.25-25 Stevens

The .25-25 Stevens was an American centerfire rifle cartridge.^[1]

.25-25 Stevens
.25-25 Stevens (rt) with .22 long rifle for comparison
Type	centerfire rifle
Place of origin	United States
Production history
Designed	1895[1]
Specifications
Case type	rimmed straight
Bullet diameter	.257 in (6.5 mm)
Neck diameter	.282 in (7.2 mm)
Base diameter	.323 in (8.2 mm)
Rim diameter	.376 in (9.6 mm)
Case length	2.37 in (60 mm)
Overall length	2.63 in (67 mm)
Primer type	boxer, small rifle
Ballistic performance
Bullet mass/type Velocity Energy 86 gr (6 g) (smokeless, factory load) 1,500 ft/s (460 m/s) 434 ft⋅lbf (588 J) 86 gr (6 g) (5.5 gr (0.36 g) smokeless) 1,525 ft/s (465 m/s) 448 ft⋅lbf (607 J)
Source(s): Barnes & Amber 1972

Designed by Capt. W. L. Carpenter, 9th U.S. Infantry,^[2] in 1895,^[1] the .25-25 Stevens was the company's first straight-cased cartridge.^[1] It was used in Stevens' single shot Model 44, as well as the Model 44+1⁄2 rifles, which first went on sale in 1903.^[1] In addition, it was available in the Remington-Hepburn target rifle.

While the .25-25 was popular, the .25-21 offered "practically the same performance and was a little cleaner shooting."^[1] It also suffered a "freakish"^[1] appearance, due to its length to diameter ratio.^[1] It was also found that the usual 20 or 21 gr (1.30 or 1.36 g) black powder charge of the shorter ^[3] 25-21 offered "practically the same ballistics" as 24 or 25 gr (1.56 or 1.62 g) in the .25-25.

The switch to smokeless powder only exacerbated the problem, due to the small charge.^[1] To cure this, handloaders use a mix of 3 to 5 gr (0.19 to 0.32 g) of bulk shotgun powder and 18 to 20 gr (1.2 to 1.3 g) of black powder, with bullets of between 60 and 86 gr (3.9 and 5.6 g).

The bore diameter of the .25-25 Stevens is .250 inches (6.35 mm) making it a ".25"/6.35 mm caliber" cartridge, not to be confused with the more well known 6.5 mm bore caliber which uses 6.7 mm/.264" bullets.