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Hey all,
I have a golden opportunity to pick up a NIB Winchester Model 70 "Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation" edition in 25-06 Remington caliber. I can get it for short money too! My question is, What are your opinions and experiences with this caliber? Recommended loads? Anything else I might need to know?
Thanks in advance, Tom
War sees no color, sex, or ethnic background - wars only see blood shed by our heroes for our freedoms.
I Am An American! Fighting for our Country and our way of life.
Excellent long range caliber - my hand loads have taken deer and antelope at 350 yds +. Now the kicker is not by me or in my guns. I never owned one but loaded for a couple of other fellows. 120 gr Speer BT and 50.0 gr IMR 4831 - 3020 fps. One rifle was Ruger #1, the other was a custom Remington 700 with 24" barrel and an HS Precision stock.
In the High Desert of Southern Calif. ..."on the cutting edge of going back in time"...
I had an old WW2 P-47 pilot give me a Springfield from Sept 1942 that he had started to sporterize back in the 1950's and never finished. So I had it turned into a .25-06 with a Douglas 26" barrel and I really like this combination. I put a Harris bipod on it for varmint hunting. I have taken it deer hunting a couple of times but haven't shot a deer with this rifle yet.
Anyway, at least with my rifle I stick with 100 grain Nosler Ballistic Tips on top of 56.0 grains of H4831. I tried lighter bullets and didn't like the group sizes. Also a local guy went out to shoot a black bear that was bothering livestock, early in the morning, just put rubber irrigation boots on, shot the bear with light bullets in his .25-06, the bear dropped then jumped up and knocked the guy down and started chewing on his leg. When he fell he hit his head on a rock and temporarily lost his rifle. While the bear had his leg he managed to reclaim his rifle and finish the bear off!!! WHAT AN EXPERIENCE!!
The main problem in this bear episode is that the light bullet at short range combined with high velocity out of the .25-06 caused insufficient penetration. Just another true experience I file away in my head to maybe save me some grief later on. For me 100 grain and better for my .25-06. She sure shoots flat with not too bad of recoil. Barrel heats up quick though.
Excellent cartridge! I really like it, and with the right bullets, it works very well. Relating to the bear story above, I could load 110 grain bullets in a .35 Whelen and get te same results. You can't blame the cartridge for the man's poor choice of bullet.
The .25-06 is one of the best whitetail cartridges ever invented! I personally like the Hornady 117 grain boat-tail spire point with Hodgdon's new Hybrid 100V powder.
I've never had one, but my brother shot a lot of deer with his. He loved it for it's accuracy, but quit using it because it just wasn't enough to surely plant the deer the majority of the time. He did take, I'm guessing he took 50+ deer with that rifle before he went bigger.
I hope you have it already! It is a great cartridge, I have used it on a bunch of whitetail, only 1 ever moved (other than straight down to the ground) after the first shot, and that was poor/hasty shooting on my part.
I used 100 grain Partitions, and Remington factory 120 Cor-loks with equal success. Most shooting was 100 to 150 yards.
Rob
My uncle has a ruger 77 HB in 25-06 and swears by it. He uses Sierra 75grn hollow points loaded with H870. I know of one deer that he killed with it that was slightly over 800yds measured with GPS. I wouldn't have personally ever tried to take a shot like that but he did. He too has killed close to 50 deer and I don't know how many antelope with it not including coyotes (He raises sheep).
I decided several years ago that I "needed" to start shooting a scoped rifle. My brother had excellent results with his .257 Roberts, so I thought I would step into a SuperGrade Winchester in 25*06. Well, I got the rifle, put Nikon Glass on it, worked up some pretty hot loads which printed under .75" at 100yds with Noslers big game ballistic tip 115gr IIRC. Took it out and plowed a buck at about 230 paces. He just walked off. He went about 100 or so yards and was trying to get up a ridge when he ran out of air. Both lungs were mushy pulp, and he was still struggling when I got to him. The bullet shot through. Bloodshot meat in the off side was awful. It extended out so far from the rib cage that I had to throw away the off shoulder. Maybe it was my bullet choice, but it didn't hammer the deer like my big ol' slow bullets did. I've never shot any thing with it since. It's a wonderful rifle, and a wonderful cartridge, but I can't see wasting that much meat, or tracking my deer. I'm back to my big ol' slow bullets. Now, as for varmint hunting....that's an entirely different story. Uber fast with 75 gr bullets...great varmint round, but I'm not much on one for deer compared to what I can do with my old leverguns.
My cousin's wife had a custom 25-06 on an '03 action that she knocked off everything from woodchucks to whitetail raiding her gardens.
She was deadly with that rifle and what beautiful workmanship. I wish I knew what happened to that thing. Unfortunately his kids were totally useless pieces of matter.
I sure miss those two.
jb
jasonB " Another Dirty Yankee"
" Tomorrow the sun will rise. Who knows what the tide could bring?"
The .25-06 is a great caliber, and one of those that serves several purposes well! Better long range varmint caliber than lots of .22 centerfires, as the heavier bullets do better in the crosswinds. Works equally well for long range deer hunting. It can also bring down game as large as elk, but shot placement, and bullet type are critical for elk. My nephew has taken 3 elk with his, but all needed more than one shot to drop. Still, there's a number of calibers that need more than one shot to take elk.
Heck, I even heard it can cure cancer!
Seriously though I've handloaded rounds for a friend of mine and it works well on our big Whitetails. Just like with anything put the bullet where it counts and it will do its job.
If that rifle is at a good price get it. You can always swap out the barrel for a real caliber, like the 30-06.
That which does not kill me has made a grave tactical error.
I have a Model 70 with a 24 inch medium barrel. It's my most accurate rifle. I use it with 100gr bullets, when I am watching a field crossing, I hunt sometimes. It has always done a pretty good job for me. Recoil is very mild with the 100gr bullets.
Well it all sank into my very dense head. So I went and bought that rifle. The best part it was only $375.00 ! You can't buy a barreled action for that. I gonna clean out all the factory grease and oil, mount an extra scope I've got, then take some pictures for you. Thanks again for the info and suggestions, Tom
War sees no color, sex, or ethnic background - wars only see blood shed by our heroes for our freedoms.
I Am An American! Fighting for our Country and our way of life.
My first real rifle I ever bought (could afford) was a Ruger MK II in 25-06. This was about 20 years ago. Very accurate rifle when I do my part. Back in the mid 90's I would shoot at turkey shoots in the hunting rifle competition, 3-shot group, 6x max scope. I beat a number of guys with $1,000 plus rifles which, at that time, were phenomenally expensive and very high performance rifles.
The only problem I had, which you won't, is that the Ruger's trigger wasn't the best. I cracked the stock and had it replaced with a B&C stock and it keeps going.
I have shot everything from fox to elk with this rifle. And, to this day, although I own a number of rifles, if I something needs to die at a distance of greater than 75 yards, the 25-06 is 1 of 2 rifles that I will go to first.
I only see 1 drawback for the 25-06 and that's the price of ammunition. I don't reload so I am at the retailer's mercy and a box of decent 25-06 can cost almost as much as a box of .270 Weatherby ammo. That's a bit spendy. Otherwise I think it is about the best all-around rifle there is.
Great rifle and I can't ell you how many times I have suggested this caliber to people as a true all-purpose rifle.
----------------------------------
I'd rather die while I'm living
than live while I'm dead.
I'm growing old but not up.
Jimmy Buffett
Finally got some pics together and here they are.......
I mounted a Leupold 3 x 9 Tactical on it as it was an extra hanging around. Adjusted the trigger to a crisp 3.5 lbs. I think I like it! It's about 8.5 lbs all up. Happy Birthday to me!
War sees no color, sex, or ethnic background - wars only see blood shed by our heroes for our freedoms.
I Am An American! Fighting for our Country and our way of life.
Nice, worth every penny. You should have no problem getting your money back if you ever need to.
"If ever a time should come, when vain and aspiring men
shall possess the highest seats in Government,
our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots
to prevent its ruin." Samuel Adams
I'm very glad for you dude.
It was very popular over here a few years ago but hardly gets a mention now.
I know nothing about it but I put it in my 6mm class which is a very good class I must add.
The one lesson I came away with from owning two 243 was that a Hornady 100grn in the Rem barrel I had turned it self into a super xplosive varmint bullet and the same bullet load combo out of a Weatherby vanguard barrel turned it into a superb penertrator! Go figure! The Rem had six small sharp lands and the Weatherby four shallow lands!
So anyway test your choice of bullet for what your doing friend and enjoy that flat shooter. I bet I would still shoot over the top of stuff with that, darn 30/30 still runs deep in my blood
kimwcook wrote:Whoever you bought that from doesn't have anymore lying around do they?
If you're patient, you can get a brand new Marlin XL7C in .25-06 after Jan. 1st next year. I wasn't patient, so I settled for one in .270 myself, but it was only $319 out the door! It has the same Real Tree APG stock, and comes with one of the nicest adjustable triggers around, plus scope bases.-Vall
My question is, What are your opinions and experiences with this caliber? Recommended loads? Anything else I might need to know?
