I think you better buy that thing. 25-06 is great caliber. Myself I don't like noslers or speers or Barnes. Hornady bullets are good but bergers is where it's at. 115's touching the lands with a good stiff charge of h1000 or retumbo and shoot nice tight groups pretty fast that will drop deer right where they stand. You won't be disappointed. My favorite deer/antelope gun is my Remington sendero 25-06 with 60gr of retumbo pushin 115 Berger at 3209 with a br-2 to put it all in motion and even though it ain't a so called 1000 yd caliber I can make reliable repeatable hits on ten inch steel at that distance and just have fun doin it. Great caliber. Buy it.
25-06
- Thread starter rwk
- Start date
Lapua40X
California Hunter Education Instructor
What about vermin? ...
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Yes indeed, I agree. My point (which was not well expressed) is that you can expect short barrel life with that setup.
I have around 25 years experience with the 25-06. I help do crop damage control on a big farm in NC for 15 years where my buddy and I took 100 deer each year. We killed deer with about everything between a stick and a 45-70. The 25-06 shooting most any bullet 100 gr to 120 gr is just a flat out kill a deer in it's tracks caliber. If there was just one bullet that I had to live with for any yardage out to 500ish yards it would be the Sierra 117 Pro Hunter flat base bullet. It is very accurate in most any rifle and it kills deer dead right now. I shoot it in my current rifle, a Rem 700 Shilen SS #6 26" barrel 25-06. I load 49 grs IMR or AA 4350 in a Remington case, CCI 250 mag primer, 117 Sierra Pro Hunter 20 thousands off the lands. I average 3000 fps and 1/3 MOA accuracy out to 500 yards on a calm day. The term "brush busting calibers" sounds good but from experience it is just a hunk of bologna. It does not matter how big, slow, fast etc. a bullet is going if it hits a twig, limb etc. usually you are not going to hit what you were aiming at. Go ahead and shoot that 25-06 in the brush. You will probably shoot it better than larger caliber rifles because it has very light recoil and most are dead nuts accurate. Another great bullet is the Nosler 115 Partition especially under 300 yards. It shoots through and through from most any angle. It does not shoot as flat at longer ranges as others because it is not as sleek. Two loads that have shot the best for me are kind of a standard 25-06 load. One is the above mentioned and the other is 52 grs H4831 with 115 to 120 gr bullets. In my experience the 25-06 likes to shoot real close to max if not max loads with most any bullet weight. If you want to shoot 100 gr bullets 52 grs IMR or AA 4350 usually is a tack driver. For ground hogs the 87 gr Sierra with 52.2 grs IMR 4350 has always shot well for me. It will red mist and scatter pieces when it hits a ground hog. You will love that 25-06.
I've hunted upstate NY with a .25-'06 TC Pro Hunter with great success. A properly constructed bullet will not leave you with 180 lbs of bloodshot meat, even at short ranges. I've stuck with 117 gr. and 120 gr. bullets for medium game, pushing them with a variety of powders including AA3100, H4831SC, H870 and RL-22. A case full of H870 behind a 120 gr. Speer SPBT is potent deer medicine. I've taken deer anywhere from just beyond arm's length to just under 500 yd. with the 120 Speer and it has always delivered excellent terminal performance.
Whistle pigs when the wind blows too hard for the .20s and the .22s? The 75 gr. A-Max in front of H4350 can easily exceed 3,700 fps out of a 26" barrel and that will just plain cream anything it hits.
Love the .25-'06. It's easy to load for, easy to shoot and bullet selection is better than it has ever been. Go for it - I'm willing to bet you won't regret it.
Whistle pigs when the wind blows too hard for the .20s and the .22s? The 75 gr. A-Max in front of H4350 can easily exceed 3,700 fps out of a 26" barrel and that will just plain cream anything it hits.
Love the .25-'06. It's easy to load for, easy to shoot and bullet selection is better than it has ever been. Go for it - I'm willing to bet you won't regret it.
The .25-06 is a great cartridge, I've owned one for 38 years now. I've used it for hunting groundhogs, deer and even bear in Canada at one time.
The 85 to 90 gr bullets are fine for varmint hunting and that is what I use it for mostly. With RL19 these bullets are traveling just over 3600 fps.
The 100 gr is probably the best all around bullet, good for anything up to deer.
A 115 to 120 gr bullet is great for bigger animals.
I've used just about every bullet made by Sierra or Nosler in mine, all shot great. Lately I've tried some Berger 115 VLDs and even they shoot promising groups. Haven't shot anything but paper with them so far though.
Also found the cartridge isn't picky on powders. I've burned a lot of IMR4350 and RL19. Any powder close to this burn rate will probably work.
The 85 to 90 gr bullets are fine for varmint hunting and that is what I use it for mostly. With RL19 these bullets are traveling just over 3600 fps.
The 100 gr is probably the best all around bullet, good for anything up to deer.
A 115 to 120 gr bullet is great for bigger animals.
I've used just about every bullet made by Sierra or Nosler in mine, all shot great. Lately I've tried some Berger 115 VLDs and even they shoot promising groups. Haven't shot anything but paper with them so far though.
Also found the cartridge isn't picky on powders. I've burned a lot of IMR4350 and RL19. Any powder close to this burn rate will probably work.
These two bucks went bang flop with a 115 gr Nos Bal Tip.
The big buck was with 3050 fps muzzle at 100 yards.
The small buck was with 3185 fps muzzle at 250 yards.
The first was with a 25-06, the second with a 257RAI rimmed, but the deer does not know the difference.
The big buck was with 3050 fps muzzle at 100 yards.
The small buck was with 3185 fps muzzle at 250 yards.
The first was with a 25-06, the second with a 257RAI rimmed, but the deer does not know the difference.
Attachments
I currently have 2 different 700's in 25-06. One is a first-year production (1969) that has over 3000 rounds down the tube. Chasing the lands a bit but it still shoots the 110 AB's into sub-5" groups from the bench when I do my part. At last count, it's put more meat on the table than all of my other rifles combined. This one also accounted for my first two elk. Both were 1 shot DRT shots.
The 2nd one 'only' has 2000 or so rounds through it and it too loves the 110 AB's.
Both rifles I'm using 7977 as the powder.
The 2nd one 'only' has 2000 or so rounds through it and it too loves the 110 AB's.
Both rifles I'm using 7977 as the powder.
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