Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 25-06 ?

no I bought a 25-06 because it was a light recoiling round in a light rifle.

If i am anticipating long range i Have a 28 nosler

nothing wrong with any 25 Caliber cartridge they work fine all of them .

I am a fan, since 1970.
With Nosler Partitions I have taken Bull Moose and Elk many times.
30/06 brass used to be very available, all my handloads have a 30/06 headstamp.
Hunter's don't know how effective this round is, imo
If they try it, they stay with it.

I have plenty of .25-06 components, including factory ammo and brass. I blow it out to .25-06 AI these days.

A Ruger 77V in .25-06 was the first CF rifle I bought when I got back from SEA, early '70's. It was to be my be-all/end-all woodchuck rifle. It was, for a time. I had a fixed, 12X Redfield on it. I was disappointed at first that I could just barely get 1" accuracy with Sierra 100 grain boattail spitzers or the 90 grain Sierra BTHP's. It was still minute of woodchuck, but I thought a heavy barrel varmint rifle should do better. Finally I tried some 75 grain Sierra flat based HP's. Over healthy loads of 3031 or 4064 they shot the kind of groups I'd been looking for: around 5/8 to 3/4 all the time and (according to published data) at warp speed. Eventually it went down the road, leaving me only a 77V in .220 Swift with a 16X Leupold that was more accurate and a more rational varmint rifle. I still have that today. I've often wondered since if Ruger might have put a slower than 10" twist in those early 77V's and that's why the longer bullets didn't work as well for me.

I recently dug out my .25-06Ai after a long dormant spell. Something I've always liked about the quarter-bores. May take it to Missouri or up north this fall it I end up making those trips for some deer hunting.

I had a nice 25/06 built on a 1909 Argentine Mauser action. A very nice rifle and accurate but a might heavy to tote around. I rationalized that I have 250 Savage (2), 257 R, 257 Wby, 270 (2), 280 , 7X57 (3) so there was no logical reason to keep the 25/06.
Now two years after selling the rifle, dies, and brass I'm thinking of getting one again. If I do it will be a single shot however just because I like single shot rifles. There is no method to the madness and no cure......than God

That’s because 77V had a 12 twist where standard was 10. 22 cals were 14.

I have a “before the bowling pin finish” 700 ADL 25-06 that has been hunted a bit. Mostly pronghorns but also whitetail. It is accurate with most loads I’ve tried. I have a like new 700 Classic in 25-06. It’s a little more choosy on bullets and loads but with the correct recipe it’s accurate too. It could be it isn’t broke in yet and I don’t believe I’ve glass bedded it yet.
When I was young, one of my brother’s shot his 25-06’s every year for whatever he could get tags for. He had a boat paddle 77 and a 700. He complained a bit regarding bullet selection, but dropped quite a few deer, pronghorns, crows, coyotes, and other varmints with his. Much later he bought a 700 35 Whelen and that became his go to elk and deer rifle.

A Kimber Montana in 25-06 is a sweet little package that packs quite a sting. It is perfect for all types of deer, especially in the mountains.

I’m a Kimber fan and there are only a couple I can think of at this point that I would add to my collection that I don’t already have. A 257 Robert’s MT is one of them.

Yep, got plenty, like the 115 ballistic tip. This is a 25 Niedner, made by Iver Henriksen, Husqvarna action. It’s a perfect deer rifle. We shoot every Aoudad we see. They rate right up there with feral pigs.

I've always wished for a faster twisted 25-.06 , that's easily enough built. but like a 135 137 grain match King bullet or something I think would be a pretty decent combo

If you can find it, the Hornady American Whitetail 117 grain factory load shoots good groups in both of my rifles. The 90 grain PP HP load is also accurate and while a friend thinks that it is a great bullet for shooting whitetails, I think that it is a little too fragile for my peace of mind. I have loaded a few hundred rounds of 25-06 ammo, but I don't shoot it very often and could get by just fine with the American Whitetail load.

I was a dyed in the wool 257 Roberts guy before I bought my first 25-06, the Marlin XL7 that I bought from member Moses on this site in 04/12. Despite having no direct experience with the 25-06, I had read that the 25-06 needed at least a 24" barrel to work, but after shooting the Marlin a bit, I found that a 22" barrel works quite well too.

Actually, thats not at least completely true.

Have a XTR FWT 25-06.Going to shoot it soon.

i have a 257 Creedmoor ,2 - 257 Roberts , 1- 257 Weatherby mag all with 8 twist Brux barrels all shoot very good , but i prefer 103 gr. Hammer bullet to hunt with.

I agree! My 257 Ackley went on a Rocky Mountain Bighorn hunt here in Arizona and downed a beautiful 178 B&C ram that completed my Grand Slam.
The rifle was built on a pre-war model 70 action, stocked in nice but not a fancy piece of English by a friend and puts the 117 Hornady into small groups.The rifle is as accurate as the shooter can fire it!
For some reason it has put on some weight as I have aged, and will be making a trip to the gunsmith gym for some trimming. After that it will continue hunting anything I can draw a tag for here in Arizona.

NICE RIFLE

KC, if you decide to start loading for your 25:06 I have some brand new brass to send you and maybe a nice set of dies as well. Just let me know.

Having used the cartridge happily for about 50 years on all the same game animals many others here have noted, and having more than one, I had never thought about someone's earlier comment that it is "fading" in popularity. I can't figure how more or less popularity could change such a fine shooter.

As for the comments about "long range" deficiencies with a 120 grain .257 bullet at a normal top velocity, it always has appeared that such effectiveness in the field will vary much more with the shooter than with the diameter/weight of a bullet between .25 and .28.

The idea of taking a particular long range shot is calculated differently by different hunters, and some exercise limits for themselves - for good reasons. There are many excellent mid-weight cartridges.

My wife and I own (5) 25-06s: one Dakota Classic Deluxe, and four Ruger Express rifles, built in the early 90s, which were never catalogued by Ruger, but 6-8 were none-the-less made.

We have hunted Colorado & Wyoming for Pronghorn for many years, and have taken a bit over 60 Antelope between us. We used to get (6) tags a year, a buck and two doe tags each, but those days are sadly over. One is lucky to get one tag every 2 or 3 years now. We have used a 25-06 for about 80% of those, and a 280 Rem. for the rest. We have found the 25-06 to be ideal for this animal, and I have taken deer with it as well. We have two lady friends in Colorado who have taken Elk with their 25-06s. It is a great cartridge! My cartridge choice for Elk however, is a bit bigger, but I cannot argue with their success. My wife and I have both used only Winchester 115 gr. Ballistic Silvertips.

We have never had to shoot long range at any of the Pronghorns we have taken, unless one considers under 400 yards long range. Of those Antelope, only six have been shot over 300 yards, with the longest shot at 361 yards. I don’t even know how far out my 25-06’s effective range is, but I suspect it is much farther than I have used it for. I therefore don’t need a cartridge that can shoot out to 1,000 yards, and I suspect no one else does either, but it seems many want to attempt that feat these days. Just a modicum of hunting skills will get you within decent shooting range of Pronghorns and Deer, and you may find that the 25-06 is your huckleberry, as we have. YMMV.

The only deer I've killed with a 25/06 was shot with a Nosler Ballistic tip, in the front shoulder. That has a tendency to cure a lad of wanting to shoot deer with a 25/06. Nowadays I shoot Barnes tsx and ttsx and should be more confident. But old ideas die hard.