how far will a 25 06 shoot?

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johnnyappleseed

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i've got a tack driving winchester 25 06 sporter with a nightforce f1 mildot on top of it. i haven't shot any big game past 200 yards with it, but i shot a prairie dog at 450 yards with a cheap Leupold scope once with the same rifle. anyway i'm thinking about getting rid of them both to get a 243 ar built and a lighter scope. i plan to use match bullets and try to hit stuff out to 1000 yards. before i start wheeling and dealing, i could get a kenton industries turret and experiment with it for long range. what would you do?
 
Let's define the question a bit more. Do you want to know how far you can hunt with a .25-06, how far you can target shoot with a .25-06, or something to do with a .243?
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This.

The .25-06 is a more powerful cartridge than the .243, period. As such, it will be more capable in general. However, paper doesn't care how big a bullet is or how much energy it carries, so the .243 will provide more economical and lower recoil target shooting.
 
While the 25-06 is the better deer rifle of the two the 243 can be loaded with higher BC bullets for 1000yd shooting, that said the 6.5mm quadruplets (6.5x55. 260 Rem, 6.5 Creedmore, and 6.5x47) make them both look silly in high crosswinds, as do the harder kicking 7mms.
 
Not sure why you want to go from a bolt action to a AR frame, unless it's for more rounds in the magazine. While I like your choice of the 243 for an AR, I just don't see what you gain at 1,000 yards. This is not the distance or purpose that I would use an AR at over that of your 25-06.

I would go with having a turret cut for your nightforce on the 25-06 and save for an AR-15 in 223 for 0-600 meter shots instead of an AR-10.

But that's just me.
Jim
 
My 25-06 has killed groundhogs as far as 600 yards,and I wouldn't be afraid to try a deer out as far as 500.I think the 243 might have an accuracy edge in my experience,but that's mostly because match grade bullet makers tend to step over the 25 caliber.Both are good cartridges,the 243 has less recoil and is a short action round,and the 25-06 has more horsepower.I have rifles chambered in both and like either one for whitetails.For anything bigger,I would give the 25 the nod.
 
i mainly want to shoot coyotes, antelope, and/or deer at long range. i hate recoil and for some reason i got scope bit at the range the last time i shot the 25 06 with the nightforce scope. so i'm a bit gunshy.

i've got a 204 ar with a swaro 4-12 scope on the side and it's my go to fun gun. the 25 06 ain't so fun no more so i'm trying to think of another option.
 
johnnyappleseed said:
i mainly want to shoot coyotes, antelope, and/or deer at long range. i hate recoil and for some reason i got scope bit at the range the last time i shot the 25 06 with the nightforce scope. so i'm a bit gunshy.

i've got a 204 ar with a swaro 4-12 scope on the side and it's my go to fun gun. the 25 06 ain't so fun no more so i'm trying to think of another option.
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I'd get the AR10 in 260 if you want long range and good performance on game.
 
for some reason i got scope bit at the range the last time i shot the 25 06 with the nightforce scope
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This is a technique issue. The .25-06 has very modest recoil by pretty much any standard. About 14-16 ft/lbs @ 11-12 FPS in an 8 lb sporter.
 
Recoil shouldn't be a factor with the 25-06 unless the scope's set too far back and/or doesn't have enough eye relief.Maybe that "cheap" Leupold would have been a better choice,they have plenty.
 
Ridgerunner665 said:
The 7mm-08 is what you're looking for...very good ballistics, very little recoil.
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My 7mm-08 is great, but the mid range 6.5s can beat them by 100fps with similar BC. I shoot and love both but I think of my 6.5 as more of a range king and my 7mm-08 more of a hunting rifle. But both are dual purpose rifles without a doubt.
 
you just want another rifle. Nothing wrong with that. Keep the 25/06, buy a 260 Remington

Put the Cheap Leupold back on the 25/06 and the nightforce scope on the 260 Remington

I have a 25/06 and believe it to be a much better hunting cartridge than the 243. The 260 Remington is a better long range target rifle than the 243.

Buy more gun help the economy recover.
 
I shoot alot of deer every year and have learned sell imposed limits on the range i will use a certain caliber to shoot or pass on a deer. 400 is about it for deer sized game with the 25-06 and that is only with precise bullet placement if you want clean fast kills. No doubt you could kill a deer at 600 but id bet a dime to a dollar your going to do some searching for it.
 
"The 7mm-08 is what you're looking for...very good ballistics, very little recoil"
What he said
 
They are pretty close but 243 has better bullets for long range shooting. For maximum point blank hunting I chose 25-06 easily, and even better is 257 weatherby mag.
 
I've owned a .25-06 for 35 years, if you're talking hunting small to medium game it's a great cartridge, and to be honest I wouldn't trade it for any others that were mentioned here. I also do not hunt with match bullets and use only bullets designed for the task I'm performing.

Varmint hunting I've shot game to 600 yards, deer sized game I've taken to 350 yards (longest shot I had at a deer). Recoil is not bad with this cartridge either. If you got hit with a scope you better get another with longer eye relief or send it in for repair. In 35 years of shooting I've yet to have a scope hit me. I consider the .25-06 very hard to beat for what you want to hunt, especially if long shots are the order of the day.

As good as this cartridge is it just isn't meant for long range target shooting. There are no match bullets made in this caliber that I consider decent.
 
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Also, if you want to cut the recoil on that .25-06 use 87 gr bullets as long as you're not hunting deer. I use this weight for varmint hunting.
 
joed said:
I've owned a .25-06 for 35 years, if you're talking hunting small to medium game it's a great cartridge, and to be honest I wouldn't trade it for any others that were mentioned here. I also do not hunt with match bullets and use only bullets designed for the task I'm performing.

Varmint hunting I've shot game to 600 yards, deer sized game I've taken to 350 yards (longest shot I had at a deer). Recoil is not bad with this cartridge either. If you got hit with a scope you better get another with longer eye relief or send it in for repair. In 35 years of shooting I've yet to have a scope hit me. I consider the .25-06 very hard to beat for what you want to hunt, especially if long shots are the order of the day.

As good as this cartridge is it just isn't meant for long range target shooting. There are no match bullets made in this caliber that I consider decent.
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Evidently,You've never shot the 115gr Berger VLD's with your 25/06.
It's a great long range target/hunting 25 cal bullet.
 
Txhillbilly, I have shot those and even have a supply of them in the reloading room. As good as they are they don't come close to some of the other cals when you look at the bc.

But, I consider the .25-06 a hunting cartridge and not something that I would use for F class target shooting. For hunting varmints to large deer I'd take it over any of the cartridges that were suggested above. The .25-06 is a great long range hunting cartridge. With the 87 gr bullets it's the hardest hitting varmint cartridge I've ever seen. With the 120 gr bullets it's a fine medium game cartridge.

I don't hunt Elk with mine as there are none in OH. A friend out west has taken countless Elk with his though.
 
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The BC of the Berger 115 is .466...thats not awesome or anything, but it will reach out and get them all the same.

MV 3,100 fps...

It stays supersonic (accurate) out to 1,100 yards, maintains 1,800 fps (bullet expansion) out to 700 yards, and still has over 1,000 ft. lbs. of energy at 600 yards (deer killer).

Don't sell it short, the 25-06 can and will kill deer at 600 yards...with authority.

For elk...I'd limit it to 400 yards.
 
Kachok said:
While the 25-06 is the better deer rifle of the two the 243 can be loaded with higher BC bullets for 1000yd shooting, that said the 6.5mm quadruplets (6.5x55. 260 Rem, 6.5 Creedmore, and 6.5x47) make them both look silly in high crosswinds, as do the harder kicking 7mms.
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The .243 loaded with good long range bullets will totally hold it's own against the 6.5s in high crosswinds. With the high BC bullets, the 6.5's you mentioned simply give up too much velocity to the .243 for a marginal gain in BC. Look at what the long range match shooters are using and you'll see a lot of 6mms that essentially use a wildcat to duplicate the ballistics of the .243. The .260, shooting a 140 Berger Hybrid at 2800 fps exhibits 4" more wind drift (and 33" more drop) at 1k than a .243 shooting a DTAC 115VLD at 3000 fps. Most any respectable long range cartridge will make the .25-06 look like a joke in the wind, but the .243 is a very, very capable long range cartridge and the 6.5mms while capable in their own right struggle to keep up. The idea that they make the .243 "look silly" in the wind is just, well, silly.
 
i have no idea why i got scoped. it's my first time. anyway now i'm thinking of trading the 3-15 nightforce in for their 10 power with a 6oo yard reticle and put it on top of the 25 06. it'll at least reduce some weight. i've got a kid's savage bolt 243 on the side i can always fall back on.
 
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