Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting how far will a 25 06 shoot?

i've got a tack driving winchester 25 06 sporter with a nightforce f1 mildot on top of it. i haven't shot any big game past 200 yards with it, but i shot a prairie dog at 450 yards with a cheap leupold scope once with the same rifle. anyway i'm thinking about getting rid of them both to get a 243 ar built and a lighter scope. i plan to use match bullets and try to hit stuff out to 1000 yards. before i start wheeling and dealing, i could get a kenton industries turret and experiment with it for long range. what would you do?

I'd shoot out the 25-06 bbl, then rebarrel with a 1/9 twist 280 Rem, and shoot the 162 AMax.

The 25-06 will do well out to 1000 yards and then some with the higher BC bullets. The barrel will probably be trashed in 1500 rounds or so.

I'd rebarel it with a Hart, E.R. Shaw or something like that in 25/06 AI or even 257 weatherby mag. I've seen a Remington sendero 25/06 with 115gr Match Grade VLD shoot 1000 yards. No way I'd ditch the 25/06 for a 243. Not for long range.

The .243 will outdo the .25 at long range, no question.

But I wouldn't ditch the .25 for a .243. I'd do what MontanaMarine suggested. To the tee. The 100gr MK or 115 VLD work well out to 1000. And they can even kill at that range, believe it or not.

With a little luck, I'll be busting some water jugs and steel this weekend with some 115gr Ballistic Tips, and I'll post how they do in this thread for the OP. I'm not expecting miracles, but it should be fun anyways.

Jordan,

I'm wondering why you suggest the .243 will outdo the .25-0-6 at long range. I've run the nunbers out to 1000, using the 115 VLD in both, at realistic muzzle velocitis of 2900 for the .243 and 3200 for the .25-06 (which is what I get in my rifles, and the laws of internal ballistics suggest) and the .25-06 ends up with a slight edge in every statistic, including velocity, energy and wind drift.

Admittedly the edge is slight, but it's there.

Hmm, I just ran those exact numbers in JBM, and my results show that the .243 drifts less in the wind, and about matches the energy of the .25-06 by 1000 yards. If you gun a .243AI, the .24 starts to run away from the bigger .25-06.

Things only go further into the .243's favour as you pass 1000 yards. That's simply the result of a .479 BC versus a .551.

The differences out to 1000 are minor, but the bigger jug of the .25-06 just isn't enough to trump the better bullets in 6mm.

Also, I've got nothing against the .25-06. My longest kill was made with one with a single 100gr MK. Awesome cartridge, but it's crying for better LR bullets.

I've run the numbers both through the Sierra program and Bryan Litz's, with Bryan's BC numbers. The difference out to 1000 is essentially zip--except the .25-06 shoots flatter.

If I am going to shoot something beyond 1000 yards it will be with something a lot bigger than a 6mm or .25.

Bryan's BC numbers convert to .481 for the .257 VLD and .562 for the .243 VLD, which is actually slightly more in the .243's favour than the factory advertised numbers.

In any case, I agree with you that the differences are essentially moot to 1000. The .243 drifts slightly less, and the .25-06 shoots slightly flatter. But the .243 uses 10gr less powder to achieve that performance

A bunch of the LR precision shooters who use the 243 are running the handloaded 115gr DTAC around 3050 fps, in fast twisted 26" barrels.

The 25-06 cain't hang,as mentioned prior...though several salient points were widely missed.

Essentially the 25-06(or any .257") is a 1 Trick Pony in comparison,to any .243" bore,due the fact that .25's are sorely lack in commensurate boolit offerings. The .257" Berger 115 is the 25's Swan Song and that ain't a very [bleep] purty picture in overview and it's .466 BC hardly awe inspiring from any angle. As per Berger lineage alone,there are (7) .243" boolits that exceed the 115 .25's BC and range in weight from 95-115grs(including a .547 105gr). Then of course there's lotsa other High Zoot .243" flavors from Lapua,Hornady,Sierra(and even [bleep] Nosler),etc,which trump the .25 115 Berger...none of which offer a 25 of similar ilk.

So besides bringing the goods with less powder,in a shorter action(less constraint issues),with less recoil,being cheaper to shoot,offering a far greater margin in desired terminal affects...it do poignantly point out how boolits matter a [bleep] of a lot more than headstamps. That being said,I know of noone who shoots more 25's than I,though I've zero qualm making a separation from nostalgic semantics and mechanical advantages. There's simply no [bleep] way I'd buy or build a 25 of any flavor in this day an age,due simply to that beloved diameter being cursed like few others,with a much abbreviated opportunity for LR fun and/or distant Bloodspill in extrapolation. Cheer up,I shoot a leetle 25-284 and 25-06 too....while having suffered Bob and Better Bob.(grin)

If I'm going to go to a long action(build or buy)...it ain't gonna be to play second fiddle to a yeoman SAAMI offering,that's neck deep in opportunity that Trumps the LA attempts at same. Start talkin' 280AI and 162's with it's pile driving azz and rest assured I'm aboard that train of thought. I shoot it too.(grin)

There's a nice smattering of OEM turnkey 243Win chambered rifles,that'll shine brightly with many of the boolits mentioned,in regards to both throats and twist. When talking like case capacity,the 25-06 cain't hang. When talking 308Win vs '06 case capacity,the 25 cain't hang. To field an upperhand in 25 over the 243,you gotta start driving a belted .532" LA and keep the 6mm in a 308 hull. Cheer up,I shoot both 243AI and 25-06AI too.(grin)

When you haven't the BC to hang,you gotta add more speed to the equation and that's 257Wby territory and again...I'd much prefer a reduction in case capacity,action length and an increase in BC,to yield similar means. Cheer up,I shoot a leetle 257Wby too.(grin)

The 243Win remains a Giant Killer,due simply to the broad spectrum of exceptional projectiles inherent it's bore size. Cheer up,NOONE wants a 257" Scenar or A-Max,more than I.(grin)

Bang for the buck,snag a VLS 243Win and start whistlin' 105's and blow your own mind.

Hint.

I have use both cartridge an 25-06 is the one I would use Its just a better round in mine way of thinking .Why don't u go with a 270 WSM

i got rid of a remington 270 mountain rifle to get my current 25 06. who knows? maybe i'll trade the nightforce 3-15 in for the smaller 10 power nightforce with a 600 yard reticle and put it on top of the 25 06. i do have a kid's savage bolt 243 on the side i can always fall back on.

I'm amazed that Nightforce has developed a reticle that works at a specific yardage.

I think you need to go here and do a LOT of reading:

http://forum.accurateshooter.com/index.php?board=3.0

Here's another that can keep you reading for quite sometime:

http://riflemansjournal.blogspot.com/p/articles-index.html

long range hunting intrigues me, but to be honest, where i hunt, i am much more likely to encounter white tails, suddenly, at distances from 25 yards to 100 yards. oftentimes the buggers are in undulating terrain where they appear/disappear/appear rapidly as they nervously browse. last time i hunted with my son, we had someone push a bunch of deer across a river, they moved from our left to our right over the course of a couple minutes and neither one of us ever took a shot. at the end of it, we sat there dumbfounded at how a dozen plus deer just never gave us a shot that lasted more than two seconds. i decided then and there that to hunt that spot i need a flat shooting rifle, zeroed at 100 yards, so as to drill like a laser... also... a premium bullet to hold together when up close and at less than ideal angles. I have a 6mm, and a 25-06, that I like to hunt this area with, and am thinking seriously about setting them up with a NP or A-frame.

How far will it shoot vs. how far will it cleanly kill. Light bullets tend to run out of gas at long range. If your twist is right you can shoot heavy for caliber bullets that should retain velocity and KE longer. Depends on what you're shooting, how big an animal.

DF

This will give you some more detail on the 243 as a long-range cartridge: http://www.6mmbr.com/243win.html

how much faster is the 25=06ai compared to regular 25-06?