Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Deer & speed goat rifle

I have a push feed Winchester mod70 sporter with a 24” barrel. I also have a Remington 700 SPS stainless with a 24” barrel. I love both, for different reasons, none the less. Find one you like and have fun! Good luck!
Tom

This year my deer and speed goat rifle was a 6.5CM. Next year it'll likely be a 6CM.

Browning BAR.

My son and I shot 2 good antelope with my fast w twist 243. 105 hybrids. His was at 240 yds, never took a step. Mine was 460 with a 10 mph wind.The antelope went about 20 ft and tipped over. The bullet exited. Those 6 mms perform awfully well. Not much they won't kill, and very accurate.

I have 2 rifles chambered in 25-06, a Marlin XL7 with a 22" barrel and a Remington 700 parts gun with a 24" barrel. I had always accepted the common belief that a 25-06 needed at least a 24" barrel to get value out of the case capacity when compared to smaller case capacity 0.257" bore cartridges like the 257 Roberts, but the Marlin is very accurate and the velocity different between my 2 rifles is less than 100 fps. A 100 fps difference might make a difference is some situations, but the slightly lighter and handier barrel length has worked well enough for me that the Remington has been all but retired.

Rifle choice is a personal thing, particularly how well a rifle's stock fits the user. The 2 stocks that I like the best are both McMillan styles, the McM Hunter and the Mountain Rifle, but McM has priced them out of my comfort range and I'm glad that they were more affordable when I was actively buying them.

Good luck with your search, I hope you find a match that you're happy with.

My .25-06 now is actually a .25-06 AI, 26” barrel on my Encore. After 15 years or so of non-use I’ve started working with it again. Years ago I had a Ruger 77V in .25-06 which was a very accurate rifle. It would keep 75 grain Sierra HP’s under 3/4” and was a bomb on woodchucks. Kinda wish I still had it.

I guess if I were in your shoes and wanted a .25-06, I’d get a 700, put a good barrel on it, a good trigger, and a good stock and put it to work,

I’ve used a Remington Classic in .264 Win Mag on quite a few. Abd a 6mm Remington on several others.
They’re not hard to kill. Wouldn’t hesitate to use a 25-06.

I have a well-used hand me down Remington 700, semi-custom in .25-06 that I absolutely adore. It shoots great with most anything but has always done its best with 100-120 grain bullets. And I have tried many different loads/combos over the years.

I think for a deer/speedgoat rifle, you would be hard up to find a better choice than the .25-06!

The rifle itself has the Remington factory barrel, 24” sporter contour. A Timney trigger and Bell and carlson stock were installed by yours truly.

I have a Leupold VX-3i 3.5-10x40mm scope in Talley aluminum rings, and a cheap Allen nylon/neoprene sling to keep it nice and lightweight.

I really like the 110 AB and 115 BT selections from Nosler, but availability is sketchy. I have some 100 grain ETips that I want to work up a load for too. Right now I have some 115 Partitions and 117 grain Interlock BTSPs both loaded with Ramshot Hunter. The Interlocks shoot excellent with this load. Though boringly simple and unflashy, I eould not hesitate to use these on deer or pronghorn antelope.

I have a rare (4 actually) Ruger Express rifle in 25-06. Only (8) made that I know of, and were never catalogued by Ruger. 24” barrels. Complete with quarter rib, black fore end tip, barrel band front sling swivel, Circassian Walnut stocks, etc. A light safari rifle if you will! I did take it to Africa twice and took a few small PG animals in Namibia.

I also have a Dakota Classic Deluxe in 25-06. Between both brand rifles, my wife and I have taken 60+ Pronghorns in CO & WY, with a few of that number taken with a 280 Rem., but about 90% with the 25-06s.

We have used only one round for all of these animals; 115 gr. Win. Ballistic Silvertip in the 25-06 and 140 gr. Win. BS in the 280. Have also taken mule deer with my 25-06 with the same round.

Super round for Antelope & Deer. I have two female friends who hunt their CO Elk every year with their 25-06s.

The 25-06 was my favorite rifle of all time. In the end I was shooting H 1000 which might help extend the life of the barrel and better bullets now. After two barrels and uncountable grey diggers,coyotes,badgers and a lot of bucks I chambered it in a 6.5-06. Man I miss having a 25-06 around.

And some say the 25s are dead.

Well I am a big fan of my 30-06 I’ve had most my life and yes I can definitely use that for antelope and deer … in fact, I already have. However, I just think the 25-06 would be so cool! Especially since I’ve used the 30-06 most my life. Seems like it would make sense! Does that make sense? Haha!

Love the 25-06!

This is my Ruger #1B in 25-06 Ackley




Shoots great!

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbt...Search/true/25-06-spongebob#Post15520002

dave

My 257 Roberts with +P brass and loads was hot on the heels of a 25-06 and was my favorite rifle for 20 years. The 'problem' with 25 caliber is the lack of high B.C. bullets and rifles with a twist fast enough to stabilize them. That didn't stop me from taking a bunch of antelope with my Roberts and 110gr AB/H4350 clocking 3163fps at the muzzle. Longest shot was just over 500 on a dead run, quartering away, bang-flop. Excellent case life with that load, BTW.

That rifle is now in the hands of a daughter with three young boys. I replaced it with a couple of 6.5's, a Creedmoor and a PRC. My Roberts load is easily duplicated in a 25-06 and probably easily exceeded. Compared to factory ammo, this load beats the 6.5 CM and PRC in trajectory, when using PBR zeros, out to about 425 yards, after which a 142-143gr PRC takes over. The PRC has greater velocity past 225 yards, and more energy and less drift at all ranges. Where the Roberts load drops below 1000fpe at around 550 yards and 1500fpe at about 315 yards, the PRC retains 1000fpe and 1500fpe at 925 yards and 590 yards respectively.

If starting fresh, I would start with the 6.5 PRC. It allows you to load 85gr bullets over 3600fps for varmints and 142-143gr to over 3000fps for antelope to elk. Where I long believed the 25-06 was one of the best dual-purpose cartridges (occasional varmints to deer), I believe the 6.5 PRC is even better.

Very interesting thought!

This in spades.