Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles .25-06 87 grain Sierra

Anyone have any pet loads with the 87 grain Sierra SP in the .25-06? Looking to get between 3400 and 3450 from the 24” tube of my Remington 700.

I used the 85 grain Ballistic Federal premium factory load (3500 fps muzzle velocity!!) years back for coyotes, rock chucks and badgers in Idaho. Got a good deal on a couple boxes of the Sierra so thought I would give them a try.

I have H4831SC, Varget, and IMR4350....and go!

Many years ago my only centerfire rifle was a Remington 700 BDL sporter. I used it for both deer and woodchucks. Back in the early 1980s, there were no plastic point varmint bullets. I shot 87 grain Sierras and 90 grain Sierra HPBT bullets in that rifle with good results on varmints. I think I used between 52 and 54 grains of IMR 4831 for both bullets. Velocities ranged from 3,200 to 3,400 fps.

Given your powder choices, I would try IMR 4350 first, then H 4831SC. Varget would probably work, but I would use slower powders in the 25-06. Check the Hodgdon loading magazine for charge weight guidelines on these powders. You might also check a Nosler manual for the most accurate powder using Nosler 85 grain Ballistic Tips.

Try I4350.. That was also my powder for many years for this rifle.. 87s were a top choice years ago for varminting!! They still work super .. I would try the range of loads suggested by Jersey one should preform very well. I would increase a half grain ata time...

4350 is what I shot, Win primer, about 56.0g but you work up to that load it maybe way too hot for your rifle. I used Winchester brass, and bumped the shoulder on every firing with a std. Forster neck sizing die. Vel was 3500+, and shot groups around 3/8", bullet seated .060 off the lands

Hell of a coyote load.

My uncle used to shoot IMR-4350 with both 87 and 90 grain bullets in his 25-06.

Said he tried other powders and bullets but those were always the best shooting combination.

Regarding IMR 4350 in my old Remington 700, I used it in a deer load and with 100 grain Partitions. My deer load was (if memory serves) 50 grains of IMR 4350 under the long-since discontinued 120 grain Hornady hollow point. That gave me about 3,000 fps and was deadly on NY State bucks. I tried IMR 4350 with 100 grain Partitions, too. I can't remember if I used 52 or 53 grains, but the load was extremely accurate and would have made an excellent deer load. Velocity was around 3,250 fps. It was a hot load, especially in the summertime.

I used IMR 4831, and later H 4831, as pressured didn't rise as quickly with those powders. Remember, I was shooting woodchucks in summer heat. My varmint loads weren't maximum, and even the mild loads at 3,200 fps were plenty at the distances we shot back then. As I remember, both the 87 and 90 grain Sierras would blow right through a chuck leaving a fist-size hole about every time. However, I recall one time when I shot a very big chuck - probably over 12 lbs - with the 90 grain Sierra. The bullet never exited, and the chuck looked like an over-inflated volley ball.

These days I shoot smaller 25s. I have two 250 Savages, one a lever action 99 with 1 in 14" twist and the other a bolt gun with 1 in 10" twist. The 99 shoots those 90 grain Sierra hollow point boat tails like it was made for them, but it won't shoot 100 grain bullets worth beans. The 25 I really like these days is another Savage - an Axis rifle with an E.R. Shaw barrel in 257 Roberts. It will push a 117 grain bullet to about 2,900 fps with far less recoil than a 25-06, and for an old man with a bum right shoulder, that's a good thing. I still love my 25 caliber rifles.