Old .25 rimfire ammo

may2061

I have a box of Winchester ".25 Stevens" ammo. The label is orange/red and says "Winchester .25 Stevens Rifle Staynless Cartridges." It is a box of 50, and one has been fired, but the casing is back in the box. I wondered when it was manufactured and what it might be worth?

Thanks for the help.

rufe-snow

In Barnes "Cartridges Of The World", it's noted that production of the 25 Stevens cartridge was discontinued in 1942, and was never resumed after the war.

Iroquois Scout

Staynless was a Winchester trademark for their noncorrosive primeing that came out in the 1930's. I would guess that your cartridges were made somewhere around 1935. If the box and label are in good shape, then they will have some collector value.

rareblair

I have a Stevens Favorite chambered for .25 Stevens, but haven't ever found any ammo for it. I'd be interested in buying the box. I doubt that I'll ever shoot any, but it would be nice to have the ammo to go along with the gun, just for my collection.

E-mail me at: blairorvin@yahoo.com

with your price.

Thanks,

IF IT AIN'T DONE RIGHT, IT AIN'T DONE YET!!!

Fishook

I have 30 boxes of 25 Stevens longs if anyone is interested.
djfischer@bytehead.com

Fishook

To Blair Orvin, I got your E-mail but I cannot return E-mails to you as I keep getting a note that says you have no Yahoo address so I will answer your question here.
I also have to plead ignorance as I've not owned a gun that uses .25 Stevens ammo. I would think that most rifles used the longs but might also be able to handle shorts. Maybe someone on GB can help. The ammo I have measures 1 3/8 long to the tip of the lead which are longs. If you have any you might compare to my measurement.
Good luck.

rareblair

Fishook,

I discovered why your e-mails wouldn't go through...I left the "r" out of 'orvin' in my e-mail address in my earlier post. (That's pretty bad....misspelling your own name!) (I just corrected/edited it.)

I'll have to get my tools out and measure the depth of the chamber.
Also, I think my town library might have a book that might help.

Thanks for your efforts, and sorry about the 'brain fart'. (I'm only perfect part of the time!?)

Rareblair

IF IT AIN'T DONE RIGHT, IT AIN'T DONE YET!!!

Iconoclast

While American manufacturers ceased production of the .25 Stevens ammo in WW2, Domnion produced this ammo into the 1970s (until the factory where this was done burned down), largely as contract items for Speer (they also produced .32-40 & .38-55 ammo). The American rounds typically were copper cased, the Canadian brass. The Winchester box described is a collector's item and could bring as much as $100 depending on condition. I have a Stevens rifle which was my mother's first firearm and even though it is a takedown with crude iron sights, it shoots quite well - although not nearly as well as it did in my mother's hands (she once took a crow at 250 yards). I've tried the older American production and experienced numerous misfires, so anyone looking for shooting ammo should concentrate on the Canadian production, which I've found (so far) to be quite reliable. Watch for it in shops and at shows; likely it will be less expensive than buying at auction - I've picked up several boxes in the $25 to $40 range over the past ten years. For display purposes, the Winchester and US Cartridge Company boxes of the period between the two World Wars are the most colorful as well as being more representative of the era when these rifles were being made. Note that there were Short and Long versions of the .25 Stevens; the shorts can be fired in a long chamber.