will both exhibit cases stretching when loaded to high pressure � I am describing loads above an estimated 50,000 CUP. If you start with new brass you will not have case life issues. Using brass previously loaded as 30-30 or standard 25-35 is acceptable for lower load levels but for high performance, use new cases. You will occasionally break a case at the pressure ring. I have broken one 25-35 AI case at the pressure ring and I have been shooting the cartridge regularly during summer for 5 years or so.
Now for the unpopular part � high pressure loading. There is little difference between the 25-35AI loaded to high pressure and the 250 Savage loaded with published load data. In my situation I had a barrel with extraction problems as a standard 25-35. Reaming the chamber to the Improved shape eliminated the problem. I have shot my 24� 25-35AI side by side with two Remington Classic rifles and the 24� barrel 25-35AI, loaded to higher pressure I�ll admit, will exceed 250 Savage velocities from the 22� barrel. This is not an apple to apples comparison but II believe it illustrates the potential of the 25-35AI cartridge. The rimmed cartridge case is easier for me to handle with the Thompson Center action, particularly in winter.

Now to real world stuff. Fired in the light TC rifle the 100-grain bulk Remington bullets have proven to be able to group into 1 �� three shot groups from field positions. This is with makeshift rests and sitting positions with the scope set on 8X. 36.0 grains of Alliant Reloder 15 gives me just over 3,000 fps and this is a fine load. Higher cost bullets will shoot smaller groups from the bench but in the field I cannot tell the difference between bullet brands.
My Winchester 25-35AE wears a Weaver V-3 which is more than enough scope for this rifle.
We are discussing varmint shooting but I have driven the 117-grain Hornady round nose bullet above 2,980 fps and this load kills deer very well. I prefer a load giving 2,800 fps and several powders will deliver this performance.
IMR 4320, Alliant Reloder 10X, Hodgdon 4895 and Varget will all deliver similar performance if 50 fps less velocity in some cases.
I have found no advantage to forming cases from 375 Winchester cases. Others may report different results but I have not been able to prove an advantage for the 375 Winchester case.
I generally form my cases from new 30-30 brass and always inside ream the necks after fire forming with fast powder and corn meal.
Everyone has an opinion and here is mine. I would ream my chamber to the standard 25-35 case. With a good extraction system the 25-35 cases will deliver fine performance when loaded to higher pressures. I still prefer the 100-grain bullets in the standard chamber and the 100-grain JHP Speer bullet is a favorite for me. This Speer bullet is accurate and tough enough for anything I will encounter. Any of the medium burn rate powders will push the 100-grain bullets above 2,600 fps from a 20� barrel. 4320, Reloder 10X, Varget and 4895 all proving to be top performers in the modern 25-35 rifle.

When my New Deal Handout comes in and I am a Hundredaire I hope to have a lever action rifle reamed for the 25-35 Tomcat. This will up my performance a bit from the standard cartridge will eliminate any fooling around with case forming. The reamer and reloading dies will be expensive but I believe the result will be worth the cost. I would prefer this milder form of Improvement to the full Ackley treatment. P.O. Ackley assisted Francis Sell in the design of his wildcat so there is no doubt about the careful thought put into establishing the performance goals for the cartridge and the design of the case.
With a discussion board as broad as the Campfire there must be others who already been there on this.

Mine has a King buckhorn that I thought looked original enough, I have replaced the front sight with a very carefully ground down chunk of a nickel. John's was taught to shoot by, I believe, his grandmother, that's why it is still a hunter. mine is a SRC & I'm looking for an original stock for it so it can prove it'self.
MC