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

10 years ago, on this thread:
https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/9458956/1

I was challenged by a Camper to get back to him in a decade and report if my opinion of 25-06 had matured

I'm back. I've been busy with a bunch of other projects, but I did get the 25-06 out again. This time, I was using 100 Speer HotCor over H4831sc.



It's funny, but my thoughts in 2024 are the same as they were in 2014: " Was this better than the 30-06? No. It wasn’t worse either."

This year, I got a perfect broadside shot at 100 or so yards. I hit both lungs and the top of the heart. The animal fell, but got up again and ran. When I came out of the blind, I was thinking goat rodeo, but the doe had only run 10 yards and fallen just shy of the fence in tall grass.

O.T.'s admonition when he sold me the rifle stands: it shoots 100 grainers and 120 grainers about the same.


BTW: I was still using the same recycled 270 WIN brass from 2014. Folically Challenged donated some 25-06 brass and some bullets when he came to camp, but I have not had a chance to use them.


Bottom Line: My opinion on what the camper called a "BG cartridge wannabe" has not changed. 25-06 is fine for what it attempts to do.

I'm good with the 25/06. Just bought another one last week. My main targets are White Tails and hogs. I think it is a good fit for them. Of course having said that, an 8-point got collected with a 6.5 Grendel. Variety is a good thing.

I'm on my second 25-06. It's a great caliber for seer sized game. I know people hunt elk with them but I would favor a different caliber for that task.

Good shooting.
If you like what a 25/06 does, try a 243 Win next.

I've been using a 25.06 for around 35yrs and it's no doubt my favorite caliber. Here in southeast NC i hunt deer, coyotes and an occasional hog in open fields, cut overs and power line right of ways. The Speer 120gr Hot-Cor in front of a full house of RL25 is pure poison on all three. The 25.06 has always been my choice for my type hunting and the results on game has been excellent for me.

I recently sold my 25-06 & it's likely that it was the last one I'll own. But one has served me well for decades here in Ky.

I did take one as a backup rifle the first time I went to the Rockies, & when I saw a shoulder mount 6x6 bull Elk in a sporting goods store I knew the 25 might be a bit marginal for that.

I’ve had a .25-06 since 2001. Its been a great deer and coyote round. That said, I think the .270 is a better big game round and the .257 Roberts is better with lightweight .257 caliber bullets and not exactly terrible with the 110-120 grain bullets.

My .25-06 is getting rebarreled to a .257 Roberts.

I have had a .25-06 since before it was a std caliber. Not the same one, but several. I would say my current one is 20 years old. I am having another built for my granddaugher. It will be an antelope and deer rifle for open country. I have only had one .257 Roberts. You could not give me another if I had to use it.

The .243 or 6mm are pleasant rounds for much of ones shooting but when medium game is the main goal, I think I will stick with the 25-06.

I've been using the .25-06 for about 10 years now, and my experience with it has been that, using 100gr NBTs, or 100gr and 120gr Speer HotCors, or 117gr Hornady SPBTs, it puts down WTs and speed goats as quickly as anything and faster than some. None has gone more than 20 - 30 yds or so, most were DRT. However, my experience on one speed goat and four WTs using the 100gr Barnes TTSX was, that if you use those, you better be a good tracker. Didn't lose any of those five, but every one ran at least 300 yds, usually more.

I like the .25-06 enough that I bought another one last summer.

Sitka Deer has posted a couple of times about his grandson (?) who uses a 25-06 with 80gr TTSX Barnes bullets: "He has killed mountain goat, brown bear, huge-bodied bull moose, caribou, Sitka blacktails, and more with the combo. It seems to work for him."

One of these day's I'll get around to scoping this 25-06 XTR Featherweight.

I own (4) 25-06s. One of my favorite rounds, and I love it. One is a Dakota Custom Deluxe, and the other three are Ruger Express rifles. Ruger made a bunch of these Express rifles back in the 1990s in various calibers, but only (8) in 25-06. They were uncatalogued. I bought three and my wife bought one. Like the Dakota, the Ruger has a quarter rib, but the Ruger’s is integral to the barrel (machined from a single bar of metal), complete with barrel band sling swivel, open sights, two flip up leaves, black for end tip, all blued metal bolt handle, barrel band front sight, and beautiful Circassian walnut stocks. Ruger discontinued the Express rifle after a decade. I love them, and own rifles in all calibers they made; 25-06, 270 Win., 7mmRM, 30-06, 300WM, & 338WM, plus the Magnum framed calibers, in 375H&H, 416 Rigby, and 458 Lott. Wonderful rifles!

My wife and I have taken well over 60 Pronghorn Antelope, about 95% of them with these 25-06s, in Wyoming & Colorado. We don’t hunt deer much, but have taken several as well with the 25-06s. My wife uses her 25-06 exclusively on both animals, but I have used a 280 Rem. on about (4) of those Pronghorns.

I have two female friends who use their 25-06s on their Elk hunts, and are successful. They like the reduced recoil of 120 gr. bullets. I can’t bring myself to try them on Elk, but I know it would work! I use 338s and 35s on Elk. I could use smaller rounds, but I just like how the 338s & 35s hit Elk. In fact, I used my 35 Whelen on a bull Moose here in Colorado a few years back. He took about three steps and fell over.

I have come to the conclusion, that for me, for all American big game, I can get by with just a 25-06 and a 35-06 ( my 35 Whelen! )! YMMV. I hunt Pronghorn & Deer with my 25-06, and all of the rest with my 35 Whelen. I have not hunted Grizzlies or the big Alaskan brown bear yet, but when I do, it will be with my 35 Whelen also, with 280 gr. SAFs, the same I used on the Moose. I’m sure the 250 gr. bullets will work as well, but I like SD, and the 280 gr. in 358 caliber is .312. That’s comforting to me, if not necessary. Again, YMMV.

I have taken my Dakota 35 Whelen to Africa twice, and with it I took: Leopard, Sable, Sitatunga, Kafue Lechwe, Lichtenstein Hartebeest, Chobe Bushbuck, Warthog, & Oribi. The 35 Whelen is a very versatile cartridge, and one that has taken a bunch of animals for me. It has earned its place in my safe!

You had a deer run 10 yards? I've seen deer go about that far in one dying jump.You used the Whelen for several seasons, but weren't impressed. Sounds like the 25-06 is right there with it.

I'm curious as to what magic a rifle has to perform to put a grin on you?

The 25’s are just about perfect for deer sized game. For actual killing hard to beat. Of course the 25-06 doesn’t fit the high BC crowd and that leave home without a .700 BC bullet to shoot their deer at 173 yards. Niedner’s 25 has been killing for over a century.

GreggH

Perfect for deer and pigs, mine is a 700 varmint model, 115 ballistic tips work great

Yup, I still like my 25-06, it's done really well for me over about 20 years. Light recoil, good accuracy, flat trajectory and quick kills.





Regards, Guy

Guy,
If Remington ever makes that rifle again I am speed dialing my dealer. Is that Ballistic tip 100 or 115?

GreggH

I'm fortunate to have two nearly identical 700 CDL's, one in 25-06, one is a 30-06.

That's the 115 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip. I'm very satisfied with it for deer, pronghorn, coyotes. Have only used a couple of other bullets from that rifle. All have done well.

Regards, Guy

Have hunted extensively with several .25-06s, using both factory ammo and handloads. It works well when pointed right on a wide variety of big game, but have also hunted a lot with other .25s, including the .257 Roberts (which also works fine on elk if pointed right), the .257 Roberts Ackley Improved, .250 Savage and .257 Weatherby Magnum.

These days the biggest advantage the .25-06 has over those other .25s is availability of "affordable" factory ammo and brass.

I have used the CT version on tons of deer and hogs. Great bullet.

GreggH