25-35? 38-55?

[rWt]

Anyone hunting with these old calibers? If so, what's your experience with these rounds? What rifle are you using?

[jgt]

I have a buddy that loves the 25-35 Winchesters. He hunts with his. They seem to be good enough for up to deer sized animals.

[bigbrowndog]

I do not have a 25-35, but I use an equivalent caliber in an AR, 25x45. 223 necked up to .25 caliber. It is very effective on whitetail and hogs. 100gr. at 2500fps, 117gr. at 2300. I like it out to 150-200yards.

Trapr

[Ken O'Neill]

There was a man in Texas, whose name escapes me right now, who campaigned a Contender in .25-35 HARD in IHMSA Silhouette, as his Standing gun. He did very well with it. I considered one out of the T/C Custom Shop for a while, but finally chose the superior .257 JDJ. The .25-35 did well on small whitetails 75-100 years ago.

[z1r]

While I don't have a .38-55 I do have 2 .375 Winchesters, one a 94, the other a Ruger #3. I mostly shoot them with .38-55 equivalent cast loads.

I do have plans to rebarrel a surplus .30-30 to .25-35. I have a buddy that built himself a 6.5-30-30 and loaded the Hornady 140 RN. Took many a head of game.

In the .25-35, I think the only widely available bullet is the 117 gr Hornady RN. More than sufficient but if you case, you have a lot of options.

[rWt]

Thanks. It's interesting that Winchester released a 94 in both calibers this year. The Hornady Leverevolution is loaded in the 25-35, which really helps this round reach out more. A very low recoiling round.

There is no such load currently for the 38-55. Buffalo Bore has a heavy load for it, which provides quite a punch. In the standard Winchester loading, the round has less recoil than a 30-30. It won't reach out as far as a 30-30 though.

I'm not sure that I'd want to buy either, but it's nice to see more useful lever action chamberings.

www.chuckhawks.com/25-35_30-30_32Spec_38-55.html

[Fowler]

If I intended to shoot just Jacketed bullets I think either of them would be roughly equal, cast bullets and the 38/55 would take a significant lead over the .25-35 in my book, especially if I wanted to hunt anything bigger than rabbits and coyotes with it.

[z1r]

The .25-35 is more than capable of dispatching deer.