Anyone used a 25-06 on Bighorn or any other species of wild sheep/goat? What were you're thoughts about performance (worked great, would use again or no, I want something bigger).

Thanks for the input.

115 grn. Barnes TSX worked as well as I could ask for on Rocky Mtn. Goat for me! George

the caliber will work, only thing is that in a sheep rifle i at least want something short & light, and my idea of a 25/06 has a long medium weight barrel.

I think more important is your confidence in the rifle. My go-to mountain rifle is a much-improved M700 in 7 REm Mag. I can count on it absolutely to never exceed 1", and I shoot it a lot at longer ranges.

Not a .25-06, but a .257 Ackley built from a Mauser Mark X .26-06. It's topped with a compact 6x Leupold. For about 30 yrs my favorite bullet in is was a 117 gr Sierra GameKing.

This is my favorite deer and antelope rifle and have killed a mule or whitetail deer and a pronghorn antelope just about every one of those years.

I've also used it for one shot kills on 4 bighorn rams, a Dall ram, a mountain caribou, and a 330" bull elk.

Your .25-06 would be about 50-100 fps faster than my .257 AI, and I think it would make an excellent sheep rifle.

quote:

built from a Mauser Mark X .26-06

That's exactly what my rifle is, found it a couple months back on the used rack. Needed a little TLC but was very well priced.

I've been using a 30-06 since I started hunting 8 years ago. Always thought of the small bores as varmint rifles. They do that well, but I'm finding they can kill a whole lot more than groundhogs. Interestingly enough, found an article in a past SCI magazine of a hunter using his 257 Weatherby to take 3 markhor in one year.

I'm looking forward to taking out hunting. I'm going to take the dings and scratches the stock wears as testament that it will work just fine.

Thanks for the input guys!

The only reason I wouldn't use a .25-06 on a bighorn was if I was hunting them in big bear country. Otherwise it's about a perfect sheep cartridge.

I would lean towards the 270 winchester for Bighorns but the 25'06 is more than enough gun and is a fabulous caliber. I own one myself.