Jim Taylor
.25 ACP Experiments
Tuesday, July 22, 2025, 08:10

Ray .. who has been digging up old articles out of JD Jones's SIXGUNNER came up with one that I remembered but since it was 46 years ago I didn't remember everything perfectly. Almost. But not quite. I do remember it was fun! Here's the story behind it ..

Using a Raven .25 ACP -

I am not sure why I was messing with a Raven. Probably the price had something to do with it because you could find them easily for less than $50 almost any place. I tried different ammo it. I tried the Winchester factory rounds that had a lead bullet hollow point with BB in the hollow point so they would feed. I fired them against a concrete block and they would not expand. I pulled the BB out of the nose, opened up the hollow point a bit and loaded them single shot. I shot some rabbits with them. They worked OK but were more trouble than a .22 Long Rifle and in reality, the .22 was better on rabbits.

Then I started experimenting with a cast 48 gr. truncated cone flat point. My Dad made the bullet mold for me. I did not size the bullets but shot them like they came from the mold. I lubed them with Lee Liquid Alox. The mold is long gone, I have no clue where or when.

1.7 gr. Unique Winchester Small Pistol primers - 976 fps
2.0 gr. Unique Winchester Small Pistol primers - 1061 fps
2.0 gr. Unique Federal #200 Small Rifle primers - 1090 fps (brass is ruined at each shot - the entire primer pocket is blown out) -- the velocity is approximate. In the article I wrote ".. near 1100 fps.." and I remember it was in the 1090's but I am not sure of the exact figure.

Pressures obviously were quite high but they never seemed to hurt the cheap little Raven. I shot it a lot and when I sold it or traded it or gave it away it was still working just fine.

I AM NOT RECOMMENDING THESE LOADS. IF YOU TRY THEM YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN. I AM JUST SHARING THIS FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES AND FOR SOMETHING TO READ WHEN YOU ARE ON THE TOILET FOR A LONG PERIOD OF TIME FOR SOME REASON AND YOU NEED SOMETHING TO OCCUPY YOUR MIND.

I never did figure out where the primer and the pocket went. I am sure they were blown out during ejection since it is a blow-back gun, but I was never hit by anything and I never discovered where they went.  I figured they probably had been blown back with the slide and maybe bounced or were thrown forward when the slide stopped and started returning. ???