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

Dogzapper, that was great. I appreciate you sharing that little tale. I can more than relate. I had a similar thing happen with the first antelope doe I shot this year. I had put a good long sneak on a herd of lopes. At about 225 yards the cover ran out and it was time to start filling tags. First, I shot the buck right in his bed and he never moved. The herd ran off about 50 yards and looked back at the buck to see why he wasn't joining them. I picked out a large doe and shot her tight behind the shoulder. She took off at a sprint. She was blowing hard just like you described in your doe race. The onliest problem was she started making an arc and headed on a bee-line for me. When they are running that hard they can cover 200 yards amazingly fast. I had her in my scope and could see blood pumping out of both sides as she closed the distance. At first I was entranced, which shortly gave way to some serious concern for my well being. She was really moving and getting so close it was hard to keep her in the scope. I'm thinking, "I'm going to have to shoot her again in self defense", but at 12X that was darn near impossible. I just relented to the fact I was about to be run over. About that time she took a nose dive and rolled to a stop less than 10 yards from the end of my barrel. Thank goodness...I mean how do you explain to anyone that you were charged and run over by a doe antelope? Considering all the things I enjoy hunting that bite back, it would be awful embarrassing to be done in by a doe antelope.

Heck, Sky 10yds from the end of that barrel still offers plenty of a safety margin...like 20yds <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> Thanks for sharing the story.

Dzapper, You've got a great load and cartridge there. I use the same in mine. But, I only trust the Ballistic Tips for Antelope. They are small critters, and don't require the penetration that a deer would. That being said, I have a friend who has taken a dozen Elk with his 25-06 using 120 grn. Partitions, and couldn't be happier with the results. It's a hell of a game getter, if you use the right bullets. Good hunting to you sir!

Thanks Steve, in reality, most of my shots are from 40-150 yards with most under 100 yards. As previously mentioned, I really look for an exit wound as not all deer drop where shot and I may need a little blood to aid tracking, my place is a thick mess.

Steve,
You are preaching to the choir when you tell me about the "killability" of the .25-06. I'm with you on the 100gr. Hornady Interlock also; I've never recovered one from a deer or antelope.
When I asked about your .25-06, I meant the actual rifle that you use. Action? Length of the Pac-Nor barrel? Trigger and pull weight? Stock? Gunsmith? Scope? Total weight? Type of finish? Any special bells&whistles?
Details, man. I need details! RS

Hey Rip,

My .25-'06 is a Remington 700 that was built by John Lewis at Carolina Precision Rifles. Actually, it was originally a .338-06 Ackley and I later had it barreled to .25-'06.

CPR blueprinted the action and had the action, blueprinted Remington trigger and floor plate assembly hard-chromed. These were the days before stainless and I perfer hard chrome to stainless, anyway (harder, no galling and SLICKER). CPR pillar-bedded the McMillan black-painted stock.

Later, I had it fitted with a 24-inch Pac-Nor three-contour barrel. Now, here is where the weird part comes in; Chris at Pac-Nor had a barrel turn out strange, it was an inadvertant gain-twist. He was curious and sent it to a company called Barrel Scan, Inc. The report came back that it had an 11" twist at the breech and a 9"twist at the muzzle. The gain in twist-rate is an absolute straight line.

Anyway, Chris said "Try it, if it isn't satisfactory, I'll replace it." So I did.

I will have to say that the "inadvertant gain-twist" Pac-Nor is the fastest, easiest to clean, most accurate .257" barrel I have ever used. Most barrels (excuse me) are downright female; they piss and moan until you give them what they want. My Pac-Nor is a BOY barrel; hey, any load, any bullet is just fine with it and it plants 'em all in one spot. I like boy barrels.

The trigger is a blueprinted Remington factory one that has been hard-chromed. Breaks at 3�-pounds like an icicle; it is set heavy because I do a lot of cold weather work and I don't like surprises.

The scope is a Leupold VariX-III 4.5-14 AO with a dine Duplex. I'll replace it with a VX-III 4.5-14 with the Boone & Crockett reticle (my design, by the way) before next hunting season.

The scope mounts are Leupold QRs and low rings. Yes, I carry an extra zeroed scope, not that I have ever needed it.

The weight is about nine-pounds, complete with a mag of ammo, Harris L-S bipod and a Quaker Boy sling that I stole off of a Browning turkey gun on one of their hunts (Scott Grange looked the other way and I LOVE that ugly rubber carrying strap).

Goodness knows how many critters have died to the CPR/Pac-Nor .25-'06. Lots. I have never missed with it and I've never shot twice. Karen calls it my "AT&T rifle because it "Reaches out and touches critters."

Karen used it this year; she had doubts about her .250 Ackley's ability to kill a good antelope buck we had spotted at 306 yards. We traded rifles, she flipped down the bipod, cuddled into a hillock and asked where to hold. I said, "Right on." Scratch one nice antelope buck!!!

Good rifle.

Steve

Steve,
Lots of things in your post were interesting.
I like the idea of hard-chroming the action if for no other reason than the galling that so often comes with stainless against stainless. I know a LE officer in town that carries a Sig 220 that has been hard-chromed; he swears by it.
I was shocked at the weight and the bipod. Sounds like a varmint rifle for BIG varmints. I'll bet that rifle doesn't get carried in your hands much.
But the most interesting thing is the accidental gain-twist barrel. Doubtlessly Pac-Nor must wish they could turn one of those "boy barrels" out whenever they wanted to.
Thanks for the details. Now, I've been having a hankering for a .250 Savage AI lately (a fellow can come up with all kinds of great ideas while sitting on a deer stand for two and a half months) so how about the skinny on your better-half's rifle. What I'm thinking about is something like a walking varminter lay out. What is Karen using? RS

Hey Rip,

Yeah, the gain-twist is cool. Actually, Chris has the capability of gain-twist now, but I don't know if he is doing any for customers yet. And, actually, I don't know if it is a good thing or not. Anyway, mine is a BOY.

Karen's .250 Ackley is absolutely identical to my .25-06 except that it is a three-contour Schneider and has a 22-inch barrel.

Yeah, they are heavy and I hate that part about them. The name of the game, however, is making the one prfect shot. Karen and I got back from antelope hunting this year with four dead goats and four shots fired. Our yak and water buffalo were two shots. Year before last, we killed two antelope and two deer--four shots. The combination works and I ain't gonna change it. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Yup, a Harris L-S bipod is twelve friggin' ounces. Hate that three-quarter of a pound, but wouldn't be caught dead in the field without it.

Merry Christmas, my friend.

Steve

DZ,

What are your thoughts on the 25-06AI? I'm planning on building one soon with a 26" stainless barrel, probably a #3 contour. I want an open spaces rifle for antelope and deer on the plains. I plan to use 100gr bullets, I don't see why anyone would want to go heavier with the 25-06 when the 270 is out there. I'll probably go with Reloader 22.

Do you think the 25-06AI is a viable cartridge? Or is the standard cartridge the way to go?

Bwanabe,

Friend, I've had both and, interestingly, I've had better luck with the standard .25-'06. This is probably because the .25-'06 is already a REALLY BIG quarter-bore.

Over the years, I've two .25-'06 Ackleys and both of them were not enough faster than standard .25-'06s I've had to make it worth the fireforming of brass. They were both Schneider barrels, fine barrels and I'd have to assume that they were characteristic.

It would be very interesting to chamber the same barrel for .25-06 and later, without changing the length significantly, rechamber for .25-'06. Even more, it would be great to compare results with a strain-gauge setup, so you were dealing with equal pressures.

I do know this; if you opt for the .25-'06 Ackley, it wouldn't be a bad idea to have a fireform barrel for making brass. I have a slave rifle and fireform barrels for several of my Ackleys and it really keeps the stress off the throats of my fine barrels.

My last several big .25s have been just the standard .25-'06 Remington. I stuff it with a hatful of RL-22 and top it off with 100 Ballistics. The combination really lights up antelope.

Hope this helps,

Steve

This thread has been most interesting. I tried 58grs.-R22/100grSpeer and averaged 3477 fps. from my 25/06 /24in. Shilen 1-10 twist. I've been using 117s& 120s for deer hunting in the riverbreaks here around Lewiston. 250yd. + shots are very common and maybe the 100s deserve a try.

Thanks again for the interesting thread, Pedro

Hey Pedro,

I use 58.0 grains of RL-22 with the 100 Ballistics or Hornady Interlockeds. MV is a few feet over 3,500 fps, statistically the same as you.

Steve

Thanks DZ <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I use the 100 gr. TTSX in my 257 Wby Mag and my 25-06. Both rifles have taken a pile of big game and I have only recovered 2 bullets which still weighed 97 and 96 grains and I have never lost an animal to either rifle. In fact most shot have been bang flops. The 25-06 is 3350 FPS and the 257 is 3716 FPS.

It would be very interesting to hear DZs & MDs current thoughts on the QuarterBore, in light of the developments of the last Two decades.

Ie powders, bullets, twist, optics , availability, etc.

This thread was started 19 years ago.

It's one of the good ones though!

The 25-06 is my first choice for pronghorn. Many decades ago, the bullet selection wasn't great for the 25-06. It seemed to me the bullets would not expand or would do so violently depending on the different bullets, at least the ones I saw in use. When the 100 grain Hornady Interlock bullets came out I felt it was one of the best available - I still have a couple boxes of them. The partitions were not always available, now they are available in different weights - you can't do better than partitions, IMO. I tried the SST's when they came out and that first design was lacking as they expanded quite violently. I've just recently bought a couple boxes of 100 grain TTSX bullets and will try them on pronghorn, if I'm lucky enough to draw a tag. I'll be using that combination on whitetail this fall. Today, it seems that there are quite a few bullets that should work well in the 25-06. The BT's I have are likely an older version, they will likely be on my estate sale, someday.

If the 100 grain Swift Scirocco will shoot, it's a blaster as well!

I wonder how much the 100gr BT has changed in the 19 years since this post.