[bratch]

I'm going to use my .25-06 this season.

What is a good factory round for Oklahoma White Tail?

I'm hunting open areas around woods in the south-central part of the state; Pauls Valley area.

What would be a good distance to zero the rifle?

Thanks

[Larry Ashcraft]

When I was buying factory loads for my 25-06 (for antelope), I used the Winchester Premium load for light-skinned game. Can't remember now I believe it was a 120 grain Positive Expanding point bullet.

Now I handload 100 grain Nosler Ballistic Tips to about 3300 fps.

My rifle is zeroed at 300, but is only 3.5" high at 100.

[berettashotgun]

Almost any factory round that is heavier than 95gr is plenty good for killing deer. 200 yard zero will cause a pretty forgiving trajectory with your parameters for killing deer. Did I say "killing deer" 2X?

[critter]

My 25-06 loves a load almost identical to that Larry suggested with the 100 gr Nosler BT. Get something as close to it as you can and give them a try. Bullets up to 120 gr will do a number on any kind of deer type critter. Flat shooter too.

Mine is a 1909 Argentine Model 98 Mauser with a 26" Shilen barrel on it. It is superbly accurate. Good medecine!

[Matt G]

Anybody's quality 120g load is excellent. Well-constructed 100g loads are great (and wonderfully flat-shooting), but some are too lightly-constructed for close shots.

Remigton offers a 115g load at 3000 that's about perfect in weight/velocity for all deer and even on up to black bear and elk, IMO. Using the Ballistic Calculator (http://www.handloads.com/calc/), I find that, with a scope 1.5" above centerline of the bore, you can sight in for dead-on at 250yards, and never be more than 3.5" above or below the point of aim out to 300 yards:
http://www.thehighroad.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=28498&stc=1

[bratch]

Thanks guys.

I was looking at Academy and they had 115gr Win. Silvetips, 117 gr Federal BTHP, and some 120 gr Remington CoreLokt. Sounds like any of those will do the job.

[riddleofsteel]

It is amazing how many 30-06 or .308 based cartridges that will perform great sighted in 3 inches high at 100 yards.

25-06 Remington Sendero 26" barrel
117 grain Hornady SPBT IL
53.5 grains H4831 CCI BR-2 primer
3250 FPS
sighted in 3" high at 100 yards

second column is the height above or below line of sight.


10 -1.1 43 3224 2700 53.88 0.009 0.0 0 688
20 -0.5 10 3198 2656 53.45 0.019 0.0 1 671
30 0.0 0 3172 2614 53.02 0.028 0.1 1 655
40 0.6 -5 3146 2571 52.59 0.038 0.1 1 639
50 1.0 -8 3121 2530 52.16 0.047 0.2 1 624
60 1.5 -10 3095 2489 51.73 0.057 0.2 2 609
70 1.9 -10 3070 2448 51.31 0.067 0.3 2 594
80 2.3 -11 3045 2408 50.89 0.076 0.4 2 580
90 2.6 -11 3020 2369 50.47 0.086 0.6 2 565
100 3.0 -11 2995 2330 50.06 0.096 0.7 3 552
110 3.2 -11 2970 2292 49.64 0.106 0.8 3 538
120 3.4 -11 2946 2254 49.23 0.116 1.0 3 525
130 3.6 -11 2921 2217 48.82 0.127 1.2 3 512
140 3.8 -10 2897 2180 48.42 0.137 1.4 4 499
150 3.9 -10 2873 2144 48.01 0.147 1.6 4 487
160 4.0 -9 2849 2108 47.61 0.158 1.8 4 475
170 4.0 -9 2825 2073 47.21 0.168 2.0 5 463
180 4.0 -8 2801 2038 46.81 0.179 2.3 5 451
190 3.9 -8 2777 2004 46.42 0.190 2.5 5 440
200 3.8 -7 2754 1970 46.03 0.201 2.8 5 429
210 3.6 -7 2730 1937 45.64 0.212 3.1 6 418
220 3.4 -6 2707 1904 45.25 0.223 3.5 6 407
230 3.2 -5 2684 1871 44.86 0.234 3.8 6 397
240 2.9 -5 2661 1839 44.48 0.245 4.1 7 387
250 2.5 -4 2638 1808 44.09 0.256 4.5 7 377
260 2.1 -3 2615 1777 43.71 0.268 4.9 7 367
270 1.7 -2 2593 1746 43.33 0.279 5.3 7 358
280 1.2 -2 2570 1716 42.96 0.291 5.7 8 349
290 0.6 -1 2548 1686 42.58 0.303 6.2 8 340
300 0.0 0 2525 1657 42.21 0.315 6.6 8 331
310 -0.7 1 2503 1628 41.84 0.326 7.1 9 322
320 -1.4 2 2481 1599 41.47 0.339 7.6 9 314
330 -2.2 3 2459 1571 41.11 0.351 8.1 9 305
340 -3.0 3 2438 1544 40.74 0.363 8.6 10 297
350 -3.9 4 2416 1516 40.38 0.375 9.2 10 290
360 -4.8 5 2394 1489 40.02 0.388 9.8 10 282
370 -5.8 6 2373 1463 39.66 0.400 10.4 11 274
380 -6.9 7 2352 1437 39.31 0.413 11.0 11 267
390 -8.1 8 2331 1411 38.95 0.426 11.6 11 260
400 -9.3 9 2310 1386 38.60 0.439 12.2 12 253

[Matt G]

RiddleofSteel, 4.0" high at 170 is a little high for me, just to have the braggin' rights to being dead on at 300 :)

The .25-'06 really benefits from that 26" barrel, doesn't it? I would imagine that 4550, 4064, and RL19 or RL22 make good powders for it, as well.

[riddleofsteel]

Based on a point blank range that allows an 8 inch circle. Four inches above line of sight and four inches below line of sight. I have killed deer from 25 yards out to 385 yards with no problem from tower stands using this rifle so I know it works. This Sendero is a "fast rifle." It can safely digest enough H4831 to reach 3250 FPS with no signs of over pressure. The extra two inches of barrel really help in that respect.

[Matt G]

I sought the slowest powder that would work with .300 WinMag for loading up loads for my Sendero. Turned out a healthy jigger of RL22 was the medicine for it. I played with the tables (didn't have ballistic calculators available to me in the mid '90s), and came up with dead-on at about 270 yards, to keep my shots no more than 3.25" above the aimpoint before 300.

[killzone]

If I would want to use a smaller cal for deer I would use nothing but 270 and its WSM nowadays. It feels better to shoot that, I dont know I guess I just never had much luck with .25-06 sofar