Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 243 vs, 25-06

.243 does well with a good pilot

Exactly! Once we've developed an 'adult' sense of pride, we 'know' that we cannot have simply 'missed'. What follows is trying to substitute calibre for shot placement.

Has anyone run the new Hornady .530 HPBT match bullet through a critter yet?

If so, what was the terminal performance?

Well... I found a gun that I had good luck with when I was 16...except that was a 308. I went to a gunshop and found a Remington M788 in a 6 mm Rem today. I had heard they increased the twist rate back in the early 60's to 1-9". Now I should be able to stabilize the 100 and 105 grain bullets. (I took Boxer's advice) Plus I see that the case is a bit longer and so is the neck. It should allow me to keep the longer bullets out of the powder area and also hold the bullet a bit straighter. I thank all of you for your valuable opinions and good humored posts. Maybe the next time I get an itch to purchase a different gun...it will be a 25-06.

Cool, congrats- I love my 6mm and by the way- if it is a Remington labeled as a 6mm the twist will be 1-9". The ones labeled 244 had the slower twist so no worries. Very interesting rifle that 788 with the crazy bolt and all. you might consider IMR 4350. It is driving tacks with Sierra 85 hpbt and Speer 100 grain bullets in my model 700.

You numbers are wrong, therefore, I disagree.

.277" - .026.5" = 250.5
.224" + .026.5" = 250.5

250.5" definently equals a 250AI

I have to say that 243AI has a cool factor of 100!

I have a short, light .243, and a long, heavy 25-06. Neither are going anywhere.

It should serve you well. It fills the 'gap' nicely between your 270 and your 22-250. And it allows you to throw those splendid A-max's with their high BC's.

And you were wise to listen to Boxer! He drop hints, and he leads you to water. Follow the hints, and drink the water! He speaks from experience, from having done things...a lot!!!, and that's a good kind of person to take advice from.
Plus, he's wicked fun to read!

Btw, Hornady 105 A-max's are on sale right now at Midway!

As a life long .25-06 guy.... it pains me to say this.... but after running the 105 Amax out of a .243 for a while.... I'll never buy another .25-06.... unless they come out with a 115-120 Amax with a BC of .550+ that'll spin in a factory pipe (read: ain't happenin')

I'm not ready to go that far. I have a .25-06 that I bought around 2005 after having wanted one since Remington introduced it. I agree that Hornady not producing an A-Max for it handicaps it some, but for the type of hunting I do, at the ranges I hunt, a 115 gr Nosler BT or a 100 gr BT or Interlock are adequate. That said, I do have plans to pick up a 260 or 7mm-08 to sling A-Max's out of, just cuz. For the OP's purposes, a .25-06 would have been too close to his 270, in my opinion, and he is better served with a .24 caliber of some flavor.

105 Amax is the trump card here.... 'stick/TryMe/Boxer is on the money there (does anyone else get Big Lebowski flashbacks when refering to 'sticks diatribes? "You're not wrong Walter.... you're just an azz hole").... and 3100 is reasonable out of a 24" spouted .243 SAAMI. That means.... the .25-06 is relegated to sucking hind teet as a deer/pronghorn/coyote rifle... a LR rifle... and a varmint gun. I believe that's game, set, match...

Dogshooter:

Can't disagree with your data. But the availability of one bullet in 6MM doesn't make me want to ditch all my quarter bores. A 117-120gr 257 caliber bullet @ 3100 fps is only about 1.5" lower at 400 yards than the aforementioned 105gr AMax load. So it appears to me that the BC of the 243 "trumps" the 25's only at very long ranges (at least for me they would be long). So for me and probably 99% of deer hunters, whose shots are well under 400 yards, the 25/06 is still the one.

And I have no interest in starting another "match bullet for game thread", but I'm more comfortable shooting Interlocks, Partitions, etc than a bullet which the manufacturer says in not recommended for game.

YMMV

I'm not arguing that the 105 A-Max isn't the cat's azz, I'm just sayin' that my .25-06 is still effective out to 400 yds, at least, using available bullets. Effective, meaning, it'll kill things...you know...make'em dead forever. Because it's not the optimum weapon doesn't mean it's not an effective weapon. If I get to feelin' frisky, I can always stick that 162 A-Max in a 7 RM case and shoot way out yonder.

243 all the way. I used a 6mm as a kid and all the way through college. 100g hornady BTSP's counted for many 1 shot kills on deer over the years. When it came time to build a custom a few years back I went with the 243 because the case was shorter. I used the new 243 last year on my deer and it still works. Although I used a 105 vld instead just to see how it'd work. I mostly run the 105 amax in the custom and they do fly.

However, I did end up with a 25-06 the other day. I usually shun all things 25 or 27 but I couldn't pass up a minty stainless mountain rifle for $425. Not when I had a ti stock under the bed.

Bb

Oh.... now this is a "which is more effective" post.... I thought it was one vs. the other. I'm pretty sure when the .243 kills stuff... it stays dead for a while too. But, to be sure.... I just put a padlock on my freezer.

By the way.... at 400 yards there is virtually no difference in velocity/energy/drift between the two (105 AM @ 3100 vs. 115 NBT @3150)... after 400 the .243 really takes over. All that for 46 grains of powder.... I needed upwards of 58 grains to get 3150 out of a 115 NBT... that's 25% more powder and a bullet that costs twice as much.... to get absolutely nothing at 400.... except more recoil/noise and a longer/heavier gun... great choice!

Laffin'. Dogshooter, relax! This isn't a pissin' contest, and I'm not tryin' to pick a fight. If you really wanna laugh, know that sometimes I hunt with a .30-30 and a 444 and a .45-70, too, none of which are exactly icons for either long range or stellar ballistic coefficients. I've already admitted that the 105 A-Max rocks! I give up already! I'm just sayin' I'm not gettin' rid of my .25-06, that's all. And that if it's pointed in the general direction of wee beasties they still tend to tip over, even using such boolits as are available for it.

Now...can we declare a cease-fire?

The question would be best answered by what class or kind of rifle will it be chambered in ?
The classic .243 is a 22 inch barreled rifle of a light weight design. The typical .25-06 is a 24 inch barreled rifle using a magnum contoured barrel which often go 1.5-2 lbs. more ready to hunt.
The lighter .243 style rifles are far more popular than anyone predicted when they were first introduced in 1955. That's because they worked better than most expected and were very accurate as well. And nobody objects to easy to carry, light kicking, accurate rifles.
The .25-06 is another that is and was more popular than many thought it would be. It offers, for instance, magnum class flat trajectory with w/o the unpleasant recoil which the magnums are famous for. I'd venture to say that the .25-06 is about as popular as the 7mm Remington Magnum, for instance.
Above all, they work. I can remember Les Bowman, a well known wyoming guide stating once that his hunters had better success on elk when armed with .243's and 6mm's than did his hunters equipped with .338 Winchesters Magnums.
When I first saw that, many years ago, I thought that was a bit too much to believe. But, over the years, I've seen both work on stuff like that. They really do kill well.
So pick the type of rifle you prefer and match it to the appropriate round. E

My dad can beat up your dad......

Aw, geeez.

My dad doesn't need to beat up your dad...cuz I can beat up you AND your dad, and hell, we might as well make a package deal out of it, so I'll beat up your dang dog, too!

(Dear Lord, I tried to play nice, but... )