Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting 25-06 for Mule Deer

This one bit the dust at 348 yards with a 100gr bullet.....

(Not me in the pic, just a friend who I helped with the deer)

I'm mostly a whitetail hunter, but a huge .25 fan. I'm also a Nosler BT fan. That said, I haven't been very impressed with BT performance ,in my 25-06's, at less than 200 yards. But, In east Texas, we don't shoot further than that very often. I'm sure they would perform beautifully once they slow down.

53gr H4350 under a 100gr NBT = stuff getting dead now!

[quote=GuyM]Aside from the varmint bullets... Is there a bad deer load for the .25-06? [/quote
I may get flamed for this, but yah, THE 100 GRAIN CORLOCT.

I've killed over 20 caribou with a 120 gr Speer handload. All but the first one were bang-flops. And he was just too dumb to know better....

Its hard to imagine a better mule deer or desert bighorn or pronghorn cartridge than the .25-06. I'm more partial to the heavier bullets, my faves being the 117 Sierra BT, 120 Speer BT, and 120 Nosler Partition (with which I took my desert ram).

My current rifle, a customized Rem 700 with a Douglas premium barrel and reworked trigger by Steve Lampheare, likes max loads with IMR4831 and Re-22 powders.

Much as I like the .25-06,I think a .270 Win is a better cartridge for the purposes you describe.

The .25-06 is perhaps the best dual-purpose cartridge available, varmints to deer.

Those, of course, are just my opinions, but when my money is on the line that is the only opinion that matters.

I can see your point CH, particularly with big bodied mule deer and bighorn sheep. Considered a .270, but caught a bad case of .25 cal itis... It's become my coyote, rockchuck and mule deer rifle of choice the past few years.

Rackmstr - that's one heck of a buck!!! What did he score?

CH: I'm sure you've had a LOT more expereience with mulies than I have. But there ain't a lot of difference between a 130gr Partition and a 120gr Partition at about the same MV, is there?

I have yet to find a deer that a 100gr TSX won't work on!

Nope, there is not much difference between a .25� 120g Partition and a .277� 130g Partition. The point is a 120g bullet is as heavy as you�re going to get in a .25-06. (You might find a heavier bullet but the variety will be very limited.)

The advantage of the .270 is that you can launch heavier bullets, and such bullets come in a wide assortment of flavors. My preference is to be able to use the heavier bullets if desired.

My post clearly stated it was a matter of my personal opinion. YMMV.

fair enough! thanks...

You must have armor-plated mule deer if you need more than a 130gr bullet from a .270!

landkiller,

my experience with the 25-06 has, for the most part, been in handloading for a couple of friends... that's about to change, as i have a .25 barrel on order that should be ready in a week or two...

my neighbor, though, when i moved here 15 years ago, saw me out shooting one afternoon and pulled into the driveway to talk... he had been a blackpowder hunter for 30 years or so and did not own a centerfire rifle...

he shot most of mine over a period of months and he liked them all, but he had his heart set on a ruger #1 for western deer hunting... he asked my opinion on caliber and i immediately mentioned the 25-06, based on another friends experience with that rifle and cartridge...

he bought the rifle and i tried to get him into handloading... he bought all of the equipment but has never really used it...
i loaded all of his ammo and as he was only interested in deer i used the same formula that i loaded for my other buddy...

they've both used the same load with complete success, but my neighbor had just retired and spent some real time hunting with his... he took a half dozen mule deer and a couple of whitetails... and his last two trips to colorado he took two bull elk, the bigger one a 6X5....

the load is sierra's 117 btsp over 53 of H4831...

No, other factors being more or less equal, I just tend to prefer heavier bullets for when things go south.

Two years ago I had an easy 80-yard shot at a quartering away buck turn into a hit low in the right ham when the buck turned and stepped forward just as the trigger broke. The bullet was a 140g North Fork from my 7mm Rem Mag (I know, not a .270 - don't have one). Don't know what a 120g .257" bullet would have done but the 140g was recovered from up against the sternum. DRT.

Don't have a .25-06, either, but I do have a Roberts that I push to +P velocities. My usual hunting load is a 120g A-Frame but I also load 115g TSX and 100g TTSX. I would, with reasonable shot presentations, shoot anything up to a bull elk with any of these loads. This is my favorite rifle and on more than one occasion has been my backup during elk season. It has also been the rifle I�ve carried after getting my first elk down (I usually have both bull and cow tags) as I then focus on deer.

Not dissing the .25-06, just think the .270 Win would be my choice for a dedicated deer rifle. FWIW, I�m building a 6.5mm-06AI and plan to shoot 130g bullets. The intended purpose is long range targets and another deer/elk rifle. (Like I need another one of those!) Still no .270 on the horizon...

25-06. Guess every -06 nut oughta have one. Someday..

See, I knew you were a reasonable fella

As to my reply earlier; I would also recommend[and I use them]: 50.5gr. H-4831sc,115gr. Nosler Partition or the Barnes 115 TSX. These loads are very dependable and work WELL on mulies.Good shooting. Let us know how it turns out.

So... The .25-06 is a nice fast, flat shooting cartridge. Lots of good bullet & powder combinations.

How long of a shot would you guys take with it, on mule deer?

That's a mighty small bullet, and once it slows down at long range - will it do the trick?

GuyM:My longest shot on mule deer using my .25-06 was a lasered 297 yds.[We paced that shot at 315,stumbling over sage and whatnot!]The bullet used was 115 Part. One shot and he moved about 20 feet and fell over rather dead! The same type of situation occurred when I took my pronghorn in N/E calif. Not quite as far, but same results. SO to answer your question,those little bullets do seem to work. I dont think I would want to shoot much further with any other rifle, for what its worth. But thats just me.I'm sure there are some other opinions on this. Lets see what they might have to offer!