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 .25-06 hunting rifle 
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 Post subject: .25-06 hunting rifle
PostPosted: Tue Nov 18, 2008 11:10 am 
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Any one use one for hunting? If so, do you like it? How's distance, accuracy, and any other relevent factors, price of ammo, etc.?

DH has mentioned he'd like one for hunting, instead of a .30-06...have no experience with one and was hoping for some insight from here.

I've looked at a Browning .243 lever action for me. Any insight into those?

I've got a Browning Safari .243 for hunting, but may look at a different .243, as the Safari is REALLY heavy after awhile of hunting.

Thanks.


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PostPosted: Tue Nov 18, 2008 11:48 am 
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I don't imagine a .243 in lever action to be a real good idea, unless you can find flat nose bullets.

On the .25-06, there's quite a few fans here. I just picked up a .270 which is basically the same thing with a .277" bullet. It should be a screaming flat shooter, that will work well on medium game.

ETA: I also lost that .270 in a boating accident.

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Last edited by mnglocker on Tue Nov 18, 2008 12:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: Tue Nov 18, 2008 12:35 pm 
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The Browning Lever Rifle uses a box magazine so pointed bullets are just fine.

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PostPosted: Tue Nov 18, 2008 12:39 pm 
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The BLR option for the 243 is a very nice gun. It can use any bullet as it has a box magazine.

There are several other very light .243's available, such as the model 7 rem, or some of the other synthetics.

My option would be to up grade slightly in the cartridge and go to a 260 remington or a 7 08, both have recoil only slight greater than the .243, but with better options in bullets for something other than the minnesota white tail


As to the 25 06 , its a great round, but its a long action only round, and frankly the 260 rem does almost every thing it can do, with less recoil and less weight in the rifle.


Other options which are harder to find guns in are the .250 savage,, and the .257 roberts whch ruger has this year as a listed gun which is much nicer to shoot than the .25 06 as far as muzzle blast, and its a lighter option coming in a short action.

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PostPosted: Tue Nov 18, 2008 12:46 pm 
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I love those short actions.

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PostPosted: Tue Nov 18, 2008 12:50 pm 
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DeanC wrote:
I love those short actions.


It's a shame you lost them all in the lake Dean. :(

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PostPosted: Tue Nov 18, 2008 1:00 pm 
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Yeah, I mean I loved those short actions.

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PostPosted: Tue Nov 18, 2008 1:38 pm 
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1911fan wrote:
The BLR option for the 243 is a very nice gun. It can use any bullet as it has a box magazine.

There are several other very light .243's available, such as the model 7 rem, or some of the other synthetics.

My option would be to up grade slightly in the cartridge and go to a 260 remington or a 7 08, both have recoil only slight greater than the .243, but with better options in bullets for something other than the minnesota white tail


As to the 25 06 , its a great round, but its a long action only round, and frankly the 260 rem does almost every thing it can do, with less recoil and less weight in the rifle.


Other options which are harder to find guns in are the .250 savage,, and the .257 roberts whch ruger has this year as a listed gun which is much nicer to shoot than the .25 06 as far as muzzle blast, and its a lighter option coming in a short action.


Ok...I know more about hand guns than I do rifles.... I think your post is really informative, but I need a little explanation on it please. As for the .243 -- do you mean I should get a different cartridge (bullet), such as a 260 remington or 7 08 (that will go in a .243?)? Or do you mean I should upgrade to a 260 remington calibur rifle or 7 08? Probably really dumb questions, but my knowledge is very limited when it comes to rifles.

On the .25-06, would a .270 be better, or you said a .260? The gun shops we've looked in around here don't have the .250 savage or the others that I recall. And what do you mean by "long action" and "short action".

Thanks for the education!


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PostPosted: Tue Nov 18, 2008 2:06 pm 
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If you want the best option, tell DH to find you a nice .250 savage model 99 savage A model

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PostPosted: Tue Nov 18, 2008 2:20 pm 
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ok
sorry, did not see your response when I hit that above/

first

A 260 or 7mm08 will require a different rifle

its like a 9mm or a 38 special, different guns.


A primer,

the numbers are based on the size hole or diameter of the bullet.

The numbers that decimal, and under one, that is, .22 .270 .250 are for the most part representative of bullet size or hole diameter in the barrel. Its not exact as sometimes there are rounding factors that go into effect, a .25-06, .257 roberts, and .250 savage all shoot the same diameter of bullet, but is the amount of powder pushing the bullet that makes the different "chamberings" or Cartridges.

if the number is a larger than one,, like 6 or 6.5, its usually a metric name on the cartridge, and there are again complications where the metric and the english units can describe the same round, or at least the same size bore.

5.56 = .223

6 mm = .243

6.35mm= .257 or .25 cal

6.5mm= .264

6.8 mm= .270

7mm= .284

7.62mm= .308 or .30 cal

and it goes on from there up.

sometimes metric cases are followed by another number, such as 6.5 x55 which is a way of naming the cartridge, but really refers to the length of the case or empty brass, NOT to the overall length of the loaded round.

Common of these are the 5.56x45, 7.62 x 51 and 7.62 x 39, 6.5 x 55, 7 x 57 and others.

For example, in the 7mm class, there are many, many, different chamberings, all starting with 7mm, 7x33, 7x45, 7x54, 7x57, 7x61, 7x52, 7x63.5, 7x64 as well as some american additions, 7-30 waters, the 7mm-08, the 7mm remington express, the 7 mm Remington mag, the 7mm weatherby Mag, 7mm Winchester short Mag, the 7mm SAUM, and the 7mm STW (shooting times westerner) ALL which have the same sized bore, but use a different case.

As you can see, some confusion is no reason to feel inadequate.

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Last edited by 1911fan on Tue Nov 18, 2008 2:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: Tue Nov 18, 2008 2:43 pm 
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In english (caliber style) rounds, you often find names attached or other numbers attached after the bore or bullet number.

.250 savage.

.257 roberts,

.243 remington,

.264 winchester


etc

these are provided to distinguish between what had been several competing options when chamberings were being worked or to give marketing appeal/identity when they were introduced..

Its confusing, but really there are only a dozen or two of COMMON chamberings to deal with.

the top ones are likely to include

.223, .243, .270 .30-30. 308, 30-06 These are probably the top five chamberings and one carried along because there are something like 15 million 30-30's floating around.

the second tier would include such as these
6mm remington
.257 roberts,
.25-06
.260 rem
7mm-08
7mm Rem mag
.280 rem
7.62x39 russian (Note, this is extremely popular as a military round, but as a hunting round with good hunting ammo availability sometimes not so easy, which is why i put it here)
.300 savage
.300 win mag

There are probably some that I am missing, but these are all pretty, popular, and finding ammo is usually not a problem,

there are some others, in fact a ton of others, all of whom at one time were factory chamberings, all of which are available at some varying cost and some which are Darn hard to find in stock

Literally there are Hundreds of chamberings out there, I have one book that lists 120 fairly common cartridges, but not all are in the scope of suitable rounds for minnesota deer hunting or the like.

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PostPosted: Tue Nov 18, 2008 3:53 pm 
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And, since I didn't see it above (it may be there but I missed it), there's more...

The -08 that people refer to are cartridges built on the .308 Winchester case but with different diameter bullets.

.243, 7mm-08, etc. are necked-down .308 cases that fit those bullets.

The .270, .25-06, etc. are necked down .30-06 cartridges.

To further confuse things, the .308 Winchester is nothing but a shortened .30-06 round. The bullet is exactly the same (.308 diameter) but the case is a half-inch shorter. hence, the "short action" designation.

A .300 Winchester Magnum again uses .308 bullets (often heavier weights) but seats them in a case that's almost 50% larger, volume-wise, than a .30-06.

A .22-250 is a .250 Savage case necked down to fit a .22 caliber (.224 inch) bullet; the same bullets that are used in .223 Remington or 5.56 x 45mm rifles.

Rifle calibers are *so* much more fun that handguns...

jb

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PostPosted: Tue Nov 18, 2008 4:08 pm 
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1991fan:

Wow...a lot of info in those posts.... I see I have a LOT of homework to do in studying the rifle calibers... :?

For now, I think I just reread and reread and reread and reread....you post!! lol.

Thanks for the great info -- it helps put it in perspective for me -- I'm still confused by it all, but I've got a basic handle on it (of course, that's ONLY MY opinion!!).

It's time to hit the gun shop, start asking ALOT of questions, look/hold/feel the rifles and go from there. I will be trading this .243 off at the end of hunting season -- if not before. After the first 2 days of hunting, it felt like my one arm was at least 2 feet longer than the other...

Jonnyb: Thanks for more information...I plan on printing this all out and taking it with us to the gun shop.

If any other people who have experience in the rifles mentioned by the above posters and want to give me an opinion, I would certainly appreciate hearing from you as well. Again, the rifles would be used for whitetail/mule deer hunting. Don't plan to be hunting elk, moose, bear, or anything of the like any time in the foreseeable future!


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PostPosted: Tue Nov 18, 2008 4:48 pm 
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A 25-06 was my first centerfire rifle. It is also the rifle I shot my largest deer with. (12 point whitetail, sorry no pictures, that was a time before digital cameras.) Fine western rifle.

I choose the 25-06 because I also wanted to use it coyote hunting and a varmint rifle in addition to a deer rifle. With 87 gr. Seirra spitzer it will hold a 0.5 inch group at 100 yards. That bullet is moving about 3400 fps if I remember correctly. My rifle did not like the 75 grain bullets. Recoil and noise are a little much if shooting varmints all day.

For hunting I used 100 gr Nosler Partition bullets.

I later bought a 30-06 to shoot heavier bullets for deer hunting.

Today my 25-06 mainly is a coyote rifle, but I would never hesitate to take it deer hunting, especially out west. It shoots more accurately than my 30-06.


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PostPosted: Tue Nov 18, 2008 6:15 pm 
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westhope and i parallel in experience. my first centerfire was also a 25-06 remington adl. used it for deer at first. a very fast and flat shooter. used 120 gr. bullets. loaded 87 gr. spitzers for coyotes and long range rock chucks in the foothills of montana. had a 4x12 scope on it and it served me well until others convinced me i "needed" other calibers to go elk and bear hunting (7mm mag) and prairie dog shooting (.222) and on and on ...
if i had to only keep one rifle and sacrifice all the rest, i'd keep my 25-06.
add to it, it reloads easily with a number of different components for just about any game. lots of good powders suitable for it.
j in J - pp


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