LB,
Anytime you go out on a limb and give your opinion on a question like this you will get hammered for it but this is what I have witnessed from using such bullets on game, take it for what you will.
First off, let me say that I would suspect that in a conventional length hunting rifle with a standard 1-10 twist, the 25-06 will not produce enough RPM to stabilize the 115 gr Berger well enough for long range shooting.
YOur 25-06 AI, which is one of my favorite rounds and the reamer I have in the shop that I custom designed is one of my most prized possesions, would be on the fringe of stability with its higher RPM's with the 257 Wby jsut a bit better.
My 257 STW reamer will cut a chamber that will certainly stabilize any 257 bullet on the market but unfortunately is to much of a good thing for the Berger bullets which tend to get a little week under the strain of the 3700 fps that the stw will drive the 115 gr pills easily.
Back to your question.
First off, I feel a 25-06 would not be accurate enough with this bullet for targeting game at ranges past 400 yards and possible even 300 yards. It would depend on each rifle.
Different VLD bullets expand somewhat differently. The Hornady A-Max which I would call a semi-VLD is actually a very fine deer bullet. They expand reliably in a traditional mushroom and hold decent weight on long range impacts from 300 yards to well past 1000 yards if they round is capable of driving them to those ranges with enough velocity tostay stable.
From there, we go to the Sierra Mk bullets which have a thicker jacket then the Hornady or Berger bullets and will handle much higher RMP and velocity then either of the other two.
Problem with these is that they are not great expanders in that they can tend to be a little inconsistant. For this reason, I would recommend using at least a 7mm Sierra MK for game simply because in the event the bullet did not expand propely, there is a larger frontal area and more bullet weight to get the job done.
Large caliber Mk bullets like the 200 gr an dhigher .308 and the 338 300 gr Mk are great game killers at amy range because they are large enough to disrupt alot of tissue even if they expand to a small frontal area and they have a S.D. higher then the heavy big bore african hammers so they penetrate great.
The 115 gr, .257" VLD's on my mind would be better suited for extreme range coyotes and perhaps pronghorn. All are hunted in realitively open country so that they could be able to cove a little ground after a hit and still be observed and found easily.
I could never recommend them for long range hunting in country with any cover where you could loose sight of your target after the hit and loose them because the game will travel farther after the hit with a VLD bullet.
It is my opnion that if you want to hunt game the size of deer at extreme range using VLD bullets, +600 yards, one is far better armed with at least a 7mm using the 168 gr class bullets or the new 175 gr Sierra Mk(looks interesting) or better yet with a 30 cal using the 200 to 230 gr VLD's or the great 240 gr Sierra Mk if you haev any left.
For deer the 338, 300 gr Sierra is alot of bullet but dead is dead and for huntign game such as elk at extreme range, it has few peer in the race.
Richard Graves, who owns Wildcat bullets is making bonded core VLD bullets that he refers to as ULD(Ultra Low Drag) that use rebated boat tails. Using this style of bullet would increase the effectiveness of the smaller calibers using VLD designs on medium size game.
For traditional VLD bullets like the Bergers and Sierra's, I feel there are better hunting bullets that for hunting out to 500 yards make a better choice for deer size game.
For ranges past that, I have to recommend goin gup in caliber and bullet weight to be reliable performers on medium game.
Alright, everyone can hammer me know by telling me how they use their 257 Roberts with VLD's to take deer at 800 yards.
Thats fine, just my experience and what I would tell my customers if asked teh same question. I do not want to give my customers suggestions that will work if everything goes perfectly because in the field it never does and then I have an angry customer at me when things out of my control go wrong.
I tend to go a little more then needed for extreme range hunting and like the big 30's and 338's for such work.
Good Shooting!!
Kirby Allen(50)
