getting a new squirrel gun...

M

Magnum Wheel Man

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I've always been interested in both the biggest & smallest of reloadable cartridges... even went so far as to build a revolver that shoots lathe turned cases loosely based between the old 22 Velo-dog, & the 22 Cooper Centerfire Magnum

well the 22 lr shortage has finally bothered me enough ( I don't shoot much rim fire, but can't believe how long this has gone on ) that I'm building a new revolver... ( note the reloadable part above )

The birth of the 25 ACP 8 shot revolver has begun... a while back, I ordered some barrel liners from TJ's & noticed they had .251" barrel liners I could buy, by the inch... so I had 7" of .251" thrown on to my order... today I just purchased a used 6" stainless Blackhawk for a smoking deal... once it gets here, the project will finally begin

( I'm really hoping that by starting this project, as fate would have it, suddenly the 22 lr market will catch up... for all your benefits ;)

I've been buying once fired 25 ACP brass for the last 6 months or so, & now have a couple 1000 of them, already have the dies,

hoping the revolver will shoot factory ammo OK, & that I can do handloads for the revolver, that will still be safe in one of my (2) lil 25 ACP autos... but in the revolver, they could be loaded much hotter if needed to get past the barrel cylinder gap & 6" of barrel

by fall, looks like daddy's got a new squirrel gun :D

stock picture of the now, 357 Magnum as bought off Gun Broker... looks to be made in January of 2013

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I like the way your crazy mind works,,,

I like the way your crazy mind works,,,
And if your efforts somehow thwart the .22 shortage,,,
I will consider you as a demi-deity and send offering into the sky.

But, how will you create a forcing cone?

Aarond

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it's just cut in, like any barrel liner put in a revolver ( BTW... the 25 ACP barrel liner is like 5/8" OD... almost big enough to use as the barrel... but since it's Chrome Moly, hammer forged, it'll be installed as a liner inside the existing stainless barrel, after it's bored to the decided & turned outside diameter of the liner
 
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A .25 ACP revolver?

Reminds me of the old .25 K-Hornet that enjoyed some popularity a few years back.

I believe a man named Frank DeHaas (spelling?) promoted that little number in a modified Ruger Single Six. Little wildcats such as the .25 K-Hornet and the .224 Kay Chuck were kicked around quite a bit in those days.

I remember some local dealer had some Webley Royal Irish Constabulary revolvers, all of which had been sleeved and chamber liners to adopt them to .25-20 WCF.

O.K. More than a few years back. Three Screw Rugers and mail order guns days. We crossed the Mississippi River into Arkansas to buy surplus guns at a place called Camp City near West Memphis.

Bob Wright
 
I am jealous!

I have a beautiful stainless steel Ruger Single Six that I am going to have converted to centerfire and .25 ACP when I find somebody who will #1 - be willing to do it, #2 - do it for a reasonable price, and #3 - not think that I'm insane for wanting a .25 ACP single action revolver. I am truly jealous, and look forward to you posting photos of the finished gun!
 
Another of my "lil" reloadables, is this Ruger Single 10, that I just couldn't fall in love with, in it's stock 22 lr chambering... that I had converted to an 8 shot "257 Special" ( uses 25-20 bullets, & 22 Hornet cases straightened out & cut off at 38 Special length...

all the work I put into reloading, I'm looking for something "easier" using 25 ACP cases unmodified is the goal on this new project... the hold up for this project, which I thought up years ago, was where to get .251" barrel stock... TJ's Liners was the answer there, & moved this project from the back of the brain, to the milling machine

my 257 special...

 
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BOB... that's been my thought, for many years... my machinist buddy has always made fun of me, for how impractical that is, when you can always buy 22 ammo so cheap...

hmmm... the last year or so, this gun idea has all of a sudden become much more practical ;)

I enjoy reloading, so reloading the lil 25 isn't so much of an inconvenience... in fact last night I decapped another 400 - 25 ACP range brass, & put them in the wet tumbler over night, 1st thing this morning I separated the pins from the gleaming little pieces of gold, & put them out to dry while I went to work... tonight I'll sort them by headstamp ( the hardest part of this operation, with the small case head, & having a primer pocket, I often have to get my lighted loop out to read the headstamps ) once sorted ( I keep 3 brands, one for each gun ) the odd ball stuff gets bagged up, & I'll put it on the table at the one gun show I go to a year, to sell stuff
 
Magnum Wheel Man saith:
BOB... that's been my thought, for many years... my machinist buddy has always made fun of me, for how impractical that is, when you can always buy 22 ammo so cheap...
Click to expand...

Well, with the .22 R.F. you buy it where you can, load and shoot it, drop the empties in the scrap brass bin. But with a c.f. you pour over powders, bullet weights, primer selection, etc. You clean your empties, inspect, sort and do all sorts of drills that can't be do with rimfires. Gives you something to do when you can't be shooting.

Bob Wright
 
don't forget cast bullets... something I've been accumulating the stuff for all along, for all my calibers, but been too busy to jump into yet... however the 25 ACP revolver would likely be a great cast bullet shooter for small game, & get the actual cost to shoot down even more ( not taking into account... time spent :o )
 
I have a very good buddy, that's a retired tool & die guy, that been interested in guns his whole life... I try to find projects of the kind he likes to work on... gets me a custom gun, & him some money on the side for more toys...

he doesn't like working on double actions, but has an interesting 2 piece jig system he came up with for doing single action cylinders...

he also did the work on my 257 Special, switched from a 10 shot, to an 8 shot...

 
MWM-
Great project! I'm looking forward to what reloading the little .25 can do!

Bob Wright-
Camp City was way more than a few years ago! Had to be pre-1968! I went once or twice when I was about 13 years old. I was in heaven!
 
I think you're nuts. I LOVE IT!:D
Wish I could dream up stuff like that.
I'd never thought such a conversion possible.
Should make a great small game gun that's reloadable.
Elmer Kieth always tried to get ammo makers to do up a .25 r.f. with a 50 grain flat point bullet for small game.
He felt the 50 grain .25 cal superior to any .22 l.r. round.
 
Is there a "preferred" brand of case(strength/consistency)?

I'd be most excited about the cast bullet side of the ballistics,considering all aspects(interior,exterior,terminal).The project as a whole makes plenty of sense,I think,even if there wasn't a .22 problem.Sort of like comparing .177 to .22 and .25 cal pellets,from a sm game standpoint.
 
I guess I can experiment a little, since I've been just buying once fired range brass... I currently have the largest amounts ( which I'd save for the revolver, unless I find, for some reason, that I like a different brand better ) are both Winchester & Remington cases, Federal is next in quantity, then a hand full of other headstamps in smaller numbers... most of the odd stuff I'll sell again, as mixed headstamp cases, I'll just cull the brands I want from the bulk... all the cases so far, have just been decapped, & wet tumbled, & all look new...

this gives me the chance to look them over well... the Aquila brand cases appear to have thin, already deformed rims... ( BTW... the cases will headspace on the case mouths, even though the cartridge is semi rimmed, because of the tolerances, there is not enough rim to reliably support the cartridge ) perhaps the Aquila were loaded hotter, or the brass softer, or were just thinner to start with, but they are going back into mixed headstamp brass for re-sale at the one local gun show a year, that I sell at... I also noticed some import cases, that the primer pocket is not centered on the case head, & a few that the flash hole is not centered in the primer pocket... both were close enough, that I could still decap, but not something I'd use where I'm looking for "minute of squirrel" accuracy

I'm not expecting any real issues with the cases, since I'm hoping to still be within factory specs for pressure, & even if I had to go over normal pressure ( just for this gun ) the cases are fully supported by the cylinder, before, during, & after the firing... an auto is exposed before all the pressure is gone, as soon as the barrel starts moving, during cycling
 
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