deer stalking with 25-06 calibre

With the correct choice of bullet it is 'enough gun' for anything you will encounter in the U.K up to and including southern woodland reds. It will deal with the li'l deer equally well with the correct choice of bullet. In short you will not feel over/under gunned anywhere. It can bark a bit but is easily tamed with a moderator. Recoil is not harsh but is a bit more than .22s and .243s. It is a super flat varmint round with 85g class bullets and barrel life is measured in 1000s.
Everyone should have a 25-06 at least once in their life.
 
Used the .25-06 for years shot everything from Fox to Big Red's and Wild Boar. I use 75gr V-MAX for Fox and Vermin 117gr Round Nose Hornady or 120gr Nosler Partition for ALL Deer. Would not swap the .25 for NOTHING. But i will say can be hard to source Factory Ammo also can be a bit finicky to get to shoot, but again stick with it an im sure you will get a Load to suit your Rifle
 
Callum Ferguson at Precision Rifle Services recommended H4831SC in this calibre to me when I got mine years ago. I followed his advice and ended up also using 100grn Hornady SP for everything including rutting Sika stags. Every rifle and load is different though as already alluded to...
 
I agree with the above posts mate, its a cracking do it all calibre. I sold a couple of my rifles to fund a Tikka T3 Hunter in 25-06...........on top is a Swarf 8x56 and a T8 moderator. I have tried the 117 + 115 grain Federal rounds. Both shot 'ok' but after much arsing around I have settled on Federal 100 grain B/T's...........they shoot great out my rifle and are as flat as a pancake. I zero 1.5 inch high at 100 yards which gives me a 200 yard shot with no holdover. I dont much care for shooting deer any further out than that but I know from others on the site {who know much more than I} that the 25-06 will reach out much further if need be. ....................PS if I were changing my rifle I would opt for a 24 inch barrel instead of the 22'' on my T3.
 
Used the .25-06 for years shot everything from Fox to Big Red's and Wild Boar. I use 75gr V-MAX for Fox and Vermin 117gr Round Nose Hornady or 120gr Nosler Partition for ALL Deer. Would not swap the .25 for NOTHING. But i will say can be hard to source Factory Ammo also can be a bit finicky to get to shoot, but again stick with it an im sure you will get a Load to suit your Rifle


Ment to mention, stalkerboydy is correct, trying to find factory ammo is a royal pain in the ass.
 
Excellent cal for both 85 and 100+gn bullets esp if you homeload but if not try Prvi Partizan as with two different makes of rifles I found I could easily get 1" or less grouping and at the price of the ammo it makes for cheap shooting. With Kranks being 1/2 way up/down the country get permission for a 1000 put on your FAC and take a trip to see them.

Only problem is not being able to find a left hand one if you are so afflicted and then a short action is a boon as the long bolt throw of a righthander 25-06 tends to give a bloody bridge to your nose on a quick second shot - I have now progressed to a 25WSSM and am a lot happier, with much less bruising.
 
Educate me a bit lads.................I read a lot on this site about Prvi Partizan rounds...................what are they exactly, who makes them and where can I get some to try them?
 
Cadex100. I could not get a 22" Barrel mine is a 20". Have to confess to being a bit of a Tart when it comes to Zeroing my Rifle Mine with IMR4831-52.5gr and 117gr Hornady Round Nose Printing 1/2" High at 100yrd is 1-1/4 Low at 200yrds. I zero ALL my Bullet weight's in Both the .25-06 an .300 Win Mag to shot 1/2 (measured) High at 100yrds :D
 
I had a Ruger .25-06 in the late '90s. It performed very well on red deer. If I had got into reloading at that time, I would probably still have it. I did find that with factory ammo I wasn't getting the accuracy I wanted in order to shoot roe deer. Typically I was getting 2.5 inch groups or worse at 100yds.

Rgds JCS
 
Educate me a bit lads.................I read a lot on this site about Prvi Partizan rounds...................what are they exactly, who makes them and where can I get some to try them?

They are made in Serbia with the headstamp PPU. As far as I know they are/were primarily a military setup that has branched into the sport sector and they're typically quite cheap. Some folks swear by them, some swear at them.
The only experience I have had with them is with 69gn .223 target rounds and they weren't bad considering the price.
 
hi i have too 25-06 one rem and just got a marlin xl7 ,i put 100gr ppu in both and they love um,they are cheap as chips 49 pound a100 the deer and fox don,t say a lot about witch lead hit um
 
PP originally made ammo making machinery and all Lapua ammo is made on machinery made by PP so when PP started making their own ammo they were already a few steps ahead of the competition.

I have tried at least a dozen different cals / types and have found all to be excellent for their price. There were no fliers and all cals grouped less than 2.5" and from memory most produced a 1-1.5” group and that is fine for me for field use.

The one thing I could criticise was the variation in case weight - It may be better now but 3-4 years ago when I compared a random 20 rounds of 308 to a similar Remington and Federal product I found PP better than the US makers with both bullet weight and powder charge variation but well into 3rd place for case weight variation.

If you choose to reload PP cases just weigh and sort your cases into batches first.
 
Educate me a bit lads.................I read a lot on this site about Prvi Partizan rounds...................what are they exactly, who makes them and where can I get some to try them?
...and to add to that they are imported by Kranks 01132 569 163 who will send to your local RFD.
 
rite....my 2pence worth

25-06.....excellent rifle as all rounder for anything in the uk......my yank colleagues love its flatness and call it a big .22-250

homeloaded can be as hard or gentle as you want for long or close range stuff

factory ammo availability?? hard ?...i thought so too.....but there IS a good selection of stuff out there and any self respecting gunsmith should get it in for you if you ask and are a regular customer....if he wont find another!!!! im in the Angus area surrounded by estates but severe shortage of good gunshops who know and stock whats wanted... and hear so many stories bout gun smiths moaning that they are struggling....well sell what folks want instead of refusing to stock it!!!!
sorry rant over

as for the privi partizan.....heard good reports despite how much more cheaper it is compared to brand names....( local shop federal premiums £42 per 20 !!!)
but couldnt get any up here.....they supplied in uk from Henry Kranks.....i got a rfd to get me 100 rounds and i still worked out cheaper despite having to pick up the £25 carriage fee!!!! and i though well ill try em ..if not i have a bunch of brass for my homeloading thats new.

with 2 young family , working away from home...time for homeloading at a premium shortage.....as for the privi???...one on top of the other @100yds no problem!!!! i use that "cheap shite" in my custom .25-06 and it works!!! ill still homeload but they are good value for a lazy bugger like me

others will disagree but you cant please 100 % of the people 100 % of the time....

as a caliber for me? excellent choice.!

it is becoming more "mainstream" so ammo availability should get easier

all the best


sauer /paul
 
.25-06 has been around a while. One article I read mentioned wild catting a .25-06 in 1912, so it's been around for nearly a century. Rgds JCS
 
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Gitano,
I agree with you that in most instances differences in case weight and therefore capacity is so insignificant as to not be worth considering - certainly for field use which is what I load for. I am happy with average accuracy and good consistancy so am a lot less fussy with my loads than others on these forums and generally would not bother to weigh cases unless I thought there was a problem. I would however stick to one batch from one maker and keep all cases running through the reloading process uniformly and dispose of them all together after a predetermined number of loads.

That being said I do wonder if you mix cases and choose say WW and Fed the differences of a mixed batch may well make it worth sorting as I find WW generally a little lighter. BUT PP cases ran up to about 15 grns different and that is why I make my comment.

I notice your cases show a lot closer figures than I would have expected but on one occasion I found significant differences with Federal cases batch to batch. A while back, I bought quite a lot of WSM Federal brass from a friend who sourced it direct from Federal as 'once fired' - they were factory test firings. The average difference from one particular batch to another in 300WSM was over 12 gns. I just wonder if the rest of that batch was actually loaded and sold as ammo and how it fared if folk's rifles.

(The above figs of 15 and 12 gns are from memory not written notes )


By the way, why do you choose to relieve recoil with a lighter bullet? Why not port the barrel.

I shoot a 7.8lb all up 325WSM and the recoil is so light, even with 220gn bullets, I can hold it in one hand at arm’s length without any difficulty whatsoever – best of all with no muzzle flip I can see my bullet strike. Do the same with a 308 and you have 222 recoil even with 150gn bullets. Ideal for ladies and youngsters.

I found porting is quite a simple and easy to do task – it took me around 2 hours and is proving so, so effective.
 
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