Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Favorite 25-06 deer bullets

Back in the mid 90's i had a medium heavy barreled Ruger 77 in 25-06, pushed the 117gr Hornady BTSP to max speed with RL-22, the 3 or 4 deer i hit with that rifle before a buddy bought it melted at the shot, don't remember one of them moving after the hit.

I’ve shot deer with the Hornady bullets in the 25-06. They worked, but the bullets didn’t hit shoulder, bones or heavy muscle - just through the ribs. The 25-06 is my favorite cartridge for antelope.
If I had one bullet for the 25-06, I’d choose partitions every time.

117g Sierra btsp is worth building a rifle around as it is an unbelievably accurate bullet, killing is not a problem on deer.

MB: just a thought:. I'm one of those who has used the 120 Hornady HP a lot with great success. But I did read somewhere that if the hollow point gets battered so that it's not fully open, the bullet can pencil through. So I always check the noses of the bullets as I load the rifle to ensure that this has not happened. Pure conjecture, but perhaps that is what happened in your incident.

First choice is far and away the 100 gr. TTSX
Second choice is the 110 gr. Accubond
Third choice is the 100 gr. scirrocco.

All of these are accurate and tough.

Nosler 110 Accubond

Most anything 100gr and up out of a 25-06 is going to be good medicine on deer. I like the 100gr TTSX, 110gr Accubond, 120gr partition. Those premiums are great but the old Hornady 117gr btsp will get it done just as well. JMO

Lots of good bullets out there and powders that work well in this caliber. For me personally the Speer 120gr Hot-Cor (discontinued) is no doubt my favorite bullet for the 25.06. Loaded in front of a full house of RL22 or RL25 it is very accurate and consistent in my rifle and it's performance on game has always been excellent for me. I've loaded others mentioned here as well with good success but i settled in on the Speer years ago as my go to bullet for the 25.06. I purchased enough to last me the rest of my life when i knew they were to be discontinued.

I've used a 100gr Hornady Interlock, 115gr Nosler BT, Partition and the 110gr Accubond.

The all worked well and eventhough It wasn't the most accurate of the ones I used but the 115gr Partition would be my go to if I had to pick just one.

I have a ruger 77 tang heavy barrel that shoots the 100gr Pro Hunter into the same hole and the deer I've taken with that gun have never taken another step. I also have good accuracy out of the 100gr Nosler BT in a sendero.

On quartering shots, the 110g Accubonds penetrate breaking bones all the way.

Same with 117 Sierra Gamekings

100 grain ballistic tip

115 gr Nosler Partitions are an effective little bullet. Never required a second shot on any of the deer I took with it.

I liked the Hornady 120HP, Nosler 115 PT and the Sierra 117 sbt. I knew some guys in Houston who hunted Uvalde area and used the Hornady 87 sp. I know guys here who use the 120 cl and 100TSX on mule deer & elk in their 25-06s. I never met anyone in the field who was using the 257 Wby.

Jim: I always found the 117gr GK to be very accurate but was concerned about it not holding together on quartering shots at 25/06 velocities. Sounds like it worked well for you? thanks

Another thumbs down on the Sierra 117gr BTSP. Switched to the Pro Hunter and Nosler Partition.

I never had an issue with the 117 grain SBT Sierra on quartering shots. In front of shoulders towards ham and either got exits or dug the bullet out in front of ham on a couple of deer.

Actually felt it was a bit tough for what some call behind the shoulder shots, always had runners, not far and had heavy blood but they ran more than I prefer.

I like to break shoulders or go up just a fuzz and clip the spine.

100 grain Sierra SBT is lights out on Lung shots but rough if bone is encountered.

110 Accubomb, and that is coming from a Nosler "hater".

To answer the main question re: Sierra or Hornady: Hornady all the way for hunting especially.

When I used to exclusively load my own I had great success with the 117 grain Hornady Round nose in both the 25-06 and 257 Roberts. The load components changed from time to time but the bullet remained the same. It was accurate enough for my purposes and always did the job on whitetail deer.

My uncle used to purchase Weatherby ammo for his 257 Weatherby and I believe that bullet was used in those loads as well. It held together well even at those volocities.