I have looked in the forum for a question that somebody may have answered all ready, no luck. I have a center fire mod 44 in 25-20 single shot caliber. It is missing a breech block. I am machining a new one.The barrel is pretty much rusted out. So I will replace it, I was thinking may be 45 colt but seeing what others have said about this being a weak action, Would a 22 mag be to much for it, I thought about 22 long rifle but would have to buy a new reamer, any thoughts?? thanks

Was the original round Rimfire or centerfire ? Brownells has Barrel Liners for the old Winchester calibers ! It would be hard to convert from CF to RF and vice versa too I Think .

Weren't all 25-20's centerfire? According to my "Cartridges of the World", the single-shot 25-20 was one of the first centerfire 25 caliber cartridges.

Now, there's a Stevens 25-21 that was first introduced in the Stevens Mod 44 single-shot rifle. This is a slightly shortened version of the original cartridge, which is a long, tapered case, unlike the bottleneck Winchester and Marlin 25-20 cases.

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"Firearms only have two enemies - rust and politicans" author unknown

Yes, the 25-20 is a center fire cartridge. Seems to be shorter than the 25-21 and the 25-20 wcf. The problem with the liner right now is that it and the drill would run about 150.00. Its in such poor shape that a new barrel isn't going to impact Its worth, Its just a neat old gun that I would like to get shooting again. thanks

I don't think a .22 rimfire in a CF action is going to work very well !

Nope - will have to stick with a centerfire cartridge unless a 'smith does a major rework.

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If you are machining a new breech block then you can have it made for a rimfire and make it a 22 which is what that action was made for. Stevens made some of those actions in center fire early on and found out that the pivot pins would not take the pressure and caused wear and a lose action. They made a model 44 1/2 which was a falling block and a much stronger action for center fires.

rdm45/70