Reloading the 25-06
 

After sitting in the gun cabinet for 20 years, I'm finally brining the old 25-06 out of retirement. I's a Remington M700 BDL in a custom thumbhole stock.

What loads do you guys have the most luck with? I ordered a box of 115 grain Barnes TSX bullets as that's what I would like to use.

The reason this rifle sat so long is that is was VERY finicky. It could shoot one brand of factory ammo into one hole. Everything else I've ever tried was horrible. Like, 6 inch groups. If I can't get these Barnes bullets to group, it may go back into the cabinet. :D

It will shoot one bullet well, so at least it has the potential to be a good shooter. I suspect the issue(s) it has relates to the stock, bedding, etc.

I have had a fair few .25-06 rifles, and shot mostly either varmint (87 gr hp) or medium game (100-120 gr) bullets. I can't remember any load that ever gave me an unacceptable result if the powder selection was right, but some loads were much better than others.

Every rifle had it's own log book of all reloading results including chronograph readings at different temperatures (very anal) and group size and shape. The Barnes loads shot well but would foul the barrels enough to impact group size (unacceptable) after 12-20 rounds, so they were OK for medium game - but not good enough for any shooting that would not allow frequent cleaning.

I have decided to make it simple. I am now down to one .25-06 rifle and only load 110 gr Accubonds pushed by IMR 4350 to around 3,100 fps.

As suggested above, you might need to check your stock screw tension and bedding.

I shoot the 120 grain Speer with a heavy charge of Reloader 22 or IMR 4831. I am going to try the IMR 7828 and see how it performs.

I've tried rebidding it with no luck. But, I'm not a gunsmith. :D

I have 4 powders on hand. IMR4350, RL22, RL19 and IMR4895. There should be data on the first three in my manual so I'll try a few with all of them and see what I can get. I also bought a box of factory ammo (for fun and brass) so we'll also see what they do.

When I was trying to find a "year around" load for my .25-06 my chronograph showed the largest velocity changes with RL19 and RL 22 (compared to 4350, 4831, etc.) in temperature extremes. The difference was not great, but probably worth noting. The Alliant powders are generally excellent and I shoot them quite a bit.

Mostly my .25-06 is used for pronghorns the occasional mule deer. It really shines at mid to longer ranges when the wind is up. I appreciate the lower recoil compared to the larger cartridges! When it was used for whitetails I used to drop to a much lower velocity load.

IMHO the 25-06 is very underrated. I have a MOA Ruger 77 that I reload for using 50 grains of IMR 4350 behind 117 Grain Hornady BTSPs in Winchester or Hornady case and CCI primers. That load is 3025 fps & 2409 ft/lbs at the muzzle and is still going 2349 fps & 1433 ft/lbs at 300 yards. I use it for antelope on windy days when I leave the .243 Sako behind, as well as for mulies. Recoil is negligible compared to my 30-06s!

My go to powder for the 25.06 is RL22 especially with bullets in the 100-120gr range.

H-4831
 

I found the 25-06 to be a little fickle. I tried a lot of different powders with mine and settled on H-4831. Mine would shoot dimes at 100 yards every day once I started found a load it liked. Good luck.

d
do any of you folks remember, they told us to use a 26" barrel to get the most out of it.