Reloading for Vintage Remington Model 14 in 25 Remington

wachtelhund1 · November 22, 2013, 10:07 AM

I recently purchased a vintage Remington # 14 in 25 Remington caliber with a 40's or 50's vintage Weaver scope, described in post http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=534086 .

After searching for brass, I located 50 peices of fired .30 Remington brass on Gunbroker for $60.00. Something to work with. I started working up loads for it, initially trying 117 grain round nose bullets seating to the canular and staying under the max overall cartridge lenght so they would feed from the tubeular magazine. Research from other online posts for the 25 Remington all stated the 117 grain bullet was the one to use in this gun, as that was the orginal factory loading. I found the accuracy to be terrible. Groups were 6 to 8". Problem was the round nose bullets purchased in bulk, believe they were Remington. Weights varied .3 to .7 grains. Using a hollow pointer I tried to match bullet weights to + or - .1 grain. Shot one 1.75" group using 27.5 grains of CFE 223, but could not reproduce the group in later shootings.

Next I tried the Speer 120 GS bullet. It is a spire bullet but the point is blunt enough that it will load and feed from the magazine. The GS bullet is longer than the 117 grain bullets, with the canular set .030" more forward than the 117 grain bullet. Using 27.5 grains of CFE 223, .25-35 WIN load data for 117 grain bullets, I loaded the 120 grain GS bullets past the canular to keep the overall cartridge lenght to 2.525 so they would feed from the tube magazine.

These grouped much better. Several loadings working up to 27.9 grain all stayed under 3" at 100 yard using the vintage Weaver scope. The 25 Remington, like the 25-35 Win have long case necks. I wanted to seat the GS 120 grain bullet with a light crimp in the canular groves. So next step was to trim back the 25 Remington case so I could crimp in the Speer 120 grain GS canular. After trial and error, I trimmed the case necks back .100", to utilze the canular and seat the bullets to the 2.525 COL. Loading 28.0 grains of CFE produce groups under 1.5". Not bad for a vintage rifle and scope.

To top this off, I was visiting with my gunsmith several days ago, I spend a lot of time there. While BS'ing I noticed he had two boxes of 25 Remington shells on a bottom shelve. They had been there for years covered with dust. George had no idea they were even there. Another bargin.

November 22, 2013, 10:07 AM	#1
wachtelhund1 Senior Member Join Date: January 4, 2007 Location: pelican lake, WI Posts: 413	Reloading for Vintage Remington Model 14 in 25 Remington I recently purchased a vintage Remington # 14 in 25 Remington caliber with a 40's or 50's vintage Weaver scope, described in post http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=534086 . After searching for brass, I located 50 peices of fired .30 Remington brass on Gunbroker for $60.00. Something to work with. I started working up loads for it, initially trying 117 grain round nose bullets seating to the canular and staying under the max overall cartridge lenght so they would feed from the tubeular magazine. Research from other online posts for the 25 Remington all stated the 117 grain bullet was the one to use in this gun, as that was the orginal factory loading. I found the accuracy to be terrible. Groups were 6 to 8". Problem was the round nose bullets purchased in bulk, believe they were Remington. Weights varied .3 to .7 grains. Using a hollow pointer I tried to match bullet weights to + or - .1 grain. Shot one 1.75" group using 27.5 grains of CFE 223, but could not reproduce the group in later shootings. Next I tried the Speer 120 GS bullet. It is a spire bullet but the point is blunt enough that it will load and feed from the magazine. The GS bullet is longer than the 117 grain bullets, with the canular set .030" more forward than the 117 grain bullet. Using 27.5 grains of CFE 223, .25-35 WIN load data for 117 grain bullets, I loaded the 120 grain GS bullets past the canular to keep the overall cartridge lenght to 2.525 so they would feed from the tube magazine. These grouped much better. Several loadings working up to 27.9 grain all stayed under 3" at 100 yard using the vintage Weaver scope. The 25 Remington, like the 25-35 Win have long case necks. I wanted to seat the GS 120 grain bullet with a light crimp in the canular groves. So next step was to trim back the 25 Remington case so I could crimp in the Speer 120 grain GS canular. After trial and error, I trimmed the case necks back .100", to utilze the canular and seat the bullets to the 2.525 COL. Loading 28.0 grains of CFE produce groups under 1.5". Not bad for a vintage rifle and scope. To top this off, I was visiting with my gunsmith several days ago, I spend a lot of time there. While BS'ing I noticed he had two boxes of 25 Remington shells on a bottom shelve. They had been there for years covered with dust. George had no idea they were even there. Another bargin. Last edited by wachtelhund1; November 22, 2013 at 10:15 AM.