For the Contender junkies of the world (myself included), the explosion of new cartridge in the market place has not done much for us. These newbies are all high pressure magnum class rounds. During the nearly forty year history of the Contender the cases that work well in it have been wildcatted to the point of exhaustion. The 30-30 Winchester case is one of those that has been blown out, shortened, necked up and of course necked down. About a year ago I found out about a new twist someone has spun of this age old case.

Like many other wildcats before it, the 25 Classic is based on the 30-30 Winchester parent case.

Todd Kindler, publisher of Small Caliber News and owner of the "Woodchuck Den" has shortened to 30-30 Winchester case to the same length as the ever popular .30 Herrett. From there it is necked to .257 caliber then the shoulder is pushed out to 35 degrees. It is named the .25 Classic. After a few phone calls Todd asked if I would be interested in taking the reigns and doing the load work and development. Virgin Valley Custom Guns (VVCG) provided a 15" barrel chambered for this new round along with scope base, Warne Rings, and a custom VVCG laminate forearm made for benchrest shooting. The optics mounted this set up is a Burris 3-12x32 Ballistic Plex handgun scope.

Case forming for the .25 Classic is rather simple and requires only two dies, a .30 Herrett Form/Trim die and the .25 Classic full length die. The .30 Herrett die is used to push the case shoulder back and cut them to length. From there I chamfered the case mouths and sized the cases in the .25 Classic full length die. Imperial Sizing Die Wax was used before each operation. After these forming steps, the cases are almost completely formed. The shoulder is slightly rounded but gets ironed out upon fireforming.

Bullets for the test shooting were from the Starke Bullet Company and Sierra. The cases I would use for testing were formed from Remington brass and primers are CCI 200 Large Rifle. The various powders tested are listed below. The dies supplied by Todd were made by Redding. Average groups during testing ran from less than a quarter inch up to around an inch.

The Virgin Valley barrel is the first of their products I have the opportunity to use. After handling and firing their barrel over the several months it took to complete this project, I can say that this will certainly not be my last Virgin Valley product. I did the normal break-in procedure as with any other barrel. After that I normally just clean a barrel as needed. Twenty rounds after the break-in I cleaned the barrel to see how much fouling accumulated. Other than the typical powder fouling, there were no signs of copper. The next time through I went fifty rounds, still no copper fouling. After that I just cleaned it as a matter of habit than necessity. This is a superb product both in fit, finish, and accuracy!

Before using the following loads for your .25 Classic, please be aware that these are all absolute maximums! They were developed in very brisk PA weather and may become too hot in warmer conditions. I would recommend reducing these charges by a minimum of seven grains (or about twenty percent) and work up carefully. You'll notice that some loads have "XXX" in the velocity column. The evening I went to the range to confirm the data it was a little too dark for the Oehler 35P to get a reading.

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In conclusion I feel that Todd has designed a winning cartridge for the Contender shooters. It would fit the needs of many types of hunters from the avid small varmint shooter to the deer stalker. For myself this cartridge will fit the bill as a great dual purpose round for fall turkey hunting and deer.

As of this article Virgin Valley Custom Guns ((435) 635-8941) is the only company chambering for the .25 Classic. Dies are available from Todd Kindler at the Woodchuck Den ((330) 897-0614).

Good shooting,
Dan B.