My Fun Gun to Blast Away With

W

wachtelhund1

New member
This is my fun gun to blast away and plink with. A Marlin 27 in .25-20 that I restored last month. I cast my own bullets and it cost me about .07 cents per round to reload, not counting brass. I reload them on a PW P-200 press and knock out about 150 per hour. I shoot it one or twice a week at metal targets hanging in my range. Cheaper than shooting .22s.

Bought the badly rust barrel and left side of the receiver off GB last month for $49.00 plus shipping. All total, I have about $450.00 into it.

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Beautiful gun, I'm in lust. My favorite plinker is Sweetie, my Marlin 1894 in 25-20. I shoot it enough that I bought a Hornady AP just to feed her. Favorite load is 5.5gr of 2400 behind a 85gr cast boolit.
 
Beautiful gun, I'm in lust. My favorite plinker is Sweetie, my Marlin 1894 in 25-20. I shoot it enough that I bought a Hornady AP just to feed her. Favorite load is 5.5gr of 2400 behind a 85gr cast boolit.
Click to expand...

How does that load work for you? What kind of velocity do you get?
 
Marlin 25/20

I've had 2, Marlin pumps both 25/20s, they both had terrible bores. Finding a
good shooter in 25/20 is a never ending quest. I do have a nice 53 Win in 25/20
and Marlin 94 in 32/20. Like you I have been shooting them cheaper than 22s.
I have an old Ideal 85gr hp mould for the 25/20 loaded with 8 gr of 2400 at
1575 fps. The bullet is sized to .258". The 32/20 I load with a 100 gr Fn cast
from a RCBS mould. Powder charge is 6.5 gr Unique at 1650fps. Bullet sized to
.313" Both rifles shoot into 1 1/2" at 60yds. Both guns shot cast better than
jackets.
 
I am watching one of those. My LGS has one in 32-20 and he knows I am the 32 cal guy around here.
He is asking high retail for it now and has not budged off his sni yet.
Its a low to mid condition gun and he is asking top condition price.
I will wait him out and come in with cash when my XD's is ready to pick up.
 
Barrel relining is getting to be quite popular. There's an article in my latest Shooting Times about how to go about it. Kits are available for several calibers.
 
I had the barrel relined on the one 27-S that I restored last year with the scope. The bore was completely gone. My local gunsmith and I have a good relationship ship. I help him when he needs help (like I install Jard match triggers in his customer's AR's and other things) and he does work for me at very reasonable prices. He relined my barrel and shorten it to 19", I paid for the liner and the barrel drill which he kept, that was my payment.

In the scoped Marlin 27-S, I tried a bunch of loads combinations. I settled on a load with Sierra 75 grain JFP behind 11.2 grain of H4198. It shoots about 2" group at 100 yards, 1635 fps. I've tried 86 grain JSP, but the only load that grouped 2 to 3 inches was 14 grains of W748, about 1400 to 1500 fps. While that load was good, it increased the cost per round to reload. Haven't found a cast bullet load that grouped well in it. Most likely I needed to lower the charges. I've used RL-7, IMR4227; I've always used rifle powders in rifles even though most .25-20 loads use pistol powders and lower charges. The rifle powders shoot the same velocities, but have lower pressures.

In the one that I just restored, the barrel has rifling, but it is pitted and rough. I haven't decided yet whether to reline the barrel. Just for fun, I've been shooting 88 grain GC hard cast bullets from an NOE four bullet mold, behind 10.8 grains of H4198. Groups run about 6" at 100 yards with a peep sight, a lot of that is me as at 65 years my eye sight isn't what it once was. Haven't shot iron sight in years. At 60 yards I hit a 7" flywheel with every shot. But since I plan to shoot only cast bullets with it, I'm going to slow it down to 1100 to 1200 fps and see if that helps my groups. Need to find different powders to do that. I just cast several hundred 70 grain bullets out of a Lyman 257420 GC mold. Haven't shot any of them out of this gun, yet. I also have a old 85 grain Ideal mold.

These Marlin 27 pumps are just plain fun to shoot, slim, fast and light. The .25-20 round is also fun to shoot. Exceeds .22 Magnum energy and is quieter and cheaper reload than buying .22 LRs.
 
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Forgot, I didn't post a picture of last year's restoration with a scope. I drilled the scope base to use the original Marlin holes in the top of the receiver for a Hepburn sight. I have a Burris Mini 4X scope mounted on it. That is a compact scope which provides some idea of the size of the gun. The receiver is only 7/8x2x5".

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Real nice guns!

Seeing those two, may spark me to slim down the fore stock on my Henry .22 pump. The Henry is nice, except the fore arm slider looks pregnant and the gun would be so much sleeker if it were slimmed.
 
Wachtelhund1,
That 2400 load gives just over 1000fps in my relined Sweetie. Coated boolits (Hi Tek or PC) tend to go slightly faster.
 
Range Report on my Marlin 27

Here is a range report on my restored Marlin 27, .25-20. While the barrel is pitted, it still has strong rifling, I'm shooting around 4" groups at 75 yards. This is with the express peep sight and a 3/32" thru-glow front bead sight. I Haven't tailor any loads specifically for this gun, but I'm using .25-20 loads works up for my other Marlin 27-s in .25-20. These run 1600 to 1700 fps. They include an 88 grain and 70 cast bullets, plus Remington 86 grain JFP bullets. These are loaded on my P&W P-200 loader with a Lee Pro powder measurer using H4198. Same charge for each bullet, 10.8 grain of powder. I had thought of re-lining the barrel and may still do it in the future, but for I'm just going to shoot it and enjoy it. Eventually, I drop the loads down to 1,000 the 1,200 fps and see how those do for accuracy.
 
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