Help me pick which .25-06 ammo for hunting.

double bogey said:

My Tikka likes 115 gr. ballistic tips. It also likes 100 gr. TTXS.

Could be something to do with break in, my Tikka didn't shoot anything well until about 50 rounds. I was about to lose patience, then bang, sub 3/4" groups with almost anything.

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Your Tikka is a 1 in 9" twist, right? I used Berger's online twist rate tool and it shows the 115 gr and heavier bullets as being marginally stable with the 1 in 10" twist in my Savage. I should have been more diligent doing by homework before buying because I really want to be able to shoot the heavies. I wouldn't have considered any rifle but the Tikka if I'd known that stability might be an issue for the other rifles.

That said, the Savage sure shoots the lighter bullets well. I suppose that the lighter bullets are probably better since this is really a rifle for my daughter and they should produce less recoil. I'll just have to make sure I use a well constructed bullet.

Loyalist Dave said:

I have a question...,
Since they look like pretty good groups, and you're still breaking in the barrel AND working up a hand-load for that barrel, with you going after whitetail you should be good. So..., the question is, which bullet would also work well..., on you your next likely choice for game? Is there any favorite for your second, most likely quarry?? You're working up a load, and if all three of the bullets are fine for whitetails then why not work the load for additional game and THUS when you're settled on the right recipe..., you're good to go for just about anything that you want to harvest. That way you don't need to work up an additional load for another game animal, and if you get a phone call on a Thursday night akin to: "Hey I got a sweet deal on [fill in animal name] hunting this Saturday and I want you to join me!" You won't have time to work up another load, BUT because you already thought of that..., you won't have any worries about your hunting load.

LD

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Okay, I'm "game." Next most likely quarry would be black bear and/or coyote. We have a lot of both on our hunting property. They are also somewhat likely to be seen while we are hunting deer, so I'd like a deer round that works for them as well. That's why I'm leaning toward the Partition or the TTSX. I think I'll probably go with the Partition just because I've never used it on any game and never loaded with it. I have a good deal of experience with the Ballistic Tip and the TSX in my .300WM.

Just to recap (I think I wrote this already): This is a rifle I bought for my daughter for when she's ready to hunt dear (which in the People's Republic of NY is 14 y.o.). I wanted to find a factory load that was accurate and appropriate for deer before I spent time and money working on my own loads. I wanted to prove to myself that the rifle would shoot something accurately. Now that the rifle is proven, I am beginning to work on reduced recoil target loads (100 gr. SGK with H4895) so my daughter can practice comfortably at the range. Then, someday, I'll work on hunting loads. In the meantime, I'm going to stock up on a few boxes of the 100 gr. Partition and TTSX factory ammo. Given how often we shoot at game animals, it might be a long, long time before I need to work on hunting round.