I may have mentioned having a bum shooting shoulder. Last year the 7mm Rem mag hurt to the point of tears and I said "enough". I've been using the 25/06 for close to 10 years as my primary deer harvester(along with some pretty amazing coyote thumpings) so I decided it was up to the task of sniping a cow elk in 2018.
The blind kids had made two satisfactory elk kills a few years back with slightly reduced loads using 115 Partitions and I already had a supply of 115 grain Nosler Partition Federal factory loads so I had confidence it would work. Results were quite good.
My shot hit just above the heart and if the guide hadn't pushed the cow too quickly, she'd have died where she fell after a 50 yard run. He jumped her and I put another raking shot in that gave a full 30" of penetration putting her down for good. As it turned out, she couldn't have gone far anyway but I won't waste a whole animal for the sake of 5# of burger.
After my hunting partner shot his .308 dry and didn't have extra ammo handy, I handed him my 25/06 and he put a Nosler through the lungs just catching a bit of the back edge of the shoulders on both sides on his elk. Literally a 10 step run and she toppled over. At 354 yards, there was a 1" entrance and 1 1/2" exit in the ribcage-hit ribs in and out which contributed to the tissue damage.
I'm impressed even though I already had a good idea of how it would work.
Would I take the 25/06 to the "dog hair" timber after a big Montana bull? Probably not but then, I doubt I'll EVER hunt that way again. My 25/06 was the only "sub-7mm" in camp and the only other "non-magnum" was the 7mm08 the 15 year old was using and the 25 was the only round that had a one-shot kill.
I still have some of the Federal loads and even dug up 3 boxes of Trophy Bonded Bearclaw factory loads from the bottom of the ammo locker. The 25/06 is going back to NM in 2019 for sure but I'm changing up my .308 back-up rifle--maybe take my spare 25/06.
The blind kids had made two satisfactory elk kills a few years back with slightly reduced loads using 115 Partitions and I already had a supply of 115 grain Nosler Partition Federal factory loads so I had confidence it would work. Results were quite good.
My shot hit just above the heart and if the guide hadn't pushed the cow too quickly, she'd have died where she fell after a 50 yard run. He jumped her and I put another raking shot in that gave a full 30" of penetration putting her down for good. As it turned out, she couldn't have gone far anyway but I won't waste a whole animal for the sake of 5# of burger.
After my hunting partner shot his .308 dry and didn't have extra ammo handy, I handed him my 25/06 and he put a Nosler through the lungs just catching a bit of the back edge of the shoulders on both sides on his elk. Literally a 10 step run and she toppled over. At 354 yards, there was a 1" entrance and 1 1/2" exit in the ribcage-hit ribs in and out which contributed to the tissue damage.
I'm impressed even though I already had a good idea of how it would work.
Would I take the 25/06 to the "dog hair" timber after a big Montana bull? Probably not but then, I doubt I'll EVER hunt that way again. My 25/06 was the only "sub-7mm" in camp and the only other "non-magnum" was the 7mm08 the 15 year old was using and the 25 was the only round that had a one-shot kill.
I still have some of the Federal loads and even dug up 3 boxes of Trophy Bonded Bearclaw factory loads from the bottom of the ammo locker. The 25/06 is going back to NM in 2019 for sure but I'm changing up my .308 back-up rifle--maybe take my spare 25/06.
