Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles .25-06?

With no recoil and being able to easily smoke any deer that ever lived, whats not to like.

I have a Howa 25-06 and for deer and antelope it puts hunting into easy mode.

Remington 700 Mountain Rifle Loaded With 85Gr B.T. And Varget Seem's To Works Well On Ga. Deer.Wth No Recoil.Im Gonna Move Up To The 100 TTSX When These Are Gone..

I had a RU77V in 25-06. Never should have sold it. Hammer of Thor on caribou, using 120 Speer handloads. MOA, no mods.

Not to mention it was fiddleback from tip of forend to back of butt stock.

God, I was dumb!

i have had a 25-06 since 1972. my favorite bullet is the 115 gr BT with H4831. Great for PA whitetails. I M on mys third rifle.

I've had one for over 10 years now but hardly ever use it. It's a Model 70 Featherweight with a 24 3/4 barrel that would probably be similar in contour and weight to the barrels Ruger used to put on their .25-06s. It's no Featherweight now. It used to be a .257 Roberts but I bought a couple of much lighter .257 Bob rifles so this one sat in the safe. I then had it set back a thread and rechambered to .25-06 thinking that would gave it a new lease of life but after a couple of trips I went back to the .257 Roberts. Two hundred yards would be a long shot for me and most shots on game would be under 70 metres, with half of those 50 metres or under. I found the .257 Roberts killed good enough at those close ranges. So it tends to sit in the safe as I haven't really found a use for it. I've loaded it with heavier 117 - 120gn bullets as its got the powder room to push them along, using AR2217 (H1000). I remember one trip out west after pigs on the wheat crops shooting Federal factory 120gn Speers. When driven through the thick shoulder pad the boars just dropped on the spot. I was very impressed with the way it hammered them down. I have three mates that all shoot one and know of a couple more in the local area and every one who owns one really likes it.

25-06 is a sweetheart! Very little recoil and gets the job done without any fuss. Load it up or load it down. One of my all-time favorites.
Kills way out of its league...

I've been shooting a 25.06 for over 30yrs and it's no doubt my favorite caliber especially for deer and coyotes which is all I hunt. I've had several different rifles chambered in 25.06, a Remington Sendero, ADL, Classic and my current rifle and my favorite is a CDL. I've never had any issues getting them all to shoot well and I've always ran the heavier 120gr bullets with excellent results on game. The 25.06 is a fast flat accurate caliber with mild recoil that hits the target hard.

I have bee shooting the 257 Roberts since the late 1960's and was a Roberts snob when it came to the 25-06. I didn't get my first 2506 until 2012 and realized that it did everything the 257, 257AI, 25 WSSM,, and 25-284 did and could do it with factory ammo.

I bought a Marlin XL7 in 25-06 from someone on this site because it was too good a deal to pass on and loaned it to a friend who used 90 grain PP hollow points to punch several tags. I have since used that Marlin, a Remington 700, and a RAR-P to shoot a variety of factory ammo and reloads with component bullets in the 90 thru 120 grain range. I like the 100 grain BT for shooting coyotes and swhitetails, but would probably go to the 110 grain AB if I was only going to use it for shooting deer.

Like the 270, the 25=06 is a proven performer even if there aren't any super high BC bullets available for it.

A couple of years ago, I loaned the Marlin to a friend who used Hornady American Whitetail factory loads to shoot a couple of whitetails in KS and a mule deer and a black bear in CO.

A .25-06 is a great cartridge. I don't have one but I do have it's little brothers, a .257 AI and a .250 Savage. I like the Combined Technologies 115 grain ballistic tips. It's a hammer on deer and I have killed hogs with it. I have shot 117 grain bullets out of both guns with good results too but the 115 grain penetrates good and gives better velocity and also they expand real well without blowing up.They're a bit more expensive than Nosler Ballistic Tips or SGKs but they're worth it in my opinion.
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A .25-06 is a great cartridge. I don't have one but I do have it's little brothers, a .257 AI and a .250 Savage. I like the Combined Technologies 115 grain ballistic tips. It's a hammer on deer and I have killed hogs with it. I have shot 117 grain bullets out of both guns with good results too but the 115 grain penetrates good and gives better velocity and also they expand real well without blowing up.They're a bit more expensive than Nosler Ballistic Tips or SGKs but they're worth it in my opinion.
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The .25-06 is one of the best for occasional varmints to antelope and deer. Certainly one of the best for such dual-purpose use. Old (14 years old) took a mulie and elk with hers and a 117g bullet. The father said he'd never seen an elk go down so fast.

My.257 Roberts gets loaded with +P brass and loads and isn't far behind the .25-06. It has accounted for numerous prairie dogs, coyotes and antelope and my girls love to shoot it. My load for mulies and elk use a 120-g A-Frame at 2947fps. Haven't taken a game shot with that load but have no doubt it will work. A .25-06 would extend the effective range a bit wout much increase in recoil..

I have been a fan of the .25-06 for many years. Loved reading the old Guns & Ammo with Bob Mileck & his .25-06.... My first centerfire rifle was a 700 in .25-06 . Learned the basics of reloading through that round. I initially used the 100 gr Ballistic Tips for varmints & the 100 grain partitions for deer until I realized the Ballistic Tips work fine for both. When Nosler introduced the 115 Ballistic Tip I moved on up and haven't looked back.

There are other, newer, more flashy chamberings, but the old .25-06 ( and by default the .257 Roberts) will cover a lot of ground and kill lots of stuff if you are able. And do so without a load of recoil or hoopla. Plus in a world of gay .270s (and the gaymoor)…. lol...... roll like a man with a .25-06.


burt2506

Glad you clarified the Mauser is the modern one not the 1896. If your daughter is young or small the 85 - 87 grain bullets reduce recoil slightly over the 100-120 and they kill deer just fine.The 25-06 was made for deer hunting. All three cartridges are favorites of mine.

Back around 35 yrs ago, when I still lived/worked in SE Texas, it seemed there were very few 25 cal anything in that part of Texas, same with the .270. Surprisingly, I saw ( and used) more 7mm Rem Mags and 30-06s than anything. Now, go further West and in the Hill Country, lots of both 25-06 and .270s. In the 25-06, the old Hornady 87gr sp was the most popular. the 130 was the choice .270.

Here are a few pics of the Mauser 96...

Interesting bedding, removable rear aluminum block with an interesting recoil lug up front...

You can use the Nosler 115 BTip for everything in a 25-06, and never wish for more.

I have used the .25-06 quite a bit. My favorite load was with the now discontinued 120gr Hornady HP. It worked as well as anything else on game. For vermin I used the 75gr Hornady HP or the 85gr (IIRC) a bit, and went back to the 75gr.

If you load for a kid or other recoil sensitive person, a slightly slower Nosler Partition will still open & penetrate. I suspect using a bullet designed for long range may as well but have not done it myself.