Pet Loads - .25-06

[Good_Steward]

Alright guys and gals,

Just picked up a Ruger M77 in .25-06, and have never reloaded this caliber before. I have the Hornady, Speer, Lyman, and Vhitavuori manuals, but honestly, I'd like to be a little lazy and skip the starting points of load development and start with established loads that need only a little, if any, tweaking.

Your suggestions are greatly appreciated!

[Rightwinger]

Would be interested myself as my son has the 25-06 and I have dies for it but have yet to purchase any bullets or powder as we have 6 boxes of factory and have generated little brass for it as of yet.

No load data yet at all. Post em up.

[Good_Steward]

Glad I'm not the only lazy one . . . . . Just kidding, RW!

[Rightwinger]

The round is new to me so why re-invent the wheel if someone has already found a proven performer. I'll work something up this year once I free up some cash if no one does have any input. It's a somewhat less than common caliber. The boy loves that rifle though.

[Good_Steward]

The round is new to me so why re-invent the wheel if someone has already found a proven performer. I'll work something up this year once I free up some cash if no one does have any input. It's a somewhat less than common caliber. The boy loves that rifle though.

I was just pokin', RW. Your explanation is exactly why I posted the thread, and actually, the same situation. This .25-06 is for my son. I think I would like to try the 87 or 100gr bullets at first, to lessen the initial recoil. I'll start in on the load development soon, and if no one posts up some loads, I'll keep my progress posted up.

[Rightwinger]

Shucks, I knew you were poking. This is our thread, why shouldn't we have a little fun. Since we are the only two souls on TGO with the 25-06, we should be able to do a bit of joshing.

Looks like you and I will have to do some developing after all.

[timcalhoun]

My deer load is a 120g nosler partition in front of 48.5g of 4350 OAL 3.230. Have not tried lighter bullets since the partitions shot great right off the bat.

[Good_Steward]

Thanks, Tim! You, sir, are the first contributor to my "Gotta try that" loads!

[glockster157]

Update: Just read the last couple posts and didn't read the original, at least not recently. I see you have 4 load manuals and are trying to shortcut. I am deleting all the "advice" I posted as it may be taken wrong. Sorry.

Edited June 14, 2010 by glockster157

[Good_Steward]

Update: Just read the last couple posts and didn't read the original, at least not recently. I see you have 4 load manuals and are trying to shortcut. I am deleting all the "advice" I posted as it may be taken wrong. Sorry.

No worries, Glockster. The worst advice is good advice not taken!

RW, Looks like we may have a good deer load. Wonder if any of our TGO brethren have a good varmint load out this versatile caliber?

[Rightwinger]

First one was right up my alley as I am a big fan of the Noslers!

[Sidinman]

Got ya'll a little offering from someone more knowledgeable than myself.

75 gr Sierra hp/50grs imr-4064

75 gr Hornady hp/56.2grs imr-4350

87 gr Speer tnt/54grs rl-17

Maybe one of these will do.

[Good_Steward]

Thanks, Sidinman, these will work nicely, considering I already have those powders! I'll load a "test batch" this weekend, and post up results.

[Sidinman]

You're welcome. He said you may want tweek them a little, and not sure about all of them but the last one is about .5gsr. shy of the max. Be careful and have fun. Will be looking for your report.

[Guest 1shot]

I have been using the 25-06 for over 20 years. These loads come from the Sierra 4th edition manual as their accuracy load and they are the ones that I use and know of many others that will attest to their accuracy and reliability on taking game.

87 gr bullet, 52.2 grs IMR 4350, CCI BR2 Primer, Rem case. Varmint load will scatter a ground hog to the four winds.

100 gr bullet, 52.0 grs IMR 4350, CCI BR2 primer, Rem case. Works well on deer but I like the next load best.

117 gr Sierra, 49 grs IMR 4350 CCI 250 primer, Rem case (Best deer killing round I have ever squeezed the trigger on)

This is the standard load many people use which is close to a max load according to many manuals. 52 gr H-4831 with 117 gr bullets.

I have killed hundreds of deer with the 25-06 and it is in my book the best deer caliber ever made. I have killed deer with about everything from a 22lr through the 45-70. I helped work as a control hunter on a huge farm in NC for 15 years where we took 100 deer each year. I have used many different bullets and weights in the 25-06 and I stick with the 117 gr Sierra Pro Hunter. This is a flat base bullet. My 25-06 that I have now just does not like boat tail bullets for some reason. If you sight in the rifle 3 inches high at 100 yards you can hold in the center of a deers front shoulder out to 350 yards and not have to worry about shooting over or under it. 99.9% of the time they will drop in their tracks when using this Sierra bullet. Good luck in your quest.

[Rightwinger]

Added to the spread sheet. Now to have time and dollars to buy boolits!

Thanks everyone!

[Good_Steward]

No kidding. Great info!

Thanks, everyone!

[I_Like_Pie]

117 gr Sierra, 49 grs IMR 4350 CCI 250 primer, Rem case (Best deer killing round I have ever squeezed the trigger on)

This is the standard load many people use which is close to a max load according to many manuals.

If you sight in the rifle 3 inches high at 100 yards you can hold in the center of a deers front shoulder out to 350 yards and not have to worry about shooting over or under it. 99.9% of the time they will drop in their tracks when using this Sierra bullet.

This is the best advice you will ever get for that chambering. These guns pretty much universally LOVE 4350 and 117 grain bullets. I zero mine in at 275 yards and it gives me a point blank range exactly how 1shot describes.

25-06 is truly an excellent cartridge.

[Good_Steward]

Finally got around to loading some of these up tonight. I picked up some Accurate 4350 (using the recommended load range from Accurate, most of which fall in the same range as one shot's), because I couldn't find the IMR 4350 when I went to Sportsman's Warehouse, but Accurate 2230 is the most accurate powder I use for my .22-250 and .308, so maybe good things will happen! I loaded up Nosler 85, 100, and 115 gr Ballistic tips. I'll let y'all know how it works out. Gonna try those 75gr bullet loads from sidinman soon. I already have some 75 gr Hornady Interlocks, so that's next on the menu.

Thanks again for all the good info, guys!

Edited July 10, 2010 by Good_Steward

[Good_Steward]

Finally got around to testing these loads. The 100gr Noslers over top of 51gr of AA4350 with CCI BR-2 shot the tightest groups at 100. Five 5 shot groups averaged .94", with a small of .82", and a large of 1.11". The average group for the 117gr Noslers over 49.8gr AA4350 with CCI BR-2 was 1.09". All of the loads were definitely hunting accurate, and will probably perform even better once I tinker with the OAL to fit my Ruger M77 specifically, instead of a generic OAL. Long and short of it, these loads are MOA accurate and good to go without any more tinkering.

Now, if I can convince my tinkering personality of that.