225 winchester questions

[ky wonder]

I was called this afternoon from an old work friend wanting to sell a few long guns, and one hand gun, one of the long guns was chambered in 225 Winchester.

I am a gun nut but don't think I have ever heard of that round until the phone call

I have looked it up on the net and see that its a fairly hot little round, that's gone obsolete, but he said he has 7 boxes of factory ammo to go with it, so I am going to buy it

was wondering if anyone here has had any experience with it?

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

Remington took over the 22 center fire market with the invention of the 222 in the 50's. In the 60's, the 22-250 and 223 just sealed the deal! The 219 Zipper, 219 (Donaldson) Wasp, 225 Winchester were just swept away. Not one thing wrong with any of them! The 225 was just a little slower that the 22-250 when New, The ammo you have (if early) is probably faster than current manufacture 22-250. But I remember 225 Win still being made in the 90's. It wasn't that high of pressure, as Savage chambered the old 340 rifle for it. Winchester sort of did the final killing of it themselves, when they started chambering the Model 70 in 22-250.

Ivan

 

[Joed49]

I've heard of the .225 but have never seen one. Isn't a bad cartridge, just never caught on.

 

[mauser9]

I read once it was supposed to replace the .220 Swift but was slower than the Swift and never caught on. Had a Winchester Model 70 in .225 back in 75. Very accurate but shells gettin to be a problem in the 80s for me. I read Winchester did not make many guns chambered in this round. If you buy it grab all the shells you can and reload!

 

[Hairtrigger]

Winchester chambered the Model 70 in 225 win from 1965 until about 1971. The 22-250 killed it as the 225 has a rim. I have owned several 225 rifles for about 30 years and love it, just a whisker shy of the 250 and not seen everyday
I do see single shot High Wall rifles rechambered to it on occasion as well as Model 70 rifles

 

[DWalt]

If it has the ammo to go with it, no question you should buy it. That ammo in itself is probably very valuable as it is not often seen. If you are a reloader, I suggest you neck size the fired cases only to prolong case life as you will have a difficult time replacing them. Cases for the .225 can be re-formed from .30-30 brass but it's a complicated process best not attempted if you already have ammo and brass. Just conserve what you have. .225 dies may be difficult to find, but you could probably use just a universal .22 neck sizing die which will handle all cases and 22-250 dies for bullet seating. Maybe a .22-250 die set alone would work for neck sizing and seating.

I love rifles in oddball and obsolete calibers and have a large number of them. One of my remaining joys in life is finding a box of old ammo or brass for one of my oldies and also reforming brass for them.

 

[Skeet 028]

You can make brass from 30-30 BUT..you can't load it to the 225 potential. The brass is too thin and won't be reliable at 225 pressures... The 225 also had some problems with pressure excursions. ...don't remember why. Every now and then the bolt would just lock up...with factory ammo. Loaded down to just above 222 mag vels it worked great and was accurate

 

[Skeet 028]

Last Sept I bought a whole lot of reloaded ammo brass new ammo etc More'n 3000 lbs. Still going through it and there is all kinds of obsolete stuff in there. much factory..coupler boxes of 7.5 Swiss 6.5 Jap etc. I think I saw a box of 225 Win brass.. I know I saw some loose loaded ammo in 225. If I can find the brass...i can send it to you.. I surely don't need it. I think it was in a yellow Win box. Quite a few years ago I made some high pressure 30-30 ammo out of some 225...made my old 54 Win and 788 30-30's shoot about like a hot 300 Savage. LOL Waste of time but.....

 

[DWalt]

It's difficult to believe that Winchester would ever market a caliber subject to unpredictable pressure excursions. And I can't think of any reason why that should occur other than sloppy loading or incorrect propellant. But I have also heard those stories. No idea if they have any foundation in fact.

 

[jrm53]

225 Winchester

I have an ad in "the want to buy" for 225 brass and have had no response to it. They brought it out in 1964 and discontinued it in 1971 according to some of my old Gun Digests. I have a 219 Donaldson Wasp and I can buy formed brass for it easier than you can find 225 win brass. The two people I know who have the rifles in 225 are very high on it. Jeff

 

[DWalt]

I am not sure what the Winchester rationale was for bringing out the .225, as the 22-250 is very nearly the ballistic twin to the .225. The .22-250 was in relatively wide use as a Wildcat prior to the introduction of the .225, so Winchester would have been wiser to simply commercialize it instead of developing an entirely new round - and with a rimmed case, no less. Instead, Remington did pick up and run with the 22-250, and won the race.

Looking at the dimensions of both cartridges, I'll believe that the .225 could be reloaded using 22-250 dies, so long as the 22-250 FL die was used for neck sizing only. Has anyone attempted that? For sure, a 22-250 seating die would work OK.

 

[rburg]

Well, I hope this thread has run its course and the verdict seems to be "just buy the rifle and brass".

So my hijack or slight derailment but on the subject is of interest and maybe relevant is: How much ammo do you really need for a new gun? I know that question needs to be viewed in light of how you plan to use it. Did the OP here really say it comes with 14 boxes of ammo? Thats nearly 300 rounds! If you do look for more and have some luck, you'll exceed the 300.

And if you reload and somehow manage to get 5 reloads out of each, or average that, you may shoot out the rifle before anything bad happens. Sure, you need to conserve the brass and maybe even anneal the cases at about the 3rd firing. It headspaces on the rim anyhow.

I used to have a theory (subject to being refuted) that when you spend more on film and processing than you paid for the camera, you're ahead of the game. Same goes for shooting sports. Most of us never get to that point if we own too many guns.

Once I bought my first M53 and paid the outrageous price of $700 for it. I was at a gun show and asked my buddy if he'd help me lug it out to the car. He was confused and didn't offer me much slack. To him that was too much to pay for a 22 and why would I need help hauling it and 10 boxes of ammo. Again, to him 10 boxes was a brick. He'd have been right if it was all I was humping around that day. Then he started seeing the boxes of the ammo at $75 a box and he began to understand. I've not shot that many boxes of Jet ammo in that gun. But it does have its 2nd cylinder.

So the OP here needs to understand what he's getting and what he plans on doing with the gun. A good start would be to burn one or 2 of the boxes of factory ammo, then reload it multiple times. Work on either a bit lighter than factory, or factory duplication. From what I've seen, most hunting guns aren't fired all that much. If the OP is kind of young, say 30 or 40, he's good for a lifetime of normal shooting. Be realistic, its probably not going to be used in any kind of competition. He's got enough ammo!

 

[427mach1]

Well, I hope this thread has run its course and the verdict seems to be "just buy the rifle and brass".

So my hijack or slight derailment but on the subject is of interest and maybe relevant is: How much ammo do you really need for a new gun? I know that question needs to be viewed in light of how you plan to use it. Did the OP here really say it comes with 14 boxes of ammo? Thats nearly 300 rounds! If you do look for more and have some luck, you'll exceed the 300.

From what I've seen, most hunting guns aren't fired all that much. If the OP is kind of young, say 30 or 40, he's good for a lifetime of normal shooting. Be realistic, its probably not going to be used in any kind of competition. He's got enough ammo!

Dick, hunting rifles might not be shot that much but varmint rifles, which the 225 is, can be shot a lot. I did a prairie dog hunt in South Dakota in 2016 and shot 640 rounds in two days. I took my Savage model 12 .204 Ruger and my AR-15 in .223 caliber. I put 380 rounds through the 204 and 260 through the AR. There is a saying in the varmint hunting community, "Varmint hunters get more shots in one day than a big game hunter gets in a lifetime."

 

[Eddie Southgate]

The die sets show up on ebay pretty regularly and usually right cheap too .

 

[Old Corp]

I had a M70 in .225 for many years. It had been bedded by an old shooting mentor of mine and was scary accurate.
It was a c.1964 model and probably the homeliest rifle I have owned. Crude impressed checkering on wood that was fence-post grade. Chintzy little metal cap on the pistol grip with a big red 'W' on it. Bluing dull with zero polish.
I'm glad Winchester began trying harder later on....

 

[ky wonder]

well I traded for the savage today



the rifle is in pristine condition 98% easy, great looking old black walnut stock, 7 boxes of 55 grain factory Winchester(silver box) ammo.

we traded on it this afternoon, used Springfield XDS45 and 7 boxes of 45 ball, for the savage and seven boxes of 225.

he wanted a conceal carry gun and I had the xds on my hip, takeing him the shells tomorrow when we complete the deal

I am going back tomorrow after hitting the bank for cash, to complete sale on his other guns

pristine 870 wingmaster with ventilated rib, a grade1 browning td22 with wheel sight, a miroku 12 guage over and under, marlin jm marked 1895 guide 45/70. and a browning bda380 nickel

all guns are pristine without boxes,
the guns belonged to the guys dad ,the dad had good taste and he passed away in 2011, the collectors wife threw away all his boxes after he passed

so my bank account will shrink tomorrow but my gun safe will get additions

 

[rburg]

Boxes will be the death of us. One of my departed friends, Carl Dillon, would always just stack the boxes he got in a closet. They had a house down by Somerset, Monticello I believe. He had a gun show he wanted to go to someplace else. His wife coveted the space. The entire darn closet full of boxes. So he told her he'd get her a couple of tables at a Kenny Woods show right there near home. His deal with her was simple (she was his wife after all), she should load them up and take them to the show. Then she could keep anything she got.

Then to sweeten the deal, he told her his buddy Dick would help her if she needed any. She had no idea how to price the stuff, so I walked over to her tables and said we'll make 2 piles, on cheap and the other not. There was a nice pile on each table. The cheap pile we just put all the off brand stuff That I didn't think anyone would want. Those sold for between $10 and $25. The expensive table had some good stuff. Carl had been doing the gun trading deal for a long time.

The expensive table was priced from about $30 upward. Yep, some sold for over $50. Didn't bother me, I had no skin in the game. Didn't bother his wife, it was all profit to her. I never had the nerve to ask how much she took in, but we were dealing with a couple of hundred boxes. I have no idea why such an old and experienced gun trader would do what he did.

KYWonder..are you the guy who had K188 for a while?

 

[ky wonder]

Boxes will be the death of us.
KYWonder..are you the guy who had K188 for a while?

I guess not since I am not familiar with what K188 is

 

[Hairtrigger]

The 22-250 was still a wildcat when the 225 was introduced.
JD Jones has based cartridges off the 225. I am guessing he would have brass in stock.
In 30 years of owning a 225 I cannot recall ever seeing 225 brass on a shelf but have had no issue finding online.
It is not unusual to see a dusty box of ammo on a LGS shelf

 

[elpac3]

Great find, love those old rounds! Send Lee reloading a couple of the cases along with a bullet and they can make you a set of dies along with a collet sizing die.