Some Popular .25 Calibers.
By Maurice H. Decker.
Fur-Fish-Game, vol 26, No 1, July 1917, page 30
THE .25 caliber fills a well-defined want and need of a weapon some what larger and more powerful than the .22 and yet smaller in bore than the standard .32,'s which are often times found to tear and mangle the smaller game animals to a considerable degree. The rim-fire .25 short and .25 game calibers, the short being probably the least used and least known size, as it is adapted to single shot rifles only. The .25 Stevens loaded with eleven grains of powder and sixty-five of lead (Winchester brand of ammunition) makes a powerful charge that is being used successfully by many hunters upon game hitherto shot with the .32-20.
For rabbits, geese, woodchucks, foxes, crows, etc. It fills the bill practically as well and with but about one-half the cost for ammunition. These cartridges are very accurate and can be obtained loaded with soft-point bullets which will prove very effective for woodchucks. Either black, smokeless, or Lesmok powder is obtainable, but the latter can be especially recommended for accuracy and easy action upon the barrel. Shooters who do not care to reload their own ammunition will find these rim-fire .25 cartridges well adapted to any small game and inexpensive to use. Up to one hundred yards this load will prove reliable and accurate, it having a trajectory at this range of but some five inches. This shell is handled by the Marlin Model 27, a pump-action repeater with twenty four- inch round or octagon barrel, either special smokeless, or rolled steel barrel weighing about six pounds, the weapon being described at length in a former article dealing with the .25-20 and .32-20 calibers.
The well-known .25-20 single shot and repeater need little introduction, as they are easily the most popular of the .25 bores. Nearly every manufacturer has adapted them to his weapons. The .25-20 repeater uses an eighty six grain bullet backed by a charge of seven teen grains of powder, and generates a velocity the equal of any other black powder cartridge made. Travelling at the rate of 1547 feet per second, this bullet carries well up to two hundred yards and at ordinary hunting ranges drops so little as to make any considerable adjustment of the rear-sight unnecessary. The .25-20 was originated by the Marlin Company, who also made the first repeating rifle in this size.
At present they put out two repeaters, one a lever-action and the other a pump-action for the .25-20 cartridge. A very efficient, light and easily handled weapon would be one of the lever action repeaters in .25-20 with special smokeless steel barrel, either twenty or twenty-four inches in length, with half magazine equipped with Marble's Flexible peep-sight and ivory bead front. Such a combination would handle all loads from the regular black powder shell to the special high velocity cartridge, which with its velocity of 1712 feet per second makes really a weapon powerful enough for the smaller species of deer. I have heard from several trappers and hunters who have carried similar rifles throughout an entire winters' work and who found it entirely satisfactory for all sorts of small game and the occasional few bigger animals that were encountered.
A few years ago before the general use of smokeless powders, shooters in their efforts to develop target loads of unquestioned accuracy and which would show a low trajectory at long ranges, designed a number of special small bore cartridges, among which was the .22-15-45, the .28-30 and the .25-25. This latter has survived the best and is still used considerably in the single shot Stevens rifles, being extremely accurate and a sure killer upon small and medium-sized game at good ranges.
When chosen judiciously one of the most effective and satisfactory rifles made is one of the several makes of .25-35 repeaters. It is a mistake to select this caliber for deer and bear shooting alone, or for exclusive use upon animals of similar vitality; but for an all-round weapon where game is shy and considerable shooting at long ranges is expected and where the largest animals to be encountered will be an occasional deer, I would by all means give the .25-35 the careful consideration it deserves.
In the first place it possesses practically no recoil whatever. This enables one to fire quick repeat shots with the ease and accuracy obtained in handling a .25-20 or .32-20. The velocity of the .25-35 is so high as to preclude any necessity of allowing for sight elevation up to 175 yards. The rimless Remington pointed cartridge gives the exceptional velocity of 2330 feet per second and kills small animals cleanly, as will also the regular .25-35 with full patched bullet. Both gun and ammunition are light to carry and inexpensive to buy and use.
A wide range of weapons handling the .25-35 or .25-36, both practically alike, is open to the hunter's choice. For canoe or boat trips, or saddle work, either the Marlin or Winchester carbine, special light-weight models with twenty-inch barrel, or the Savage saddle-gun with twenty two-inch barrel are to be recommended. The Remington automatic and hammerless pump action rifles will also be appropriate for those needs, or those of the trapper who is figuring down the weight and bulk of his armament [to] the limit. Thus it is possible for one to completely satisfy his wants, these models range from six and a half pounds in weight with barrels eighteen and a half inches long up to the regular models with twenty-six to thirty-inch barrels and weighing eight and a quarter pounds each. Shotgun butts, take-downs, solid frames, half, three-quarter, or full magazines. [missing text] hard indeed to suit will be the man desiring a .25-35 repeater who cannot fill his wants [in] the lines presented by the Marlin, Winchester, Savage, Remington and Stevens companies