Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Great commercial 25-06 loads for bigger NE whitetail?

I’m coming into a 25-06 because the price was right and I find the chambering intriguing. Been reading up on it as much as I can as I don’t have any practical experience with it yet. I do not load my own. It seems there’s still more than enough commercial offerings available that I can justify having one. My primary whitetail cartridge/rifle is .308. This 25/06 would be alternate option/back up, and probably foul weather specific as it’s a plastic and stainless beater. Shots in NH woods and such would be under 300 yards. Most often, considerably under 300 yards. 150 might even be “long”. 115 to 120 grain partitions seem to get the general nod from most I’ve read. I want to be able to maximize the velocity of this chambering for getting bang-flops, to the best of its ability, on bucks weighing in excess of 200 lbs. is it enough gun for that? Never hunted a quarter bore. What are my best choices in ammo? it would also go with me on occasional hunts in TX where the deer may be s little smaller, but [bleep] could be longer. I would also be interested in trying it out on hogs there maybe weighing 250 or more lbs. Suggestions? Thank you in advance.

Congratulations on your purchase! You won't go wrong with Barnes ttsx 100g ammo. Attached is a link to a source I buy from at times....I am not affiliated with Grafs in any way.

https://www.grafs.com/catalog/product/productId/23440

The 117 grain Hornady American Whitetail shoots good groups in my Marlin XL7 and Remington 700 and is usually priced around $20 per box.

Another vote for ttsx bullets/ammo. As with any caliber shot placement is key, but the 25-06 has been killing stuff for 50+ years

A lot of people use them for deer around here. My son used to have one and killed lots of deer and hogs with it. I don't have the .25-06 but I have a .250 Savage and a .257 AI. They both kill deer very reliably, The 25-06 is even better. Yes, Texas is .25-06 country. I shoot 115 grain Combinded Technololgies Ballistic Tips. I get 3000 FPS out of my 257AI and about 2900 out of my .250 Savage. If you're shooting Cup and Core you can't beat 'em. With enough bullet they'll kill most anything you want in Texas. I know people that shoot elk with them reliably with a heavy bullet.

A lot of people use them for deer aronnd here. My son used to have one and killed lots of deer and hogs with it. I don't have the .25-06 but I have a .250 Savage and a .257 AI. They both kill deer very reliably, The 25-06 is even better. Yes, Texas is .25-06 country. I shoot Combined Technologies 115 grain Ballistic Tips and they're a death ray.

I shoot Hornady bullets in my 25-06, no need to change as all deer have been DRT.

I have used the hornady American whitetail with good results. Dont have experience with much else due to reloading. But a favorite load is the 100gr tsx

25-06 is a great round.
Any commercial round loaded with Partitions or TTSX's, that your rifle shoots well, will deliver about everything the caliber is capable of providing.
With those bullets, the weight you choose is less important than the accuracy they deliver.
It should not be hard to find one that is very accurate.
Good hunting.

Federal "blue box" ammo generally shoots well and is cheap on the Graf's website shown above. My first centerfire bolt action was a 25-06. I killed a lot of woodchucks and one whitetail buck with that rifle. It hammered both woodchucks and deer hard. The buck I shot at 175 yards was DRT. I used a handload with the now-discontinued 120 grain Hornady hollow point bullet.

I've had good luck with the Hornady American Whitetail, however chronographed them and only got 2766 fps vs 2990 as advertised.

Same gun same day Federal 110 AB chronographed 3040 fps vs 3090 as advertised.

That said, still killed pronghorns no sweat.

I have since hand-loaded 117 gr. Hornady I/L in same gun at about max and bullet performance was still stellar.

I bought 200 rounds of Winchester 120 PEP (positive expanding point) when I bought my Ruger 77 in 25-06. My family and I have killed over 40 deer and antelope with that load and absolutely zero complaints. When all the factory ammo is fired I plan to reload 115 Nosler AB but would be perfectly content shooting the PEP for the rest of my life.

110 accubond, 100/115 partition, or a 100 ttsx/trophy copper would all be up there. Really, an interlokt or fusion would be more than fine. I've killed a bunch of smaller deer, larger deer, and hogs with the 117 SGK. They often don't exit but I've never had a deer go far with them. Little to no tracking was a big perk hunting where there was lots of cactus and mesquite.

Yeah this is what my hunting partner uses and he loves it. Great accuracy & terminal reliability for the price.

A 100 grain Nosler Ballistic tip is and will always be the perfect bullet for North American Whitetail deer. Look no further.

115 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip or a 110 Accubond!

100 grain ttsx is my go to bullet, it will flatten any deer that walks.

If something works on 100# deer, it'll work on 200# and 300# deer.

Barnes VOR-TX Ammunition 100 Grain TTSX
Federal Premium 115 Grain Nosler Partition
Hornady American Whitetail 117 Grain Interlock


25 cal / 100gr TSX bested this lil' fella.

the whitetail bucks i shoot in Minnesota by the Canadian border are also big, in my 257 Weatherby Mag. my son and myself now days only use these 2 bullets and have had excellent results > 25 caliber 100 grain Nosler Partition or 100 grain Swift A-Frame

It is enough, even with ordinary bullets such as Hornady SP, Speer flat base, Federal Fusion, etc.. I'm also a fan of the heavier bullets for assured exits.

Happy Hunting

100gr Partition out of the little 25-204(2850fps).




With the capacity of the 25-06 I'd be looking at the 115gr Partition or 100gr Barnes Mono-metal bullet.

Any modern quality deer sized game bullet will do fine. If you want penetration as well as weight retention, the Nosler Partition is hard to beat in any caliber. The 25-06 just has a cool factor to me. A friend of mine hunts with one and uses the cheapest off-the-shelf ammo he can find. Everything he's shot hasn't gone 30 feet.

My cousin has killed a traincar load of deer with the cheap old Remington CoreLokt 100gr. bullets/ammo. It works on the corn-fed fat Missouri deer, and I'd expect it to work equally well on NH deer, too. I've only killed one deer with a .25/06, and I used a 100gr. Sierra Prohunter, it worked as expected, a quick dash of 30 yards, and it fell in a heap.

I've used the 117 SGK on mule deer and it was a good solid killer. I've used the old Hornady 120HP in a 257 Ackley Improved, the 115 Nosler Partition and 100TSX in 2 257 Wbys. A good 25-06 runs so close to the Wby in good handloads too. I know a fellow out here who uses his 25-06 with 120 Remington corlokt factory ammo on mule deer and elk both. Since I spent a lot of time killing critters with hot 22s, small to big 6mms and the above 25s, I am now focusing on a 24" .270 win, otherwise, I'd have another 25-06. Great cartridge.

Thanks All, seems like a lot of solid recommendations here. Guess I’ll have to try a few different ones to see what the rifle likes and what the deer do not. I’m lucky in that there’s a fantastically well-stocked store nearby that will have all of these on the shelf to choose from.

I matters almost nothing on deer. We've used about everything on deer and everyone worked with a single shot, and couldn't tell any difference really. Longest run was a smaller forked horn with it's heart in pieces via a 115gr Barnes XLC and that was only about 60 yards. Many fall where they stand, most stagger a few steps. I loved the now discontinued Hornady 120gr HP and still have some left.

You can't mess this choice up.

American Whitetail 117 BTSP from Hornady also shoots really well in my Forbes. Sub MOA to 400 yards. I get factory listed velocities out of it. The bullets go right through 300 pound caribou leaving quite a hole. Recovered one on a quartering shot and at 150 yards it hung onto 65% of it's weight.

See 2:30 to 3:30 on this video, for more on this load

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MM2d7w0wLKk

How it shoots is here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ES9zRM2g6ec

I have heard much about this sadly discontinued load.

This one will get trial for sure. Thank you

Happy to help. Good luck.

A guy I used to work and hunt with sometimes came across a good deal on a Ruger 77 varmint model in 25-06 in the late 90's. He was bound and determined to take it to the area of Jordan Mt. on a mule deer hunt. I asked him if he thought it might be a touch heavy for such a hunt and he scoughed at me. He is an ex Marine who does triathlons and wouldn't be denied. He shot a 250lb Mule deer buck at a laser ranged 352 yards with it. He hand loaded some 120 grain partitions for it. Not sure the load or velocity, but I do know he got complete penetration through the ribs and the buck dropped in his tracks. His hunting partner on that trip shot a similar buck at 358 yards with a 30-06 and 180 grain Winchester Failsafe ammo. Same results.

Ron

Seems like there is no shortage of good 25-06 deer loads.

What would you guys NOT recommend for deer in the 25-06?


Okie John

I would not use anything less than 90grs that is not a monometal.

I've used a 25-06 for a lot of Alberta deer. Mostly handloads using Speer 120gr SBT or Speer 120gr Grand Slam or Barnes 115 TSX. Great open country deer round.

For factory loads I would use a Barnes Vortex load, or any mono metal, heaviest bullet available or the Federal Fusion. The Fusion is a very good bullet.

I've had great range & field results on feral hog with Federal Vital Shock .25-06 Remington ammo loaded with the 110grain Nosler Accubond, published muzzle velocity of 3100 fps. So I bought some Underwood. 25-06 Remington factory ammo loaded with the 110 grain Nosler Accubond with a published muzzle velocity of 3250 fps to try out, but I haven't hunted with it yet.

https://www.underwoodammo.com/colle...-accubond-spitzer?variant=18785712242745

I got one box of these for barrel break in and shot two deer with them and was sold. I reload the BTSP version of this and up the velocity a little with R-26 and am very pleased with them, six deer so far no complaints.

What not to use is anything designed as a varmint bullet. In fact, I tried some 100gr ACP bullets (solid-ish copper) at full velocity that I didn't like. Limited sample but they didn't exit and seemed to break up inside. Worked, resulted in a run, and tracking but no blood to follow. They'd probably be fine in more open country than I've been in lately. Reminded me of early Ballistic tips.

Using 120's and RL22 has been so effective I quit trying other stuff.

You don't need another Hornady Whitetail recommendation but I will add one. Shoots really well in my Sako A7 25-06. Easily 1 inch or less at 100.

My experience as well. I've been using a 25.06 for 30+ years and a 120gr anything is no doubt pure deer poison and works great with RL22 in my experience. You mentioned the Nosler Partition and you can rest assured that you'll never go wrong with the Partition. I've never been able to get great accuracy with them myself but for the distances you mentioned they'll probably shoot just fine. My go to load is the Speer 120gr Hot-Cor and RL22 and I have harvested countless deer with that combination. Another good one is the Sierra 117gr Pro Hunter or Gameking. Any of the bullets mentioned will kill a deer I just personally like the heavier choices and have had excellent results on game using them.

That's what I've been shooting for years now in my .257 Roberts, and I couldn't agree more. I've seen lots of deer shot with many different cartridges, and blood trailed quite a few. I've found that most big cartridges don't really kill much different than small ones.

120 grain Remington Core loks is all I ever used with great results