Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 25-06 pros and cons???

I have two 25-06's both like IMR 4831 and 100 grain bullets. There's no flys on the 25-06.

My last two mulies were both with a .25-06 Rem 700. Used the Barnes 100 gr TSX over 53 gr H4350 for 3340 fps. Please use all due caution working up to this fine load. It shoots MOA @ 300 yards from the factory built Remington Sporter. Both deer were one-shot, instant kills.

Very easy shooting rifle. So pleasant to shoot and so effective on game, I find myself wondering why I have those three bigger, harder-kicking hunting rifles in my inventory.

Try one, I think you'll like it. Regards, Guy

I run RE-15 and 75 gr V-MAX's for yotes. For deer I'm still shooting up my factory corelokt 100 grainers. Flopped an 8 point opening morning this year and shot a doe on the opener last year.
Am still experimenting a little with it but so far works as well as larger calibers have in the past and is alot of fun to shoot, especially the Hornadys on coyotes.

56gr of RL22 and a 110gr Accubond! Nasty!

Actually, a .257 Weatherby will indeed shoot noticeably flatter than a .25-06 at 400+ yards--but not by much. At 400 a 100-grain bullet will be about 3" flatter out of the Wby.

But so what? This doesn't mean the .25-06 isn't great, and some of us believe in owning them all.

One really nice deal about the .25-06 is factory ammo. Yeah, I can hear a bunch of you out there going "huh"? Well, the Remington factory stuff usually shoots pretty darn well, and gets the same ballistics that .257 Roberts loonies have to push hard for in handloads. The various Core-Lokt bullets work darn well. In fact, in my own Ruger No. 1 the 115 Core-Lokt Ultra load shoots just about as well as most handloads--that is to say, well under an inch.

Here is my take on the .2506.
Pros - Light recoil, flat shooting, accurate, hits deer sized animals quite hard, ample factory ammuntion offerings, chambered by alot of manufacturers.

Cons- do not, and I repeat, DO NOT inadvertantly land your bullet anywhere near the shoulder blades or the spinal column (at least with Remington corelokts), especially at close range (under 50 yds). Unless you like to eat bone chips, that is. Don't ask me how I know this.

Kaiser Norton

Thanks for info!!!

So how is this different than with a 270win,30-06,or dozens of other cartridges?

Our family loves bone chips, you prolly ain't cookin'em right.

the 25-06 is probably THE anti loony rifle...

most of the guys that i know who own one are one rifle hunters....

Hmmm, 'pros' and 'cons'. To me it's just a matter of the same old trade-offs that necking up or down always involves. You get a bit more of some 'things' (that might be good or bad) and a bit less of some others (that might also be good or bad). It really comes down to 'fine tuning' the particular compromises to one's own particular circumstances. I ended up choosing .270 Win over .30-06 and many of the exact same reasons I based my decision on could be extended to argue for 'necking down' a bit further to the .25-06. I will say that IMHO, the .25-06 is about as far 'down' as I would consider taking the .30-06 case. Again, IMHO a 6mm-06 is pushing things and a .22-06 would be really wild (I'm sure I'll hear from the 6-06 fans now - wonder if there are really any .22-06 wildcats out there).

As far as there being any 22/06's out there, ah yes there is. I recall right they call it the 22 Weeney

Tis a smokin yote round I hear.

Dober

I can't think of any "cons", only "pros". I've said this many times before, but, I could easily get by with a .25/06 as my only rifle.

These days, there is very little that has not been done in wildcating. I read an article a while back about the 378 Wby family. It goes beyond the .30-378 and .338-378 Wby rounds. I believe it was in the 1960s that someone necked that thing down to .22 Cal. Overbore to say the least. I can't remember the velocity, but it was insane. Only a FMJ would stay in one piece as it left the barrel. I want to say the velocity was above 5 grand, but can't be sure.

Stick with the .25-06 Rem. Very few rounds cover as many bases with such low recoil. A lot of elk, let alone deer and antelope get killed every year by it.

PDS - mine too.

Shot my first deer with the 25 yesterday with a 100 TSX. Was impressed with the internal damage. Deer went 3 jumps.

Robert Hutton necked down the .378 Wea to .22, put 108grs of unspecified powder in the case and it hit 7200fps! The barrel burned out after just a few shots. It was called the "Eargensphlitten Loudenboomer".

I know a farmer in PA who has used the same rifle for the
last 30 years on whitetail deer and groundhogs, a Remington
40X in 25-06.

See my post in the deer hunting section about gs custom bullets and whitetail deer.

I have been using the .25-06 for about 17 years and it kills things right now. The 75g VMax flat fly and they are hell on coyotes, crows, groundhogs, etc. The 100/110/115g bullets may be the best whitetail medicine ever invented in my opinion. My friend that uses a .30-06 for whitetails saw me kill a couple of deer in years past and says that he has never seen anything kill so quickly.

I love this round- flat trajectory, dead right there terminal performance, and light recoil. What's not to like?

Just piked up my first 25-06 a 700 Classic a few weeks ago. I had found such a good deal I was almost going to consider it a project gun. Went out last week and put a few rounds down the range. I will never do anything to this rifle it shoot way to good.
DD

Lot's of info, thanks everyone. I also like the 25-06 because its more than the 243 and 6mm as far as bullit weight and is very flat at 200 yds. Less recoil although at 290 lbs it doesn't bother me. I just felt that the 25-06 is a good all around rifle that provides NEEDS I have and the 7mm08 does the same.