AZ Hunter

Never intend on using the newly acquired 25-20 for anything other than target shooting. I have a Win 264 and a Rem 300 WM for deer and elk. I almost fell out of my shoes when I saw the new brass and RCBS dies for the 25-20 at Sportsman's. The only problem I have now is finding the flat nose bullets.Everything on the shelves right now is either Spitzer, ballistic tip or hollow point. I may have to resort to hollow points, but I would rather have the right loads.

Can't wait to see how a 100 plus year old gun shoots.

Question for the collectors out there. The gun has obvious aging and I would like to clean it up, but I am afraid I may mess up any antique value it may have if I do. Cleaning and a little oil is a no brainer, but there is tarnish on some of the metal (no rust) that can be removed with a little work. Do not plan on selling it, but I do not want to mess up what years of aging have done by being stupid.

Thanks for any help. AZ Hunter

TUK101

In my Cartridges of the World book it states that the 25-20 as being outlawed for big game hunting. It does state the the gun is more than adequate for small game hunting though. It shows only 2300 fps velocity and 700 lbs of engergy as being the hottest load. I think that I would try to find him a 30/30 as a backup rifle instead of this round.

kelbro

I have a Savage Sporter in 25-20 that was my first centerfile rifle. When I was a kid, I killed everything with that rifle. Deer (neck shots at less than 75 yds), javelina, coyotes, hogs, rabbits, turkey, crows, you name it. But, I shot it nearly every day and I was very familiar with the trajectory.

For deer hunting, I would strongly suggest another caliber. There are just so many better choices. My next centerfire was my .270.I never used the 25-20 for deer after I got the .270.

I still take it on a coyote hunt or two every year for sentimental reasons. It knocks them down with ease. It is also a fantastic turkey rifle.Javelina don't stand a chance against it.

This was my dad's rifle when he was a kid. The bore is rough looking but it's still very accurate. It has a LOT of rounds down the pipe and has put a lot of meat in the pot. For fun shooting, it's very cheap to reload. The brass is cheap and it doesn't use much powder. You can get 60gr, 75gr, and 86gr pills for it. The 60s get up to about 2300 fps out of my rifle and the 86s are much slower. I shoot mostly the 60s now. The only factory offerings that I've seen are 86gr.