.257 varmint bullets

[The Preacher]

I'm looking for suggestions on the best .257 varmint bullets. I'm shooting .25-06 out of a 26 inch barrel. All of my shots will be at prairie dogs under 400 yards, with most of them between 100-250. I'm looking for bullets that will not ricochet' since I'll be shooting around livestock and farms.

Any help is appreciated.

 

[preacherman]

pm sent

 

[The Preacher]

Any suggestions?

Anyone...?

 

[preacherman]

pm sent

 

[johnnyk]

Preacher,
I had great accuracy in my .25-06 Sendero using Sierra's 75gn HP ahead of IMR4064 and CCI BR2's. I loaded and tried from 47.5 to 51.0gn's and velocity ranged from 3322-3611fps from a 26" barrel. I settled on 49.5gn's (3543fps) as the most accurate in my rifle, with the lowest ESD (10fps). This load produced one-hole groups at 100yds consistently. JohnnyK.

 

[remingtonman_25_06]

75g vmax would be your best bet, followed by the 85g ballistic tip.

The 75g vmax at 3800fps is absoluty dynamite. It literally vaporizes squirrels.

THe 85g NBT is still pretty frangible, but not as much as the 75g vmax.

You could also go with bullets like the sierra 75g HP, sierras 87g or 90g, speers 87g tnt, hornadys 87g sp.

Basically, in the 25, any bullet less then 100g is suitable for varmint hunting.

I happen to like plastic tipped bullets and thats what I mainly use, but I've tried just about every bullet there is out there in my 25's over the years.

One word of caution, a steady diet of 75's or 85's in a 25-06 isn't going to give you much barrel life. I dont shoot bullets under 100g in mine anymore. I also shoot longer distances so bigger bullets are better anyways.

I wouldn't expect more then about 1000 rounds of good barrel life shooting 75's or 85's at max loads.

 

[Clark]

75 gr Vmax from my 257RAI has done a .45" group, but averages .8".

3900 fps is possible, but has short brass life.
3600 fps is sustainable.