After ordering some cases from Starline last week, I decided to join the chorus of requests on their web page for them to offer cases for 25-20 or 218 bee. I asked if it wouldn't be feasible to further work their 32-20 cases to produce cases for the other calibers. After all isn't the 32-20 the cartridge from which the other two were originally descended?
the very next day I received an email from them explaining their reasons for not making and selling those cases. Since I thought their response would be of interest to all the fans of the 25-20, I requested permission to post it on the CBA forum.
We can hope that some day the manufacturing technology they use will improve and make it a good business decision for them to offer thes cases. But for now it looks like squeezing down 32-20 cases may be our best bet.
Thank you for your request. It is a very popular one. Unfortunately not one we plan on producing, at least not any time soon. A lot of times customers complain that it is a pain in the rear to form those calibers from .32-20, and say it would be a lot easier for them to just buy it from us finished. The problem with that is that as hard as it is to form 1 at a time for them, it is even harder to do it on a machine that runs 100 parts per minute! Plus, there are some slight differences in body diameter dimensions between the 25-20/Bee and the .32-20. While our .32-20 is in the middle of the tolerance for its body diameter, it is actually slightly bigger than the max diameter for the .25-20/Bee. This doesn't cause a problem in very many firearms, but since it isn't in spec, we would have to start from scratch on all of the dies and tooling anyway.
Regards,
Hunter Pilant
Process Manager
Chief Ballistician