In Defense of the .25-35.
W. S. Davenport
Outdoor Recreation, vol 60, No. 1, January,
1919 pages 103, 121
THE Savage Company tell me that the .25-35 is not popular and that
eventually they will give it up altogether. They have two similar
cartridges in the .22 H. P. and the .250-3,000. The .25-35 is not
popular, because it is loaded with a two-thirds charge of powder
and a long, flat-pointed bullet. It has not got the flat path of
the .22, it is not very clean killing for small game and it is a
little weak for deer.
The .22 H. P. is the .25-35 reduced at the neck to .22. The .25
can now be loaded to 2,324 f. s. with the 117-grain bullet, but
the pressure is a little high for some guns and 2,250 is a safer
speed. This load has 1,300 f. p. of energy. The .22 must be driven
at 2,900 f. s. to equal that energy. At that speed the bullet may
go to pieces on a bone. For shooting deer in the woods at the
moderate ranges to which either cartridge is limited for big game,
the .25-35-117 is a more reliable load, with a better balance
between weight of bullet and speed.
The .22 is at its best for long shots at coyotes and wolves. The
factory load has 2,700 f. s. speed. The Du Pont Company tell me
that probably the .25-35 can be loaded to 2,800 with the 87-grain
bullet. The 25-35-87 is therefore as good as the .22 for these
long shots at vermin. For clean killing of small game the .22
loaded to 1,400 f. s. will be very good, but the .25 with the
sharp bullet will also be good and it has a better choice of other
bullets for more tearing effect in the 25-20 flat point and the
Ideal hollow point.
Compared with the .250-3,000 the .25-35 has a longer space for
bullets and it will take the long 101-grain spitzer. The shell is
neater for light loads. For the hunter who wants to shoot 98 shots
out of 100 at small game, with an occasional shot at a deer, the
.25-35 is a good cartridge. There is a fairly large class who want
just that combination.
The speeds and energies of the .25-35 with the 87, 101 and 117
bullets will be roughly as follows. The speeds were got by
deduction and are not exact:
|
Bullet |
87 gr |
101 gr |
117 gr |
|
|
FPS / Ft/Lb |
FPS / Ft/Lb |
FPS / Ft/Lb |
|
Muzzle |
2,800 / 1,510 |
2,500 / 1,400 |
2,250 / 1,310 |
|
100 yards |
2,460 / 1,170 |
2,250 / 1,133 |
1,920 / 950 |
|
200 yards |
2,150 / 900 |
2,020 / 913 |
1,630 / 645 |
|
300 yards |
l,850 / 660 |
1,800 / 726 |
1,380 / 500 |
|
500 yards |
- |
1,400-1,500 / 440-500 |
- |
[ed. the
101 grain spitzer is the only bullet with velocity and energy
shown for 500 yards. As the author says, "speeds were got by
deduction" so YMMV]
The 87 and 101 grain loads, according to these
figures, have about as much energy at 100 yards as the .22 has at
the muzzle. The 87 is equal to the .30-30 in power and is ahead of
the .32-40 H. P. beyond the muzzle. The trajectory is as flat as
the .22 and the shell is the same. The cut of the .22 in the U. M.
C. catalogue is really the .25-35 with a sharp bullet. Not much,
if any, rechambering would be done in boring the .22 up to the
.25.
The loads of No. 16 powder for the 87, 101 and 117 bullets are 29,
27 and 25 grains respectively. The two first are estimates by the
Du Pont Company. For 1,400 f. s. they prescribe 8.5 grains of No.
80.
No cartridge excels this in the choice of loads. The hunter can
adjust his load to his game and the terrain shot over. In an open
country, or for long shots at coyotes the 87-grain will be best.
For deer in the woods at 80 to 150 yards the 117 will have shock
and will not go to pieces on a bone. For greatest energy the 87 is
best for short range, the 101 for long, the two being alike round
200 yards. The 101 will catch up with the .250-3,000 in power
round 500 yards. The quick twist of the .25-35 is needed for the
117 bullet at 2,000 f. s. If this bullet is not driven at less
than top speed, the twist can be reduced.
The Savage is the only action that will handle the sharp point
.25-35. It may be possible to put one cartridge into the tubular
magazine. The Savage Company could easily put their .250-3,000
bullet into the .25-35 and give us a seven-pound rifle for it with
a 24-inch barrel. These light, sharp, small caliber cartridges are
popular in this country, but our two largest factories have only
one between them, the .25 Rem. 101. Here is a new one that is
useful and does not need a new bullet, shell or action.
The .25-35-101 may prove to be the most useful. I do not know
whether the 101 Rem. bullet has a long point, but the Savage 87
built on at the base to 101 will go into the .25-35 shell. The
value of "C" should be about half way between the Savage 87 and
the Newton 123, or about C = .350. This is the bullet that the
designer of the .250-3,000 wanted to use. It has greater staying
power than the others. It catches up with those it does not excel
at the start. At 200 yards it has the power of the .35 Rem., the
.401, the .30-30 and the .32 Sp. with nearly the speed of the .22
at that range and a half more power for the same speed.
I am not advocating more than two loads for any hunter. A slow
speed with the 87 or 86 grain and a high power with the 87, 101 or
117. The strong point with this .25-35 is that one has a choice of
these high power loads to get the proper mushrooming effect.
The two Savage cartridges lack this adaptability. The .250 was
designed to have the maximum powder space possible with the
overall length available in the action of the .22 H. P., so the
bullet was made short. With these new powders, if the Savage
Company were designing the .250 now, they might perhaps shorten
the shell to make room for a 100-grain spitzer bullet. It would
develop the present speed with the 87 to 3,000 f. 5. Even the
thinner .25 Rem. comes near to it. The Du Pont Company have got
2,925 f. s. in the Rem. with only 33,000 pounds of pressure. The
longer bullets hold their speed and power better, but there is
another equally important advantage in the choice of bullets.
These small calibers depend on their mushrooming to kill big game,
and require an exact balance between bullet weight and speed to
avoid the two extremes of going to pieces without penetration, and
penetrating without mushrooming.
The .25-35 might be a little better if the neck were made shorter,
but the present neck will take a spitzer point as slender as the
87. The twist might be reduced to one in ten inches with these
speedier loads.