Hi Guys,
I have a heavy barrelled 25-06 Ruger 77 tang safety model that has a beautiful stock but the barrel has seen better days. I'm thinking of maybe changing out the barrel to something for long range hunting of deer sized game and was wondering what would be the flattest shooting facory round available in the '06 length action? Are there any issues with this type of project that I'm going to encounter that I'm not thinking of? This would be the first project of this kind for me so I'm not sure what other questions I should be asking. Any constructive advice/criticism is welcomed.

264 winchester magnum?
257 Weatherby magnum?

In regular non-belted factory cartridges I think that you are already there with your 25-06. There may be an advantage in considering a 6mm-06.

Personally the "easiest" way to get flatter trajectory if re-barrelling is to go for a longer barrel and a cartridge firing a bullet OVER LONG for its calibre...with a plastic tip and boat-tail.

This will give an increase in velocity for no extra recoil and the longer bullet will have a higher ballistic coefficient and flatten the trajectory.

splitting a few hairs I'd say the .270 Winchester is the longest (non magnum) round you will achieve but if one wants to open the bolt face, the 7mm Rem Mag might be a bit flatter and longer range. The .300 Win Mag will surprise you as well!

The 06 family of rounds are prety flat.
You might go with a AI, on the 25,06 270 280, or if you really want to split hairs the 6.5 ,06 AI would probrbly give you the best BC,s
Of corse if you want to open the bolt face and go magnum the same holds true...tj3006

Just on the intel that this is your first project of this kind, I would hesitate to steer you to a wildcat. Certainly wouldn't jump on a caliber that doesn't at least have properly headstamped brass. The thing I have learned is that (being a 270 nut) it is hard to beat the performance of a 270, in a 'standard' '06 length cartridge. I think looking at a 280 AI is worthwhile, there is a fellow here who posts as 'Woods' that is very sharp, and he is getting 160 grainers to run over 3100 fps out of his I beleive. That is hustling with a 160. The 140 should really step it up, past what a 270 will do with a 140 anyway.

Having said all that, I have several 6.5x284's, and they rival the .270 in speed, but with typically (maybe always?) superior BC bullets you get in the 6.5 diameter. They run a bit less powder than the 270, and are extemely accurate. Properly headstamped brass is available for it t0o. The '06 length action is plenty long for the 6.5x284, and will leave room to seat bullets out long if you want.

I guess a lot of this is predicated on you being a handloader, if you aren't, then I would strongly suggest the .270!

Good Luck--Don

If speaking solely in terms of trajectory, you'll be hard pressed to beat the 25-06 in the 06 based carts. Several are neck and neck, but not one to my knowledge shows an appreciable advantage over the others.

I would personally go with the cart that puts the heaviest projectile down range at a given trajectory(IE I'd rather take an animal with a 130grn .277 bullet than a 100grn .257 bullet at a range of say 500 yards).

Good Luck

Reloader

I think you could consider the .257 Weatherby Magnum to be 30-06 length ! roger

2 points....
1st find a great smith that will be like minded with you and your project.
2nd your easiest and cheapest way to make speed is with barrel length go custom all the way!
i'd also vote 270 winchester.
regards

As a past and future 25-06 owner I can say that if you stick
to 100gr bullets in the 25-06 and not believe that you need 120's to kill a deer that you have what you need already.

The problem with ANY cartridge at 500yards isn't as much the flatness as it is the wind drift and ALL cartridges are subject to drift.

I KNOW at 400-ish yds a .257 100gr partition (quartering towards) has enough energy to pass through the chest and break bones in the offside leg on the way out... so I fail to see what a 120 would do at the same range except take more time to get there.

Ofcourse a 100gr accubond (does Nosler make a 25 100gr AB?) would work better. (more slippery)

My love for the 100gr bullet in the 25-06 is based mostly on the fact that it doesn't turn the 25-06 back into a 30-06 shooting factory 150gr loads at 3000fps.
(which many seem very willing to do by loading 120's)

The 100gr partition can be driven to mid-3300's in
the 25-06, the best you can realistically hope for from a 130 in a 270Win is 3150-3200

I don't believe that a 125gr partition from a 6.5-06 at 3100-ish is in any way worth the effort and aggrevation of owning a wildcat, certainly not for a .03 advantage in BC over the 130gr 277 partition.

And I should note that I got my 7mm Mag to
"out 25-06 the 25-06" by launching 120's
at >3500fps and 140's at ~3300fps

I would choose the caliber that provided the weight of bullet needed for the projected job. If the 117 gr., 25 cal. fills the bill, re-barrel with a slightly faster twist than 1:10.

280 AI...

14/06 shooting a 93 grain delpeated uranium bullet with 65 grains of blasto #2 and a mid nuclear grade primer

quote:

Originally posted by butchloc:
14/06 shooting a 93 grain delpeated uranium bullet with 65 grains of blasto #2 and a mid nuclear grade primer

Must be really cold up there, Butch!

I have a custom pre-64 in .270 weatherby...stood with same thinking back then which cartridge?
The .270weath does the same in trajectory as the .257weath, but can carry the heavier bullet without the heavy recoil like the .300weath.
The .270 weath is a very good compromise...and a classic american cartridge that has a bigger span of bulletweigths, unlike the .257weath.
One of Dan liljas favorit cartridges too

Well, as expected you guys have given me a lot to think about. The rifle has a 26" heavy barrel and shoots well as it is right now but the bluing is well worn and is about 87%. I've been shooting the Barnes 100 grain TSX at 3300 and haven't been unhappy with it but have had doubts about the longer range capabitilities of the 25-06. Are my doubts unfounded? Would it be reasonable to take a 3-400 yard shot at a good sized caribou with this load?

No. Cartridge is a long range DEER rifle. A caribou at 300lbs plus at 3-400 yards is too much animal for too little gun IMHO.

Similar - bullet weight and velocity - is/was the 240 Apex and 244 H & H Magnum. Some spectacular long range kills reported on big red stags.

But some spectacular failures too!

I would vote 6.5-06. Those lovely long 6.5 bullets really hold their vel. well.