The Best Rimfire Cartridge You’ve Never Heard Of

It hasn’t always been this way. Following the introduction of the .22 Short in 1857, ammo makers piled onto the rimfire bandwagon and released a whopping 75 different rimfire cartridges over the next four decades. Many of these were only short-lived experiments, according to Frank Barnes, and that number was whittled down to 42 by the turn of the century. But that’s still dozens more than the 14 rimfire cartridges on tap at Midway USA, most of which are out of stock.

One of the most popular of those old rimfires was the .25 Stevens Long. The .25 Stevens looks a lot like the .22 Long Rifle, but it used a heavier .25-caliber bullet that modern powder would have launched significantly faster.

World War II put an end to the cartridge’s commercial run, so we’ll never know if it could have competed for the attention of 21st-century varmint hunters. But if ammo companies cared to expand their stable of rimfire cartridges, they could do worse than giving the .25 Stevens a second look.

Image of .25 Stevens via McLaughlin Auctioneers.

Scant information exists about the origins of the .25 Stevens. Barnes notes in “Cartridges of the World” that it was developed jointly by the J. Stevens Arms & Tool Co. and the Peters Cartridge Co. Though today known as a budget-friendly sub-brand of Savage Arms, Stevens was among the largest gun makers in the world in the early 1900s. Peters was also a large company, supplying ammunition to various countries throughout both world wars. Developing and releasing a cartridge jointly would have been a bit like Federal and Ruger teaming up to create a brand new big-game cartridge.

There is some debate about which rifle was the first to be chambered in the .25 Stevens. The Stevens Crack Shot No. 15 was offered in the .25 Stevens in 1900, but the cartridge was also chambered in Stevens Favorite rifles, which were produced from the 1890s to the 1930s. Both the Crack Shot and the Favorite were part of Stevens line of Boys Rifles. Marketed to kids (as their name implies), these small long guns used a falling block lever action in a single-shot configuration. They were designed to be safe but also effective on a boy’s favorite small-game targets.

The .25 Stevens was discontinued in 1942, but it retained a loyal following decades after. Legendary gun writer Elmer Keith called the .25 Stevens a “most excellent cartridge” in the 1961 edition of his book, “Sixguns.”

“Of all the rim fire pistol cartridges, the one I liked best was the .25 Stevens long,” he said. “This is a real small game cartridge and one I would like to see used today in K-22 and Colt Target revolvers as well as the Ruger Single Six.”

Though Keith admitted that the .22 LR is a “very useful cartridge” for practice and “some small game,” the .25 Stevens is a “far better rim fire cartridge for small game hunting.”

“I have howled for a revolver for the .25 Stevens for over 30 years,” he said. “This old cartridge has long proven an ideal small game cartridge, which the .22 L.R. is not.”

Why did Keith prefer the .25 Stevens to the .22 Long Rifle? Surprisingly, he doesn’t get into much detail in “Sixguns,” but we can make some assumptions.

Keith claimed that out of one of those Ruger Single Six revolvers, a 60-grain .25 Stevens could achieve a muzzle velocity of 1,300 to 1,500 feet-per-second (fps). A rifle would likely propel that bullet even faster.

“With the use of a hollow point bullet of about 65 grains, at velocities of 1,200 feet or better, they would be adequate for big sage hens, jack rabbits, even close shots on coyotes and bobcats,” he said. “With solid bullets they would not be too destructive for even fox or grey squirrels.”

A bullet from a .25 Stevens travels about as fast as a .22 LR, but it weighs about 50% more. This produces additional downrange energy, which is a big reason why, according to Barnes, it “had an excellent reputation on small game, especially for not ruining edible meat.”

Or, as one fan put it on a gun forum in 2021, “it anchored small game in a way the .22 Rimfire could never accomplish.”

If the .25 Stevens had survived beyond 1942, it may have benefited from even further improvements. Barnes reports that Remington had been working on a high-velocity version of the cartridge prior to the outbreak of World War II. This faster load was rumored to be able to propel a 67-grain bullet 1,400 fps, adding about 200 fps to the original version.

Had the .25 Stevens survived to 2025, modern powders could have added an additional 200-400 fps. This would have allowed it to rival the power and velocity of the .22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire.

Despite a loyal following and solid in-the-field performance, the .25 Stevens wasn’t perfect. It was significantly more expensive than the .22 LR, which undercut its appeal to young hunters who may have been given a Stevens rifle for Christmas.

Barnes also reports that it suffered from a fair amount of bullet drop. Those heavy bullets dropped faster than the .22 LR, making shots beyond 70 yards more difficult. A high-velocity version would have solved that problem, but it didn’t survive to see that development.

Today, no rifles are chambered in the .25 Stevens, and no ammo companies manufacture factory rounds. Because rimfire cartridges are effectively impossible to reload, would-be fans of the Stevens are limited to an ever-dwindling supply of century-old guns and ammunition.

Whether the .25 Stevens Long (or similar cartridge) makes a comeback depends on whether any ammo makers are willing to take a risk on a new rimfire. Several new .17-caliber rimfires have been released in recent decades, and the .22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire fills some of the space the .25 Stevens may have occupied.

Still, when it comes to ammunition, it’s nice to have options. If an ammo company wanted to produce a .25-caliber rimfire, I’d wager good money that hunters and gun enthusiasts would at least be willing to give it a shot.