Famous Gun Writer shot Mule Deer, Elk, Black Bear with .25-20? How is that possible?
ByMy father died and and left all his hunting gear in this big wooden chest. My brother stole most of it, but I got the books. I can read. Got these gun/hunting books. One of the guys was a famous hunting writer called Francis E. Sell. I guess he was famous. My Dad had two of his books, and I notice his books are listed in the back of the 1968 Shooter’s Bible my father had. Supposedly, Mr. Sell was a “Timber Cruiser” for a timber company during the Great Depression. I have no idea what a Timber Cruiser is, or what he does. Anyway, Mr. Sell had a Winchester Model 92 carbine in Caliber .25-20. If I understand this correctly, that is a .25 Caliber bullet, backed by 20 grains of black powder or its smokeless powder equilvalent. That is what? About the power of a Modern .22 Magnum? And he claimed he lived entirely on meat he shot, black bear, deer, elk. How is that possible? How can you shoot such big game with such a small bullet?
5 Comments
March 6th, 2010 at 8:25 am
Its called knowing how to shoot. Something you don’t know yet obviously. A .22 short can kill a deer if you can hit it in the right spot (chances of someone like you being able to zero out of zero)
March 6th, 2010 at 9:01 am
Shot placement is 100 times more important than bullet diameter, weight, or velocity. Would you be willing to stand in front of a .25-20?
******The .25-20 cartridge actually began as the first centerfire .25 caliber wildcat, the .25-20 Single-Shot in 1882. Winchester, knowing the original .25-20 was too long to feed through the Model 1892 action, maintained the ballistics of the .25-20 Single-Shot when they necked down the .32-20 to .25 caliber. The new cartridge was approximately 3/10 of an inch shorter than the original version.
Winchester’s .25-20 WCF would be produced not only in the Model ’92, but also in the Marlin’s 1894 lever action rifle, the Marlin Model 27 and Remington Model 25 pump guns, the Winchester Model 43 and Savage Model 23B bolt action rifles, and finally in Winchester’s spin-off Model 1892s, the Model 65 and Model 53.
The .25-20 was necked down to become the .218 Bee in 1938 and chambered in the Model 65. Winchester’s Model 1892/65/53 ended its production run in 1941. Marlin re introduced the .25-20 along with the .32-20 and the .218 Bee in 1988 with the 1894CL. It lasted only until 1993, however hopefully the great interest in old cartridges spurred on by cowboy shooting will serve to resurrect a Marlin .25-20 and .32-20.*****
March 6th, 2010 at 9:42 am
When you’re subsistence hunting, you can’t afford what we’d now consider minimal hunter ethics in picking a reasonable caliber for the job. You just use what you have, and let it go at that. A 70 grain bullet at 2000 fps doesn’t impress, but if it’s that or starve, the choice is clear.
March 6th, 2010 at 10:28 am
quite believeable I know a bow hunter who carries a 22 mag with him and one year while mountain goat hunting he said he shot one just to see if it would kill it……….he said it dropped like a rock!
Timber cruisers walk through forested areas to mark trees that are to be cut down , My father was a timber cruiser once many, many, many years ago.during the great depression his nick name was Redwood slim……
March 6th, 2010 at 10:41 am
Rancher Griff you are a D I C K. It was an honest question.
Shot placement is key. It would be quite a feat but an experienced hunter could do it.