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Old February 16, 2020, 09:34 PM   #1
pcxxxx42
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Remington Model 25 dilemma

I've a sweet model 25 in 25-20 for which I paid $675 at a gun show a couple years back. Took it to the range with some handloaded Starline 32-20 formed to 25-20, some A1680 propellant, and some Meister 85 grain lead bullets.

Didn't clean it. Din't do anything. Put five rounds downrange offhand at 50 yards and got a vertical 1.5" or 1.75" group 2" left of point of aim in a nearly perfect straight vertical line.

I don't claim to be an offhand rifle shooter, and I nearly dropped dead when I looked thru the spotting scope.

A PIROMA load*, an unknown and dirty rifle. Not too shaggy for a geezer with chunks of forged titanium supporting his spine?

The rifle has lost most of its bluing and has a nice brown patina. The stock has the usual dings and dents, and some cracking which appears to be thru and thru from side to side about 25% up from the bottom where the wood meets the metal. The stock has also shrunk around the butt plate with noticeable gaps. The forend looks like new? It is all a nice grade of walnut.

I expect that if i continue to shoot the rifle that all of this this is going to be a problem if it is not corrected.

The bore is actually horrible now that I have my Teslong bore camera (what a deal! $80? Ebay?) It is full of carbon, lead and pits. Clearly the previous owner din't use CLEANBORE ammo? It actually looked pretty good with a bore light at time of purchase. I am pleasantly surprised that it shot as well as it did.

Think I'm going to be taking that bore camera with me to future gun shows, as it will work with an Android phone.

I've read they only made around 33K of these, about 1/3 in 25-20 chambering, the rest in 32-20. That's not lots.

QUESTIONS:

(1) will repair of the stock affect value?

(2) would a refinishing of the stock affect value?

(3) would re-bluing the metal affect value?

It is soooo sweet. It is also a bit beat up. Not horrible, just what you would expect, and perhaps less, from a rifle manufactured in 1929.

tanks

mac


*"Pulled it right outta my aft...."
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Old February 16, 2020, 10:09 PM   #2
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A couple years earlier I was at the same Phoenix Fairgrounds show. A different guy had the same rifle in absolutely cherry condition for $800. I looked at it. He looked up the price whilst I was browsing. He said, "I should have listed this for $1200. Buy it now for $800. but I am changing the price if you leave my table." He was serious. Two minutes later I came back to buy it, but he had taken it off the table. Said he was going to "Take it back to Arkansas and shoot some skirrels with it....."

:-[
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Old February 16, 2020, 10:27 PM   #3
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Geez. Was this sucker dirty inside?

It probably had 90 years of crap inside the receiver. I doubt that it had ever been completely cleaned.

Ed's Red to the rescue! And some brushes and air compressor!
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Old February 17, 2020, 01:01 PM   #4
Don Fischer
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Restore it and use it. You just might find it's worth more to you restored than to anyone else in it's present condition. Investing in gun's is not something I'd recommend! I have a 1903 Springfield customized by Paul Jaeger in 1945. about 1992 it was taken and evaluated at $7500. Since then I have refinished it and I'm good with it. I wouldn't sell it for the $7500 as it is!
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Old February 18, 2020, 03:01 AM   #5
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Quote:
The rifle has lost most of its bluing and has a nice brown patina. The stock has the usual dings and dents, and some cracking which appears to be thru and thru from side to side about 25% up from the bottom where the wood meets the metal. The stock has also shrunk around the butt plate with noticeable gaps
Quote:
(1) will repair of the stock affect value?

(2) would a refinishing of the stock affect value?

(3) would re-bluing the metal affect value?
In that condition, the only value the rifle has is as a shooter. Fix it and shoot it.
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Old February 18, 2020, 05:18 PM   #6
pcxxxx42
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A minor problem with the Rem 25

Thanks for all of your inputs.

I kind of figured, but I'm no authority on this kind of stuff.

My old neighbor had a Single Action Army re-blued, turning a $4000 antique into a $400 shooter....

~~~~~
Nearly every time the Model 25 is loaded and shot, the last 25-20 case is difficult to remove, as the bolt stays locked shut.

The timing lever (the one you use to unlock the cocked rifle) rises up as it should upon firing, but apparently the carrier (which I believe may be the culprit) isn't also dropping down on the last shot. This usually happens on the last round only.

Thinking it was just dirty, I tore it down to assemblies and gave them a good soak in Ed's Red, brushed, blew off, reassembled and oiled. No dice.

The mechanism isn't that complex but it is difficult to be sure that it is the carrier which keeps the bolt locked. After all, it is the carrier that rises when the timing lever is pushed up manually, and the timing lever goes up after every shot including the last.

I guess I'll need to take the action bar apart and clean it, also. It is clear that the bolt rises into a recess in the top of the receiver to meet the cartridge thrust, but I am having a helluva time figuring out exactly how the whole action locks shut, and I'm no mechanical dummy (well, not usually, anyway.)

~~~~~
Update.

Got the sucker apart. FYI the magazine connector is SCOD ON, as is the magazine tube. Mine took some Kroil and a home made tool to screw the mag connector off. Standard RH thread.

It seems it is the timing lever that when action is closed pushes up on the carrier, which is the rear portion of the action bar (think that nomenclature is correct?), which pushes up on breech block, causing it to be locked into the recess in the top of the receiver. Dropping the carrier/action bar and breech block just a little by depressing the timing bar unlocks the action.

Now I only need to determine why it is not letting go on the last empty case. Gotta have something to do with the force the mag spring and cartridge exert on the action bar allowing it to drop easier.

Stay tuned. This has been a real adventure. I'll but some of the parts have been in the rifle since 1929.

~~~~~
Yet another update.

Took the rifle mostly apart, din't fiddle with the trigger group or the stuff on the action bar.

Soaked action bar in Ed's Red overnight, cleaned, brushed, blew out.

The key, I am sure was inside the receiver.

There were 91 years of crud filling up all of the little byways that was making it difficult for the rifle, for some weird reason, to be unable to eject the case of the last round shot.

I've cycled it with dummies and such a few times and it looks like we are good to go.

I hope this narrative will help yet another poor fool some day.

pcmacd
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Last edited by pcxxxx42; February 19, 2020 at 10:04 PM.
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Old February 20, 2020, 05:06 PM   #7
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handsome

Those old pumps are sleek, handsome rifles that harken a gone era. Restored it will be a beauty. Good luck with your new project.
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Old February 20, 2020, 10:21 PM   #8
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Thank you. Thank you very much.

Who said that?? [Elvis...]

Y'all have been most helpful, and I appreciate it.

End of story.

:-)
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