Hunting Deer With A High Wall Special Order 25-35|Winchester Hunting, Shooting & Reloading|Forum|Winchester Collector

How many Winchester Model 1885 rifles were manufactured in .25 – 35?  I would imagine it’s a fairly uncommon chambering.

Way cool a Model 1885 was used to take a buck in 2022!

Congrats, everything came together nicely for you and that High Wall. 

Mike

That is cool.  Been wanting to go back to Iowa and use an 85 in 45-70. It is one of the few center fire cartridges that is legal in a shotgun state.

Shrapnel said

steve004 said

Very cool from all points of view. Thanks for posting.

While on the topic of the .25-35, does anyone know a source that has a current stock of Hornady .257 117 grain jacked softpoint round nose bullets?

  

I’m not sure that Hornady is even making that bullet anymore. I picked some up a while ago and some cast 90 grain bullets so I could keep shooting the 25-35…

 

  

There they are – the objects of my desire!  I see Midway has them listed but state, “Unavailable – Limited Production.”

Kirk your situation presents a loophole status.  Nearly all of us who are shooting .25-35 rifles (or .25-36 Marlin rifles – which is the case with me) are after soft point bullets for our tubular magazines.  You have a single-shot.  You should be able to use pointed bullets without the usual concerns.  

I recently used up my supply of Hornady round nose bullets.  I have a healthy supply of Remington 100 gr. PTSP bullets and just loaded a batch up.  As I usually single load my rifles during range session, I don’t see a downside to this.  In fact, if I wanted to hunt with it, I could use my rifle as a two-shot repeater.  

I also note that Hornady makes a 117 PTSP boat tail bullet (in stock most places).  Have you considered this for your rifle?

Here’s a sample from the batch I recently loaded up with the 100 gr. Remington PTSP’s:

Shrapnel said

steve004 said

Shrapnel said

steve004 said

Very cool from all points of view. Thanks for posting.

While on the topic of the .25-35, does anyone know a source that has a current stock of Hornady .257 117 grain jacked softpoint round nose bullets?

  

I’m not sure that Hornady is even making that bullet anymore. I picked some up a while ago and some cast 90 grain bullets so I could keep shooting the 25-35…

 

  

There they are – the objects of my desire!  I see Midway has them listed but state, “Unavailable – Limited Production.”

 

Kirk your situation presents a loophole status.  Nearly all of us who are shooting .25-35 rifles (or .25-36 Marlin rifles – which is the case with me) are after soft point bullets for our tubular magazines.  You have a single-shot.  You should be able to use pointed bullets without the usual concerns.  

I recently used up my supply of Hornady round nose bullets.  I have a healthy supply of Remington 100 gr. PTSP bullets and just loaded a batch up.  As I usually single load my rifles during range session, I don’t see a downside to this.  In fact, if I wanted to hunt with it, I could use my rifle as a two-shot repeater.  

I also note that Hornady makes a 117 PTSP boat tail bullet (in stock most places).  Have you considered this for your rifle?

Here’s a sample from the batch I recently loaded up with the 100 gr. Remington PTSP’s:

  

I have a 25-35 model 1894 and rather than have 2 different loads, I only use the 117 grain round nose. At 25-35 distances there is no need to use pointed bullets. I have those 90 grain cast bullets in case I should desire to shoot varmints with the 25-35 and not waste the 117 grain bullets…

  

Makes sense.  Given you have a healthy supply of 117 grain round noses (and won’t be using them for varmints) that’s a lot of deer, grizzly and similar you are set for.

Congrats on a successful hunt with the old 1885.  Nothing more gratifying than working up ammo for these old guns and using them for what they were intended.  One thing I dont envy is hunting in the cold and snow, not something we see very often in south TX.