Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 25-06 ballistics barrel lengths

Considering this cartridge in a Tikka T3 with a 22 7/16" barrel according to specs by Tikka. Have read the 25-06 should have a 24" barrel because of reduced speed and muzzle blast. Not sure if this is correct or not. Opinions on this? Thanks.

It will be fine.

Sure should be O.K. Check out other threads, theres one about it being Waaayyyy too easy to get a Tikka 25-06 to shoot...
Ingwe

My T3 in .25-06 gets an average of 3312fps with 100gr TSX bullets. If you do some research, that's not bad compared to most 24" barrels

Most loads will put 3 shots in 0.75", almost every load into less than 1", and some loads into <0.5"

All loads go to the same POI within 0.5"

Bingo!
Ingwe

It will be OK because it is what it is which isn't a bad thing, but...the 25-06 has a bore/case ratio of 8.4. Let's look at a few others that are or could be called magnums:

220 Swift.......8.4
240 Wby.........7.6
7mm Rem Mag.....8.0
300 Win Mag....9.0
300 Wby Mag.....8.1 to name a few.

For contrast the 257 Roberts has a bore/case ratio of 10.0.

I've never understood why the gunmakers have not taken this into account and offered this chambering with a 24" barrel. Even my German made Blaser 25-06 has a 22.6" barrel; it also gets 3300+ with the 100-gr TSX but the fact remains that you could tack on another 75 to 100 fps with two more inches of pipe. I know, that doesn't mean much in the field but then we could argue that the bigger 30 cal magnums don't need the traditional 24" either but with them muzzle blast would be an issue. So, I guess we've come full circle and it all makes sense after-all.

It's a very good cartridge and muzzle blast isn't much of an issue with this 25. You can't do much better for a long range deer/antelope cartridge.

The .25-'06 Normal is an absolutely superb cartridge. Period.

Incredibly accurate, easy to load, light recoil and simply electrocutes animals large and small. What's not to like?

I'm a believer and a user.

Steve

Bullets kill deer , not rifle barrels. A couple of inches won't make any difference at all, to the deer, maybe to your ears, but not much there, either. I have a 22" .25/06, it actually shoots better than my cousin's 24" rifle, and my handloads are faster than his factory ammo, so supposedly I'm hitting the deer a bit harder. Not that it matters even a little bit.

.......A 22 7/16" barrel compared to a 24" for a 25-06 won`t be any problem. No problem in the accuracy dept or in any other dept. Only a 1 9/16" difference?? That`s nothing!!

I don`t shot a 25-06. But to give you a good idea, my 16.5" tubed 300 WSM compact, only loses a chronographed 4.2% to 4.5% in average overall velocity when compared to identical loadings from two 24" 300 WSMs. That`s from a barrel 7 1/2" shorter.

I can assure you, that your percentage of loss, will be alot less.

Yep.

BMT

Reading comprehension is important; that's why they test for it.

My point is "tradition." Standards get 22" tubes or thereabouts and the magnums 24" or 24+. If done on any kind of rational basis (ie, bore/case ratio) the 25-06 would get a 24" tube too.

I didn't say it was ineffective or barrel length kills deer for goodness sake.

Actually a lot of factory .25-06's have 24" barrels, and some even have 26" barrels.

Some will say a 22-7/16" (57 cm.) .25-06 will be nothing more than "a loud .257 Roberts." How they know the noise level is an interesting question, since I have only encountered a couple of shooters who actually used a decibel meter.

Also, since my wife and I have killed a semi-load of deer and antelope with the .257 Roberts at ranges out to 400+ yards, I don't think this is a bad thing. And I have done in quite a few with the .25-06 as well, at similar ranges, even using wimpy old factory ammo.

But it won't work out like that. A 57cm .25-06 will get more velocity than a .257, even if the .257 is loaded to 60,000+ psi. That's the way things work: More powder capacity = more velocity, even in a "short" barrel.

As Steve DZ noted, the .25-06 is a wonderful cartridge, easy to load and easy to shoot. Even if you just use factory loads it will get the .257 Roberts velocities that handloaders strive to reach. If you handload, it will do a little more, which is plenty.

Go forth and slay well!

These are the results I got when I had the chance to use these two rifles. I used the same box of ammo for each,Remington 87gr HP.

Savage 110 w/22"bbl 3sht avg= 3440 Hi=3475

Winchester M70 w/24"bbl 3sht avg= 3449 Hi=3469


No scientific study and only two rifles. So take it for what it's worth. I came to the conclusion that you just never know.

That's what I tell the .280 shooters who mock my 22" Husky 7mm Rem Mag!

Exactly. The individual barrel itself has a greater effect on velocity than 2" of barrel one way or the other.

Right! The 26-06 is a great cartridge and I have one. I was just trying to shine a light on the rifle makers giving some cartridges 24" barrels traditionally and while there are 24" 25-06s out there, there are many more with 22" or 22.6" barrels. Many more than, say 300 Wins, with 22" tubes. When looking at the bore/case vol ratio as I explained above the 25-06 could be called a "magnum".

It's gack but I thought that was what this forum was for: gack.

Ruger, Winchester, and Remington all chambered the round with at least 24" barrels. Not many others chambered it.

The only real downside is noise in my mind. I do wonder how barrel length affect velocity with the Hornady Light Mag load, which works great in my 25-06.

Totally agree with Dogzapper&Muledeer, and probably everyone else on this: The .25-06 is a great cartridge indeed. My Ruger Mk2 has a 24" barrel. Pretty much standard in the industry.You"ll be just fine. Shoot straight.

I wouldn't worry about it at all. This last season I absolutely lazered 5 deer with mine out to 320 yards, even with the 22.5" barrel.