Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 25-06 Performance on Elk & Moose?

And more important to me is the reduction in meat loss when shooting those evil little bastards!

I'm w/doc on this one. Use the 117-120gr Partitions w/a good dose of IMR7828 or RL19 and get to killin about anything in the deer family. To put it another way...the 270W is suppose to be an excellent round w/the 130gr but the 25-06 w/the 120 can't make the grade. Think how utterly silly that sounds. powdr

I don't know anyone who uses a 270 who doesn't much prefer heavier bullets when it comes to moose.



This 140 A-Frame struck a moose behind the right front leg, and stopped in the heavy muscle of the left shoulder. A 130 Core-lokt bullet would undoubtedly have worked as well on that particular shot presentation, or a 100 grain 243, a 55 FMJ 223, etc, but a few inches forward could easily change the money I'd play on the shot. Moose aren't hard to kill, (not to be confused with being 'soft targets'.)

Just for perspective….



this humerus is shown with the upper "ball" - where it connects with the scapula: "shoulder blade" on the left, the "elbow" joint (or knee as Sitka Deer referred to it), to the right side. These bones collected from a mature bull moose.

The very first Barnes/monolithic bullet I fired into an animal landed in the big "upper" joint…



It was a 225 XFB fired at around 2900 fps from a 340 Weatherby. The animal was approximately 200 yards from the rifle. It traversed the animal from side to side, broke both big upper balls, and blistered the hide…..ending up looking like



….second from left


And, assuming one stays off from these big bones, the shoulders of a mature moose are still well guarded by a plentiful quantity of heavy muscle which generally provide 'substantial' resistance to penetration by good bullets, as was demonstrated on our most recent moose which stopped ...



...two 300 grain Partitions fired from a 375 H&H at less than 50 yards.

But again, 55 FMJs have worked…quite well actually when things are right (though I've also seen the other kind of 'things'….when something like a 300 mag was handy for preventing a true blue rodeo. )

Whoops... yeah, knee... That is a lot of bone by any name, even the wrong one!

I had a pretty weird thing happen on the moose I just shot... the shot was only 25 yards or so but there was too much brush to hold down where I wanted to and he was in mid-shove with another bull and lots of cows around. The willows were very thick and too tall.

I decided to take the shot at the tips of the brush realizing it would definitely hit the brush tips. The bull reared up on his hind legs at the shot and fell backwards and struggled to get up. The second shot was through the shoulders, below the spine.

The weird part was the first bullet made three entrance and exit wounds! I found no copper particles either. One of the holes on each side looked like the bullet went through sideways...

I have seen lots of bullets completely stopped by brush so I knew there was a risk involved in taking the shot, but I was afraid the whole harem would explode at any second and take away all chances for a shot...

edit to add the bullets above were 168gr TTSX from a 30-06

I absolutely agree. This is why when I wanted another .270 I replaced it with a 25-06.

Doc

A few years back I hunted w/ a friend who used a 25-06 on elk. I worked up a load for him using 117 Hornady bullets (I don't remember the powder or charge). I handed him his rifle (Ruger) back and a box of rounds, told him to check the zero.
His first shot at the elk hit below the shoulder in the upper leg, the elk stumbled and kept going. Second shot was my shot from a 300 Wby 190gr Hornady, in the ribs out behind the shoulder. Elk went down but was trying to get up. His second shot (3rd total), went in the center chest and stopped all movement. I consider this a lucky shot as the elk was writhing around on the ground and the bullet went in next to the sternum area to get the heart.

Moral of the story: Shot placement is key, practice, practice, practice!!
If you are using a borderline cal, make sure you know the rifle/load inside out!

Yes, the 25-06 will work on elk. I would use the heaviest "X" type bullet or Partition that your gun likes.
Not that wind had anything to do with the above story, but realize wind will push a slower (relatively) 25 cal bullet, more than a faster 30 cal bullet.

I have zero experience with a moose.

Super !

The 'head' on that thing is impressive.

I'd NOT pass him up either.

Jerry

Thxs Jerry!

I'm happy with him