Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Why do campfire looneys ignore the 25-06

Since we need a new topic to chew on or a day or two has anyone else noticed there's not a lot of talk about the 25-06. We have 6.5 threads 243 threads 257 Roberts threads and so on but the 25-06 is only mentioned in passing

Limited options for high BC bullets for one thing. For another, it's boringly effective.

Because all the gaaaay looneys use a 270 & the real men use a 30-06.



Mike

Everyone's been waiting for you to bring it up.

And then of course there is the Poobah who "switch hits" by wielding a 7x57.

I like it a lot and even recommended it in a thread in the Hunting Rifles forum for someone looking for a standard bolt face long action build on a Model 700.

Maybe it's not more popular among looneys because there isn't a good short name for Adolph or Otto or Niedner. The .257 Nied? .25 Adolph? .25 Otto Ought Six? Nothing really lights a fire there...

I have one and it is my most "consistently" accurate rifle.
Model 70 Trued Push Feed action
26" Tobler #5 stainless and fluted barrel.
2 stocks, plastic and wood, both floated and bedded.
Timney trigger
Leupold 2 piece mounts
.Leupold 6.5-20 Vari-x 111 scope

Loves:
87gn Hornady
100gn Hornady
100gn Nosler BT
117gn Hornady SPBT
100gn Partition
100gn anything X Bullet
75gn defunct X Bullet
120gn Partiton and lots of others I have forgotten off the top of my head.
Best overall powder = 760/ H414.

John

Because if you use it on monster bears the bullets might bounce off

Or because it ends in 06.

Excellent observation. The 25-06 doesn't have the panache of the 257 Roberts. Or the name Weatherby attached to it.

I seem to remember that one Campfire loony published an article about handloading the 25-06 a couple years ago. But the article didn't appear on the Campfire so apparently doesn't count....

I have had more DRT kills with the .25-06 than with anything else. A 100 grain bullet leaving the muzzle at 3350 fps leaves a mark on deer.

If I had one I'd shoot the 120gr Partition w/IMR7828 for everything up to elk. powdr

JB,

Please quit being reasonable.

The 25/06 has a lot of things going against it:

1. It's cheap and easy to reload for-Therefore, no opportunities to expound on case forming, trying to find obscure or expensive brass, or some secret powder that will make it perform well.
2. It's not a marginal cartridge for hardly any North American game, destroying any cache that could be earned by saying something like "Yup, I kill elk with my 17/44-40 Ackley Improved by using Warren/Occonor/Keith flanged handmade bullets that I import from Pakistan at $11.55 each".
3. Recoil is mild, so there is no bragging rights gained by saying "I shoot a 25/06, but recoil doesn't bother me- I know most people can't handle it."
4. It shoots flat enough so that it outreaches the ability of probably 90% of hunters- Thereby dashing a potential source of alibis for misses in the 200-300 yard category.
5. It's reputation as a killer is so well established that no one proves anything by killing a deer or elk with it. It's "Ho-hum, you killed a big buck with a 25/06? So what, it's probably one of the easiest cartridges to kill something with."

It's a wonder they even make ammo or rifles in 25/06 any more.

I love the 25-06 and it is my second choice for deer hunting because it is heavier than my 270 and the 270 is what i usually pick up when still hunting, i built the 25-06 on the heavy side with a Number 3 McMillan SS barrel and Birdsaw coated it with the Black T Finish they offer, now that I'm older i prefer my model 70 in 270 because it is much lighter to carry. I still use it when i'm sitting on a stand all day and not still hunting. I use two bullet in it and it is a deer killer, the Nosler 100 gr BT and the 110 gr Accubond it loves both of these bullets grouping under a inch with both using Rel 22.

I like 25's but I've found the 25/06 don't do much more than my short action 25's, except eat a fair amount more powder.

That's my only complaint with the Ruger Hawkeye .25-06 - why in the world did they put a magnum contour barrel on it? Not that Rugers are lightweights to start with but they take what could have been a decently balanced rifle and turn it into this 8 or 9 pound muzzle heavy anchor.

Of course, it does shoot lights out with the factory barrel so that mitigates the criticism somewhat.

25-06 was one of my favorite since I was a kid ( many years ago ) until I had the last Lilja MR chambered to 25-06 AI.

Not many slick bullets for them but they sure swat deer size critters.

That just happens to be my favorite bullet for my .257 Wby. which, we all know, is superior and sexier because it has Weatherby in the name.

Not a fan of any 25.....