Remington .25-10

[Johnny Peppers]

I believe the .25-10 was the Stevens .25 rimfire round.

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[Patrick Chadwick]

I believe the .25-10 was the Stevens .25 rimfire round.

Not quite. It was apparently developed by Remington as an "improved" Stevens. The dimensions appear to be slightly different. See "The American Cartridge" P.66

As a rimfire cartridge, it is extremely difficult to make a substitute - fireforming something else is not going to work. But from the dimensions, if I had to do it - and I'm not volunteering! - I would start off with something on the lines of a Winchester Magnum Rimfire, inserted in a brass sleeve to fit the 25-10 chamber. If you are lucky with the geometry, then the striker on the 25-10 will strike and ignite the WMR in the sleeve. If not, then some further work is required on the striker. But probably it will work with a little fettling, and the WMR bullet will scoot down the barrel. Accuracy will be awful.

Next problem: the bullet is to small for the bore. And if it is jacketed, it is far too hard to give any worthwhile obturation to fit the bore. Massive gas blow-by. So you need lead bullets with a hardness of something like 15+ BH and the appropriate diameter. Time for a special mold.... etc etc.

In the end, the best answer is going to be turned sleeves fitted with 6mm "Flobert" caps at one end and your home-cast bullets at the other, loaded with black powder. The recess for the caps can then be milled excentrically if the striker cannot otherwise reach the primer and you do not want to alter the striker. Of course, that means that the cartridges can only be inserted with a specific orientation...

Lads, this is not B-S I'm spouting here. I've done it for a revolver that fires 44 Henry rimfire. Of course, if I had found a S&W Russian that fired a c.f. cartridge for 200 euros I would have bought that instead and saved myself the bother, but I had to use what I found. Which was r.f.

In short, you need to be a dedicated and experienced reloader with a well-equipped workshop and/or a very deep pocket.

Possible? Yes?
Worth the bother? Only you can answer that.
For me, the answer would be "Only if it is a very special type that I wish to use in competitions for historic firearms".

If it is not regarded as a rare type to be preserved in the original chambering, then I would simply take a look at the option of rechambering to 25-20. An RB is easy to strip down so that a gunsmith can insert a chambering reamer. The chamber is much more accessible than on a bolt-action rifle, and it should not be necessary to separate the barrel from the action body.


Patrick