Magnum Wheel Man
New member
planning on some better pictures tonight...
getting a new squirrel gun...
- Thread starter Magnum Wheel Man
- Start date
I was captivated by your project thread! I wish I had the capabilities, knowledge, and a gun-savvy machinist friend as you do.
I believe that I read (way back) in Cartridges Of The World that .25 cal cartridges were some of the most accurate (as stated earlier by another poster on this thread), such as the .25-21 Stevens, the .25-35 Winchester, the .257 Roberts, and the .25-06 Remington.
You need to get some good gun magazine to do a piece on this pistol.
Congrats!
Jim
I believe that I read (way back) in Cartridges Of The World that .25 cal cartridges were some of the most accurate (as stated earlier by another poster on this thread), such as the .25-21 Stevens, the .25-35 Winchester, the .257 Roberts, and the .25-06 Remington.
You need to get some good gun magazine to do a piece on this pistol.
Congrats!
Jim
Magnum Wheel Man
New member
Magnum Wheel Man
New member
couple more...
note the meaty forcing cone... left thick, coupled with the tight barrel /cylinder gap, to keep as much gas pushing the bullet down the barrel as possible...
tried a close up of the barrel / cylinder gap... everything trued, so .002" gap has no drag resistance anywhere in the rotation... may need to remove the carbon every once in a while, but with close to 150 rounds through it in 2 days, without cleaning, still had perfect function...
note the meaty forcing cone... left thick, coupled with the tight barrel /cylinder gap, to keep as much gas pushing the bullet down the barrel as possible...
tried a close up of the barrel / cylinder gap... everything trued, so .002" gap has no drag resistance anywhere in the rotation... may need to remove the carbon every once in a while, but with close to 150 rounds through it in 2 days, without cleaning, still had perfect function...
Attachments
Magnum Wheel Man
New member
my buddy had a pound of Accurate #5, that was extra, I could buy off him... so hope to try loading some of that, with both Remington FMJ ( I held off buying FMJ bullets, until I was sure they would function in the gun ), & both the round nose lead I bought, & some of the flat point cast bullets from my mold...
I mounted the Luepold base last night ( well at least as far as I could ) I didn't know I'd have to have the gun drilled & tapped, I assumed it would mount after I removed the rear sight, but there was only one ( of 3 needed ) screw holes... so I'll have to get the frame drilled & tapped, & pick up a couple cap screws, in case I decide I want to put the rear sight back on...
the scope I put on it right now, is a silver Pentax 1.5 - 4X I had laying around... it's nice & clear, & should work well for squirrels & rabbits...
I mounted the Luepold base last night ( well at least as far as I could ) I didn't know I'd have to have the gun drilled & tapped, I assumed it would mount after I removed the rear sight, but there was only one ( of 3 needed ) screw holes... so I'll have to get the frame drilled & tapped, & pick up a couple cap screws, in case I decide I want to put the rear sight back on...
the scope I put on it right now, is a silver Pentax 1.5 - 4X I had laying around... it's nice & clear, & should work well for squirrels & rabbits...
Magnum Wheel Man
New member
the 25 ACP is technically semi rimmed ( though tolerances are too loose to actually allow seating on the tiny rim, for all cartridge brands reliably )
... so we head spaced on the case mouth, just like a normal auto pistol... like a 9mm for example
the 30 Carbine Ruger Blackhawk ( for example ) was a rimless case that has been commercially chambered in single action revolvers... to do a double action on a rimless ( or semi rimmed cartridge ) takes an improved design extractor star like the Charter Arms 9 & 40's... but a single action is easy, so long as it head spaces on the case mouth as it's extraction is no different than a rimmed cartridge...
hope that helps...
... so we head spaced on the case mouth, just like a normal auto pistol... like a 9mm for example
the 30 Carbine Ruger Blackhawk ( for example ) was a rimless case that has been commercially chambered in single action revolvers... to do a double action on a rimless ( or semi rimmed cartridge ) takes an improved design extractor star like the Charter Arms 9 & 40's... but a single action is easy, so long as it head spaces on the case mouth as it's extraction is no different than a rimmed cartridge...
hope that helps...
Magnum Wheel Man
New member
case length is important, but we can / have massaged the throat to take a longer COL so we can have more case capacity for revolver only loads, if we needed to...
the revolver is more forgiving on slightly shorter cases, as it has a much heavier hammer hit, than the tiny strikers on my pocket autos...
we also chambered the cylinder a little on the short side, after measuring actual brass length on a lot of the newer production cases... so I could run into some factory ammo that is too long ( I figured I could just shoot any I find, in one of my autos if needed ) BTW... my decision on the shorter chamber... based on the fact that everything seems to be run by bean counters anymore... I figure I'm more likely to encounter cases on the shorter side of spec, than on the longer side ( from a materials cost point of view ) & I can always trim cases shorter, but don't have a case stretcher yet
also of note, my RCBS dies appeared to have a roll crimp... can't imagine that that would even be needed in a pocket gun, so I had a custom taper crimp die made, to keep my case mouths nice & straight...
the revolver is more forgiving on slightly shorter cases, as it has a much heavier hammer hit, than the tiny strikers on my pocket autos...
we also chambered the cylinder a little on the short side, after measuring actual brass length on a lot of the newer production cases... so I could run into some factory ammo that is too long ( I figured I could just shoot any I find, in one of my autos if needed ) BTW... my decision on the shorter chamber... based on the fact that everything seems to be run by bean counters anymore... I figure I'm more likely to encounter cases on the shorter side of spec, than on the longer side ( from a materials cost point of view ) & I can always trim cases shorter, but don't have a case stretcher yet
also of note, my RCBS dies appeared to have a roll crimp... can't imagine that that would even be needed in a pocket gun, so I had a custom taper crimp die made, to keep my case mouths nice & straight...
Last edited:
Magnum Wheel Man
New member
" I've got blisters on my fingers!!!"
I thought I'd start this post with a Beatles quote... I "processed" 100 cases last night... started by running a plastic box of sorted ( R-P ), decapped & wet tumbled 25 auto cases through my caliper, & sorted them into 3 groups... ( actually 4 ) < .601", .602" - .604", .605" - .607", .608" & longer... I'm not sure how I want to trim these little cases yet... so I'm just sorting them for now...
the less than .601" will get tossed in recycle ( 4 ) I uniformed the flash holes on the balance ( my Flash hole measuring tool tells me I have at least 3 different sized flash holes, & on such a small case, the burr in the inside can make up an actual percentage of case volume ) I set aside the .602" - .604" ( about 20 of those ) I also set aside for now, the .608" & longer cases... I primed the .605" - .607" cases... ( I'm still waiting on a 25 Auto specific shell holder for my Lee hand prime tool, so I've been using one for a 5.7 X 28, but it has too thick a rim groove, so they are slightly proud... I then use a primer pocket swage to gently seat them fully into the pockets )
I'll start sorting the next box of 100 tonight... after I get 100 cases of the mid length uniformed sized & primed, I'll start working on some accuracy loads...
I chose the R-P cases initially, even though they seemed to have the most variation, over the Winchester, because of the initial cracking of the factory ammo I shot 1st in the gun...
I do have a blister on my index finger... from holding those tiny cases & "drilling" out the flash holes, some of which were smaller than my decapping pin...
anyway... next week I think I'll be charging cases starting with the AA #5
I thought I'd start this post with a Beatles quote... I "processed" 100 cases last night... started by running a plastic box of sorted ( R-P ), decapped & wet tumbled 25 auto cases through my caliper, & sorted them into 3 groups... ( actually 4 ) < .601", .602" - .604", .605" - .607", .608" & longer... I'm not sure how I want to trim these little cases yet... so I'm just sorting them for now...
the less than .601" will get tossed in recycle ( 4 ) I uniformed the flash holes on the balance ( my Flash hole measuring tool tells me I have at least 3 different sized flash holes, & on such a small case, the burr in the inside can make up an actual percentage of case volume ) I set aside the .602" - .604" ( about 20 of those ) I also set aside for now, the .608" & longer cases... I primed the .605" - .607" cases... ( I'm still waiting on a 25 Auto specific shell holder for my Lee hand prime tool, so I've been using one for a 5.7 X 28, but it has too thick a rim groove, so they are slightly proud... I then use a primer pocket swage to gently seat them fully into the pockets )
I'll start sorting the next box of 100 tonight... after I get 100 cases of the mid length uniformed sized & primed, I'll start working on some accuracy loads...
I chose the R-P cases initially, even though they seemed to have the most variation, over the Winchester, because of the initial cracking of the factory ammo I shot 1st in the gun...
I do have a blister on my index finger... from holding those tiny cases & "drilling" out the flash holes, some of which were smaller than my decapping pin...
anyway... next week I think I'll be charging cases starting with the AA #5
Last edited:
Magnum Wheel Man
New member
well at least I know the gun is heavy duty enough to handle the new cartridge 
Magnum Wheel Man
New member
CAUTION LOADS LISTED HERE ARE FOR THIS HEAVY DUTY REVOLVER, THEY ARE NOT PUBLISHED, & SHOULD NOT BE FIRED IN 25 ACP SEMI AUTO GUNS
loaded up a few test cartridges last night using the Accurate #5 I got from my buddy... looking at the actual case capacity... I think 3 grains would be a compressed load, & this is a very dense powder...
because of the strength of this gun, I started with 2.5 grains of #5 & loaded one cylinder full ( 8 rounds ) with some Hornady 50 grain FMJ bullets, & 8 rounds with some 50 grain lead round nose, commercial bullets I found on Gun Broker...if these look too hot for the tiny case, I may work myself back a little... as you can see, this is a very efficient cartridge... 2.5 grains of #5 is a very tiny amount of powder...
I've been getting crushed at work this week, so I haven't gotten the revolver over to get drilled & tapped for the scope mount yet, that & it's raining... so I'll have to wait to try these loads... I'll continue to separate the R-P cases by size, & uniforming the flash holes... I also got another 1000 once fired range cases this week that I've been processing ( which includes decapping, wet tumbling, & sorting by head stamp )
loaded up a few test cartridges last night using the Accurate #5 I got from my buddy... looking at the actual case capacity... I think 3 grains would be a compressed load, & this is a very dense powder...
because of the strength of this gun, I started with 2.5 grains of #5 & loaded one cylinder full ( 8 rounds ) with some Hornady 50 grain FMJ bullets, & 8 rounds with some 50 grain lead round nose, commercial bullets I found on Gun Broker...if these look too hot for the tiny case, I may work myself back a little... as you can see, this is a very efficient cartridge... 2.5 grains of #5 is a very tiny amount of powder...
I've been getting crushed at work this week, so I haven't gotten the revolver over to get drilled & tapped for the scope mount yet, that & it's raining... so I'll have to wait to try these loads... I'll continue to separate the R-P cases by size, & uniforming the flash holes... I also got another 1000 once fired range cases this week that I've been processing ( which includes decapping, wet tumbling, & sorting by head stamp )
Last edited:
Magnum Wheel Man
New member
A little update... I picked up the gun after getting it drilled & tapped for the scope mount... I have an older Pentax 1.5 - 4X silver scope mounted on it now... I'll likely use that for load development, & may pull it off, after I find a load I like, & get the accuracy I'm looking for, as I'm not a huge fan of scoped revolvers, as far as handling... also I have any number of good holsters this gun will fit into with the scope off, but with it mounted, it really only fits in a couple scoped Contender rigs I have...
my 25 Auto Lee shell holder for my hand prime tool came in stock at Midway, & I received it yesterday... I tested a few last night, seating the primers perfectly ( no more double seating using the primer pocket swage ) that'll save some time... I'm going to have some solid inserts made up for my lil dandy powder measure, & after I get the charge figured out, I can size one of the blanks, so that I can start using a powder measure, rather than weighing all the charges ( which I'm currently doing )... goal is to be able to crank these out pretty fast, since I'm wanting them to replace 22 LR at my place...
hoping to find some time either this week, or this weekend, to sight in the scope, & get a base line accuracy, with some Federal factory ammo I have... then once I get a group on paper, I'll start with the handloads listed above...
one thing I didn't mention above, is I may back down the charge, if I get supersonic, as I want this to be a quiet shooter, & with the AA #5 loads listed above, I may be faster than the speed of sound... I'm not as worried about chrongraphing right away, as I'll be able to tell if they are subsonic... once I get into dialing in a load, I'll pull the chrony out...
my 25 Auto Lee shell holder for my hand prime tool came in stock at Midway, & I received it yesterday... I tested a few last night, seating the primers perfectly ( no more double seating using the primer pocket swage ) that'll save some time... I'm going to have some solid inserts made up for my lil dandy powder measure, & after I get the charge figured out, I can size one of the blanks, so that I can start using a powder measure, rather than weighing all the charges ( which I'm currently doing )... goal is to be able to crank these out pretty fast, since I'm wanting them to replace 22 LR at my place...
hoping to find some time either this week, or this weekend, to sight in the scope, & get a base line accuracy, with some Federal factory ammo I have... then once I get a group on paper, I'll start with the handloads listed above...
one thing I didn't mention above, is I may back down the charge, if I get supersonic, as I want this to be a quiet shooter, & with the AA #5 loads listed above, I may be faster than the speed of sound... I'm not as worried about chrongraphing right away, as I'll be able to tell if they are subsonic... once I get into dialing in a load, I'll pull the chrony out...
Last edited:
Magnum Wheel Man
New member
seems like it's always good & bad... so far with this project... the bad... I sighted in the revolver with that Pentax scope, & some Federal factory ammo, & did not have enough scope windage adjustment... I was shooting the gun rested at 60ft, & the best I could do was about 6" right of point of aim...
will try another scope, if that doesn't work, I may need to add a windage adjustable base, which I don't think they make for handguns, so it would require more machining...
good news... the Federal Factory ammo at 60ft shot a 1.5" 8 shot group... I should be able to better that with my handloads...
will try another scope, if that doesn't work, I may need to add a windage adjustable base, which I don't think they make for handguns, so it would require more machining...
good news... the Federal Factory ammo at 60ft shot a 1.5" 8 shot group... I should be able to better that with my handloads...
Mannlicher
New member
my old Smith & Wesson Model 63 is 'minute of squirrel' accurate. This tree rat was taken at about 20 yards. One shot, one squirrel. 
Magnum Wheel Man
New member
awesome... I was going to try popping one on my way back from the range last night, but they must have heard me shooting, & all went & hid... group size is great... just would have to hold 6" left at 20 yards 
Magnum Wheel Man
New member
well I just bought 2000 more once fire 25 ACP cases... I think I'm done now... should have a life time supply, & a few bags of lots I choose not to shoot for sale on my Gun Show table...
last night I went through & sorted by length, another 200 R-P cases, & uniformed the primer pockets...
once I get into shooting these, I expect the longer ones that fit in the chamber, will be the most accurate, but only firing will prove anything...
I'm expecting I'll have 3 load lengths, with the longest being target accuracy, medium length being hunting rounds, & shortest being for general range use... but only firing time will tell if that's how things shake out...
last night I went through & sorted by length, another 200 R-P cases, & uniformed the primer pockets...
once I get into shooting these, I expect the longer ones that fit in the chamber, will be the most accurate, but only firing will prove anything...
I'm expecting I'll have 3 load lengths, with the longest being target accuracy, medium length being hunting rounds, & shortest being for general range use... but only firing time will tell if that's how things shake out...
Magnum Wheel Man
New member
well... last night I mounted the new scope... ( a silver Simmons Pro Hunter 2 - 6X ) I hope to be able to zero everything this weekend ( the old scope was not mounted when I went looking for glass, but had been mounted a couple times previously & been laying around a really long time... hoping it was just bad ??? )
I sorted 1500 of the 2000 cases by brand... since I'm using R-P cases for the revolver, this was a good lot of brass for me, because at least 1/3 of them were good R-P cases
I wish measuring them & uniforming the flash holes was going faster, but I'm really just hoping to have a load picked, & everything loaded over the winter, so I still have plenty of time
I sorted 1500 of the 2000 cases by brand... since I'm using R-P cases for the revolver, this was a good lot of brass for me, because at least 1/3 of them were good R-P cases
I wish measuring them & uniforming the flash holes was going faster, but I'm really just hoping to have a load picked, & everything loaded over the winter, so I still have plenty of time
Magnum Wheel Man
New member
My Mondays are pretty busy, but I thought I better run out to the range, before the farmers start getting in the fields... I must have gotten a bad mount base or rings, as the new scope got closer to point of aim, but was still shooting to the right... so back to the drawing board again on that... after a cylinder full of Factory Federal loads trying to sight in the scope, I did put 3 rounds through the gun of my AA #5 loads... the cases showed no signs of high pressure, & I think they were still subsonic, as shooting without muffs was still well within the comfortable range...
I'll probably switch the rings around & see if that makes a difference... if that doesn't work...
anyone tried EGW's Weaver revolver bases for adjustable sight Ruger revolvers ??? I think I'm going to order one of those bases, then I can put windage adjustable rings on that base & get my scope back to centered, & to point of aim... I actually like the Pentax scope I 1st put on the gun better, so that can go back on, when I get the new base... & I'll move this Simmons 2-6 to one of my Contender barrels ( seems I always have a barrel in need of a scope in the Contender collection )
on the brass front, I finished processing the 2000 cases I bought... the R-P cases now total 1900... ( my goal is between 2000 - 2500 ) for a "lifetime" supply... got another 500 mixed headstamp cases coming, so I may be close to done "hording" 25 auto cases
I'll probably switch the rings around & see if that makes a difference... if that doesn't work...
anyone tried EGW's Weaver revolver bases for adjustable sight Ruger revolvers ??? I think I'm going to order one of those bases, then I can put windage adjustable rings on that base & get my scope back to centered, & to point of aim... I actually like the Pentax scope I 1st put on the gun better, so that can go back on, when I get the new base... & I'll move this Simmons 2-6 to one of my Contender barrels ( seems I always have a barrel in need of a scope in the Contender collection )
on the brass front, I finished processing the 2000 cases I bought... the R-P cases now total 1900... ( my goal is between 2000 - 2500 ) for a "lifetime" supply... got another 500 mixed headstamp cases coming, so I may be close to done "hording" 25 auto cases