Levergun loads: the .25-20 Winchester: he may be a big bore man, but J.T. has a soft spot for this pleasant little cartridge

Guns Magazine, April, 2004 by John Taffin

The Model 1873 Winchester may have been "The Gun Thai Won The West." however less than 20 years after its introduction it was pushed to second-place in the Winchester line by the slickest little levergun ever produced. The new gun was the now equally legendary Model 1892.

If it was good enough for John Wayne and Lucas McCain as well as a long line of western movie heroes, it should be plenty good enough for many of us--and it definitely is. With two locking lugs replacing the toggle link action of the 1873 it was not only much stronger, it was also cheaper to produce. The same three cartridges of the Model 1873, the .32 20. 38-40 and .44-40 were also the standard chamberings for the Model 1892.

As the production or the Model 1892 really got underway. conditions were greatly changing in this country. There was a greater demand for recreational rifles and cartridges as opposed in defensive cartridges in battle rifles. Target shooting was becoming very popular along with small game hunting for sport rather than to simply supply table fare. Varmint shooting as an activity rather than something stumbled over by farmer and rancher bad also arrived.

Winchester's little .32-20 was the first levergun cartridge offered by Winchester suitable for small game and varmints, however it was soon to be joined by a rival. Unlike its siblings though the new offering would never rind its way into a production revolver even though it was the same basic length as the other three WCF cartridges. To arrive at this fourth bottle-necked WCF levergun cartridge, the .25-20, Winchester simply necked down their .32-20.

Early Commentary

By the turn-of-the-century, the 20th century that is, the .25-20 had become the number one varmint and small game cartridge. This was only natural as the rowels of the .25-20 go back to the late 1880s with the .25-20 Single-Shot cartridge. Both cartridges were well thought of by shooters and writers of the time. A.C. Gould writing in 1891 said of the .25-20:

"The writer was greatly impressed with the work of the .25-20 in 1880, and communicated his ideas in most of the rifle manufacturers, but they all declined to manufacture it; 10 years later the rifle went the rounds of rifle and ammunition makers, who were eager to produce rifles and cartridges.

When the .25-20 rifle was originated, it was believed by the writer it possessed superior merit for small game hunting; as the light bullet and large powder charge in this caliber gave a low trajectory, and satisfactory accuracy was maintained. When manufacturers of rifles and cartridges commenced producing the rifles and the cartridges for it, they disregarded the essential points in a hunting cartridge by increasing the weight of the bullet.

Thus a superior hunting cartridge was transformed into an indifferent target cartridge; but happily the shells of this cartridge can be reloaded, and a light bullet used for game shooting, and a heavy one for target work."

And we thought manufacturers messing up excellent ideas was a recent occurrence!

Noted riflemen Col. Townsend Whelen said of the .25-20:

"I have bunted small game and varmints since 1897 with rifles taking this cartridge and its predecessor, the .25-20 Single-Shot of the same characteristics. I have likewise hunted in company with many who use a .25-20 cartridge. Until the advent of the .22 Hornet cartridge it was perhaps our best small game and varmint cartridge, and it still has its field of usefulness for lever action rifles to which the Hornet cartridge is not adapted ...

The cartridge kills small game and varmints quickly and certainly. If anything it is a little more powerful than the .22 Hornet ... The .25 20 is most decidedly not a deer cartridge. It would be very unsportsmanlike to use it for deer."

Amen to that last statement!

The .25-20 cartridge actually began as the first centerfire .25 caliber wildcat, the .25-20 Single-Shot in 1882. Winchester, knowing the original .25-20 was too long to feed through the Model 1892 action, maintained the ballistics of the .25-20 Single-Shot when they necked down the .32-20 to .25 caliber. The new cartridge was approximately 3/10 of an inch shorter than the original version.

Winchester's .25-20 WCF would be produced not only in the Model '92, but also in the Marlin's 1894 lever action rifle, the Marlin Model 27 and Remington Model 25 pump guns, the Winchester Model 43 and Savage Model 23B bolt action rifles, and finally in Winchester's spin-off Model 1892s, the Model 65 and Model 53.

The .25-20 was necked down to become the .218 Bee in 1938 and chambered in the Model 65. Winchester's Model 1892/65/53 ended its production run in 1941. Marlin re introduced the .25-20 along with the .32-20 and the .218 Bee in 1988 with the 1894CL. It lasted only until 1993, however hopefully the great interest in old cartridges spurred on by cowboy shooting will serve to resurrect a Marlin .25-20 and .32-20.

Trouble Comes In Threes

My personal .25-20 is a 24-inch octagon-barreled Winchester Model 1892. Its purchase was almost a disaster. I had spotted it at Shooting World with a most reasonable price tag attached mainly due to the barrel having been re-lined. This bothered me not one bit as I wanted a shooter. So over to Shapel's to buy a box of ammunition, and then back to Shooting World Io try out the Winchester on their indoor range.