The model 92 Winchesters and Mod. 93 Marlins it was chambered in were the rifles of the people of the U.S., farmers and ranchers...important like a tractor or pickup...constantly in use like wire cutters and post hole diggers. In the dry southwest these little rifles are still seen in pickups and on the walls of farm and ranch houses. And you can’t trade them out of their 32-20s and 25-20s, folks know the value of what they have...not the collectors money value...but value of performance.

One of the finest wild turkey rounds we have is the 25-20 loaded stiff, with cast bullets. Good jacketed 87 grain soft points like the Sierra SPT Varminter #1610 loaded heavy will take out coyotes, wild dogs, feral cats, bob cats, and much vermin. The model 92s, and the recently manufactured Marlin 25-20s (1980s) will take loads in the mid 30,000+ psi levels. Meaning 1800 to 2000 fps with cast and jacketed bullets is possible. Introduced by Winchester in 1893 for the 1892 model levergun...along with the 32-20 introduced a decade plus earlier in the 1873 Winchester....these two calibers were the end all for small game and varmints right up to the 1930s...and speaking of a purely varmint load...13 grains of 2400 under the Hornady 60 grain jacketed soft flat nose (#2510) for near 2300 fps. I call it ‘SPLAT’ ballistics. Hit a good size desert rat or a large crow or sum-such, and hear it talk back at you...’SPLAAAAT’.

Using the afore mentioned 87 grain soft point (with the soft nose clipped so it’s flat for the loading tube) over 11.5 grains of 2400 I was getting just under 2000 fps. My range potential was 100 to 150 yards tops with peep sights on a new Marlin 25-20 at the time. I was in a tree over looking a water tank, in a small foothills area just before the mighty Dragoon Mts in AZ. I was waiting to ambush a pair of ‘yotes that were ambushing my friend’s sheep when they came to water. When two fat little mule deer does walked into the clearing. My..my.

I know what your thinking the 25-20 is not a deer rifle....but it is at the muzzle what a 120 grain slug from a 25-35 has in power at 200 yards...anyway I hit the first deer thru the top right back over the lungs, and it exited out the left lower side and the second deer behind the high left ribs and it exited out the middle right side. She was already running from me when I shot her. The first was standing still. Both died within 40 yards of each other. Both were estimated to be under 100 lbs before field dressing.

Both exit wounds were about 1 and ½ inches...and loss of blood was substantial, as was the internal damage. Still the 25-20 is not a deer round as is the 32-20 not a deer round. But like all firearm chamberings, if you know your power levels at the target of choice, not at the gun barrel, and a set shot pops up within the rifles (or handguns) range ability for that load and bullet....and I stress the need for the bullet’s ability to perform...then good shooting will bring home the venison. If they were big hogs would I have taken the shots? One shot....I would have shot the best hog in the brain...I would not have taken a shot at the second one running away, for obvious reasons...

That 87 grain Sierra is a game bullet at 25-20 ballistics....a varmint bullet at 25-06 ballistics. Someone later got those two ‘yotes with a heavy long range varmint rifle. Sheep do dumb things like having their babies in the winter...while the rest of the animal world does so in the spring. Coyotes are especially hungry in the lean months like Feb and March...these two gangsters were caught from what I was told, munching on a new born lamb.

The only problem I had with that Marlin...is the same problem I have with Marlin 32-20s. The chambers are slightly longer that the Winchester chambers. Marlin’s cartridges when brought out were 25-21 and the 32-21...slightly longer than the Winchester cartridges...you could fire Winchester ammo in the Marlin but not the other way around. That means standard length cartridges fired in the Marlin will stretch and brass life becomes very short. Well it seems the original designs for the reamers for these two rounds in the Marlins are still being used. So I recommend a mild fire forming load with a cast bullet being fired straight up in the Marlins...with the cast bullet touching the lands when chambered. The case will fire form to the longer chamber.. reset your dies so you don’t push the shoulder back, and brass will last and last.

As for brass, Starline is the very strongest.. R-P nickel are the next strongest. The rest are down hill from there....WW brass is the weakest I have ever used. There is a 25% difference in the water weight abilities between the 256 (25 on 357 case) and the 25-20 case (25 on the 32-20 case) so I take 25% off the beginning listed loads for the 256Win, and work up from there. If the 256 is listed at 14 grains of A1680 with a 70 grain cast bullet. Taking 3.5 grains from 14 grains (25%) you get 10.5 grains for a starting load. How does this work out in real figures and loads...?

Hornady’s Third Edition reloading handbook lists 12.7 grains of 2400 under the 60 grain flat soft nose....in the 256...in the 25-20 in the same book with the 60 grainer they list 9.2 grains 2400. Taking 25% off of 12.7 grains of the 256 load equals 3.175 grains...or 3.2 so that subtracted from the 12.7 gives 9.5 grains for a 25-20 load. And that’s more than in the ball park...so if you don’t have reloading data on the 25-20 but do on the 256 it is still usable data just take 25% off of the starting loads. Also much of the reloading data for the 25-20s is for very old rifles that can’t take pressure because they were originally black powder rifles. 32-20 data used to be like that but it is changing. Any sound, tight, strong 25-20 rifle made in the 20^th century will take loads to 30,000psi. The same rifles take the 357 mag cartridge and that’s way above 30,000 psi in some loadings...

The best powders I have found for the 25-20 are A1680 (which will be reviewed in Powder Profiles), 2400, and last but not least No.9.....H110/296 will work and do well but their velocity is not up to the others. These same powders work well in the 32-20, with H110/296 taking a much better position than it does in the 25-20.

Now if I were to go after a 25-20 again I would do two things...I would built one, on a 92 action, and it would be a 25-20 on testosterone. Back in the early 1980s before I wrote my classic book on leverguns... I took a 357 magnum chambered Rossi 20 inch mod. 92 and pulled the barrel. I rechambered the barrel to 357/44 B&D for a friend and it worked wonderfully on his 44 magnum Rossi action. Now I had a 357 Rossi complete except for a barrel. So I got a 257/8 caliber blank with a 1 in 10 twist to stabilize long 120 grain bullets...and chambered it for the 256 Winchester round.

I had a wildcat by the butt! I was pushing 87 grain bullets at around 2500 fps and the .257 caliber 60 grainers at close to what the 222 was pushing 60 grain .224 caliber bullets. Using H4198, A2015, and A1680 would surely give even better ballistics today. And look at the rifles that are out there...of course the 92s like the Rossi, are the strongest, but the Winchester 94s in 357 can be converted, so can the Marlins...and they take 40,000 to 45,000 psi easily. And all you have to do is change the barrel...reloading dies are standard....and the rounds feed better and the down range drop figures are outstanding in comparison to the 357s figures.

A 87 grain 257 bullet has a B.C. of around .310 so at 2500 fps with a 3 in zero at 100 yards it will be nearly zero at 200 yards and around ten inches down at 300 yards. And I would shoot small deer and black bear from 200 lbs on down with it. Small, flat shooting with varmint power to small deer the pistol caliber 25s in a rifle make a lot of sense in today’s anti gun world where noise is equated with danger.

It makes for a snappy little rifle...flat shooting with good power...brass is cheap.. reloading dies are standard.. use small amount of powder...and is great with cast bullets also. Certainly a combination to think about if you are looking for a compact 200 yards plus, small to medium game rifle....

write paco