4 or 5 years back, I purchased a new weatherby lightweight in 25-06. This is not the ultra lightweight model. It has a blued barrel and 6 lug action with an injection molded plastic stock. I put a bushnell 3200 3-9 scope on it. It never shot that well. Only occasionally grouping within 1.5 inches @ 100 yds. Lots of horizontal stringing. I tried tons of different factory ammo in different weights and handloads too. I tried different torque settings on the action screws. I then free floated it. Bad mistake, nice shotgun but not rifle. Add vertical stringing also now. So next I purchased a weatherby ultralightweight stock--HK precision with the aluminum bedding block. Had it put together by Allison & Carey in Portland, Or. Added a trigger job down to 3.5#. Took it to the range and it still shot horrible. I decided that it didn't have enough forearm pressure so I shimmed it with a folded business card. Shot better but not great. Finally with my last 3 shells which were reloads-Hornady case, 56 gr RL22, Fed 210 primer and 117 hornady btsp. It finally shot a group! Haven't had the chance to load more. It didn't really like this load before though. I've about had it with this gun. I know I am missing something here. The bore is pretty nice and doesn't foul too much. I clean about every 20 rds. I will try more of the reloads but it shouldn't be this dang finicky....or should it? Any serious suggestions are appreciated. Thanks. Oh, The scope is of known quality as I tested it on one of my accurate rifles.

Try loading another batch of the loads that grouped well and see what ya get.

If it goes radical on ya again, try loading some 100 grain bullets.....not sure what your twist rate is....maybe it'll shoot the 100 grain bullets better. Nothing wrong with that. I've killed a bunch of Elk with 100 grain bullet in my 25-06.

Have you ever cleaned the barrel with copper cleaner like Sweets? And watch out dipping your copper brush in it. I loaned a friend a bottle of copper solvent one time and got it back from him and didn't notice it had gone bad (been deluted). I had a 6mm Rem. that was a fouler and it gave me fits trying to clean the copper out with the solvent he had ruined by dipping his brush in. I finally caught on.

its a 24" bbl with a 1-10 twist rate. I've tried 100 gr bullets before but that could've all changed now with the new stock. For cleaning, I have used: hoppes for powder fouling and barnes CR-10 for copper, now I use "wipe-out" quite a bit instead of the CR-10. The bbl doesn't seem to foul nowhere near as bad as the mod 700 rem or ruger 77 that I own. Copper magnets they are! I will load some more of the rl22-117btsp loads and try them again. I wouldn't be quite so pessimistic if this rifle would shoot a handful of factory loads acceptably. I'm not asking too much because with the wispy bbl and light weight of the gun in general, I know it won't ever be a true tack driver. I just want acceptable consistent accuracy that I can count on for shots out to about 300yd or so. Those are the types of shots we get hunting in Wasco County. Most guns that will shoot good tend to at least like a few factory loads. If I can get it to shoot acceptably, I'm sure I will forgive it and take it deer hunting Oh--What powder do you guys suggest for the 100 gr bullets? I think if I remember right, I was using RL19 and IMR 4350. I've also tried H4831SC with a # of different bullets. Thanks!

I tried to respond to this post this morning but must have only reviewed my post and not actually sent it, I will try again.

It sounds to me like you are pretty frustrated with that rifle. You may never be happy with it, even it you find a load that it likes. It sometimes just happens like that.

My dad owns an Ultralight Weatherby in 25-06. If you just sit down and shoot 3-5 shots it will wind up shooting about 1.5 inch groups. If you let it cool between every shot, it will make the nicest little cloverleafs you ever saw. I know your barrel is not as light as the Ultralight, but it may be overheating and scattering the shots. My dad wishes his Ultralight did not exhibit this trait, but it has not kept him from shooting one hell of a lot of game with that Ultralight. He has shot enough wild hogs with it to feed a family for a LONG time.

Another point is that not all 25-06 rifles will shoot boat tails worth a darn. My last two were in that group. Both of the last two 25-06 barrels I had would shoot flat base bullets WAY better than boat tails.

And, maybe you just need to try another powder, I don't know. In my rifles RL 22 did OK, but it was not the over all best powder. In several 25-06 rifles now, I have had the best luck shooting IMR 4831 under 75-100 grain bullets and IMR 7828 when using 115-120 grain bullets.

Actually, my dad and I are both shooting IMR 4831 and the Nosler 100 grain Partition in our 25-06's currently. That load just kills coyotes, deer, antelope, and wild hogs like you cannot believe. I shot a coyote with that load the other day that we had lasered at 522 yards.

So, keep at it, keep experimenting. Some rifles can just drive you crazy.

R F

I believe RF is right on the money about flat base bullets. I think you'll find most factory barrels will shoot flat base bullets alot better than boat tails. I've got a Mod 700 Classic that shoots 100gr. Par. with IMR-4831 and the 120gr. Horn. HP with RL-22 into nice tite groups.

Plenty of good advise here already and I agree with all of it.

However, accurate Arms (AA) has a recently introduced powder that works real well in my Colt\Sauer 25-06 24" barrel. It's named MagPro. It is intended for the newish short-fat line of cartridges. Load data is listed on AA's website.

I was having a dickens of a time finding an 85 grain Barnes X load that would give 1 inch or less groups for use on the smaller antelopes in Namibia. I tried every powder suggested by those other folks that posted before me. Then I stumbled on MagPro. Load density was 100% and that's what my rifle likes. Also, max or close to max loads shot best. I haven't tried it with any heavier bullet weights but I wouldn't be surprised if it shot them well too. Btw, WW 760 came in second best. If you like ball powders, give it a try.

Have you tried playing with different seating depths?