had a great day with my custom 25 ACP Blackhawk...

[Magnum Wheel Man]

Most of you have seen the pictures and write ups I have done previously on my 25 acp blackhawk...

The other day we had a calm day, with temperatures getting close to 60... I headed over to my buddies place to do a little shooting, as he already had his chronograph setup, and I hadn't sighted in the new dot sight yet , I was looking forward to shooting the Blackhawk...

16 - 50 Grain fmj bullets went through the screens, with an average velocity of 1041 fps... which is about 150 fps faster than I expected out of the 6 inch barrel with 2.5 grains of AA # 5 under those bulk 50 Grain fmj bullets... btw, there was an extreme spread of 50 fps over the 16 shots fired

The biggest surprise was the group size... 16 shots into less than a 1 inch group, at 40 feet off his shaky portable shooting bench

I had done the extra work, of sorting the cases by .003 inches, and uniforming the flash holes, so I was hoping for accuracy...

The lil 25 wouldn't quite fully flip over the paddles of his 9mm duelling tree, but did a much better job of it, than the 22 lr did, out of a rifle

if I were doing it over again, I'd build a 25 ACP on a Single Six... I also have another custom built on a Single 10 that I didn't fall in love with, that is a 257 Special... 22 Hornet cases straight tapered to 38 Special length, & a .257 rifle barrel... the "Single" is big enough to chamber 8 rounds of 257 Special, so it would be perfect for the 25 ACP... I kind of have the platforms switched around, as those were what was available, when I did each project... in fact, I may find myself building a 2nd 25 ACP on a Single Six action, only because I'm liking the Blackhawk so much, & the "Single" seems like it would be even sweeter

I've been buying PRVI factory rounds to stock up on factory ammo ( & replacement cases ) I bought all the used 25 ACP brass I could get my hands on, for over a year, the biggest quantity of one brand, was Remington cases, so I decided I'd keep those cases... however my collection of Remington cases must have spanned at least 3 different ( runs / factorys / generations ) of cases, as I had 3 distinct flash hole sizes, & case lengths that varried almost .020" in length... I sized all, sorted in .003" increments, kept the 2 middle sizes, & uniformed the flash hole sizes... these cases ( I have about a 1000 of them set up now ) gave me the results above... but factory ammo shoots very good in both guns ( yes, both... I also made a 16.5" Contender barrel in 25 ACP, to have a companion rifle for my revolver... but that is another story...

how it looks with the new Bushnell red dot...( pictured half way down on the left )

 

[DaleA]

Cool. Very cool.

 

[aarondhgraham]

Would you share some of,,,

Would you share some of,,,
Whatever you were drinking when you thunk that up?

That's way kewl my friend,,,

Aarond

.

 

[Ozzieman]

At first I thought it was a typo then I saw the little bitty holes.
For what ever reason you did this that is one neat gun.
Well done.

 

[Magnum Wheel Man]

Aarond... I've been dis-satisfied with the rim fire cartridges since the shortages 1st hit... & always been infactuated with loading both the biggest magnums, & the "most efficient cartridges... several years back, I converted a 22 Magnum to centerfire, & had some cases lathe turned... ( a very expensive project ) to get a modern version of the 22 Velo-dog... or a reloadable 22 / 22 magnum

I'd thought of the 25 ACP about the same time ( maybe even earlier ) but the problem was finding .251 barrel blanks...

so when I got my Single 10, & didn't love it, I made the 257 Special... an 8 shot cylinder 25 caliber rifle barrel, & 22 Hornet cases straight tapered to .257, & trimmed to 38 special length... still more work making cases, it involved custom reloading dies, & no factory ammo available ( though I am all about the reloading ) but when this was built, 22 Hornet cases we very hard to come by...

then I learned about TJ's liners... they make hammer forged .251" barrel liners in nearly any length you want ( I have a 16.5" Contender barrel made as well )

the 25 Auto is just what I was looking for all those years ago, easy brass, factory reloading dies... ( though finding cast bullets for sale, is tough, it didn't take long for me to build up several 1000 Lead round nose & FMJ bullets at quite reasonable prices... so, I can load for better efficency using revolver powders, or shoot factory ammo in either my Contender carbine, or this revolver I also have a pair of custom made molds one in 53 grain flat point in .251" diameter, & one in 62 grain flat point in .257" diameter

the 257 Special...

The 25 ACP Contender carbine...

 

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy

I am very impressed. Quite a project. Did you make the cylinder yourself? Also, did you have to make a new cylinder for 25 ACP separate from the cylinder for the straightened 22 hornet ammo? I assume so since 25 ACP head spaces on the case mouth.

One other question. How did you deal with making an eight shooter from a ten shooter? Was it only a matter of a different hand or did other work have to be done to the lockwork parts?

Again, very impressive.

 

[Guv]

Jealous, very Jealous!
Ruger should do this.

 

[Magnum Wheel Man]

1st off, I owe my retired machinist buddy, huge credit for all 3 of these guns... my design, and parts, but his skills , equipment, and experience...

Yes both cylinders are custom, and made from 4140 steel, and I'm unsure of the stainless alloy

Again, I didn't time the guns, but if I remember correctly, both went to 8 chambers, with the factory hands... just correctly cut ratchet on the new cylinders

Buddy has a proprietary 2 piece jig to cut the ratchet, and position the chambers very precisely. .. both builds were about 2 years apart... if they had been done at the same time, I would have made the single 10 into the 25 acp, and the Blackhawk would have been the 257... and likely a 257 magnum, instead of the 257 special... because the cylinder would have been long enough to chamber a longer cartridge

 

[Magnum Wheel Man]

It's funny, because my buddy really thought I was wasting my money building the 25 acp... he was sure the factory fmj bullets would get stuck in the barrel...

We have some very interesting conversations about custom guns... most of the time he is right... but I win enough to keep it interesting

 

[FrankenMauser]

That's awesome.

I've wanted an "unusual" .25 ACP for quite a while. To me, that's really the only thing the cartridge is good for: Fun times with something different.

But... I also want a ".25 Auto Mag". Something like .25 ACP stretched to about 1.10" (rather than a Hornet conversion). I think it would be best in a rifle. The 77/22 Mag (with a modified breech bolt) comes to mind as a good candidate. But I don't have $5k to drop on a run of custom brass, and I don't want to deal with turned steel cases like you have.

 

[Radny97]

Way cool gun.

Btw I've got a hundred or so of 25 acp brass bumping around if you want it. Mostly Remington.

 

[tallball]

Very cool. Awesome idea!

 

[brasscollector]

way too cool
25acp in a blackhawk..I bet the nozzle at the gas station has more kick

 

[Sarge]

You are a hopeless SA revolver nut if I ever saw one, Magnum Wheelman. And yes, you may take that as a compliment. Congratulations on an eccentric project done splendidly.

 

[Magnum Wheel Man]

SARGE... in all fairness the 2nd picture is my modern single action rack... there are probably as many double actions on another rack... but I undoubtly do like the single actions... I think I only have 2 custom double actions... but that is only because my retired buddy much prefers working on single actions

 

[TimSr]

I've been a big fan, and fascinated with this 25acp revolver project since you first mentioned it!

In loading for my little auto, I found that accuracy was MUCH better with 35gr Gold Dots than the typical RN FMJ in my gun, and of course ran a few hundred fps faster. That revolver shoots so tight now, you might be able to see any difference in it.

 

[Magnum Wheel Man]

TIM... I have one box of 35 grain bullets that I used a handfull for initial testing... I'd like to find a couple 100 so I could actually do velocity & accuracy testing with them... not sure if I'd see an increase in accuracy, ( since I might very well be the limiting factor on accuracy right now ) but always fun to push the limits

 

[CaptainO]

That beats the heck out of a .22 lr! That's a "squirrel killer" par excellence"!

I have a "special" load for your revolver. a 51-grain Remington FMJ ahead of 2 grains of Red Dot. This load should be powerful load for your revolver!

That says a lot about the .25 ACP

 

[rc]

While I do admire your projects, it seems 32 S&W, Long, Mag and 327 might be a we bit more practical with more off the self ammo available. But if you have time, money and machine talent, it does look like a fun project.

 

[Magnum Wheel Man]

RC... I'm a big 32 fan as well... the top pair of guns in the rack picture, is a pair of 32 H&R magnum single sixes, I have a full rack of 32 S&W revolvers in both long & short, and J frame in H&R... I load for all of them... the 25 is more efficient in both powder and lead, if I am casting my own...

I wanted something more efficient than the 32's, and something that is a bit out of the ordinary... the 25 performs better than most would think, when taken out of its normal 2 inch barrel auto format