Guy Miner
Master Loader
- Apr 6, 2006
- 17,489
- 4,653
Handloading for 2020's hunting has commenced in earnest! :grin:
After trying a few different bullets & loads for the 25-06, some years ago I made a shift to the 115 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip loaded over 57.5 grains of Retumbo & sparked by a Federal 210 match primer. I was so tickled with the results that I nicknamed the bullet & load The Blue Cyclone after a fun old song I enjoy. With the blue plastic tip, and the results on game, it seemed a great choice for a nickname. Year after year that combo clocks somewhere around 3150 fps or so, and produces groups easily under MOA, which is great as far as I'm concerned. I've made kills from 160 to 420 yards with it. Yup, Blue Cyclone.
Well, I'm busy loading them again today! Had the 25-06 out at the rifle range yesterday, practicing at 100, 200 and 300 yards, and noticed that my available supply of Blue Cyclone ammo was rather depleted. Oh No! That can't be allowed! :grin:
So - how much ammo does a hunter really need for hunting season anyway? I dunno, 10 cartridges? Enough to check zero, go shoot a couple of critters and have a few spares in a pocket, just in case.
But nooooo! I enjoy shooting my hunting rifles. I enjoy practicing with them. So, I'm busy loading up at least a hundred fresh Blue Cyclones for practice and hunting. It just makes me happy, so why not?
This year I'm hoping to hunt elk, black bear, mule deer and antelope. Elk will be with my bow. Black bear of course can be taken with a .257" bullet, but I personally prefer to use something bigger. The mule deer & antelope? Those 25-06 Blue Cyclones are just about perfect. Mild recoil, great accuracy, flat trajectory and things sure seem to drop fast when I squeeze the trigger on the Remington.
Now this doesn't mean that I've given up on the 7mm Rem Mag, the 30-06, the 45-70, etc... But it just seems right to be working with one of my favorite rifles as hunting season approaches.
Best of luck to all this fall.
Guy
After trying a few different bullets & loads for the 25-06, some years ago I made a shift to the 115 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip loaded over 57.5 grains of Retumbo & sparked by a Federal 210 match primer. I was so tickled with the results that I nicknamed the bullet & load The Blue Cyclone after a fun old song I enjoy. With the blue plastic tip, and the results on game, it seemed a great choice for a nickname. Year after year that combo clocks somewhere around 3150 fps or so, and produces groups easily under MOA, which is great as far as I'm concerned. I've made kills from 160 to 420 yards with it. Yup, Blue Cyclone.
Well, I'm busy loading them again today! Had the 25-06 out at the rifle range yesterday, practicing at 100, 200 and 300 yards, and noticed that my available supply of Blue Cyclone ammo was rather depleted. Oh No! That can't be allowed! :grin:
So - how much ammo does a hunter really need for hunting season anyway? I dunno, 10 cartridges? Enough to check zero, go shoot a couple of critters and have a few spares in a pocket, just in case.
But nooooo! I enjoy shooting my hunting rifles. I enjoy practicing with them. So, I'm busy loading up at least a hundred fresh Blue Cyclones for practice and hunting. It just makes me happy, so why not?
This year I'm hoping to hunt elk, black bear, mule deer and antelope. Elk will be with my bow. Black bear of course can be taken with a .257" bullet, but I personally prefer to use something bigger. The mule deer & antelope? Those 25-06 Blue Cyclones are just about perfect. Mild recoil, great accuracy, flat trajectory and things sure seem to drop fast when I squeeze the trigger on the Remington.
Now this doesn't mean that I've given up on the 7mm Rem Mag, the 30-06, the 45-70, etc... But it just seems right to be working with one of my favorite rifles as hunting season approaches.
Best of luck to all this fall.
Guy
Very sweet...looks absolutely brilliant. Enjoy your hunting - I'm sure you will.
