R.F.M. Twentyfive

The Twentyfive sits at the top of what R.F.M. builds for clay target shooters. They have had the SK One in that space for years, and Nick was quick to point out it has been a consistent, reliable performer, but the Twentyfive was built to serve a different customer. This one is aimed at the shooter who wants premium performance and plans to run many, many thousands of rounds through one gun.

Here is the part that changes how you read every spec below. R.F.M. builds these one by one for each individual customer, so what you see in the video is not necessarily what you get. The custom fit stock is included in the base price, and almost everything else on the gun is a conversation rather than a catalog choice.

• MSRP: Around $10,000 base with custom fit stock included
• Available Gauges: 12
• Barrel Length Options: 30 inch on the gun we shot, 32 inch available, 34 inch still TBD
• Chamber Size: 70 mm and 76 mm (2 3/4 inch and 3 inch)
• Weight: 8 lb 11 oz as configured with 30 inch barrels
• Length of Pull: Built to your dimensions, not a fixed number
• Stock: Custom fit stock built to your dimensions. The one we shot was build had a Monte Carlo comb and an aggressive pistol grip. Prince of Wales, conventional combs and other grip shapes are all on the table
• Trigger: Dropout trigger group, selective single trigger, coil main springs
• Chokes: Interchangeable on this build, fixed chokes available on request
• Extras: Boss style sliding locking bolt, trunnion hinge pins, long forcing cones, beavertail forend, 11 mm flat non-tapered rib on this build with 7 mm and raised ribs available, top tang safety, barrel selector optional, hand fitted action, hand engraving

Ergonomics

The first thing I want to be upfront about is that this gun does not fit me. It was built as a prototype, the comb is too high for me and it was too high for Nick as well, and I was catching a little bit in the face because of it. That is not a knock on the gun, it is the whole point of the gun, and I will come back to that.

Working from the butt forward, the pad on this one is cushier than what Upland Gun Company would normally hang on a hunting gun, and pad choice is entirely yours. Color options are available, and if a target shooter wants a specific pad installed once the gun lands here, that can happen in the US.

The stock has some interesting contours going on. There is a crescent shape at the bottom of the grip that I have seen on a few other guns, along with some cutouts that I have not seen anywhere else. I liked the grip, even on a stock that was not cut for me.

Now the thing that really stands out is the checkering, or more accurately the lack of it. Alberto, one of the stock makers at the factory, wanted to do something different on this build and put a rippled, circular texture in place of traditional checkering. It repeats on the forend, and R.F.M. says it is meant to be reminiscent of a clay target. You do not have to order it that way, standard checkering is available, but I would also call out that Alberto can cut a stock with your full handprint in it if that is what you want.

The gun we shot wore an 11 mm flat non-tapered rib. Raised ribs and 7 mm ribs are both available. Same story with the barrel selector, which this one did not have, and the choke tubes. The rule Nick gave me on R.F.M. is a good one to remember. If you do not see it, just ask.

Recoil and Reliability

I want to be careful here, because this was a first look and not a full review, and a gun that does not fit you is not a fair test of felt recoil. What I can tell you is that at 8 lb 11 oz with 30 inch barrels, there is plenty of gun soaking up the shot. Anything I felt in the face traced back to comb height, not to the way the gun handles recoil.

A lot of times you will see me do a review and say I am getting hit in the face, or this is happening with recoil. A properly fit gun can have a major impact on all of that, and that is exactly the problem R.F.M. is trying to solve by cutting the stock for the shooter instead of asking the shooter to adapt.

On the reliability side, this thing is built with tournament life in mind. Coil main springs instead of leaf springs, a dropout trigger group you can pull and service on the clock, and a locking bolt that can be replaced without a pile of mechanical adjustments. Del Whitman walked me through all of it, and we will get into that next.

Want even less recoil? We love the FalconStrike recoil reduction systems.

Breakdown / Quality of Build

For the technical side I sat down with Del Whitman of DC Whitman Custom Gunsmithing, who is a master gunfitter, stock maker and gunsmith, and who knows R.F.M. about as well as anyone in the country. The first thing he pointed to was not a part at all. When you are investing in a gun at this level and shooting tournaments with it, you want the dimensions right out of the gate, without compensating and without adjusting.

From there it is the locking system. The Twentyfive uses a sliding locking bolt in a boss style setup, which Del described as very positive, very strong and very serviceable. If the bolt ever wears to the point of needing replacement, you put a new bolt in and move on.

The other thing I kept coming back to is the shoulders on the monoblock. A lot of monoblocks are simply flat, and this one is not. The sides of the barrel shank stabilize the barrel side to side inside the action, and the bosses carry the trunnion hinge pins that hold the barrels and action together. The rear trunnion forms the locking bite, and the bolt slides over that little platform and puts downward pressure on the barrels to hold the gun shut while you shoot it.

That design is doing something for the life of the gun. R.F.M. removed material where it was not doing much work and added it back into the action, so there is more material holding everything together and less opportunity for flex. Del summed it up simply. It gives the action more rigidity.

Inside, you get coil springs rather than spread leaf springs, and main springs are usually the thing that lets go. Anyone competent can swap them. The dropout trigger group means you can pull it mid tournament, look at the architecture, see exactly what is going on, and service it, and you can keep a spare group on hand if you want to. I pulled the trigger group out earlier in the day and had not put it back, and getting it back in took about five seconds.

A couple of other things worth knowing. The forcing cones are long, the choke system on this build is interchangeable, and a lot of the fitting on this action and locking system is done by hand at the factory. This is not machined and slapped together.

Shooting Experience

I want to be upfront before I say anything about how this gun shoots. It does not fit me. The comb is high on me, I was catching a little in the face, and that is on the fit and not on the gun. So what I paid attention to at the station was not whether targets were breaking, it was how the gun moved while I was doing it.

It moves beautifully. There is no hitch getting it started and no fight getting it stopped, and it goes where I am looking without me having to steer it there. On a true pair, where a gun will either stay with you or start working against you, it stayed with me every time.

The trigger is the other thing I kept noticing. It breaks clean and it breaks light, which is exactly what I want on a target gun. I am not a trigger snob in the technical sense, I could not tell you much about the mechanics of it, but I can tell you when I pull one that it is good. This one is good.

Then Nick asked me to guess the weight. Standing there with it in my hands I said seven and a half pounds and felt pretty confident about it. He had put it on the scale that morning at 8 lb 11 oz. That is the part worth sitting with. I was off by more than a pound, and I do not miss by that much very often. Weight can be awfully deceptive depending on how a gun balances out, and this one feels lively in the hands despite being a heavy gun, which tells you the balance is dialed in about as well as it can be.

Here is the honest caveat. A gun that is not cut for me is a hard gun to judge fairly, and anything I felt in the face traces straight back to comb height. What I can say is that the parts fit does not touch, meaning the movement, the trigger and the balance, all came through clean. That is enough to make me want one built to my dimensions.

Final Thoughts

I am not going to pretend this was a full review, because it was not. It was a first look at a brand new gun with a stock cut for somebody else, and I still walked away wanting one.

What makes the Twentyfive interesting is not any single feature. It is that the custom fit stock comes with the gun, and the action, trigger and locking system underneath it are built to keep working through many thousands of rounds. For a while now I have thought R.F.M. was a little light on the clay side, and this answers that.

The honest hurdle is that custom sounds great right up until you realize you do not know your own dimensions. That is what a gun fitting is for, and Del does them. He is on Instagram and Facebook under DC Whitman Custom Gunsmithing, and he does fittings at Shotgun Fest every year.

I am a big advocate of getting coaching, and I am a big advocate of getting a gun that is actually built for you. If the budget is there, R.F.M. is a great option. We would love to get the Twentyfive back for a full review, so tell us if you want to see it.

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Whether our targets in the field or our targets in life, we'll only hit what we're focused on, live the #targetfocusedlife