.225 Winchester

1

16gaugefan

New member
Hi everyone! New to the forum and have some questions. I have a Savage 340 chambered in the .225 that I will be getting soon. I have been thinking about getting a Handi Rifle in .223 and having it rechambered to a .225. Or I may just wait till income tax and get a 1885 Winchester or a Ruger No.1 both in .223 and have which ever one I get rechambered. I have talked to several gunsmiths and they have told me that I can have this done.... If I was to decide to go with a bolt gun, what would work? As far as a rechamber or even a rebarrel? I know I could pick up a model 70 in .225 but if I go the bolt route I would like to use something like a modern Remington or a Savage. Then change the stock etc... My Dad had a Model 70 in .225 at one time so I still have a lot of brass and ammo that he gave me and I picked up 100 pieces of nos brass. And the Savage 340 that I have on layaway comes with 7 boxes of factory ammo. I just don't know what caliber bolt gun to start out with if I was to try a build on a bolt gun. Would I have to have the bolt worked on, extractor etc..? Any help would be appreciated! Thanks
 
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I would think any 308 would be best unless you wanted a savage, then you could just get the .473 bolt head for it.
 
Anything handi rifle sucks...

Since you got the Savage coming in 225 I'd leave it at that. If I wanted a new rifle, (of similar ballistics) I would pick up a 22-250 and leave the 225 behind. I like an oddball, nothing wrong with having one but I would leave it at that and not build a collection of them.
 
The .225 has a following in single shot rifles, but the .22-250 beats it in a bolt gun. The .22-250 helped kill the .225, because it had slightly higher velocity. The other factors were that the .225 was introduced as a replacement for the .220 Swift in a post-64 Model 70 rifle. Both were a step down from the pre-64 in .220 Swift.
 
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So would I be better off going with a single shot over a bolt? I know most people prefer a .22-250 but I am going with the .225. I just wanted to know what bolt guns out there could be rechambered or rebarreled to a .225 Thanks
 
The semi-rim on the .225 makes for more reliable extraction in a single shot while it can cause problems in a bolt gun, if the cartridges are loaded with the rim of the top cartridge behind the rim of the cartridge underneath.

Any short action bolt rifle with a .473 bolt head will work with the .225. If I were dead set on a .225 bolt gun, I would probably built on a short action Savage. The Savage is easy to replace the barrel on, because of the barrel nut system. A .223 barrel could be rechambered easily to .225.
 
Close to 20 years ago I was over at a co-workers house in Springfield Tennessee. His 80 year old dad had the house next door to him and his back yard was his shooting range. His dad's shooting "bench" was shooting off the hood of an ancient pickup truck. Worked pretty well too.

Well anyway, this man was shooting a .220 Swift that day as well as a .225 Winchester. And man! His 100 yard targets look like a benchrest shooter shot them. I copied his load for the Swift down (35 grains of IMR 3031 with the Hornady 55 grain spire point) but as I did not have a .225 I don't remember what the load was except that it too was using IMR 3031.

So if you want a .225 and you got brass to go with it then I say do it and enjoy it. Sure sounds like fun to me.

Oh, and welcome to the forum! Lots of neat stuff here.
 
The load for a .225 is a 50-55 grain bullet and the Nosler max load of IMR4064. I have never owned a .225, but an old boss of mine used his father-in-law's post-64 Winchester .225 to keep the groundhogs out of the soybeans. The rifle was dead nuts accurate with the hand load I worked up for him. I wonder if he still has the rifle. I haven't thought of that gun in thirty years.
 
Be very careful of full house loads in a savage 340. I used one chambered in triple deuce for awhile and it couldn't handle max loads in that cartridge. Those loads aren't that high, something like 42000..
High pressure loads tended to bulge on one side from the single locking lug as well.
 
So I could just pick up say a Savage short action with a .473 bolt and have it rebarreled to a .225 Winchester? Would I have to get the extractor worked on etc..? Also if I would have feeding issues could I just turn the rifle into a single shot? Thanks
 
Any Savage short action, 10/11/12/14/16, will work fine. The extractor will be fine too. To do it yourself you would need a couple of tools, an action wrench and a barrel nut wrench, and a go gage. You probably wouldn't have feeding issues if you are careful in loading the magazine. If you want extreme accuracy, a custom barrel will run from $200 up with most being $300-400. A cheap way in would be to get a .223 barrel and have it rechambered to .225. Used Savage barrels can be had for around $50-100, if you know where to look.
 
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