Looking for .25-06

[Dthunter]

I shoot the Berger 115 grain VLD. It is very accrurate and fast!
The 120gr. Nosler partition has killed me many moose, elk,whitetail,mule deer, bears etc.
Low recoil, and accurate.

I would seriously reccomend a 24"+ barrel. Otherwise you wont get full ballistic advantage from the cartridge.

 

[flashhole]

Mine is a Ruger #1V.



Shoots pretty good with my handloads. This was 150 yards off the hood of my pickup.



Nosler makes an excellet 115 grain ballistic tip bullet for whitetail. I'm still looking for this guy. My wife took the picture 5 minutes after I left for work. He was 60 yards from the house in the orchard knocking apples out of the trees with his antlers. She is not gun savy. She has snice learned how to shoot the 25-06 and likes it.

 

[jfremder]

Mine is a Ruger #1V.



Shoots pretty good with my handloads. This was 150 yards off the hood of my pickup.



Nosler makes an excellet 115 grain ballistic tip bullet for whitetail. I'm still looking for this guy. My wife took the picture 5 minutes after I left for work. He was 60 yards from the house in the orchard knocking apples out of the trees with his antlers. She is not gun savy. She has snice learned how to shoot the 25-06 and likes it.

Nice group. Have the exact same Ruger. Been chasing results like that. Any loads to share?

 

[Peter M. Eick]

Nice shooting. My #1 25/06 looks identical. I also shoot a Sendero 25/06 which gave me this target.



A nice 5 shot group but I misread the wind on the one shot and blew the group.

The 25/06 is a great round. It has plenty of power but does not beat you up like a 30/06 can do to you. I think nothing of shooting 200 to 300 25/06's in a day but 300 30/06's and I start flinching toward the end.

Looking back on it, if I had bought a 25/06 first, I would not have bought a 7/08 for hunting. With decent bullets I just don't need something with more power on tap.

 

[flashhole]

jfremder - I use a near max charge of Retumbo powder for 100 - 120 grain bullets with a strong preference for the Nosler 115 grain ballistic tips. The performance is boring. Always making one ragged hole. 100 grain bullets are shown in the photo. I also use reformed HXP headstamp 30-06 brass.

You might also be interested in this link.

http://shootersforum.com/showthread.htm?t=17533&highlight=Ruger+approach



Nice shooting Peter. I love it when people post pictures of 5 shot groups - or more. I've shot mine enought to know my gun's POI drifts to the right as it warms up.

 

[Peter M. Eick]

Well, if you like more shots on the target.....



25/06 Sendero, 200 yrds, 50 shots, off the bench.



25/06 Sendero, 200 yrds, 50 shots, off the bench.

 

[flashhole]

Not trying to hijack the thread but the OP was asking about target and hunting capabilties in the same gun. That was my original reason for buying the 25-06 but soon got away from the dual purpose and just use it for hunting now.

This is from another gun but it is a game we play at the range. First shot has to be in the 10 ring to allow you to keep shooting. Each shooter goes in succession one shot at a time. After a 10-ring entry the object is to put as many shots in the 1.5" target as you can without two holes touching. Again, each shooter goes in succession one shot at a time. This was a winning target. Two holes touching is a looser. A shot not cleanly inside the target is a looser. Each shot makes a smaller target than the shot before. Sounds easy but it's pretty challenging.

 

[4895]

That's a heck of a target. Perhaps my original question is better off in the RIFLE section, but I thought fellow reloaders would have better experience regarding the Tikka T3 Stainless Lite rifle. I understand now that a 24" barrel is better for target and long range hunting. I have spent quite a few hours hiking, tracking, scouting, hunting in some pretty rough wilderness in the Southern Arizona mountains. I was hoping the 6 lb. 3 oz. rifle would pay dividends after a long hike even if the barrel is about 22.5". Anyone have a suggestion on rifle make/model that would suit me well?

 

[MachIVshooter]

No Tikka here, but my '99 production 700 BDL is quite accurate, and I've managed to work up some impressive handloads in it's 24" tube.

The 25-06 takes much more powder, a longer case, and only offers maybe 300 fps advantage over the .243 with a 100 gr bullet.

Ummm, no. I run 100 gr. TSX-BT at 3,585 FPS from my 24" .25-06. 117 gr. Sierras are clocking 3,195 FPS avg. Yes, these loads are a touch over max (about 7%), but show no pressure signs. Overload the .243 by the same margin, you still can't get within 500 FPS of the 100 gr. velocity.

 

[flashhole]

A 24" or 26" barrel will not be more or less accurate than a 20" or 22" barrel. The advantage of the longer barrel is higher velocity which translates to flatter trajectory over longer distances. I refer to the 25-06 as the reach-out-and-touch-something gun. I run my loads at max or very near max because that's where I get the best performance.

 

[Peter M. Eick]

That is my one complaint with my Ruger. The short 24" barrel. With an action like the #1, I don't know why they did not at least put a 26" on it. When I burn this barrel out, I will probably go a 27 or 28" just because it would fit in the safe still get some more velocity out of the gun. It would still be shorter or about the length of my sendero with a 26" tube.

 

[LeadDownRange]

I have a Ruger M77 MKII in 25-06, very accurate but the ammo is expensive compared to 30-06 or 308. Does anyone have a source for better priced 25-06?

Also, I have a Remington 7600 in 30-06 but am looking for a bolt-action. I'd like to find a rifle that shoots the easiest obtainable and least expensive ammo so should I go for .308?

 

[Mykey]

The 25.06 is an awesome caliber! I've had several different rifles chambered in the 25.06 over the past 25yrs and currently own a Rem 700 CDL in this caliber. It's not a hard caliber to load for and like already mentioned there's lots of components out there for it. My favorite powder for the 25 is RE22 but i've had great results with others as well. The 25.06 is a fast flat shooting caliber with mild recoil that hits the target hard and kills like lighting. The only regret you'll have if you decide to purchase one is that you didn't get one sooner.

 

[gkc1111]

I have a friend who loads nothing but Barnes TTSX or TSX for his hunting loads and will shoot nothing else. I recently purchased a 25-06 and like the reviews on the Barnes bullet but I'm wondering if anyone can say for sure how good they are. I'm looking at using the TSX 115gr FB. The largest game I'm hunting is Whitetail.

 

[Pit4Brains]

I'm looking at using the TSX 115gr FB. The largest game I'm hunting is Whitetail.

I have dropped three cow elk with 100 gr Barnes Triple Shock bullets. The first was about 430 yards as best as I could measure and the others were between 200 and 300 yards. I got into the solid copper bullets when they introduced the California Condors into the Grand Canyon ( I hunt just south of there in Az game unit 10). The solids not only leave the gut pile lead free, but open up to a flower of razor-like pedals and pass clear thru the animal. I haven't hit a bone other than ribs yet, but I would imagine it would do even more damage.
I have a 30-06 Savage bolt and a single-shot H&R 25-o6 with the heavy barrel. I prefer to hunt with the single-shot.

You may want to stay with the lower weight bullet, like 100 and below. The higher weight bullets tend to shoot a wider group (in my experience) . I am slowly working on different loads to try and tighten up bigger weights at 200 yds.

You can load 87 gr bullets and shoot very fast and therefore very flat at varmints and yotes and such.

I highly recommend the 25-06 for a wide variety of game at all ethical distances.