25-20

[375Short]

Has anyone spent time loading the 90g from Bear Creek? Any experience, particularly if it’s really good or really bad.

25-20 is new to me, will a 80-90g subsonic cast bullet consistently topple PC rams? If the answer is no I can skip that loading development exercise.

Thanks

[Bret888]

Wayne, you may have already read this, but it's the most 25-20 info you will find, but it will take a while to read 69 pages...
https://www.marlinowners.com/threads/25 ... ers.26002/

[Bret888]

Wayne, you may have already read this, but it's the most 25-20 info you will find, but it will take a while to read 69 pages...
https://www.marlinowners.com/threads/25 ... ers.26002/
I use a copy of the Lyman 257420 at about 70gr, with 6.5 of Blue Dot. I've never lost a PC ram. Considerably more authority than a .22Mag.

[375Short]

That long…..post is an excellent source of 25-20 information.
Im getting good results from three different powders in the development of mild loads. IMR4759, W231 and CFE Pistol are all in testing to deliver the load for the quickly approaching NRA / Western championship. I have been working with the Bear Creek 90g FN in the 1080-1130fps range. Based on experience of others and my own testing it’s a Ram slayer at these pedestrian speeds. The low recoil and soft report make for an easy to enjoy cartridge.

[edgehit]

The 1/4 bore is the perfect PC cartridge. There’s a large pool of 86/90gr cast bullet subsonic loads that are capable of slaying all 10 rams with precision. And bullets made from the 72 grain gas checked Lyman 257421 mold will also deliver, perhaps with greater accuracy than what we see with the 86/90 bullet because is most likely to remain stable at 100 meters at subsonic MV’s.

[edgehit]

I bought the NOE 260-86-FN-D4 GC mold and it’s basically the same as Bear Creek’s 90 sans lube grooves. Like you, I got it shooting tightly at 1135 FPS using a small dose of AA #5. I used them to win PC at the 2026 Greg Sullivan Memorial shoot. I crank out a couple hundred in an hour on the Dillon 550 using the powder throw without issues.