I held off from trying the .25-06 for years. I had used a friend's .25-06 to take one deer and helped clean a number he shot with the rifle and was definitely under-impressed. It killed well enough, but seemed to expand just a bit too much and thus lacked the penetration from all angles that I like.
What I wasn't thinking about was that he was using 100 grain bullets at maximum velosity.
Performance was much like that of the .270 using cup-and-core 130 grain bullets. It killed well (very well in fact), but sometimes didn't fully penetrate on angled shots or shots into the shoulders.....even on 125 pound whitetails. I had long since gone to 150 grain bullets in the .270 to obtain the performance I wanted.
I had used a .250-3000 for years and loved it. I always used 100 grain bullets as the heavier 120 grain slugs just didn't give enough velosity for flat trajectory.......so 100 grain bullets in the .25-06 seemed "right". Guess my brain just shut down for a while and I never thought about the larger case capasity of the .25-06......and so I ignored the .25-06 for years.
Then I obtained a nice Ruger 77 in .25-06 in a trade. I intended to trade it on something else, but decided to kill a few deer first. When I strted working up loads, lo and behold, the 120 grain loads weren't all that slow after all so I loaded up a batch.
What a difference!! With the heavier 120 grain bullet, the .25-06 became a killing machine and penetrated easily as well as the .270 with 150 grain bullets. In fact, the performance is almost identicle and I'd rate that loading as BETTER than the typical 130 grain loaded .270 for most uses.
If I was going to go after elk, I'd probably prefer a heavier rifle (just me....as it would work well), but for your use against deer (and smaller hogs even) the .25-06 will be near perfect as it shoots flat, penetrates well and does this with minimal recoil. If the .270 is the "perfect" sheep/mule deer rifle (and many consider it so) then the .25-06 is the "perfect" small deer rifle.
