Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting A 25-06 is falling into my hands

I will soon have a custom Mauser in 25-06. It's a long story, but basically a buddy has decided he's past his last hunt.

I've never thought about 25-06 before. I figure it will make a good whitetail gun. Bullets? Powder? I'm interested in all your opinions.

Great calibre with a great many bullets. The latest load I am using is RL22 with the 110 grain Nosler Accubond it has worked on deer as close as 18 yards and as far away as 275 yards (not that far I realize). I have also had good success with the Nosler partition and barnes bullets.

The Seirra gamekings I used for a season did not inspire me to use them more, not a bullet i would suggest for sharp angle shots or those with a lot of bone to break before hooting the vitals.

Enjoy, please post pictures. GRF

Kinda "old school" these days with far more powder choices than when I started loading the cartridge in 1978, but 54grs of IMR4831 and a 100gr bullet has long been the choice in my 25-06s.

Others grumble, but I've had zero issues with the 100gr Btip on numerous whitetails.

55.0 grains of 7828 w/115gr Ballistic tip. Not the fastest but a great hunting load. powdr

I haven't had one for a while now but for a few years, .25-'06 was my only centerfire rifle and got used for everything I hunted. It is real capable if you match the bullet to the specific job.

For deer, I like the 115 and 120 grain partitions. Each gun is different. Play with powders. I'd start with H4831 or RL22, if they don't work, try something faster like one of the 4350s and something slower like 7828. Don't overlook trying one of the slower spherical powders if the cylindricals are not performing for you.

Throw about 55 grains of Win 760 under a 75 grain Sierra and you can ruin a gopher's day.

Tom

Have shot the .25-06 off and on since just before it became a standard cartridge.. It is one of my favorite coyote rifles.. An over the years lots of deer and antelope have fallen to it.. Likely some more will in the future.. As much as I like the caliber, I would place it among my 3 favorites, I am not always satisfied with using it on deer at long range.. Other times it turns in excellent performance.. In 2006 I killed a very nice mulie with 100 grain Serria Flat Base.. But only a bit of the jacket exited.. Since then I have used 115 grain NTBT quite a bit on game.. Two years ago it dropped a nice whitetail for me the last seconds of season just short of 400 yards with the 115's. I have also used 100 grain Part. abit..One neck shot deer proves little.. I have a bunch of 110 grain Nosler Accubonds, that will be my bullet of choice from now on, but I have hundreds of Serria 100 grain and Nosler 115's. As much as I like my .25-06, I do not have complete faith in it for long shots on deer.. It is easy to hit with, but for really long range I prefer a rifle with more diameter and bullet wt.. I am sure others have had super success with it..As I said it is one of my favorites..

Although I've run the 100's with H4350 for 3340 fps, I prefer the 115's at an easy & accurate 3120 fps via Retumbo.

Used the 115 gr Nosler Ballistic Tips last season. One shot, instant kills on a mule deer buck @ 260 yards, a pronghorn at 160 yards, and a coyote at 420 yards.

I keep the rifle sighted-in at 300 yards. This has worked out real well, with close shots and other shots out to over 400 yards. It's an easy-shooting cartridge, and easy to handload with excellent results. Enjoy!

Guy

Shaman: The oldest VarmintSon has an amazingly accurate 25/06 Rifle.
It is a stainless Remington 700 DBMS model with 24" barrel.
It has a Leupold 4.5x14x40mm scope on it and has used ONE bullet since it was brand new!
And that bullet comes in the factory Remington cartridges - it is the 100 grain PSP.
With this bullet/Rifle combo the VarmintSon, his brother and myself have killed all manner of Mule Deer, Antelope, Whitetailed Deer and Coyotes.
Each of those kills (as best as I can recall!) have been one shot kills!
Including the first kill the VarmintSon made with it on a prized Buck Antelope at a pace or two past 400 yards (Leica lasered!).
Try as we might we could not get any closer to that double dandy Buck and in a no wind situation at noon on opening day of Antelope season on public accessible lands he killt that Antelope in its tracks with that single shot.
So for 15 years or so that Rifle has only fired the factory Remington ammo - it consistently shoots 3/4" groups (5 shots at 100 yards) with it.
I hope you will be as happy with your 25/06 as I and my family have been with ours.
By the way I do have friends here in Montana that routinely harvest Elk with their 25/06 Rifles - I have not tried that out as yet and if I were so inclined I would definitely get a heavier and sturdier bullet for that endeavor.
Again best of luck to you.
Hold into the wind
VarmitGuy

I used to load 51.0 grains of IMR 4831 over a 117 grain Hornady BTSP and found it to be very accurate in three different rifles. If I had another .25-06 come home with me today, that would be my starting point.

I've run RL22 and ramshot magnum in mine. If you're shots are closer, you may want to run a faster powder and slow it down a bit. I haven't killed anything with it yet, but I've used 100 grain triple shock's in my .257 weatherby to good effect. The wife of the rancher where I hunt elk uses a 25-06 with core lock's. They do blow up on elk shoulders from time to time, so if you're going to run it wide open, and hitting bone is a possibility, I'd run a stouter and or heavier bullet.

I have good luck with RL17 and 100 grain Noslers.

Dink

Hard to beat 100 grain bullets and IMR4831 in a 25-06.

Near Max load of RL-22 and the 100 grain Hornady is pure poison on whitetails.

Had three 25-06 before moving up to a 257 Wby, got best results with IMR7828ssc.

Other great powders Retumbo, H4831SC, Reloader 22

I recently happened upon a 700 classic in .25-06 that really likes 100 grain TSX's over R22. We've had to back them off the lands a bit to tighten the groups, but we're now sub-moa & just a hair under 3,200 fps.

If I can ever bring myself to take such a pretty stock into the woods, I'll have complete confidence in that bullet at that speeds, to easily take whatever critter I'm pointing it at.

FC

Hunt with it! Those 700 Classics were meant to be used. They're fine hunting rifles.

I like the .25-06 for the same reasons I like other smallish-bore, high velocity cartridges:

Easy on the shoulder
Accurate
Flat shooting
Quickly lethal on deer sized game

Those qualities have long endeared several similar cartridges to me and have earned the .25-06 the top spot of my hunting rifles. It's just a dandy to load and use.

Regards, Guy

Thanks everyone. Keep the answers coming.

I went out and looked for powder. DANG! This is going to be the big problem now-- finding components.

Might wanta make a list of all the suggested powders above.

Now a large selection of powders that work well in the 25-06 these days, so ya may get lucky and find at least one of them in stock?

I've been fussed at a few times for continuing to use IMR4831, by guys that tout this or that newer powder. Don't doubt that they work well, but I'm old'n cranky and not prone to fix something that ain't broke after 35 years. ;O)

You can often find powder on line, like at Powder Valley, etc.

The problem is the Haz Met charge. It's hard to find all the stuff you want at one place. And, primers are probably a bigger problem than powder.

Try to find as much of what you need at one place and get a bunch of it to prorate the Haz Met.

They can't control our guns. So, they're working on ammo, causing people to haord when they previously didn't. That makes us all want to stock pile when we find what we need. And that makes the problem worse.

Just be glad you're a reloader.

IMHO,

DF