Cute little .25 Mountain Rifle

[Wes/Tex]

Was doing my 'every-so-often' browse through the auction sites and saw a 'darling-precious' little Mountain Rifle by Ed Fish. It's designed to shoot patched .255" buckshot and is a percussion gun. My choice would have been a flintlock, but with my eyes it'd be a manure-shoot anyway. I can visualize the problems with that small a bore, starting with tight weave patching and ramrod/cleaning rod, etc. Still, it seemed like the fun way to chase limb-chicken. Just wondered if anyone had ever shot a .25 and what your experience was. Probably uses a thimble for a powder measure! :wink:

 

[BrownBear]

Always wanted to, because I'm a 25 fan in cartridge guns.

But I have a fair guess what it will be like, since I'm shooting a 30 cal flinter (.290 ball).

You hit on an interesting point with this: "tight weave patching." I struggled with ticking, but finally smarted up. No matter how tight the weave, it's still pretty course and hard to deal with. The solution was super muslin. Dandy, tight weave of finer threads.

As for rods and accessories, you got it. They don't grow on trees.

Powder? My current load is 10 grains of 3f, but soon as I get around to it I'm headed south, betting it's going to be even better in the 6-8 grain range. Believe it or not, 10 grains is "hot" for my tastes on game.

 

[Rifleman1776]

I have a friend who had an ml rifle made using the barrel from a modern .22lr barrel. He loaded a buckshot in it. Not positive the size and I seem to recall (not positive) he loaded it unpatched. It was a good squirrel gun. This is a can do project.
Stainless steel, brass or a brazing rod can be used for your ramrod.

 

[Scharms]

Sounds like an interesting project. The smallest I will go is .32! :surrender:

 

[stinkyfeet]

Was doing my 'every-so-often' browse through the auction sites and saw a 'darling-precious' little Mountain Rifle by Ed Fish. It's designed to shoot patched .255" buckshot and is a percussion gun. My choice would have been a flintlock, but with my eyes it'd be a manure-shoot anyway. I can visualize the problems with that small a bore, starting with tight weave patching and ramrod/cleaning rod, etc. Still, it seemed like the fun way to chase limb-chicken. Just wondered if anyone had ever shot a .25 and what your experience was. Probably uses a thimble for a powder measure! :wink:

My buddy has a 25 caliber. Its a fast light weight lil squirrel gun. No recoil at all and flat out kills the squirrels. Its a 3/4x42 barrel flintlock I have shot it a few times on the range. He only uses a brass rod though because he states he has broken to many of the tiny wooden rods. :idunno:

 

[stinkyfeet]

I have a friend who had an ml rifle made using the barrel from a modern .22lr barrel. He loaded a buckshot in it. Not positive the size and I seem to recall (not positive) he loaded it unpatched. It was a good squirrel gun. This is a can do project.
Stainless steel, brass or a brazing rod can be used for your ramrod.

I have heard of guy using a ruger 10/22 .920 barrel to do this as well.

 

[Scota4570]

My first scratch build was a 22 matchlock using a Sears semi auto barrel. I was about 14 years old. A little later made a half stock caplock with an old Remington m-12 octagon barrel. I used 22 caliber air rifle pellets. Also used Benjamin 22 caliber balls. I made a push through size die out of a scrap of steel. Otherwise the pellets didn't load easy due to the flaired skirt. The rifling in normal 22 barrels is shallow. They needed to be swabbed between shots. I recall using a 22 long rifle case full of 4F.

 

[Rokon]

Have never worked with any BP bore uner .32 caliber, but I would predict that a .25 caliber bore would be a bear to control BP fouling in. Let's just say, it's uniquely small, but probably, not very user friendly and practical.

 

[BrownBear]

...I would predict that a .25 caliber bore would be a bear to control BP fouling in...not very user friendly and practical.

Nah. When you have your patch/ball/lube combo under control, it's no more an issue than any other.

My 30 cal flinter (.290 ball) actually fouls less than either my 32 or 36, and they're no issue either. I've gone over 20 shots on snowshoe hare hunts without swabbing.

 

[hanshi]

Nah. When you have your patch/ball/lube combo under control, it's no more an issue than any other.

My 30 cal flinter (.290 ball) actually fouls less than either my 32 or 36, and they're no issue either. I've gone over 20 shots on snowshoe hare hunts without swabbing.[/quote]



I completely agree with your post. Size doesn't matter but load does.

 

[Col. Batguano]

So do you use 3-F or 4-F powder for your main charge in a caliber this small?

 

[rodwha]

"Size doesn't matter but load does."

I've often read people complain how bad their small caliber (32-36) rifles foul up. Is it likely they are using too stiff of a charge? Or maybe shifting to 4F would burn cleaner?

 

[BrownBear]

In my experience it boils down more to correct patch thickness and a lube your gun is happy with. If your patch is thick enough for a firm fit so that seating the ball "scrubs" the bore, you're headed in the right direction. With the right lube to keep the fouling soft, you've crossed home plate.

As for 3f vs 4f, I've never tried 4f for a main charge. A bud has used it for years with great results in his small bore flinters, but that his experience and my secondhand report.