# 25-06? too like, or not to like...



## Mr.CheddarNut (Jan 16, 2013)

So just thought I post a new topic on a specific caliber albeit the 25-06. Curious what some of the gun nuts personal thoughts are on this caliber? Ill leave it wide open at that.

Thanks

Cheddar


----------



## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

Great cartridge for thin skinned animals such as deer and antelope but marginal for elk but it will work. It is a little bit on the heavy side for coyotes unless you don't care about the hide and it works wonders on ground squirrels or parrie dogs, it just vaporizes them.


----------



## fishreaper (Jan 2, 2014)

i'm not too knowledgeable myself, but I've never heard anything bad about it. Only possible downside is several firearms I've seen chamber the 25-06 in a longer barrel relative to it's other similar cases. (.270,.280, 30-06) It has been used on everything from varmints to elk, but I don't know that it would be beneficial over the .270 unless you did a lot of a varmint hunting in addition to deer. ( assuming, that regular old soft points didn't fit your fancy, and you needed specialized v-max's or something) I kind of classify it in my mind as a super-charged .243 as far as purpose goes, perhaps a little more reach for stray cats.


----------



## martymcfly73 (Sep 17, 2007)

Love, Love, LOVE!!


----------



## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

Great Caliber. 

-DallanC


----------



## Cooky (Apr 25, 2011)

I have two. Great deer round and spectacular on coyotes with a 75gr hollow point. If you go up to elk be careful with bullet selection.
I do have to load to different OAL for the two guns. The throats are very different, one is an ER Shaw barrel the other factory Remington.


----------



## Springville Shooter (Oct 15, 2010)

This is a cartridge that shoots like a 22-250 and kills like a 270. Ballistically they are not impressive but man do they shoot. Beware, once you spend some time with the 25, your other guns will spend ALOT more time in the safe. I have 2 right now and have had several others including a couple Ackleys. The 257 Roberts is sweet too. My go to hunting rig right now is a custom 25-06 Ackley shooting 100gr Nosler Etips at 3500fps or so. The rifle shoots an honest 1/4 MOA and maintains at least MOA out to 500 yards. In the last 5 years I have taken 8 animals with one shot each. My daughter took an antelope with one shot and my friend took a whitetail with two shots. All that being said I think the 25 is light for elk. You will never regret owning one of these.-------SS


----------



## Wind In His Hair (Dec 31, 2009)

I love that you started a thread about this. Last night I spent a great deal of time reading up on several quarter bores; .25-06, .257 Roberts, .25-06 AI, .257 AI, .25 WSSM, .257 Weatherby Magnum, etc.. I'm interested in feedback as well, particularly related to barrel length.


----------



## Mr.CheddarNut (Jan 16, 2013)

I bought me one just over a year ago. A less expensive if you will, Savage Axis 25-06. My primary reason was for my wife and kids. My wife had a biopsy in her neck right side done several years ago that now any heavy trauma to that area could leave her permanantly damaged. ( numb arm etc.) So I wanted a rifle for her to shoot and hunt with that could *easily *take a deer but lower recoil for safety and ease of shooting that could also double as a hunting rifle for the young shooter. I also wanted a light weight rifle so they could carry it easily. I chose the 25-06! Now my reason for getting this particular rifle was...............I always wanted a 25-06 and................I wanted a little project of making a dead on tack driver out of a rifle that is on the lower end of expense using factory ammo. Mine is pretty dang accurate and I am getting into reloading and hope to bring those groups dialed in closer.

Cheddar


----------



## Mr.CheddarNut (Jan 16, 2013)

Wind In His Hair said:


> I love that you started a thread about this. Last night I spent a great deal of time reading up on several quarter bores; .25-06, .257 Roberts, .25-06 AI, .257 AI, .25 WSSM, .257 Weatherby Magnum, etc.. I'm interested in feedback as well, particularly related to barrel length.


There are a few excellent articles on Chuck Hawks about the 25-06 as well as ballistic comparisons


----------



## Springville Shooter (Oct 15, 2010)

24" is a good length for the 25-06. I like 25-26 for the Weatherby. My Ackley has a 25" #4 Douglas and it does a great job burning the charge of MRP.-----SS


----------



## waspocrew (Nov 26, 2011)

I love the 25-06 it's an excellent round! I've only taken one buck with it, but my younger brother took a nice whitetail and a few hogs with it down in TX this past fall. All of them were one shot kills.

My X bolt is a 24" barrel if memory serves me right. My FIL bought the .257 Wby and it's quite the shooter as well- just a bit more expensive ammo is all. All of the 25's have one thing in common: they are lasers. Especially with a 100 gr. pill!


----------



## Bo0YaA (Sep 29, 2008)

Ive thought long and hard about that one, but with a .243, .260, & .270 Ive already got to much overlap to justify it.


----------



## Wind In His Hair (Dec 31, 2009)

.25-06 sits right in that niche of bullet weights that I don't have covered already. I kinda wanted something with a shorter barrel length than my other rifles, but a couple extra inches really isn't that big a deal, and I should just get over that issue.


----------



## Mr.CheddarNut (Jan 16, 2013)

Does anyone have a good recipe for a 25-06 reload for improved accuracy? Keep in mind a novice reloader to be here... Specifics with powder, primer and bullet types and brands?


----------



## .45 (Sep 21, 2007)

Always fond of the 25-06 probably because of it being a wildcat. I used to shoot a single shot Browning with good success on deer and elk. A comfortable caliber with an accurate gun is a fine match.


----------



## Springville Shooter (Oct 15, 2010)

Mr.CheddarNut said:


> Does anyone have a good recipe for a 25-06 reload for improved accuracy? Keep in mind a novice reloader to be here... Specifics with powder, primer and bullet types and brands?


100gr Barnes TTSX
54.0 RL19
CCI 210M primer
3.140 OAL

This has been an absolute foolproof load in several rifles including my Vanguard.
Velocity is around 3250fps depending on the gun. As a side note, you should double check any load info that you get second hand.-----SS


----------



## Springville Shooter (Oct 15, 2010)

Bo0YaA said:


> Ive thought long and hard about that one, but with a .243, .260, & .270 Ive already got to much overlap to justify it.


If your 243 and your 270 hooked up, the offspring would be a 25-06!----SS


----------



## Dodger (Oct 20, 2009)

Springville Shooter said:


> If your 243 and your 270 hooked up, the offspring would be a 25-06!----SS


I keep hoping my 243 and my 270 would hook up and a 25-06 would just appear in my gun safe when I open the door.

Hasn't happened yet. My 270 might be gay.


----------



## 90redryder (Oct 10, 2011)

I've never shot one. However, I inherited a .257 Roberts for my first deer rifle and it is a hell of a good time to shoot. The ballistics are similar. It's a very flat shooting caliber, now that I don't use it on the deer hunt anymore I sighted it in with a 75 grain hornady vmax and it makes a great varmint rifle.


----------



## sawsman (Sep 13, 2007)

The 25-06 rocks!!

Great caliber.

.


----------



## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

sawsman said:


> The 25-06 rocks!!
> 
> Great caliber.
> 
> .


 Yer only saying that to get to the top of the page. 

The 25-06 is one of my favorites and the Goober household has been using them since the early 70s when the caliber wasn't all that popular. Now the 25-06 is on every gun manufacturer's list.

Oddly enough, the most accurate 25-06 I ever owned was a Smith & Wesson Model 1500 (a Howa) carbine. I think the barrel was 20" long, maybe shorter. The 1500s had cluncky triggers back then so I did some "metal work" on the sear and fixed it up. Eventually the family wore the thing out and I got rid of it. Wish I'd kept it and I've been looking for a Smith & Wesson 1500 25-06 carbine closet queen ever since.

Living in Wyoming I'm assured at least a couple antelope doe/fawn tags every year. I like to use new calibers and/or new reloads on them, but usually one of the tags gets filled with my favorite 25-06, a Remington 700, of course. I'll range a doe quietly feeding 400 to 450 yards away, get in a prone position, wait for the wind to die down some, and then put it to sleep.

100gr Nosler Partitions for antelope and 120gr Partitions for deer, both behind IMR 4350, work fine. 25-06 85 grain projectiles can be very accurate and super fast, some around 3700 fps. I did the 85 grain ballistic tip thingies for awhile and found they were "range specific"; over-performing at close distances and under-performing past 300 yards. There's a bajillion great 25 caliber bullets out there, I'm not up to speed on them like I could be.

My 25-06 bolt action rifles have Timney triggers set just under 3 lbs.


----------



## Frisco Pete (Sep 22, 2007)

I've always wanted a 25-06 but went on either side with a .243 and a .270.
Eventually I got a deal on a 2nd .270 which I traded for a 70's vintage Winchester Model 70 XTR 25-06. So the dream finally happened. And quite cheaply too :grin:
In fact now the original .270 Win has gone to my son, and the 25-06 is the replacement for it.

The stock is a bit scratched and needs refinishing or maybe replacing (laminated?) but the rifle shoots quite good. I put a spare Leupold 6x42mm scope on it.
Mine seems to like IMR 4064 and 75-gr V-Max bullets fine.

Basically it's very flat-shooting with light recoil and seems to hit plenty hard on deer size game. Its a red-mist maker on smaller varmints. What's not to like about such a user-friendly caliber?


----------

