25-06?

[Whelen Man]

You should get around 3200fps. with that load give or take.
A rough calculation shows that bullet at the following when zeroed at 200 yards.
100 1.14" High
200 0.00" Zero
300 5.91" Low
350 10.92" Low
400 17.56" Low

Looks like out to about 250 yards you can forget about holdover or under. That load should do a good job. I've bought some of the same bullet and want to work up another load using it for next year that would work better at all ranges. I'm a little scared of the Ballistic Tip at close range.

 

[Locksley]

That's what I'm shooting right now because of the head. I needed something light in the recoil department and already had a Ruger Varmint Model. I've never shot a deer with it but I'm going to get to hunt the last couple of weeks of the season and if I find one I'll let you know how it does. I'm shooting the 100gr. ballistic tip and 100 gr. partition. I've not chronographed the partitions but the ballistic tips are doing 3440fps.. Recoil is still very mild. I'm only going to use them in box blinds at long range.

Yeah I quoted myself.
I connected with an 8 pointer this morning with the 25/06... my first with this caliber. I was pleased. It was with the ballistic tip at 3440fps and I was pleasantly surprised. Buck was hit broadside at about 100 yards. He ran about 50 yards and piled up. He started to stumble after only 20 or 30 yards. I really didn't expect an exit with a ballistic tip at that speed but it did. That was a pleasant surprise because I was a little wary of those bullets at that velocity. I still don't think I'd want to hit one at 25 yards with the same load.

Congrats.
One thing I have learned on the BT's is you never know what you will get with them,speaking of exit holes.

[color:#FF0000]My brother guided elk hunters in Colorado and Idaho back in the '80's and early 90's and his only rifle back then was a Ruger 77 in .25-06 with a 24" varmint barrel. He's killed truckloads of elk and mule deer with that thing using 120 grain Nosler partitions. He doesn't guide anymore but he still uses the rifle on whitetails in Alabama with Remington 100 grain core-lokts.

Personally, I prefer a .243 for Southern whitetails but the .25-06 will certainly do the job. [/color]

The Ruger 77 25-06 is a sweet gun. That's all I've ever used hunting Whitetail. It's comfortable to me, kinda like an old dog or your favorite jeans. My last Buck ran approx. 30 yards after a 75 yard shot. A Doe the year before didn't take a step when I put one behind her left ear. And my only Bobcat got a last jump in after taking a 100 grain through her left eye at about 80 yds.

The only one 25/06 I have played with was my friend Craigs gun a Ruger in 25/06 . It was good for ground-hogs and deer but he eventually got a 280 for deer and traded the 25/06 in.
The 25/06 was created as a super 257 Robert to be even faster and be suitable for the varmints and deer back when the coyotes had not arrived in the East and there were still some varmints to hunt.
I once found two 257 Robert shell casings on a canyon overlook in Colorado and I thought what a story those casing must hold I wonder if the guy got the deer he was after that day in the past.

Quote by Craig
Ron,
That 25-06 shot 3/4" groups at 100 yds. with the 90 Grain Winchester Super X factory round! Talk about accurate. I shot a 21 lb. turkey in TX. with it years ago. It was a great rifle. The first rifle I ever deer hunted with was a Remington (model 21 ?) in 257 Roberts. Good round.



Remington (model 721) in 257 Roberts yes it is a good round. The 257 Roberts was the favorite smallbore round in this country till the 6 MM Remington and the 243 Winchester came along. The 721 was the larger longer center fire action and the 722 was the shorter 222 Remington type center fire cartridge action back then.
My fathers deer rifle was a Remington 721 in 30-06 Springfield and that was the first deer rifle I hunted with. I started hunting with it back in 1965, back when the tags were tear out coupons on a book there was a bear tag a turkey tag and a deer and wild boar tag. The only thing to hunt was deer though as there were no turkeys around back then in middle Tennessee. The first turkey I ever saw was in 1974 at Cuba Landing on that TNWR land down there . You remember the place its where you dented the flywheel cover on your 1971 Pontiac GTO in that mud hole and had to listen to it scrapping all the way back to Nashville, I remember you got a Jeep soon after that.

 

[RUGER77MAN]

In my ruger I like using the 100 gr. federal nosler ballistic tip. I think it leaves at about 3210. The entrance hole is always bigger than the exit hole. ( usually there is 2 or 3 exit holes. But I've shot deer with them from 35 yds to 400 yds and they never go any farther than about 50 yds.