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Someone posted this article in a different thread.

Its funny. I wasn't around when Milek was writing, so most of what I knew about the guy was what other (later) writers said.

I've read at least a few writers discount Milek's use of the 25-06 on elk because he took head/neck shots.

But after reading this, it looks that was not the case.

http://www.riflemagazine.com/magazine/PDF/ri40partial.pdf

Anyone know where the head/neck shot thing started?

Did writers get away with statements like that because Milek wasn't around to defend himself?


Originally Posted by shrapnel
I probably hit more elk with a pickup than you have with a rifle.


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Don't know about writers getting away with statements but I've dropped 3 elk with a 25-06 - 2 within 50 yards were both DRT w/ neck shots. The third at a touch over 100 yards. All with Nosler Partitions.
Only the 100 yard shot did I recover the bullet and it performed as advertised. Passed through the back part of the near shoulder and stopped under the hide on the off side with a slight amount of bleeding through two small holes. No blood-shot meat on any of them.
I used the 25-06 at the time because it was the ONLY rifle I owned!

I've taken over 50 whitetails from Texas to Missouri with it and have rarely NOT had complete pass-through. Add to that about a dozen Mule deer, one at a measured/witnessed 376 yards was quartering towards me. Bullet entered the point of the near shoulder, passed through the near lung and rear of the off lung then glanced off of a rib before smacking into the off hip bone and exiting out of the hip on the same side as the entrance. Sierra 120 gr BTSP left about a 2" exit hole.

The caliber is my preferred caliber for most game but I now take a 30-06 and a 300 Win Mag when I go elk hunting.


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I hunted with the 2506 for 6 or 7 years in the 1970s and it was a spectacular killer. Readers should note that the H4831 that Milek refers to was the old surplus powder that was slower burning than todays H4831..I found that even the 120 speer was a bit soft a 2506 velocities and eventually went to the 115 gr nosler partition which worked perfectly.

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Never had the opportunity to hunt elk, but a ranch manger in Wyoming I met years ago used a .257 Roberts on everything from badgers to elk, including bighorn sheep and mountain goat, with no complaints, and no lost animals. The .25/06 would just be more of a good thing.



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Thanks for that posting of an old Rifle magazine. I remember the cover and now I'll look for it in my pile of old magazines to see what Harvey had to say about the 308


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bellydeep,

I don't know who the writers were that claimed Milek mostly (or only) used head and neck shots, but I remember reading other articles by him back then mentioning lung shots on elk with the .25-06.

I've been around a few elk taken with lung shots with various .25 caliber cartridges and they all died pronto, whether the bullet passed through or not, though most of them did. In fact the only .25 caliber bullet I've seen recovered from an elk was the Barnes TTSX 100-grain my wife killed a cow with last month, using a .257 Roberts, but that was a quartering-away shot, not broadside. Have seen the 100-grain Nosler Ballistic Tip exit on a broadside cow elk, from a .25-06.

The older guy who delivered our newspaper when we first moved to this area 24 years ago used a .25-06 on elk. He eventually found out what I did for a living and one day showed me the remains of a .25-06 bullet that failed to penetrate the shoulder of a spike. He wondered why it happened, and I asked him what ammo he used. Turned out it was a 90-grain varmint load! But it also turned out that he'd killed the spike with a second shot, behind the shoulder, which is how he recovered the first bullet.


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I would be really really be interested in comparing the penetration of a 120 Nosler Partition from a 25/06 to what some people would consider an "elk thumper", the 35 Whelen with a 225 Partition, both at 200 yards. Never done it, but I think the results might surprise some people, including me.

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I suspect so too!


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I've taken enough mule deer with the .25-06 that I have no doubt about its ability to kill elk. Performance has been excellent.

When I got the rifle years ago, I was thinking of it as my new mule deer & coyote rifle, and that's largely what I've done with it. A few guys around town and at the range though, told me that they'd taken elk, quite nicely, with their .25-06 rifles. This somewhat surprised me... But not anymore.

It's a good cartridge. Fast. Flat. Accurate. Lethal. And mighty easy on the shooter's shoulder.

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Bellydeep - thanks for the article. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Regards, Guy

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Originally Posted by Mule Deer
bellydeep,

I don't know who the writers were that claimed Milek mostly (or only) used head and neck shots, but I remember reading other articles by him back then mentioning lung shots on elk with the .25-06.



Off the top of my head, Boddington was one of them.


Originally Posted by shrapnel
I probably hit more elk with a pickup than you have with a rifle.


Originally Posted by JohnBurns
I have yet to see anyone claim Leupold has never had to fix an optic. I know I have sent a few back. 2 MK 6s, a VX-6, and 3 VX-111s.
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Originally Posted by Royce
I would be really really be interested in comparing the penetration of a 120 Nosler Partition from a 25/06 to what some people would consider an "elk thumper", the 35 Whelen with a 225 Partition, both at 200 yards. Never done it, but I think the results might surprise some people, including me.


Royce, I don't have any on game shots, but these were a couple jugs tests I did.

My wife's 25-06 loaded to 3140 with the 120 Swift A-Frame. I was blown away when this bullet was found in the 7th. That is really impressive performance in my book. It was the bullet I chose for my wife in order to hunt elk..

[Linked Image]

[Linked Image]

[Linked Image]

Here is a 250 PT from my 35 Newton at 2810. This bullet was found in the 8th jug..

[Linked Image]

[Linked Image]

[Linked Image]

[img]http://i723.photobucket.com/al...-9B3E-F3F02FB6E419_zps1zyimuqq.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i723.photobucket.com/al...-8363-1F7D41E467EC_zpsj0n3slhb.jpg[/img]

Now, I understand the 35 is going to have more frontal area and probably be a more dramatic hitter, but after seeing how well the Swift looks, I would 0 problems with putting one into an elk and expecting good things to happen.

Penetration was very much the same on both of them. I hunt elk personally with my 338 and 35's, but only cause I want to, not cause I feel there are completely necessary.

Guy Miner has been destroying too many antelope and big bodied muleys for me to think it would be less effective with him shooting elk.

Bob Milek was part of the reason I bought a 35 Whelen and then a 25-06. Liked his writing quite alot.


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I was also a fan of Milek's articles. Like Aagaard, down to earth, no extry frills. Miss them both.

Bob Milek wasn't the reason I became a 25-06 fan, but his fondness for it mirrored mine.


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I Remember reading this when I was a kid. Milek was a great practical writer. He did say at one point he had published some loads that he wish hadn't gotten away from him. Not sure if these are what he was talking about. With current H4831 the top loads are around 52 grains & 120s compared to Milek's 54-55 for the surplus powder.

Funny how the anecdote about a friend shooting a Moose in the neck turns into him taking Elk only with neck shots.


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Thanks a million for the post and pictures. I suspect that the 35 Newton with the 250 grain bullet would penetrate deeper than the 35 Whelen with a 225 grain bullet at somewhat less velocity.
I have shot a few deer and antelope with the 25/06 and would be hard pressed to tell the difference in it's effectiveness and that of the 270. That 35 Newton of your's must be a heck of an elk rifle, I would think. It apparently has power enough to expand bullets yet still drive them deep.

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Enjoyed the article a bunch. Milek was one of my favorites and he was the one that got me interested in the .25/06 way back when.


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Originally Posted by bellydeep
Originally Posted by Mule Deer
bellydeep,

I don't know who the writers were that claimed Milek mostly (or only) used head and neck shots, but I remember reading other articles by him back then mentioning lung shots on elk with the .25-06.



Off the top of my head, Boddington was one of them.


I read Milek growing up towards the end of his career and always respected his writing. you are correct about Boddington, in his book Gunsfor north American game he states it and then goes on to say that Milek admitted he did not care for recoil. Milek was also a big fan of the 257 Roberts

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Milek is who got me interested in hunting pronghorn antelope, and thus the need to move toward where they live.

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Milek was a fave of mine, for good reasons.

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He could tell a good story allright. My own findings with the 25-06 pretty much mirror his in that I don't use 100 gr bullets in the 25-06 anymore. Nor the 120 HP Horn on antelope or the 120 HPBT Sierra on any but ribcage shots. The old 120 gr Rem Core-lokt as a favorite and hard to beat. Still need to use it with Nosler's and a few others though. Magnum Man

Edit to add
Milek was a pretty serious fellow and he used to get me laughing pretty hard though. Seems like every month one gun mag or another ran a deer hunting article and whatever gunwriter who wrote it would say " the 30-30 is a solid 100yd deer getter but 150 yds is pushing your luck" next month there would Milek posed over a decent antelope buck or stout looking 4x4 mule deer and a T/C Contender in 30/30 or 30 Herrett that he shot at 175-300 yds. He sure knew how to make some of them guys look like bull sh*tters though.

Last edited by Magnum_Man; 10/23/14.
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