Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 308 or 25-06

The 257 Bob is excellent and the 257 Wby is spectacular. In between those two is the 25-06 and it is one hell of a cartridge. IMO it is the lightest recoiling, hardest hitting cartridge out there. The 25-06 is capable of killing both small and very large animals at extreme distances. The 308 Win is very capable and versatile as well, but the 25-06 is much flatter shooting out to 400 yards having light recoil in a 7 lbs rifle. I would only caution the use of a 25-06 with 22-inch barrel as the muzzle blast is much greater than the 308 Win with 22-inch barrel. The 25-06 is well suited to 24 and 26 inch barrels giving reduced muzzle blast. As others have stated sometimes muzzle blast can cause a shooter to fear the trigger.

Butch,

Really!! So many of you Texans had us convinced the 25-06 was the Texas State Flower...or should be

Both are classics, but me I would go 25-06 with the only thought it might be slightly louder than a 308. I started out with a 308 at about ten years old down loaded to what I called a super 30-30 and it was with150s for the 30-30. But a 25-06 is such a great deer round and now with improved bullets not out of the question for Elk and other game. With ear plugs I don't notice much difference between a 25-06 with 85 grainers and a 243 with 100 grainers. Some may argue the 308 is more versatile and they would be right but for anything from Cow Elk and less the 25-06 is hard to beat. For anything larger there are other cartridges that should perform better but not by a whole lot until your are talking about large medium game or dangerous game. Stick with a 22" + barrel and it will keep the noise level away from tender ears and always use plugs and muffs.

? ?

How many 25-06s have you had that were less accurate than the 308 ?

Many guys here, even in this thread, have accurate 25-06s.

Jerry

Out of the two, I've only had the 308 (in a carbine length/weight). But I'd have to deduce that a 25-06 would kick a bit less.

243 is easy shootin with just regular loads. Doesn't save anything on muzzle blast that I can tell though. I recon if I wanted less less noise, a Swede at around 2600 might be less blasty.

jerry, Ask Muledeer about one of them. I have a couple 257 Bobs that shoot great. No need for another 25 cal.

Another vote for the .25/06. The only .308 that hasn't bothered me is my Savage 10FCP-K. Heavy, muzzle braked, and padded. To my shoulder, the .30/06 recoils with much less snap. And you can shoot the .25 year 'round without the recoil bothering anything.

My first centerfire rifle was a Remington Model 742 in 308. After shooting a few NY State bucks, I decided to branch out to hunting woodchucks. That was in the early 1980s. I found a nearly-new Remington 700 BDL Sporter in 25-06 at my local sporting goods store and bought it. That rifle accounted for quite a few woodchucks and deer until I replace it with a 243 in 1995. It would have been easy to load it down to 257 Roberts levels. I'm something of a 25 caliber fan and presently own two 250 Savage rifles and a 257 Roberts. I say go for the 25-06 and milder loads. How about the 80 grain Barnes TTSX for a deer killer?

If you are worried about either for recoil, then you are training the shooter badly. They are both easy to shoot. The 25-06 will shoot a bit flatter but not enough to care out to 300 yards. The 25-06 is a long action and I think that the length of the rifle is a bigger factor than the recoil, for a new shooter. The short action will come in a more compact rifle and be easier to handle.

I can see no reason for a 25-06, but that is a personal preference. If you want to help a new shooter, buy them a Creedmoor and be done with it. They are one of the best every devised for new shooters, in my opinion.

It would seem to me that this answers the question - "They both shoot the 308 with out issues but if they go hunting the same time they both want to have a gun" - to me that this answers the question.
If they are both comfortable shooting the 308 then why try to steer them to a different cartridge? Just buy another 308 like the one they like. After all they will be the one using it, not your friend or you, - well, unless this is a ploy for you to get a different caliber for yourself.

drover

Drover
This is actually a ploy to try not to buy another gun, (I can’t believe I just said that)
I have a 25-06 and the 308 already

ok..........

Got it but if your wife takes one of the rifles for hunting and your daughter takes the other one then you still need another gun. This is not going to end up well unless you buy another gun, in which case you may as well make it a 308 which they both are familiar with then you can use the 25-06.

There, you are now enabled to buy another gun.

drover

Yep. The .25/06 can be kinda loud with full loads so make sure that everybody has good ear protection.


We load winter varmint loads wit 45 grains of 4895 and either Hornady or Sierra 75 grain HP bullets. almost like shooting a .223 ......

Reckon I'll say sell them both and go 20" Tikka in 6.5 CM, since nobody's done it yet. Best of both worlds, as far as I can tell.

You are correct that there are more bullets available for a .308. My question is, "So what?"

There are plenty of excellent bullets available in .25 caliber. and that state of affairs will continue due to the popularity of various .25s, In my .257 Roberts I use 75g V-MAX, 100g TTSX, 110g AB and 120g A-Frame. No need for anything more.

I forgot, I have a 250 Savage also. It is accurate though.

Step 1: Stop analyzing.
Step 2: Buy 3 matching Creedmores.
Step 3: Go hunting share the ammo
Step 4: Done.

I have both and I like the .308 but I love the 25.06. I have a Remington .308 LTR that I mostly punch paper with but I taken some deer with it as well. The .308 is a great caliber no doubt and the LTR is a fun gun to shoot. I've had several 25.06's over the years and I've never had one that wasn't accurate. I currently have a Remington CDL 25.06 that I've had since they came out and it's my baby and my main deer rifle. It's very accurate, mild recoil, flat shooting, and hits the target hard. I don't know what it is about the 25.06 but when I shoot a deer with it and do my part it's like the ground just gets snatched out from under them. It's pure deer poison around here and kills them like lighting. Mike

Mike-that has been my experience as well...can't explain it, I just know that a greater % of deer I have shot with a 25/06 have acted like they were pole-axed. A guy that works at the LGS and I were talking the other day. He knows that is what I mostly hunt with and was asking me about it. I told him about the same thing you have stated here. He was shocked, but then he said that he had killed 1 deer with a baby 06 and that is how the deer had reacted...dead on the spot. He just thought it was an anomaly. But I assured him it wasn't. And for the record, I rarely shoot the high shoulder area. I shoot behind the shoulder.