Thread: 25-06 why hasn't it achieved fame and success in New Zealand?

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

silly question....was there a 25/08 made??? it would sit between .243 and .260 would it not??

Fairly sure there was

interesting read on that thread thanks mikee......a number of custom rifles built each year.....tends to suggest its not such a silly idea at all.

One of our forum members used a 25.06 with copper projectiles on a few Tahr hunts, @Brian and @Tahr will remember what projectile it was, was with a blaser rifle and he shot a few bull tahr at 300 plus that dropped on the spot, might have been 90 grain custom made or something, he used the same load on Sambar out back of his farm and never had a failure.

Pretty sure projectile was a 90 grain GS custom?

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

silly question....was there a 25/08 made??? it would sit between .243 and .260 would it not??

I don't think it was ever made as an off the shelf option but I could be wrong.
I had one made many years ago and I did a write up on it in NZ Guns. It was a great Cal and as said it sits between the .243 and .260, mine used to push the 120grn at just over 2900fps. I also had mine rechambered to AI but there was very little gain . The .25 Cal just needs a better new range of projectiles like the Ace 131 from Blackjack.

Sent from my CPH1903 using Tapatalk

Robbie Tiffen rechambered a Tikka m55 to 25 Souper (25-08) for me.
i'm running 100gn hornday with AR2209 (haven't chronographed it yet)

Its a perfect long range wallaby rig and fellow deer

Originally Posted by nor-west

One of our forum members used a 25.06 with copper projectiles on a few Tahr hunts, @Brian and @Tahr will remember what projectile it was, was with a blaser rifle and he shot a few bull tahr at 300 plus that dropped on the spot, might have been 90 grain custom made or something, he used the same load on Sambar out back of his farm and never had a failure.

Pretty sure projectile was a 90 grain GS custom?

Yes, that's what they were. Poll axed Tahr. Rifle was a Blaser and he could shoot Tahr on the run no problem. A great natural shot.

Originally Posted by Huntfisheat

25-06 Remington round averages out to 2360 ft-lb, while a 7mm-08 Remington round averages out to about 2450 ft-lb. So the 7mm08 has better knock down power, irrespective of your opinion. And on my suppressed 7/08 I can keep on target through the follow through.
.243 has 8.8lb recoil, where 25/06 has 11, so science is against you on that score too. 7/08 with the 120's is 12.1 so there's less difference between 25/06 and 7/08 than there is with .243 and 25/06. So, again, your opinion is science free.
However, you're right about it being a good Wallaby calibre, though I can use 120g in 7/08 on wallabies, rabbits/hares with devastating results, as would be expected.
25/06 is a good enough calibre however it's limitations, based on science rather than opinion, mean there are better calibres available, in a larger range of projectiles, than the 25/06. That's not opinion; that's actual, real, facts, as evidenced above.
However, you seem determined that your opinion is worth more than the actual science, so good luck with that. I'll stick with the science and the 7/08.

What I am trying to convey but obviously I am not doing a very good job is that the 2506 is very easy to shoot accurately. It is very very flat. It is almost impossible to miss with one. Quite a different beast to the 7mm 08, just point shoot the 25, don't worry about trajectory. As to the science, it is the energy transfer that is important not the momentum. 7mm08 is a fine calibre absolutely and a better choice for stags, but it can only cause hydrostatic shock to about 150 mtrs whereas the 2506 with higher velocity is good to 250 for instant drop on the spot kills.

so for you melenials.......and anyone else still following this thread....... the point n shoot thing mentioned above was THE VERY REASON the likes of the poohseventy /EBRG and the likes got such a fine reputation back 40-50 years ago....compared to the other slower loads of the day taking a sucessful shot out to an ESTIMATED 300-350 yards was FAR MORE LIKELY to result in a kill..... the flatter trajectory helped no end,the common place carry of rangefinders/dialing up and trajectory charts has changed the ball game completely for some folks,they are doing now with technology what the american buffalo hunters were doing a hundred years ago with .45/70/405 or .45/90 or .45/110s and the likes,lobbing a projectile into a KNOWN curve to connect at a known range.
some of us still basically use the rule of 3 when sighting in...in rough rounded terms it means my poohseventy will be 3" high at hundy,dead on at 270 and hold on backbone at 350ish.... it works for MOST rifles assuming a velocity of 2800-3100fps and a pointy bit coming out the end.
if you know your rifle and know where its going to hit and are using a decent expanding projectile you can pretty much kill a deer as far as you can hold a 8" group.......BUT if your projectile is running out of ooomph and / or doesnt expand.....even the best shot can still result in a slow kill/runner.
see Maxs thread on x39mm if you want to see how diferent folks think different strokes..... Ive killed a deer with .22 magnum,not ideal but its entirely plausable to do so....would I do it again??? yes but would be a lot more cleaver about projectile placement....
with either the .25/06 or the 7mm/08 if you take out the front wheels,you deer is falling over dead. argueing which is better is a pure pissing contest...given a howling norwest wind either way your boots will get wet.

Can't believe we are on to page 11 about the 25-06

Even tho I was foolish enough to part with my 25-06 a number of years back, I still have a hankering for another. I dont actually give a rats arse whether it has less oomph at 276.5 metres, or that some other projectile/calibre combination has more whatever on paper. In my experience, it is just as a number of people have stated - it is a very easy calibre to shoot accurately. And it kills! A very good friend of mine was often asked what he would recommend for shooting tahr, or chamois, or pigs, or deer, at X meters in a howling NWester, or a foggy southerly etc etc - and his answer was always the same "whatever you choose so long as the bullet and target connect" A 25-06 would be a nice mid calibre addition to my gunsafe, if anyone can find me a spare 25 cal barrel.

Originally Posted by Huntfisheat

25-06 Remington round averages out to 2360 ft-lb, while a 7mm-08 Remington round averages out to about 2450 ft-lb. So the 7mm08 has better knock down power, irrespective of your opinion. And on my suppressed 7/08 I can keep on target through the follow through.
.243 has 8.8lb recoil, where 25/06 has 11, so science is against you on that score too. 7/08 with the 120's is 12.1 so there's less difference between 25/06 and 7/08 than there is with .243 and 25/06. So, again, your opinion is science free.
However, you're right about it being a good Wallaby calibre, though I can use 120g in 7/08 on wallabies, rabbits/hares with devastating results, as would be expected.
25/06 is a good enough calibre however it's limitations, based on science rather than opinion, mean there are better calibres available, in a larger range of projectiles, than the 25/06. That's not opinion; that's actual, real, facts, as evidenced above.
However, you seem determined that your opinion is worth more than the actual science, so good luck with that. I'll stick with the science and the 7/08.

Perhaps you would like to share your actual practical experience with killing animals with a 2506, rather than cherry picked numbers from the internet to suit your given position. A typical load for me in a 2506 would be a 117 Sierra Prohunter, 120 Hornady Hp going 3200fps, or the 115 Nosler Bt or Berger VLD at a little more, my favorite long range Tahr killer is the Berger. Run the numbers on that- drift, drop, retained "energy".... I would point out that "energy" is a pretty useless determination of killing power unless you are talking frangible projectiles that completely disintegrate. To help prove your argument, discuss your projectile choices for the two cartridges, YOUR experience with them on game and why one is markedly better than the other.

Side note, just for you.
Roy Weatherby killed a Cape Buffalo with a .257 Wby, arguably the most dangerous game on the planet, I'll bet his PH was nervous, but he got it done.

Originally Posted by Shearer

Can't believe we are on to page 11 about the 25-06

Yes but it has only taken 8 years @Shearer

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

so for you melenials.......and anyone else still following this thread....... the point n shoot thing mentioned above was THE VERY REASON the likes of the poohseventy /EBRG and the likes got such a fine reputation back 40-50 years ago....compared to the other slower loads of the day taking a sucessful shot out to an ESTIMATED 300-350 yards was FAR MORE LIKELY to result in a kill..... the flatter trajectory helped no end,the common place carry of rangefinders/dialing up and trajectory charts has changed the ball game completely for some folks,they are doing now with technology what the american buffalo hunters were doing a hundred years ago with .45/70/405 or .45/90 or .45/110s and the likes,lobbing a projectile into a KNOWN curve to connect at a known range.
some of us still basically use the rule of 3 when sighting in...in rough rounded terms it means my poohseventy will be 3" high at hundy,dead on at 270 and hold on backbone at 350ish.... it works for MOST rifles assuming a velocity of 2800-3100fps and a pointy bit coming out the end.
if you know your rifle and know where its going to hit and are using a decent expanding projectile you can pretty much kill a deer as far as you can hold a 8" group.......BUT if your projectile is running out of ooomph and / or doesnt expand.....even the best shot can still result in a slow kill/runner.
see Maxs thread on x39mm if you want to see how diferent folks think different strokes..... Ive killed a deer with .22 magnum,not ideal but its entirely plausable to do so....would I do it again??? yes but would be a lot more cleaver about projectile placement....
with either the .25/06 or the 7mm/08 if you take out the front wheels,you deer is falling over dead. argueing which is better is a pure pissing contest...given a howling norwest wind either way your boots will get wet.

Great post @Micky Duck "the rule of three" reminds me of the writing of Graham Henry of Rod & Rifle, one of the best gun writers of his day. Its was he that made me start with a 270. I still have a hankering for a 25/06 too due to him and I will get one some stage.

The long calibers like the 30-06 and 270 and I guess the 25-06 feed into the chamber well.
Easy to stack as well.

OK. Here goes.

Back in the day, people sighted in like @mickey duck said. But this was the dark ages when @Tahr was out in a landrover somewhere and a calculator was something that you found at NASA.

Everyone talked utter shit because a range finder had not been invented. Most of the 350m shots were 150m and the 350m misses were 650m.

No one had a frame of reference so 270 was king because it was really fuck*n loud.

25-06 was better because while still very loud, it kicked less. A 117g sst will kill a deer real dead. A 110gr accubond won't kill a Tahr if you miss. Mix a 90gr power point varmint round in by accident and you will blow a hole in a small snow covered pigs shoulder that will not slow it down. All of the above is from personal experience.

The flat shooting thing was always bolox. Once Nasa shared the calculator around, we realised it never mattered.

A projectile cuts a 10" wound channel through a 10" kill zone, so to mess that up you need to be a lousy shot.

The proper way to sight in in 1970 was to put targets at 25m intervals all the way to 350m and measure the fall of shot on your reticle at a fixed power. But as nobody had a clue how far anything was this was pointless anyway. You might as well stick with the 3" high and low nonsense.

Today we know that a 25-06 is so overbore that by the time it's properly sighted in, the barrel is shot out. My own 25-06 is now a .280 because you could see the first 30cm of barrel was completely fuck*ng melted, with heat cracks visible to the naked eye. The kind of barrel a gunsmith cuts in half for people to laugh at.

Seems relatively pointless to melt barrels when if sighted in properly, something else will make the same 10" wound channel, with less noise, and the same mild recoil.

Bullets range from American penetration obsessed monoliths to target bullets which are basically a small copper bag full of lead. Depending on what part of the animal you hit and at what speed, either will be superb or utterly useless. If you have a good or bad result, make sure to market it extensively on the internet.

Some bullets slow down and fly off course less than others. It's hard to argue these are not better. 25cal does not have these. Thus your barrel was scorched for very little gain.

I would still own a 25-06

If all else fails, total and utter bullshit is as effective now as it was in 1970

I'm sure I ragged on 270 early in this thread. Recently I found out it was now universally uncool so I bought one. I like it a lot.

350m is not a long way if you have a range finder and plenty of practice (if your barrel lasts).

As of today I have no fancy LR rig and a weird collection of ordinary rifles in ordinary callibres with ordinary scopes shooting ordinary ammo. All carefully zeroed all the way to 350m.

These are all fun to hunt with.

I think I need a 25-06