Q: I own an old Winchester Model 1892 in .25-20 calibre. I haven’t been able to find any information about the performance of this cartridge. What sort of game would you hunt with this rifle? Can you recommend a good reload for my rifle?
Scotty Campbell
A: Factory loaded today with an 86gn bullet, the .25-20 WCF cartridge exits the muzzle at 1460fps and develops 405 ft.lbs of muzzle energy. It’s an oldtimer dating back to 1895 and won quite a reputation with farmers as a roo rifle. It performed well out to about 150 metres with a factory load that featured a 60gn bullet at 2250fps. The cartridge got a shot in the arm after
Marlin chambered their Model 1894CL levergun for it back in 1989 but it didn’t last. Hornady makes a 60gn flat-nose bullet and a compressed charge of AR2207 drives it at 2100fps. It achieves maximum expansion at a range between 50 and 75 metres. On the other hand, Speer makes an excellent flat-nose 75gn bullet for the .25-20 which exits the muzzle at about 1800fps ahead of 8.6gn of W-296. I’ve used this load on goats out to 150 metres with excellent results. But precise bullet placement is essential for clean, quick kills.
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