Winchester Model 1894 .25-35 WCF Rifle
By the Guns and Shooting Online Staff
The rifle that is the subject of this review belonged to Guns and Shooting OnlineSupport person Suzie Patterson's Grandfather. According to its serial number, it wasmanufactured in 1907. At that time the .25-35 WCF was a reasonably popular combination deer, antelope and small predatorcartridge, although .25-35 rifles and ammunition sales never approached the levels attained by the .30-30 and .32 Win. Special.Still, it was chambered in Winchester, Marlin and Savagelever actions for nearly half a century. It was sufficiently popular to be copiedby Remington during the first decade of the 20th Century, when Big Greenintroduced a line of rimless cartridges for their early pump and autoloadingrifles. These Remington rimless numbers were ballistically identical to the.25-35 (.25 Rem.), .30-30 (.30 Rem.) and .32 Special (.32 Rem.).
The Remington rimless cartridges are now obsolete, butWinchester still loads .25-35 ammunition, as do some of the specialty ammomakers, such as Stars & Stripes. Occasionally someone turns out a fewrifles in the caliber. We reviewed a .25-35 Winchester Model 94 Trails End in2005. We would like to see Winchester chamber their new Model 94 rifles in.25-35 and suggested exactly that in our recent review of a new Model 94Sporter. (See the Product Reviews page for the reviews of both these Model 94 rifles.)We would also like to see Hornady include the .25-35 in their LeverEvolutionammunition line, loaded with a 117 grain FTX boat-tail spitzer bullet at over2400 fps, which should be easy to do with modern powders.
WINCHESTER DATES OF MANUFACTURE. Lever Action Rifles. Henry Rifles Model 1866 Model 1873 Model 1876 Model 1885 Single Shot. Model 25 Model 36. Model 37 & 37- A. Make: Winchester. Now a Sporting Rifle. Serial Number: 40836. Download ringtone alarm kebakaran. Jan 18, 2018 - Try our best loud ringtones of old telephone. Features: - install to SD card - 11 old phone sounds - high quality - tap to set as ringtone, alarm. Mar 1, 2018 - Download Bunyi Alarm Kebakaran apk 1.0 and all version.
We like the .25-35 because it represents the lowest level ofrecoil in a cartridge suitable for hunting deer and other medium size CXP2game. The present Winchester factory load launches a 117 grain flat pointbullet at a muzzle velocity (MV) of 2230 fps, with 1292 ft. lbs. of muzzleenergy (ME). The velocity/energy at 100 yards is 1866 fps/904 ft. lbs., overthe 800 ft. lbs. minimum usually recommended for deer hunting. At 200 yards,the numbers are 1545 fps/620 ft. lbs. The maximum point blank range of thatload (+/- 3') is around 200 yards.
These numbers are not impressive compared to the .243Winchester or .257 Roberts, but they compare favorably with other minimumrecoil deer cartridges, such as the .357 Magnum and .44-40 fired from rifles.In fact, the .25-35 delivers as much energy at 200 yards as the .357/180 grainfactory load does at 100 yards or the .44-40/200 grain factory load can musterat the muzzle. Seen in that light, a young or recoil sensitive beginning huntercould do worse than a .25-35 rifle.
According to the 'Rifle Recoil Table,' the .25-35normally produces between six and seven foot pounds of recoil energy in riflesweighing 6.5 to 7.5 pounds, or about half the recoil of a .30-30 fired in thesame rifle. That is similar to the recoil of one of the short 6mm benchrest cartridges, only the .25-35 shoots a fatter bullet that is almost 50% heavier.
We occasionally get mail asking what cartridge we recommendfor young (10-12 year old), recoil sensitive shooters anticipating their firstdeer hunt. If modern rifles and ammunition were available, the .25-35 woulddefinitely be at or near the top of our list. If you agree, please send a noteto Winchester Repeating Arms, Henry and Marlin asking for .25-35 rifles and to Hornadyand Winchester Ammunition requesting modern .25-35 factory loads. Our sportdesperately needs rifles chambered for moderate, low recoil cartridges suitablefor beginning hunters.
The rifle that is the subject of this review is in very goodcondition and would serve a beginner nicely. Unfortunately, due to collectordemand for old Model 1894 rifles in calibers other than .30-30 and .32 Special,its fair market value puts it out of the typical beginning hunter's priceclass. Few dads would be willing (or able) to spend so much money for their12 year old offspring's first centerfire rifle.
Specifications
As one might expect of a rifle manufactured in 1907 by oneof the greatest arms makers of the time, this rifle is built entirely of forgedsteel parts and walnut. It was carefully assembled by skilled workers. The bore of our test rifle is somewhat worn, but shiny andin generally good condition.
Safety is provided by a hammer safety notch. When the chamber is loaded, manually lower the hammer from the full-cock position until it engages the safety notch (about 3/4 of the way down). This is easy to do. Keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction while you are lowering the hammer. Yes, the hammer can be forced by a perfectly directed, very heavy blow, such as from a carpenter's hammer, but so what? That is not going to happen in the field.
In addition to the stock sights, this rifle wears a folding, tang mounted peep sight. This is probably the fastest type of ironsight ever devised for a hunting rifle and considerably easier with which toshoot accurately than the standard open sights. It is especially good formiddle aged shooters whose eyes have lost some of their power of accommodation.
We were interested in getting this .25-35 to the range forsome shooting. Our friends at Winchester Ammunition kindly provided 100 roundsof Super-X .25-35 ammunition for this review, for which we are very grateful.Please support them by buying and using their products.
As usual, we did our shooting at the Izaak Walton outdoor range south of Eugene, Oregon. Thisfacility offers covered bench rests with target stands at 25, 50, 100 and 200yards, but we confined our shooting to 100 yards, a long way for iron sightsand our aging eyes. The bulk of the shooting was done from a bench rest over sandbags by Guns and Shooting Online staff membersChuck Hawks and Rocky Hays.
The results were excellent. We found the old rifle capable ofshooting 2' to 2-1/2' groups, when we did our part, using the tang mountedaperture sight. (Neither Chuck nor Rocky have any use for semi-buckhorn open sights.)
Chuck and Rocky found the recoil to be low and this, of course,promotes good shooting. Suzie, who is not an experienced rifle shooter, had previously fired her grandfather'srifle and thought it kicked pretty hard, although she was able to keep her bullets on the target.
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This merely illustrates that riflesin common calibers experienced shooters are inclined to take for granted (.30-30, 7mm-08,.260 and others of that ilk) may be beyond the ability of inexperiencedshooters to shoot without flinching. The .25-35 may well be all a beginner canhandle and clean kills result from proper bullet placement, not raw power.
Winchester Serial Numbers Model 12
We all came away from our range session impressed with thegentle .25-35 cartridge and the accuracy of this turn of the 20th Century Model1894 rifle. As mentioned above, our sport desperately needs hunting rifles chamberedfor moderate, low recoil cartridges suitable for young (and old) shooters andit just doesn't get any better than a sleek lever action rifle chambered for the .25-35 cartridge.
Winchester Serial Numbers Model 92
Note: A review of a recent production Model 94 in .25-35 may be found on the Product Reviews page.
Winchester Model 25 12 Gauge Serial Numbers
Can someone explain to me what the difference is in a mod 12 and and a model 25. I have always thought that the mod. 25 was just a economy model 12. Recently some of the reading I have done has lead me to realize that I was wrong ( imagine that). I am just curious, my Uncle bought one when I was very Young, and sold it to my brother just a year or to later, I have always liked the gun although I have never shot it. i am thinking I would like to find one in good shape and buy it for sentimental reasons, but would like to learn more about the mod25 first.. Did Winchester make the 25 just in 12 ga? or was thier a 16 ga. also?
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