25-06 264 wm OR 270 wsm?

[Guy Miner]

Now that's a solution that sounds really good to me!

 

[gerry]

Good choice Fotis, you are well covered with your present guns.

 

[DrMike]

Those are some nice animals indeed! Congratulations on all of them.
The reason for this question was mainly trying to decide whether I "need" a 25-06 or a 264 Win Mag when I already have a 243 win and a 270 WSM.

Truth be told I decided against either....
243-- 270 WSM---- 7mm rum
308--- 30-06-- 30-378--- blah blah blah.

I think I have it all covered. Save the money and hunt more.

That can't last. Your pattern is too predictable. :grin:

David, the pictures are always instructive.

 

[FOTIS]

Yup and since my local dealer is selling powder for $30/lbs...
I will need cash big time

 

[Oldtrader3]

Just stay withij the powder catagories that you ar already stocking? Just a thought.

 

[FOTIS]

I already am. Got over 60 lbs

 

[jason miller]

Sorry to be contrary, but I'd rather have a 25WSSM than a 25-06, a 6.5x47, 6.5 Creedmoor, .260, 6.5x55, 6.5-06, or 6.5 RM than a .264 WM, and a 7mm SAUM than a .270 WSM.

Given your three choices, I'd probably take the 25-06. An 80 grain TTSX at 3600-3800 fps would be lightning on deer and pronghorn out to medium range. And FWIW, the 25 WSSM almost keeps up, and should be a good candidate for a small fps boost with RL-17.


You're absolutely right, though- you definitely have your bases covered. Haven't you already done some good with that .243?

 

[6mm Remington]

Fotis Fotis what are we gonna do with you. A 243 and a 270 WSM, nope you don't need anything else for what you have listed there. They both are very good. I sure think the .243 and its bigger much better looking brother (6mm Rem) get short changed sometimes when it comes to the deer and antelope category. They really are great cartridges and are not just for women, kids, and first time hunters! They work and work very well indeed. Of course that 270 WSM is a prairie laser!

 

[Oldtrader3]

Sorry to be contrary, but I'd rather have a 25WSSM than a 25-06, a 6.5x47, 6.5 Creedmoor, .260, 6.5x55, 6.5-06, or 6.5 RM than a .264 WM, and a 7mm SAUM than a .270 WSM.

Given your three choices, I'd probably take the 25-06. An 80 grain TTSX at 3600-3800 fps would be lightning on deer and pronghorn out to medium range. And FWIW, the 25 WSSM almost keeps up, and should be a good candidate for a small fps boost with RL-17.


You're absolutely right, though- you definitely have your bases covered. Haven't you already done some good with that .243?

Jason, would you humor me and tell us a little about your shooting and hunting background? It is helpful to know where somebody is coming fom here and most of us have pretty well covered our experiences wih each other on his forum. Just a thought.

 

[IdahoCTD]

I already am. Got over 60 lbs

That's it? :lol:

 

[orchemo]

Swede!!!! Splits between the 243 and 270wsm

 

[jason miller]

Jason, would you humor me and tell us a little about your shooting and hunting background? It is helpful to know where somebody is coming fom here and most of us have pretty well covered our experiences wih each other on his forum. Just a thought.

No problem. I grew up in rural Indiana. My grandfather is a farmer with lots of land/buildings, so my first "hunting" was sneaking up on pigeons, starlings, and European sparrows with a red rider and then a multi-pump daisy- starting at age 7. Those were the pest birds I was allowed to shoot. Not many of my family members hunt or shoot. But my great-grandfather did, and I started reading back issues of F&S, Sports Afield, Petersen's Hunting, etc. when I was about 7, too. That's about all I had to go off of for the longest time.

After my aunt married a fellow who hunted a little, I begged him until he took me squirrel and deer hunting. I harvested an ancient old buck when I was 12 with a single shot H&R 12 gauge and a 3" slug. Talk about recoil... I remember practicing with it before hunting season with a hooded sweatshirt balled up in my shoulder.

A classmate's dad asked me after one of my junior high basketball games if I'd be interested in trying archery. I had wanted to shoot a bow since before I could read and had seen the old Robin Hood cartoon movie, so of course I said yes. He loaned me an old 45 lb. Shakespeare recurve and G. Fred Asbel's book, and away I went. Deer hunting in Indiana with a centerfire rifle was illegal. So I spent a few years strictly shooting, and occasionally hunting, with a custom recurve I bought that next year; using earnings from horrible summer jobs. My second deer finally came when I was 24, after not hunting at all while in college and passing some smaller deer along the way. A big, mature doe came by and I felt like taking the shot, so I did. It was a clean kill, no fuss, big adrenaline rush, all that standard positive hunting stuff. But I can't help feeling; for the marginal amount of meat I got, and how much I hate cold toes in a tree stand, I'd rather not bother with midwest whitetails anymore. Now I live in Colorado and I'm excited to cut my teeth on what I grew up thinking was "real hunting".

I loved traditional archery from when I picked it up at 13, until I tore my rotator cuff during a football game in my senior year of high school and couldn't pull a bow for 6 months. Then college came around and I lost interest. And after shooting very sporadically for the last 10 years, I'm not nearly as good of a shot anymore. But I always loved the idea of centerfire rifles and now I can actually use one. So starting about 5 years ago, I have purchased a few. I used to basically study ballistic tables and wanted to learn about handloading when I was in elementary school. Nobody I knew in Indiana loaded for centerfires, so I only bought equipment and took it up this past winter. It's been a steep learning curve but so far I love it. I have a few loads dialed in, several more that are really close, and a couple that I'm still playing with. Next year I will be more settled-in and also eligible for resident license fees and I'm looking forward to going after an elk. Hunting in the mountains is what I always thought hunting is supposed to be like, and an elk would actually provide enough meat to justify the trouble and expense- at least to me. The best steak I ever had was from a cow's backstrap that my friend in Oregon grilled when I was visiting him.


If you're asking because of my anti-handgun stance, I don't mind clearing that up. The grandfather that farms is very opinionated, and told me at a very young age that handguns are only good for killing people; because you don't need to hide a gun from a deer. It's a blanket-statement, and I usually hate those, but it seemed/seems logical to me. And since I grew up in the kind of place where people seriously don't need handguns because there's hardly any crime, that thinking was reinforced. My parents haven't locked their door on the house a single day since I've been alive- even if they're going to be out of town. Most people back home don't. And when there is -very, very rarely- a breaking and entering in the community, it's always been a simple theft when nobody was home. Criminals try to avoid being caught, afterall...

I also just prefer rifles because they are more accurate at longer ranges. Remember, I used to study ballistics tables in the back of the big, annual Petersen's Hunting issues when I was barely old enough to read... For the kind of shooting and hunting that I like to do, rifles are superior to handguns. I'd just go shoot my recurve if I wanted to do any close-range work.

And I like to try to be as smart as I can about avoiding situations that might in some way lead to a negative situation. It also probably doesn't hurt that I'm fairly large and athletic, so most people don't give me much grief- which is funny because I'm probably a horrible fighter. Never even been in one. It's not that I won't fight anyone, I've just always been able to avoid it. Most people don't want to fight me any more than I want to fight them. I'm really pretty laid back in person and get along with almost everybody. Hopefully I don't have any problems getting along with you folks in the future. And sorry for being so stubborn about things, that's one of my faults. I wasn't ever trying to bash anyone else's beliefs, just defend my own. I hope you can understand that.


I know that was long-winded and also off topic. I apologize. But when people ask for background information on any subject, I like to give a good explanation so they have a good understanding.

 

[usmc 89]

Fotis, 6.5-284 would cover all of those.

 

[usmc 89]

Sorry to be contrary, but I'd rather have a 25WSSM than a 25-06, a 6.5x47, 6.5 Creedmoor, .260, 6.5x55, 6.5-06, or 6.5 RM than a .264 WM, and a 7mm SAUM than a .270 WSM.

Given your three choices, I'd probably take the 25-06. An 80 grain TTSX at 3600-3800 fps would be lightning on deer and pronghorn out to medium range. And FWIW, the 25 WSSM almost keeps up, and should be a good candidate for a small fps boost with RL-17.


You're absolutely right, though- you definitely have your bases covered. Haven't you already done some good with that .243?

Curious why the 25 wssm?

 

[1Shot]

I would choose "Old Bang Flop" my 25-06 if I could have only one rifle. I have killed hundreds of white tail deer with about 90% of the calibers between 22lr and 45-70 and there is NOTHING that I have found that kills deer like the 25-06 with the proper bullet. 100 or 117 Sierra, 115 Nosler BT or Partition. I prefer and use 117 Sierra Pro Hunters because they shoot little bitty groups in my rifle and they kill like lightening struck that is the reason my rifle is named "Old Bang Flop".

 

[Oldtrader3]

Thank you Jason for taking the time to give us a backgroud on yourself. It gives us some grounding to work from and reference when we talk to you about you responses to particular topics here. Welcome to the forum BTW.

This forum has many different type of people with differing backgrounds which color their perspective. There are Military professionals, LEO's Competition Shooters and hunters, some of who have hunted the world, some who are great North American hunters and are very accomplished. Plus there are many who are like me, a combination of experience and skills that goes back 50 years .

One thing that we all agree on is that an attack on any facet of the shooting sports is and attack on all of us. Particularly since many of us have military backgrounds and/or pistol competition experience (including me). That is why your opinionated blanket statement about pistols got a negative rise from several including myself. As individuals we hang with the anti gun crowd, together we carry some weight and political clout with the anti's.

If you need something ask, this is a very giving group as loang as you make an effort to great along here. Give these people a chance and you can learna great deal from them.

 

[FOTIS]

I already am. Got over 60 lbs

That's it? :lol:

so far yes

 

[jason miller]

Curious why the 25 wssm?

He said it was with consideration for someone who loads their own ammo, so any shortage of factory ammo is not an issue. And the 25 WSSM very nearly hangs with the 25-06 while using less powder and being available in shorter, handier rifles. The old A-bolts that came in the WSSM's were even shorter than Browning's regular short actions.

I don't much care for the other two WSSM's, but I kinda like the 25...

 

[usmc 89]

Fair enough, sounds reasonable.

 

[IdahoCTD]

I already am. Got over 60 lbs

That's it? :lol:

so far yes

I just bought about 30lbs the last month. I think I probably have close to 150lbs with the several jugs of WC872 I bought quite a few years ago. Now I just need to shoot more of it.