Help me plan out a mid range rifle? .25-06 & light barrel experts needed.

[Bart B]

Some folks may not have thought of this, but regarding the .25-06's game-taking abilities........

Wouldn't it be equal to any other cartridge shooting a given 25 caliber bulled out the muzzle with the same twist rate and speed?

Last I remembered, game's killed with bullets, not cartridges. That is unless you use a large one such as a 40mm Bofors machine gun round then smack some animal up side its head with it. You might be able to stab one decently with a sharpened 50 caliber BMG round, too.

Just a thought........

[Tikkamike]

Originally Posted by Bart B

Some folks may not have thought of this, but regarding the .25-06's game-taking abilities........

Wouldn't it be equal to any other cartridge shooting a given 25 caliber bulled out the muzzle with the same twist rate and speed?

Last I remembered, game's killed with bullets, not cartridges. That is unless you use a large one such as a 40mm Bofors machine gun round then smack some animal up side its head with it. You might be able to stab one decently with a sharpened 50 caliber BMG round, too.

Just a thought........

whats your point? He asked about 25-06's with light barrels. of course a .257 bullet is a .257 bullet. but he wants to shoot his .257 bullet out of a light barreled 25-06.

[Bart B]

Originally Posted by Tikkamike

whats your point?

I thought you, of all those here, would understand.

My point's the fact that most folks tout a cartridge is great for taking game. All that cartridge does is put its front end down the barrel and out into the game. Only the bullet does the work downrange. Different cartridges put a given bullet out the barrel at different speeds for a given peak pressure level. Once in flight at the same speed and spin rate as any other powder charge and rifling twist puts it there, the bullet has no relation to the cartridge whatsoever.

[Tikkamike]

ok im with you. I thought you were off on an irrelevant tangent. I guess I read it wrong, my appologies. Yes thats a good thing to keep in mind. People get so stuck on a cartridge because it wounds good or thats what they heard works best. not to be mean to anyone but the weatherby fans are guilty of this usually. they think a 270 wby is top dog in the .277 world but in reality a 270wsm is a much more efficient round with almost identical ballistics. is that kinda what your saying bart?

[Guy M]

Sure Bart - a guy can get roughly the same ballistics from several different cartridges. The ones that come to mind are the .257 AI, possibly the .25 Souper, and of course the .257 Weatherby mag outdoes them all with sheer velocity. Some are handloading only propositions, and the Weatherby can be very expensive to feed.

I've got a .25-06 and my son shoots a .257 Weatherby that's been in our family since Weatherby built it on a Mauser action back in the late 1940's. Great old rifle. They both do about the same thing on deer - which means they induce instant or near instant death without knocking the snot out of the shooter.

Do like the fact though, that a guy shooting a .25-06 can get reasonably priced ammo at just about any western sporting goods store. That goes well with the OP who said he's not likely to be doing much handloading.

Regards, Guy

[SBruce]

Here's what a light barrel 25-06 will do to steel at 300 yds. One cold bore shot on the bottom plate.

The bottom is a new 6" AR500 plate. The one fresh shot is from a 100 Barnes TSX going 3210'/sec from 300 yds away. The other dimples close to it were shot with a 204 and 32grn accutip going about 4000'/sec from 100 yds away.

The majority of the craters in the upper plate (softer steel, but 1/2" thick) were made with the same 25-06 and same load. Usually shot from distances of 300 to 500 yds. The 100 grn Barnes does more damage to the steel than a 117 grn SST does.

The complete pass throughs were with 7mm magnums and bigger calibers at distances of 100 to 300 yds. There's one big pass through hole that was made with a 338 Edge and 300 SMK at 2850'/sec. from 400 yds away, but I don't recall which one it is, upper right maybe.

[dmr400]

I ordered a remington 700 ADL today, decided I would go the build route and the ADL with X-Mark trigger will be $387 out the door when it arrives. I will probaby shoot it for a while and then have it rebarrelled, will keep everyone posted.