I am looking for .25-20 brass, 50 up to 100 cases, at a reasonable price. There are none available on-line and I have recently purchased a Savage 23 and would like to shoot it!

Gunbroker has a bunch. Not necessarily cheap, but it's available.

you may need to find some 32-20 brass and reform it

I checked Gunbroker out. I don’t want to buy a rifle, just some brass!

I’ll probably get some .32-20 brass and reform it. I’ll see what shows up at the April Syracuse gun show. I’ll look around for some cast and jacketed bullets too.

I bought 50 pcs of new old stock W-W 25-20 primed brass at an auction last month for $25. Picked them up for a friend that has an old Winchester Low Wall re-barreled to the WCF version. Got lucky on that one.
Problem is, 25-20 WCF is scare enough that it's not usually found at a reasonable price. anywhere.
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John

I just bought some 32-20 brass from gunbroker. It's expensive too!

It's also not very available anywhere else.

Did you check out Western Bullets? They are listing 25-20 brass.

Update: My bad - they are backordered

Just FYI, converting 32 down to 25 is not that easy. I've tried several times with no success. I quit trying because I got tired of ruining my 32 brass. Maybe I just never learned the technique but its not as easy as just switching out the die.

Can .218 Bee brass be necked up?

I've got 100 pieces of Remington .25-20 brass, never fired, in Midway packaging. I've also got 100 Remington 86 grain bullets for the .25-20, also in Midway packaging. PM me and maybe we can work out a deal.

PM sent re: .25-20 brass

It is far better to neck up 218 brass than neck down 32-20 brass!

I check tomorrow and see if there isn't a box of 25 WCF in the bin in the garage.!

Ivan

Optics Planet has a listing for 25-20 Win brass, 50/$31.99 but it's backordered. Unlike most sites they are allowing you to put in an order on backorder. You might want to ask them for a roundabout delivery timeline. I'm surprised they are allowing you to order on backorder. Can't hurt to try if the price is acceptable.
Winchester .25-20 Winchester Unprimed Rifle Brass | Free Shipping over $49!

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Freedom is never free!!
SWCA #3437

I have a Savage 23 in 25-20 also, I really like it. In order to neck down 32-20 requires a special die, I do not remember the company, but they are never in stock anyway. The necked down brass is slightly shorter & the brass slightly thicker inside the neck, I tried some by the guy on GB who does them, they did not shoot well in my Savage 23 or my Marlin CL levergun.

Fwiw I have a Savage Sporter in 25-20 so maybe my experience will help.

The Savage has a 1 in 14 twist and does not like the 85 grain cast bullets.

Hornady makes a 60 grain rn sp which is usually available and feeds well from the magazine.

Speer used to make a 75 grain sp fn which works well but doesn't feed like the 60.

The Hornady 75 grain spitzer is the most accurate bullet I have tried. It makes the Savage a single shot but on target the results are very good.

Best powder has been IMR 4198 at 12 grains.

I have tested over 30 load combos and even 1/10th of a grain changes POI.

The best load information is in Ken Waters pet loads.

His testing and review with the Savage is spot on and my results are similar.

It's a fun rifle to try different loads with small powder charges and low recoil.

B51

After you get cases and shoot a few just neck size only to increase case life. The case is so thin I usually don't need lube after tumbling. Just keep your die a bit off of the shell holder so you don't reach the shoulder.

I've been using necked down 32-20 brass in a Model 92 Winchester for some years now with good success. The way I do it is, first remove the stem from your 25-20 seating die, then set the die in the press to very nearly touch the shellholder. Then run the 32-20 case into the die. Use only VERY light lubricant or you'll crush the case. This will give you a "rough formed" case. Then use the sizer die as normal, with light lubrication, put the stem back in the seating die and seat your bullets as usual. Subsequent reloads of fired cases are neck sized only so as to maintain the headspace setting. I get about 1" groups at 50 yds. with these cases and an 86 gr. cast bullet. That's about as good as I can do with the buckhorn sights on that ol' '92 rifle, and my loss rate on the 32-20 cases is only about 1% when I reform them. 25-20 brass is so hard to get now that this is about the only practical way to keep these old rifles running, and even the 32-20 brass is getting very hard to find. Anyway, give this method a try if you can find some 32-20 and maybe your problem will be solved.

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Everybody could shoot

Anneal 32/20 cases before you reform. All the 25/20 and 32/20 rifles I have shot and loaded for do much better with lead bullets. Newest 25/20 would be Win 53 from 1920s. My 23 load was 85gr Ideal cast HP over
5.5gr Unique.

If you can find any .

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Grumpy Old Man With a Gun

Unfortunately, I can't help with the brass shortage. However, I can confirm that my Marlin 1894 in 25-20, apparently manufactured in 1903, is one of my favorite guns ever to shoot. I suppose the 75 grain Speer in front of 4198 would be lethal on coyotes, at least, at 100 yards, although I haven't had that experience, except at paper. Downloaded with cast bullets and Unique it will shoot into a 50-cent piece at 50 yards and feels like a .22.

I found this gun at a show and overpaid to the tune of $750 as it had lead literally dripping out the muzzle. A bit of work later and it is awesome. No pics from this location, sorry. I was able to pick up a couple hundred brass cases in between panics. They are fragile, so take care.

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Some collect art; I shoot it!

I have nearly a whole box.

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I have more than 1000 , what's your point ? None of the legitimate sources have any in stock . He can find 25-20 brass on Gun Broker but the batch I placed a bid on the other day is now at over $400 for 250 rounds of brass and 100 rounds of Hornady bullets . The sources that I see willing to take your money for brass right now are not legit. Optic Planet will take your order but you will not get any brass until Winchester makes more which may or may not ever happen. Sell him your brass if you have no need for it. I'm hanging on to mine.

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Grumpy Old Man With a Gun

What an interesting tag line. My point was I have 49 empty .218 Bee cases if the OP had the ability to neck them up and turn them into usable .25/20 cases. The OP only asked for 50-100 cases. I can’t use them at the moment.

People on this forum tend to help one another. Enjoy your stash of 1,000 cases.

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Steve,

Thanks, but I’ll wait until the next local gun show. I have enough cases to get me started and enough bullets to last a while.

Bob

Bob,
Good luck with your search.
If you do end up with some used older brass I highly recommend annealing. Also, check case lengths. If they are anything like 32-20 there can be quite a bit of difference, especially with different makers.

John