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

When I was a teenager I had a real hankering for a 25/06 ,must have been a fairly new cal then or at least not many people seemed to have heard of it. But the old man said "what the hell do you want one them for? whats wrong with your 308?" and he had a point.
Hence 20 odd years later I upgraded to another 308,If for no other reason than its a cartridge I had plenty of experience with.

These days its probably not as popular as it could/should be because of the pill selection and the modern day obsession with long range

I use to be in the same camp Tussock RE .270. It was the first caliber I shot a deer with and the guys that got me into deer hunting all used them. I bought into the "flat shooting, hard hitting thing". My mates or mate I should say bagged on calibers like .308 and .243 so much that it made me feel like my dick would fall off if I shot at a deer with one. Fast forward 6-7 odd years and I've just started hand loading for it and wishing I had a smaller, more efficient cartridge. It's a powder hungry sucker.

Ahhh yes the numbers you say....

I had developed recoil flinch going from a 17hmr which dad bought as the first firearm in the house and going to a 7-08 tikka,I missed 3 deer as a result on a guided deer hunt and after that I decided that dad and I could simply not use the 1 tikka, he could shoot sub MOA with it!and still does.....

so based on that I was after something abit easier on the shoulder,so i was looking at 243's and similar calibres when someone.... I can't remember who or where suggested the 25-06, we had a look at chuck hawks rifle recoil table and noted that there was 1 lb or so of recoil diff between the deer loadings, the 25-06 has superior energy at range,goes quicker and for something to use to 450m like to buy one deer rifle it fitted the bill nicely, Dad got me a howa 1500 with a 22" barrel(I know) millspec coated and gw supressed with the hogue grey stock and I could shoot sub inch groups with it confidently so I'm partly thankfull because it cured my flinch....

Since then I've bought a sako 75 in 25-06 and swapped the supressor over from the howa and popped a vx 3 4.5-14x40 B&C....

I'm tall and essentially built like a greyhound so hence the recoil affecting me,being 19 I'm yet to fill out but am going to the gym and eating protein and carbos to help it along....

So based on that and the fact that my sako loves federal power shok 117gr's which are cheap and effective I can't fault it for my needs, yes its not a 6.5/7mm so it doesn't get the super BC bullets but for what I'm after as a meat hunter and someone who is confident to 400m its ideal...

.25-06 Remington

Nathan has great info on most calibres and again he reiterates what I mean by minimal recoil with effective energy levels

Originally Posted by gimp

Ah, I see you didnt actually read my post. Specifically, the first sentence.

I had read that... And I was just expressing my opinion aside from that....

Originally Posted by Rock river arms hunter

I had developed recoil flinch going from a 17hmr which dad bought as the first firearm in the house and going to a 7-08 tikka,I missed 3 deer as a result on a guided deer hunt and after that I decided that dad and I could simply not use the 1 tikka, he could shoot sub MOA with it!and still does.....

so based on that I was after something abit easier on the shoulder,so i was looking at 243's and similar calibres when someone.... I can't remember who or where suggested the 25-06, we had a look at chuck hawks rifle recoil table and noted that there was 1 lb or so of recoil diff between the deer loadings, the 25-06 has superior energy at range,goes quicker and for something to use to 450m like to buy one deer rifle it fitted the bill nicely, Dad got me a howa 1500 with a 22" barrel(I know) millspec coated and gw supressed with the hogue grey stock and I could shoot sub inch groups with it confidently so I'm partly thankfull because it cured my flinch....

Since then I've bought a sako 75 in 25-06 and swapped the supressor over from the howa and popped a vx 3 4.5-14x40 B&C....

Okay, effortposting again.

For a start, you've gone from a very light rifle in 7mm08 to 2 much heavier ones in .25-06. This alone will have given you a mistaken idea of the 'light recoil' of the .25-06. It's not a valid comparison, especially when you add a suppressor into the equation - and a heavy one.

In identical rifles, a 7mm08 shooting 140gr bullets will have very similar recoil characteristics to a .25-06 shooting 117-120gr projectiles. Subjective experience doesn't get around facts, and your experience with lighter recoil in .25-06 is due to the rifle and suppressor, not any inherent property of the cartridges.

2 max loads, 7mm08 and .25-06 from the ADI handloaders manual, selected for best speed and load density for the projectile weight for each cartridge.

7mm08
140gr bullet
AR2209, 48.0gr, Compressed load
2870fps


.25-06
117gr bullet
AR2225, 60.5gr, Compressed load
3080fps

Per A random recoil calculator using a "7lb rifle":

7mm08 .25-06

Recoil Impulse in (lbs sec): 2.63 2.67

Velocity of recoiling firearm (fps): 12.12 12.29

Free recoil energy in (ft/lbs): 15.96 16.43


As you can see, the .25-06 has very similar recoil characteristics to the 7mm08 using typical loads - actually slightly faster and heavier recoil.

Of course, your factory ammunition won't be this exact load, and is likely to be going somewhat slower than that, and it all varies with projectile weight. You could buy 7mm08 ammunition loaded with 120gr bullets and it would have far less recoil than 120gr bullets from .25-06, as the .25-06 uses a lot more powder.

In addition I'd suggest that shooting technique possibly was a large factor with your flinch. Do you wear ear protection when shooting?




Back to the original question of why it's not more popular:

I doubt it's due to any inherent flaws in the cartridge, it's just a matter of what catches on and what is pushed by stores on people who lack the ability to think for themselves. Look at .22mag for example - there wouldn't have been a single one sold since the .17HMR was released, if people had the ability to think critically and if H&F stores didn't push them on every person who walks in the door looking for a small game rifle.

Oh yes I know about the rifle weight,thats the specific reason behind getting the 25-06 howa, learning and developing as hunter/shooter.... oh believe you me the HMR is effective BUT i've got a 22mag marlin 882vs because of the heavier bullets and not being so fragile in relation to wind and its effects...

its funny that trend aye, 30 years ago the 303 reigned supreme again because it worked effectively and simply...

I'm trying to understand why thats all lol! there are many calibres out there that I can't fault and the thought of different calibres makes me want to buy a new one... cheers though much appreciated!

tinkering with and trying to figuire out or improve things is in mans nature,questioning why and how etc.... I guess i thought I'd try it on a different level lol!

The reason .303 was so popular is the market was swamped with mil surp rifles and ammo. It's almost all NZ shooters knew. Funny how in those day's nobody would fudd out over military rifles. Because of that it's also difficult to find a nice non bubba'd Enfield. .303 had a rep as a heavy kicker too. I wonder why...

Originally Posted by Rock river arms hunter

oh believe you me the HMR is effective BUT i've got a 22mag marlin 882vs because of the heavier bullets and not being so fragile in relation to wind and its effect

Ooh. Yeah. I hate to break it to you... but that's not a real thing either. The .17HMR has an advantage there. 17gr .17HMR Vmax load, 2550fps with a BC .125 bullet. .22WMR, 30gr Vmax - 2200fps with a BC .095 bullet. Or you could step up to a 40gr softpoint or hollowpoint in the .22WMR, and get 1910fps with a BC of about .1-.125. The 45gr hollowpoint loaded by Hornady has a BC of .110, but that's still less than a 17gr in .17HMR, and it's still going 850fps slower.


I've used and owned both, and the .17HMR is far superior in pretty much every way. Except that the .22WMR has more energy and bigger bullets, so people think that it's good for shooting goats and so forth. I've tried it, it's rubbish except with head and neck shots, and I can make head and neck shots with a .17HMR.

Number one reason why the 25-06 didn't stand a chance in NZ regardless of of all its good and bad points was availablity - both ammo and rifles.

I occasionally look at the specs of it when wondering if I should change from .243, go back to a 6.5 or something else entirely. Its an orphan and always will be.
But if you enjoy shooting it great, go out and used it, thats what should happen to every rifle. I know a few too many people with a safe full of rifles that never get used.

Reeeeally though I think its unpopular simply because outodoors with geoff uses one.Although according to Geoff the 25-06 is now called the 7mm08 so I guess its become popular after all.

I thought he used a 300 win mag least he was in one of the ones I actually watched

Yea He's got a remmy 700 CDL 300wm....

he's better than Graeme sinclair by a big bit though...

hehehe one way to cure availabilty is for people to buy it aye

I can't fault the 25-06 but then again neither the 7mm rem mag or 223....

that reminds me I just shot a .4 group with my AR which is better than dads tikka lol....sorry just had to make a mention of it

Shoot 5 more of em and post em in gimps accuracy chalenge

Originally Posted by veitnamcam

I thought he used a 300 win mag least he was in one of the ones I actually watched

In earlier series he generally used a 25-06. In one of many infamous episodes he was expounding the virtues of said caliber finishing with" its now called the 7mm-08"

FFS on nation wide television