Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Flattest shooting, wind defying antelope round

Having owned rifles chambered in 240 Wby (a Win 70 CRF) and 257 Wby (two, both Win 70s CRF) I would simply choose a 25-06 and call it a day, the 25-06 is the simple choice and allows the looney to move on to the next rifle/cartridge challenge to be solved.

with some respect i own almost all cartridges in a 25 caliber rifles and if you are a reloader of ammo and shot rifles off benches and hunted a few years its still tough to beat a 257 Weatherby mag it might be a old cartridge but its still the king of all 25 caliber manufatured cartridges . there is no comparison in velocity /speed it is the fastest manufactured 25 caliber cartridge made in America . you want the fastest flattest 25 caliber buy 257 Weatherby mag. you won`t be sorry i have been shooting this cartridge for 20 some years and for hunting deer and antelope this cartridge is Number 1 in my book .

I was thinking the same, but I did shoot two with a Shiloh sharps, 45-70.

Dale not the same thing, I shot 2 with my 50-140 and 1 with my 45-110. Fact is a couple with the 30-06 & 1 with a 308. But the other 70+ antelope the 223 to 7mm's mostly 6mm to 6.5mm the perfect calibers for the pronghorn. Anything more is unnecessary. My 2 cts worth....mb

Just found a 25-06 locally, be looking at it this evening. I can live with a another 25-06 in my life! ( I've owned/used 3 before, like em alot!)

CRF) I would simply choose a 25-06 and call it a day, the 25-06 is the simple choice and allows the looney to move on to the next rifle/cartridge challenge to be solved.[/quote]

Sound advice my friend!

I've landed on the 6mm Remington and 6mm Creedmoor as my primary speed goat cartridges. I'd like to shoot one with a 22-250 and 62 grain TTSX this fall.

That's why I started using my 7mm RM with 175 gr Sierra Game King bullets for antelope back in the 90's. It was apparent to me that using the highest BC bullet was the best way to deal with gusting winds over distance. Kind of like the "Creedmoor" but with higher recoil.

An 8 twist 606 would seem to offer the most for least

Well I'm happy! Older Mod 700 BDL 25-06 ( blue/24" bbl) B&C synthetic stock with aluminum bedding block. VXII 3x9 gloss with 1pc base/rings (Leupold) mounts, but had low rings. Changed all to new 2pc and Medium rings. Put the 3.5x10 Leupold on it. Gentleman threw in 6 full, new boxes of Remington 120 CLKT ammo (whoopee!) and another 20rd box of fired brass. I still have my old RCBS dies and assorted ammo/brass.

I took it out of the stock, everything looks good but it's Walker Trigger was 5 1/5 lbs. That's fine as I will have it replaced with/love the Trigger Tech Special , much preferring them to about anything else. Main reason is I can keep it light in warmer temps, and easily crank it up heavier (3#) when its really cold ( something about my hands? ha) With its aluminum block, rifle and all is what I would call "Heavy Sporter" weight, maybe a tad closer to a "Medium Sporter". Should help me hold "somewhat still" out on the short grass prairies! I am not a pelt hunter, so I shoot coyotes when I see them (or call them) with whatever I have, I don't care if I open them up like a suitcase!

I was thinking more like a 1:8 6.5-06. Much better selection of high BC bullets.

If I was having a rifle barreled, I am tempted to do the 6.5 Sherman. Should be pretty close tot he 6.5 RPM but with formed .270 brass. Of course that means custom dies and a hydraulic forming dies, etc.

Sounds like a hot number. Could even burn Atlanta to the ground maybe

Tried some 270 loads across the chrono yesterday. 85TSX and Big Game powder did 3667fps and great accuracy. The wind may bother some but it ought to shoot flat!

I wrung out a super accurate .270 Kimber 84L Classic, Vortex Razor 2.5-8 that I gave my grand daughter. It shot the 100TTSX with Hunter like a laser...but it was meant for her. She is only 11, she may hunt, she may not. If not, she can sell it put it toward school. I also gave her (for her later in life) a Kimber 8400 Classic Stainless 300 WSM with a Burris FFII. It hummed the 168TTSX. I doubt she would ever shoot that one, but she can do with it what she wants. Its rare and really gorgeous. But I grew tired of both...it was time to move on....let loose the Loony!!!

Yes, Yes they are..



You just gotta be sneaky.

I’ve got one of those also

I played with the 6.5/284 wildcat back in the late '90s. It was purposely built on a SA, with the Winchester reamer for the lighter bullets. I shot nothing but the Nosler 120NBT & 125 NPT. It was super flat and a wicked killer! However, I could never get it to feed right. the last two in the magazine would fly right out of the rifle! Ever since I knew that if I ever went that route again, I'd go with a 6.5/06 (or at worst a 6.5/280AI) to feed better and have the longer action. Its a good concept.

We all like guns and are interested in ballistics and all the aspects of bullet flight and effects. That's the reason we all come to this sight. I like the learning and I like the science. I have been interested in it since I was about 11 years old and I am now 66.
BUT...............
Such things are WAY less important to hunting anything (including antelope) then most are told in print.

I live in the very center of the best pronghorn hunting on earth and I have killed a LOT of them. I have used flat shooing rifles with scopes and I have also used 4" barreled handguns with issue iron sights, flintlock rifles firing round balls and I killed 1 with a wood bow and a wood arrow. I have never fired a shot at one in my life over 425 yards. Not that I could not do so, but I have never had a desire to do so. I shoot to 1200 yards fairly often because it's fun, (20 minutes away from my home) and I can shoot to 700 yards right on my own land, so I know how to shoot long ranges and I do it well, ----but that's not a hunt. It's just good shooting. That's different then hunting.

In my years of hunting antelope the guns I have used that were the easiest to make kills with are the 25-06 and the 270 Winchester and the 270 WSM along with a few 300 mags and two 7MM Mags. But I can say with 100% honesty that very specialized and heavy rigs with large scopes are actually not quite as easy to use as standard weight rifles and standard weight scopes with no gizmos and widgets incorporated in them.
I see a lot of man show up with the most modern and Kevlar stocks, fluted barrels and scopes that are so decked out with widgets that it's a bit amusing, along with bi-pods and folding butt supports and you can tell in an instant they are the newbees in the antelope prairies. The men and women that live here and kill 3-6 of them every single year use more practical and standard style rifles and scopes because they know how to hunt them and when you learn how to do that you'll seldom shoot past 250 yards and when you do it will be VERY rare to poke one out past 350. Those that need to shoot 500-800 yards just don't know how, or simply don't care to learn how to hunt them.

I have personally killed antelope with:
257 Roberts,
25-06,
two 6.5 Grendals
two 6.5 Swedes
6.5X54 M/S (irons only)
two 6.8SPCs
four 270 Winchesters, (one rifle with irons only)
270 Short mags,
7MM Mag,
30-30 (peep sight)
two 300 Savages (iron sights on 1 and a peep on the other)
five 308 Winchesters (one scoped and the other 4 with peep only)
four 30-06s (1 with open irons one with a peep and 2 with scopes)
300 H&H
300 Win mag
303 British (open irons only)
8X57 Mauser
338-06
348 Winchester (peep sight)
35Remington (peep sight)
9.3X57 (irons)
9.3X74R (scoped , but the closest kill I ever made in my life was on an antelope with this rifle. The muzzle blast blew off a big cloud of hair)
375H&H
45-70 with open irons
two 357 magnums with stock iron sights
three 44 magnums, all with stock iron sights
45 colt with stock iron sights
50 caliber flintlock, open iron sight
62 cal flintlock, Open iron sight
and a Bamboo long bow with wood arrows and turkey feather fletching (2nd closest kill on antelope, from about 6-7 feet )

Isn’t the prc the 6.5-06. Very close in capacity, no?