25-06 and 90gr. Sierra HPBT.

[ElmerThud]

Thanks Guy, just my personal findings...not sure if whitetails/mule deer have tougher hides than our Scottish reds.
Cheers, ET

 

[DrMike]

Excellent photos. They give a perspective. I had always thought of red deer as somewhat larger. I understand by looking at this that the 25-06 would work just fine. Appreciate the photos, ET. Beautiful animals, to be sure.

 

[SJB358]

For sure! Awesome pictures.

Gives a new perspective to the 25-06.. In skilled hands it is a killer.

 

[ElmerThud]

I had always thought of red deer as somewhat larger. I understand by looking at this that the 25-06 would work just fine.

Reds are a sub-species (I think that's the right description) of your North American Elk, with some of our larger woodland stags at 300lbs + getting closer to your 400lb bull elk size.
Some of our larger red stags are reputed to have some New Zealand wapiti in them, particularly in the Galloway area of SW Scotland where my friends and I dominantly shoot for the last 30+ years. However, there are contoversial views on this aspect.

Open hill moorland stags in Scotland are much smaller in terms of average bodyweights..often around 100lbs less. But they are indeed living completely unprotected in the wild remote areas of Scotland, especially The Highlands...among the last great wilderness's in Europe and particularly in the UK. These are very special places to hunt and stalk deer and a major attraction for many hunters worldwide.

Scotty, I've hunted with a number of various cartridges/calibres over the years, but eventually the .25-06 became my 'go to' rifle for taking all deer as well as most other quarry throughout the UK. I just enjoy the smoothness and low recoil. The low recoil allows me to clearly see the quarry reaction to impact and enable fast judgement as to the speed of kill from bullet strike.

Of course, as I recently experienced, if it's dark when the shot is fired, muzzle flash impedes the view significantly....but you'd get that with all rifles.
Very best, ET

 

[filmjunkie4ever]

Thanks for the pics and the bullet reviews Elmer Thud! I appreciate your findings being posted. I own two rifles in .25-06 and have found them to be good killers on everything I have shot with them.

Please post more as you are able!

Thanks -

Dale

 

[35 Whelen]

Nice piece of wood in that rifle! Cool pics, brings back lots of fond memorys of New Zealands south isle , love hunting reds in the roar !

 

[ElmerThud]

Thanks for the pics and the bullet reviews Elmer Thud! I appreciate your findings being posted. I own two rifles in .25-06 and have found them to be good killers on everything I have shot with them. Please post more as you are able! Thanks - Dale

Nice piece of wood in that rifle! Cool pics, brings back lots of fond memorys of New Zealands south isle , love hunting reds in the roar !

Thanks guys. Just sharing my experiences & views on the two bullets I use in my .25-06.
I recently experienced a runner on a large 300+lb stag in early Oct. rut, when I used the Sierra 1620 bullet. Mistake! - I should have used the Nosler 110gn AB round, but forgot to take them with me on that trip. The stag was found a pretty big distance from the location it was shot, but not until a couple of weeks or so later.
The shot was sort of OK, but the bullet didn't make the kill fast enough to drop the stag close by. It was a 'last light' shot & I was blinded by the muzzle flash, so never saw the reaction to bullet impact...nor which direction the pumped up rascal ran.
I knew I couldn't have missed, but plainly I'd made a small error of placement. It still bugs me!

I very much doubt I'll get to hunt reds in NZ, even though my youngest Son lives there (North Island)...I don't have good enough health now to take on their kind of physical demand hunting. But, it would have been a great thing to do.
Cheers, ET

 

[Yoda]

VERY Nice E.T !!... The one and only 100gr Partition I have recovered out of a deer doesn't look that good .. as far as size comparison go's I did keep track of dressed weight and age from the ones shot here on the East end of the U.P. most aged out from 3 1/2 to 5 1/2 years old, and one old man that went 8 1/2 plus per the DNR. As far as dressed weight from here, most went 160 to 190 LBS (this is on a scale) and covers about 15 deer in a 10yr period.. (Some of these where shot with a 308 or 7mm REM mag also when the 25 was sick) the deer l from the west end where mostly 1 1/2 years old and dressed maybe 100 LBS. If I was still hunting the farm on the west end Id still be using the sierra, but with mom and dad both passing the farms gone.. and due to weather, wolves, and the 1836 treaty, there are very few deer left in the area I hunted for 15 years.... can you tell me what distances your shooting over there with the 25 over there ? maybe sierra beefed those 100gr pro hunters up a bit since I used them last (Mid 90's)

 

[SJB358]

Great info here. Motivates me to start shooting the 25-06 a little more. Love the cartridge and man it's easy on the shooter. Kinda thinking I wanna develop a 100 grain load. Not sure which bullet I wanna use though.

 

[Guy Miner]

Good 100 gr bullets for the .25's abound - and it's no trick to get them to 3,300+ fps from the .25-06 cartridge...

Guy

 

[filmjunkie4ever]

Was looking at "Pet Loads" this morning and Ken Waters highly espoused the 100 grain as "the" all-around load in a .25-06 having so flat a trajectory. He claimed and the books seem to back this up that by using the Jack O'Connor method (sight in 3" high at 100 yards) you would be merely 8"-10" low at 400 yards.

Still Remington sells more of the 120 grain load than any other they have ever devised, including the 100 grain.

That 115 grain Nosler Ballistic tip has a B.C of .453 which is similar to a 140 grain .277 caliber BT (B.C. of .456). If you can get it to go 3100 fps that too should be one flat shooting load as well!

Dale

 

[ElmerThud]

Many of the deer I shoot in the Highlands where there's no woodland/tree type cover, so using drainage ditches and tussocks across the ground for cover (lots of crawling & scrambling) to get within sensible range, I'd say 200 - 320 yds is common for the shot.
Lots of eyes in the herds looking for trouble!
With cover, ranges will vary from 60 - 200 yds. Mostly 120 'ish yds or so.

I sight in at 175yds (1.25" high @ 100yds) with the 110 gn AB bullet 3120fps MV. Gives 6" holdover @300yds, but my 100gn Sierra load is bang on the bull @ 100 yds. 3257fps MV & gives 2.5" holdover @ 200yds with 10" @ 300yds.
I have taken hinds at 300 yds with the Sierra bullet, but seeing a couple of slow kills at that range, I opted to try the 110gn AB & never looked back once I'd tied down the sweet spot in my rifle.
Scotty helped a great deal in working that load out & got me on the right track quickly.

So, a Nosler 110gn AB from my 22" barrel using IMR4831 x 53gns, Fed. LR Match primer, F/L sizing to fired case headspace @ 2.047", and a 'comparator' dimension of 2.870" giving a cartridge OAL 3.395" I have a consistent accurate .25" MOA @ 100yds if I don't wobble. Works for me!

 

[Guy Miner]

That 115 grain Nosler Ballistic tip has a B.C of .453 which is similar to a 140 grain .277 caliber BT (B.C. of .456). If you can get it to go 3100 fps that too should be one flat shooting load as well!

Dale

Dale - I used the 100 gr Barnes TSX from my .25-06 for a few years. 3340 fps was no problem, via H4350.

When I switched from the TSX (iffy expansion) I tried the 115 Berger VLD which had just been "discovered" as a hunting bullet. Saw 3190 fps with book loads... and excellent accuracy. Ran that for a few years.

Wanted to go back to a bullet that should offer better penetration & equal accuracy. Could get the same 3190 - 3200 fps from the Nosler Partition. Tried the 115 Nosler Ballistic Tip and backed the powder charge down a bit for 3120 fps and excellent accuracy.

Sighted in at 300 yards, I've used it out to 420 yards (on a coyote) holding on the animal...

Flat shooting? Yes. Accurate? Yes. Deadly on deer & pronghorns? Yes.

I really love the .25-06 for it's mild recoil, excellent accuracy, and lethal results!

Oh - and it's interesting... I am sighted-in at 300 yards with the 115 gr Nosler Ballistic Tips at 3120 fps. Switch back to my old 100 gr Barnes TSX loads at 3340 fps - and NO scope or hold adjustment is necessary.... Interesting... They both shoot flat. I just re-confirmed that a few weeks ago when I broke into a box of the TSX's that I'd loaded up quite a while ago.

Guy

 

[Guy Miner]

2005 Washington, 100 gr Barnes TSX @ 120 yards or so:


2008 Washington, 115 gr Berger VLD @ 230 yards:


2012 Wyoming, 115 Nosler Balistic Tip @ 160 yards (offhand):


2012 Wyoming, 115 Nosler Ballistic Tip at 260 yards (prone):


2014 Wyoming, 115 Nosler Ballistic Tip at 340 yards (prone):


2014 Wyoming, 115 Nosler Ballistic Tip at 160 yards (kneeling):


Not all of my kills with the .25-06 by any means, but representative. Great ol' cartridge with modest recoil, excellent accuracy potential and lethal results on deer sized game. I suspect this Remington and I are pretty well locked together for hunting. 100 grains? 115 grains? 117 grains? 120 grains? They all seem to work. Pick what pleases you. Work up a good load - which isn't hard with the .25-06, and go fill tags.

Regards, Guy

 

[filmjunkie4ever]

Thanks for sharing Guy!

Dale

 

[1Shot]

I have killed many hundreds of deer with the 25-06 with lots of different bullets over 15 years of doing crop damage control plus many other years of just deer hunting. I have not used many of the new bonded and mono bullets but one thing that I found was most any bullet 100 through 120 grs will kill most deer dead in their tracks if you do your part and put it where it is supposed to go. My favorite bullet is the old school Sierra 117 gr Pro Hunter flat base bullet that I run 3000 fps. I sight my rifle 3" high at 100 yards and it does not rise or fall over 3.5" out to 350 yards. I just hold center of front shoulder and usually it is bang flop. I have killed a lot of deer with many different calibers and bullets but the 25-06 is the killing-est round that I have ever squeezed the trigger on.

 

[ElmerThud]

Some really good photo's there Guy & great to see them. In the days before digital & phone cameras not so many pics were taken in the field...and especially not so many good ones where film was involved. It's brilliant we're in this digital, 'no film' era and able to get excellent quality pics so easily. Thanks for sharing so many pics from your interesting hunting trips.

I can honestly say with my .25-06, the performance has been excellent over the years since I started using first in 2000, a Steyr Mannlicher Classic in .25-06 until I swapped it & bought my K95 in 2003.
Prior to that I'd used all Steyr Mannlichers in .243, .270 & .308 with a variety of bullets, although the dominant rifle I'd used for many years of taking all UK species of deer, was the .243 with the 95gn Nosler BT. Mostly close range woodland hunting.

When it came to open hill stalking the reds & Jap sika, I just didn't like the recoil & muzzle flip on the .270 & .308 preventing me from seeing instant reaction to bullet impact...that led me to select the .25-06 option & I've never looked back or regretted the choice. It's pretty much an 'assasins' tool - a very fast killing round with the right bullet choice.
Best wishes to all, ET

 

[35 Whelen]

ET,
I am shooting those 100gr Pro Hunters here in Maine at coyotes from my 25/06, and had not really considered them being enough bullet for Red Stag, but your post certainly clears that up! Thanks for posting. I am just getting rigged up with some Speer 120gr BT bullets to take on a hunt where very long shots are common, so wanted something with a much higher BC to
Help with winds , so decided to go with that bullet and its .488 BC. Like yourself I would most likely have just stuck with a Nosler BT bullet because of their performance and high BC, but am not at all impressed with there current pricing either!
1 Shot,
That is an impressive post on the 25/06
Guy,
In your paws that little 25 Whelen of yours is one wicked little package! Looks like game that gets in front of it does not get away! Great shooting!
E

 

[1Shot]

I am on my 4th 25-06 rifle now. My hunting buddy turned me on to the 25-06 a long time ago. When we first started doing crop damage control I was using a 30-06 and 243 and was having too many runners for my liking. I got a 7mm Rem mag and for some reason it was even worse for the runners. I used many different bullets and I can shoot very well. I would put the bullet right on the button and they would mule kick and run off out of the fields a ways. Where I was hunting in east NC it is a jungle and swamp just off the edge of the crop fields and VERY hard to trail up a deer. My buddy was shooting a custom 25-06 built on a 700 Rem action. He was shooting mostly back then the 100 gr Sierra boat tail. 99% of the time we drove the truck right to the spot in the fields where the deer was standing when shot. BANG FLOP. I picked up a Ruger #1 varmint 25-06 and really could not get it to shoot like I wanted it to. But the deer I shot with it and the 100 Sierra dropped in their tracks. I did some trading and got a Rem 700 varmint rifle that someone had magnaported because of heart surgery and need no recoil. It shot great but you better NEVER shoot it without ear plugs. I sold it and took the money and the money to have be a custom built. I had a 30-06 Rem Sportman 78 which is nothing but a poor mans 700 Rem. I used that action to build on. I used a #6 Shilen SS 26" barrel and built what is basically a Rem. Sendero. It is a shooter under 1 1/2" at 300 yards on any average day. I also picked up a Rem 700 SS in a trade but my buddy ended up with it. My buddy and I carry radios and he used to call me when he heard me shoot and ask if I needed him to come help trail up and drag out a deer. After getting the 25s he just ask which end of the field he needs to drive the truck to. LOL Over the years of trying different bullets I have settled on the 117 Sierra Pro Hunter for the 25-06. I love the 25-06 but the 6.5s are real killers also. I have a 27 3/4" barrel 264 Win mag that is really growing on me. 130 Accubonds at 3350 fps. Talk about flat shooting. I don't kill as many deer as I used to now that we don't do crop control. I only need around 10 a year now. I have killed 25 or so with the 264 mag from 30 to right at 500 yards and all have been DRT. Shoot often so you can put the bullet where it needs to go and then have a sharp knife.

 

[35 Whelen]

Great post 1 shot, and if I were ready to lug a big magnum long barreled gun no doubt a 264 WM, or a 257 WM are both top
Performers, but because my style of hunting usually involves quite a bit of walking, I like a light handy gun.
You have done well with the 25 cal, and I really dig reading about actually kills, more so than tight groups, great stuff!
E