This fall I am going mule deer hunting in Wy. I am planning to use my 25-06 and am wondering what bullet would be best suited for this type of hunting. Shots could be from 50-400 yards. Like everyone I would like a bullet which holds together at high speed, mushrooms well and penitrates well.

I have heard somewhere that the 120 nosler partition might be to heavily constructed for deer. Does anyone have any experience they can share with me? Thanks in advance. Oscar

Oscar I have a 25-06 and take it deer hunting as well as varmint hunting. It is a dual perpose gun. I liked shooting the 100 grain bullets out of it and same goes for varmint hunting, I never have to worry about resetting the scope. I haven't had to shoot at a deer much over 200 yards where I go hunting out of state (cross the river north) I thought the 100 gain bullets just did a quicker job on the whitetails killing wise.

Now 400 yards is a mighty long ways out shooting at mule deer, which I found to be a little harder to bring down than a whitetail.
That far out the wind does get to be a real problem on light bullets, just in case you haven't run into that senerio yet. I would opt for the 120 grain bullets if planning to shoot that far with your rifle.

Use 100 grainers.

Yeah, even for big mulies.

I've shot a bunch of 'em with 100 grain Nosler Ballistic Tips and they all feel down.

"kills like chain lightnin'"

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The older I get the better I was.

I like the 115gr Nosler partition, and the 100gr Barnes XLC, for the 25-06. Those bullet weights really make the 25-06 shine. If you step up to the 120's you might has well just use a .270 with 130's.

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Thanks, Mark G

"Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything." Genesis 9:3

I used the Nosler 115gr. Partition on mule deer, whitetail, and coyotes in Montana and Alberta in 1999.
Very flat trajectory, great expansion and penetration, and clean kills.

George

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Shoot straight, shoot often, but by all means, use enough gun!

I shot three whitetail this year with one-shot kills using the Sierra 100 grain. Two of the shots were at 220 yards, one at 80 yards. They never took a step. Good hunting.

Thanks for the responses. A follow-up comment. My rifle is a factory Rem. 700 BDL with a factory 26" barrel. With careful reloading it has proven to be very accurate. I can shoot 300 yds. at a local range and can consistenly shoot 1.25" groups at 300 yds. Not bench rest quality, but not bad for a hunting rifle. That's off a bench of course. In a hunting situation I would be shooting prone off a good backpack.

Back to the 25 caligber Nosler Partitions. I believe I heard that the 120 partition has a thicker jacket, designed more for elk. Has anyone heard the same thing? Does anyone have experience with it?

Oscar,
I have used both the 115 and 120 Nosler Partitions on deer and antleope here in Montana. I can't tell the difference. I am shooting a .257 Roberts +P loading. The 120s at about 2850fps.
My late wife used her .257 Roberts to kill and elk....again using the 120 Partition. Penetration and expansion were perfect and the elk went down with one shot.
So, go for it. Use the Noslers in either weight and have a great hunting trip.
The Bearman

I have had great results with the 115 gr. Partition from my .25-06 on mule deer here in Utah and on lots of antelope in Wyoming. An outfitter I guide for in Colorado, and numerous clients who have borrowed his rifle, have killed lots of deer with the same bullet. We both use the same load - 54.5 gr. of IMR-7828, Rem. brass, and Fed. 215 primers, and both rifles are Rem. 700s. Accuracy is excellent, and velocity varies from 3025 to 3100 fps, depending on the lot of powder. I have never found any Nosler partitions that won't open on a mule deer, including the 225 and 250 gr. .338s. I use the 115 gr. rather than the 120 gr. because for some reason my rifle won't shoot the 120 very accurately. I am sure the post above is correct that there is not much difference between the two bullets. Bullet placement and construction is more important than 5 grs. in weight.

I have used only 100gr partitions and ballistic tips in my 257wby and have never had a problem taking deer,moose,elk,antelope and mountain goat.

Oscar -- I shoot a .257 Wby with the 115 gr. and 120 gr. Nosler Partition bullets. They chronograph at 3550 and 3500 fps respectively. My 12 year old grandson killed a 185 pound whitetail with the rifle using the 120 gr. bullet. It entered the shoulder headon and traversed the length of the deer. The bullet was found perfectly mushroomed at the back of the ham, just under the skin. I don't think you could find much better performance from a bullet. Good shooting.

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I would use whichever one the rifle shoots the best. I don't think there is a nickle's worth of difference as far as terminal performance. The 120s will definitely open up on deer.

I use 115gr partitions in my 25-06 for our little blacktail deer, coyotes, and wild hogs. I've never taken it out of state.

JMeier

Oscar,

FORGET THE 120'S!!!!

Load your BDL with the most potent deer slaying bullet availiable for your rifle: the 100gr Nosler Ballistic Tip!

I have crumpled some HUGE (300lbs+) Colorado mulies up to 372yds with a single shot. Last fall a +250lbs whitetail fell in it's tracks to that 100gr pill. The shot was an extreeme quartering away shot at 79yds. The bullet did not exit and only jacket schrapnel was found.

120's -vs- 100's is choosing between Good and HOLY-CRAP-I-DIDN'T-KNOW-SOMETHING-COULD-DIE-SO-DAMN-FAST!!!!!

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Toxophilie and carry a bent stick.
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Waldog & all

Thanks for your replies. I like the way that the partitions penetrate, but have heard a lot of good things about the Balistic Tips as well. What do you think of the 115 grain BT? About a year ago I was fooling around with them. With a stiff load of RL-25 I could get the 115 BT's up to 3315 fps (that's a measured figure not an estimate). That was a hot load (so don't consider this a recommendation)but it was ok in my gun. I wasn't shoot for accuracy so can't comment on that. Is the 115 BT any tougher than the 100 BT??? Thanks ... Oscar

Oscar,

My 100 BT's are leaving my muzzle a tad under 3400. If your 115's are going an honest 3315.... they should REALLY put the smack on!

You may obsess a bit too much over the toughness of the bullets. All balistic tips in .25 caliber and up are built as big game bullets with appropriately thick jackets. Once upon a time, all ballistic tips were thin jacketed varmint bullets, but that is a thing of the distant past. You can check out which BT's are still constructed as varmint bullets at the nosler web site.

But again, a 115 BT at such a high velocity should be awesome. Also, since it's deer we're talking about, if that load will shoot MOA at 100yds, then accuracy is more than adequate for deer. For deer-- especially trophy deer-- I like more explosive bullets like the BT. And I trust it completely.

Sounds like you're off to a great start!

Waldog...My sons and I have killed many Texas whitetails with 100 BT's out of our 25-06 and 257 Wby. I haven't had the chance to use the 115's yet, but I am going to give them a try this year in my rechambered 25-06 AI. Sure sounds like you have had great success on big muleys and whitetails, in Colorado, with the 100 BT's! GREG

I use the 120 grain Hornady BTSP in front of a max charge of H4831 and have had great results with my 25-06. Nothing I have ever shot with it stepped out of its tracks. I've tried the lighter bullets but can't get the accuracy I can with the 117-120 grain bullets.

Greg,

I got my first 25-06 as a teenager. The first few years, I burned thousands of 90gr hollow points on prarie dogs, then swithched to 120's for big game. The 120's killed things fine, but I switched to 100 grain pills out of the convenience of a single bullet for everything. The shocker was how much faster big game seemed to drop. AND, I had the benefit of getting practice with that same bullet on pdogs and coyotes. Thus I found my confidence and effective range increased greatly.

This is just a combination that has worked phenomenonally well for me and a few friends also. Maybe that's why I endorse it so strongly.

I'm playing with both the 117 gr. Partitions and 115 gr. BT's in my 257 (Ruger 77)but haven't settled on a load for either yet.

I have had good success and reasonable accuracy (1 1/4 from an A-Bolt 257 after lots of tinkering with loads) with Speer 120 gr. Grand Slams. They killed a fair number of small to medium sized SC whitetails at ranges from right off the muzzle to ~200 yards with uniformly excellent performance: 2 holes per deer (one on each side), no recovered bullets, plenty of tissue damage (including shoulders). They apparently open very quickly but then penetrate well. Never shot one end-wise to see just how far they would penetrate but they always left the deer on any kind of side shot I took with them. And they're not as popular or sexy as the Noslers which means you can sometimes find them clearanced for about half price.

Good luck. -WSJ