Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 25-06 and blood-shot meat?

Dont forget the 120 gr Partition works well on deer at bow range with a 25-06 at full throttle.

The Hornady 120g HP and the Sierra 120g BTHP are tough bullets.

Least blood shot meat I have ever seen with my 25-06 was the 115 Barnes TSX on a high shoulder shot. Could eat up right up to the hole!

The Hornady 120 gr HP and Sieera HPBT Gameking are actually tougher than standard spitzers, so not ALL HP's will blow up meat, that is why they have both been recommended by others here. But otherwise, yes, I agree.

My father has used the 120 gr Hornady HP on deer for many years, both mulies and WT. He's shot deer as close as fifty yds with no excessive bloodshot meat. I also watched him drill a big aoudad ram through both shoulders at about 150 yds, the bullet busted both shoulders and kept going.

Bill

What time of year do you hunt deer on the islands? Do you have seasons, or always summer? Wet or dry seasons?

I can't help you with what works in 25-06, just what didn't work for me. A 90 grain Sierra at 30 yards in the deer's hoof was not fatal! That was fall of 2007, and I got pics of a doe with a deformed hoof in 2008 and 2009, so I think she is ok.

tx
I shot a Texas buck at about 40 yards through both shoulders with the 120 Hornady and it made an unusual triangle shaped exit and the tall dead grass where he had been standing looked like it had been spray painted with a gallon of red paint for about a 5 foot radius.

Like I said, I've shot a lot of deer in the high-shoulder area with the 100gr TSX/TTSX, and the meat loss is absolutely minimal. Either that, or a 100gr BT or GK in the ribs is the way to go if you want a quick kill and maximum meat yield.

Bullet tumbled inside maybe?

Thanks again Jordan!

Thanks guys...all good stuff here and helpful!!!!

I totally concur with that, the 120 Sierra HPBT was a bullet I used a fair bit out of a 25/06 for yotes and it was amazinly fur friendly.

And another friend used the 120 Horn Hp for his elk load out of his 25/06 for quite a while.

Dober

I use a 120 gr.TSX in a 6.5x55 a close to 25-06 choice. I hand load to 2850 fps and on a 100 yd just behind the shoulder shot I had a 4" circle of bloodshot meat. The bloodshot meat was more toward the surface of the animal. The insides of the deer was pure jello. I get much more bloodshot meat and internal damage with the 120 gr than 130 or 140 in bullets. But man the 120 TSX lays them down! Buckfever 1

No, I actually meant hold right on out to 225 or so, not 325. Using my rifles zeroed at 200 yards with the loads I mentioned, you have to start thinking about bullet drop and holdover if you shoot past about 225 yards. You can hold on hair past 225 but you must start elevating your aim point a bit to make the bullet land where you want it to. At 300 yards is where you are holding at the very top of the deer, barely still on hair. Beyond 300 yards you you must know the range precisely to make reliable hits on game. It is exceedingly difficult to estimate range past about 300 yards without a rangfinding instrument, and then you must have intimate knowledge of your rifle's trajectory. Not very many people have the knowledge, training, and experience to make reliable kills beyond 300 yards.

To state it technically, at the risk of boring one and all, the loads I mentioned exhibit a MPBR (Maximum Point-Blank Range) of about 225 yards with a maximum deviation of plus or minus 3 inches from the LOS (Line Of Sight). In other words, with the rifle zeroed at 200 yards, the bullet's mid-range trajectory does not exceed plus 3 inches rise over LOS. And the range at which the bullet drops minus 3 inches below LOS is about 225 yards. If I think the deer is 300 yards away I lay the horizontal cross-wire along the top of the deer's back. Beyond that I usually don't shoot. I have neat video footage of a deer I shot at about 300 yards last year with my Ruger 6.5x55 and 140 grain Speer Hot Cor. If I can figure out how to extract that shot from the 2-hour-long video, I will post it.

The game changes a bit when I break-out the 300 RUM. It shoots 150 grain Barnes TSXs at around 3500 fps. That rifle/load is zeroed at 300 yards. I haven't yet had to think about bullet drop and holdover when shooting deer with that one. Maybe someday.

You just can't have your cake and eat it to with the scenario you project...

Quick DRT lightening like kills occur on deer size game with fast violent expansion for the most part ala the light fast bullets such as the 85 and 100 gr. Sierras etc in the 25-06 and they are impressive, but all is not gold, you do not get and exit hole and more than a few bleed out inside if they run and you have no blood trail, and you may lose the animal entirely in the kind of country you speak of....

However the big heavy bullets tend to cut two holes, one on each side, leave a very good blood trail and the animal normally will run perhaps 50 or more yards and you don't get all that blood shot ruined meat..This is my choice and I get a goodly number of DRT kills as a matter of fact...My choice for the 25-06 is the 120 gr. Rem. Corelokt and I have used it a bunch, the 120 gr. Nosler works pretty well but I prefer Noslers in .308 caliber and up..I am sure the Accubond would be an excellent bullet in the 25-06, its seems to be a match made in heaven to me, but I have not used it, soooo!

If I were in your shoes and hunting the kind of terrian you hunt I would actually prefer a 9.3x62, 338-06 or something on that order that cuts a bigger entrance and exit hole so blood would splash everywhere and I could just follow up a short run. I hunt elk in simular country as you describe and my favorit rifles are the 375 and 338 shooting heavy RN Woodleighs.

I have to agree with Dober on the 120's being tough, but also agree with Dober on that 117RN Hornady. Now that just might be the ticket your looking for. Those bullets are accurate, and at +/- 200 yards, I'm thinking you're good in a 25-06. Tom

Ray- Thanks for sharing it really helps in me making my determination!!!

BR- Thanks for clarifying things!!!!


Thanks to all for sharing...I've been wishy-washy lately and getting a deer down ain't all that hard I know, I'll just use the Sierra 117gr SBT and try the Hornady 120 HP and Rem 120gr CL and see which my rifle shoots best with H4831sc/ CCI 200 primers...

Whichever shoots most accurate gets the call...And I'll keep all the shots in the boiler room as much as possible dependent on the angles and I'll go from there.

This has been very informative for me and thank you all gang...

Now it's game time and I'll report my findings at the range and in the field...

As asked by a poster,,, NO season here for axis on private lands where I'll be hunting, but I prefer late May, June, July if possible!

Any bullet I choose will get her done, but for the reasons I indicated just looking for MY SHOT ...again in order to MINIMIZE blood-shot meat and get it face down ASAP

Now its showtime and I'll make my adjustments based on my experiences in the field!

I don't like a a gawdawful mess when I shoot a deer, and I don't worry too much about DRT. In my .25-06 AI the best I've found are the 100 grain and 115 grain TSX. At close range they go right through in a straight line, smash everything in the way, and don't make a gawdawful mess. If you make a big bone or CNS hit they, like anything else, give you a DRT. If you don't hit the big bones or a CNS component a DRT is a maybe thing. That said, the only DRT results I've ever had have been a couple of times with TSX's in the boiler room but not hitting big bones or CNS. Just my preferences and experience.