I had a .25-06 for a few years and then foolish sold it when I thought falsely that I needed a larger caliber for moose. I used 120 gr. Speer handloads with absolutely excellent results. Of 20 something caribou killed to over 500 yards, only the first was not a one shot DRT bang/flop. And he didn't realize he was dead before I plugged him a second time. I put the first bullet into him quartering on, at the base of his neck, at about 200 yards, and found the bullet lodged against the bone in the off hind leg, perfectly mushroomed. That would seem to be adequate penetration and performance even for elk boiler room shots. Never, ever, recovered another bullet. Most shots were 300-400 yards. Bull elk would be maybe twice the size or a bit more, and if I had the gun yet, I'd not hesitate to use it on elk, or moose, to 400 yards. But maybe not on a quartering shot at long range. Go for broadside, or pass it up.
I did try some 87? gr. C&C on 2 caribou. Varmit loads - poor choice on my part.. Never tried the 100 gr. range. At the time, NP was the only premium bullet being made, I think, and I never tried it in that rifle. The Speers were MOA and terminally performed very well.
The only elk I have killed was a cow at about 150 yards with a .260 140 gr. Corelokt. bang flop. I've also killed several caribou roughly the same size), some bigger) between 200 and 400 yards with the same outfit, with no problems (well except me mis-estimating range and wind on the first shot... )
Based on this somewhat indirect experience, I'd use heavy for caliber C&C 117-120 bullet, or a premium of at least 100, if using a .25-06 on anything over 200 lbs. assuming good accuracy. On the heavy side if you are planning for a shot over 400, as said elsewhere.
Last edited by las; 07/24/17.
