Wrong - Not a 35 Win Case Found, but a .25-35 Win!

[Picher]

The case I found and reported yesterday as a .35 Winchester was so crusted/corroded that I missed the first few numbers. It's actually a .25-35 Win!

Wikipedia quote: "While significantly more powerful than the .25-20 Winchester, the .25-35 WCF can be used to hunt small deer at 200 yards and medium sized deer at 100 yards, though some consider it better suited to small predators such as coyotes instead. No production rifles had been made in .25-35 WCF since the 1940s until 2005 when Winchester resumed chambering their Model 94 rifles in this cartridge. Winchester ammunition has kept the cartridge in production in the U.S.A."

The primer was backed-out a bit, normally evidence of excessive headspace, but given the location and partly-crushed condition of the case neck, it's possible that ice could have done the job.

 

[Mike Irwin]

That's a far cry from a .35 Winchester, in both case size and power.

The .25-35 was the first smokeless powder cartridge introduced commercially in the United States. Actually, co-first, as both the .25-35 and the .30-30 were introduced at the same time.

It was quite popular for some years before World War II, and was seen as a good deer gun, even though by today's standards it is under powered for that.

It was popular enough that it spawned two almost identical competitors, the .25-36 Marlin and the .25 Remington (rimless for use in slide-actions and semi-autos).

It also spawned a number of improved versions, as well as some wildcats like the .219 Donaldson Wasp and the .219 Zipper.

Savage also chambered the 1899 in .25-35 for a number of years.

 

[bamaranger]

still interesting

REad both posts and its still a neat find.

I don't cover as much ground as I used to, and don't still hunt much anymore either, but always thought finding old cases, especially on ridges in PA and VA when I was up there was a treat. Many (well, enough) .35 Rem and 30-30 to make me wonder....did he hit, how big was it, etc.

My favorite uncle used to collect his "kill shot" brass his 'stand" (an old stump drug up against a tree on the side of a hollow) and keep them stashed in a plastic bag beneath the stump.

When I when back after his untimely death (steel mill) in the 70's, the bag was gone. Pretty sure his best friend got'em, they were close. OK by me.

 

[Scorch]

25-35 is/was a good all-around cartridge, lighter recoil than a 30-30 and slightly faster, about the same trajectory. It had the reputation of being a meat-getter cartridge, those long slender bullets penetrate very well. Even old Elmer Keith said it was one of the best elk killing catridges he had ever seen after he and his brother followed an elk into the mountains after it was wounded by another rifle; they finally caught up with it and put one round into it to end the chase.

A friend of mine in Alberta uses a 25-35 for moose, but probably more for portability than firepower: he paddles up to them in a canoe when they are feeding and pokes them with a shot right where it counts, then lets them drop. Half hour later, after they bloat and resurface, he ties a rope to a leg and tows it ashore for gutting and skinning.