25-06 and Elk

[SwiftShot]

I would challenge this. Take a frangible bullet and drive it into an animal at ultra/wby/lapua type velocity and there's enough examples of instant upset followed by near zero penetration.

Back the velocity off to middle of the road velocity and penetration increases significantly. Reducing the velocity tends to increase the penetration by reducing the bullet upset.

Velocity is very important when choosing the bullet.

I pushed a 100gr .257 completely through my only Roosevelt elk at 400 yards. The impact velocity and bullet upset were obviously in sync. Fwiw, that elk just tipped over dead on the spot.

Yes you can talk about instances when the bullet explodes. That is not the velocities fault, that is the moron that picked that bullet. Foot pounds are one of the many things involved with a clean kill. Bullet placement is the most important. Hell at 15 I killed a doe with a 22 short. Fell right over, but the placement at 10 yards was in the eye. It never left the skull. Does that mean the 22 short is great for deer? Placement, bullet choice, then caliber, with caliber you also have over lap of foot pounds. Shooting big hame with varmit rounds not a good idea. Shooting them with full metal jackets, about as dumb. There are many parts to the total equation and if you totally screw one it may cost you, no matter how well the other usually go.

 

[SwiftShot]

Found this a bit interesting. Started reading Alaska’s Wolf Man again

Very interesting, there was a professional hunter that culled donkeys in the grand canyon about then too. He loved the 220. Praises it for instant kills on wild asses. I dint remember the bullet he used but they culled hundreds a year.

 

[BarCO]

Use what is legal in the area and have fun.

 

[35WhelenAI]

Entered as pictured, stuck in the offside elbow.

Nice work with the 300 Win. Looking at the picture of the elk and terrain, fairly close range, and slightly quartering away?

 

[Wrench]

Nice work with the 300 Win. Looking at the picture of the elk and terrain, fairly close range, and slightly quartering away?

Thanks 631yds. Uphill and away.

 

[35WhelenAI]

Lol, I absolutely read that the wrong way with where the animal was in the snow and the blood markings.

 

[Rob5589]

I will never kill more elk with a single cartridge, than I did with a 25-05 when I was young. Shooting all of those elk with a 25-06 is the exact reason I use much larger rifles as an adult. The energy sucks for elk. It's a marginal cartridge, and most people damn well know it. You can drop one with a .243 to the heart... hell I've seen a bull killed with a .17rem right between the eyes. Allow a margin of error for a less than perfect shot by using more gun. Show some respect to the elk, which live in country where rests are imperfect, wind is a factor, and at altitudes that can make steady breathing difficult after a scramble. When you're out of breathe from scrambling over a rise, trying to nail a bull that's about to disappear.... (or staring at a trophy with a less than ideal angle).... you'll realize that the perfect shot isn't always the shot you get.

You summed it up nicely, just not how you thought. Poor shooting position; unable to read wind; poor physical conditioning; desperation in killing an elk; poor potential shot placement; etc. You just named off plenty of reasons to pass up a shot. 25/06 or .338, maybe guys should start being more ethical before pulling the trigger. And that goes for every animal.

 

[Pdzoller]

Shot a black bear at 286 yards with my .300 win mag. I hit him right in the lungs and he looked like he was hit by a truck. While he was struggling to get up off his back I hit him again. He made it to his feet and ran about 60 yards, climbed around 80 feet and got stuck in an old growth Douglas Fir. I never was able to recover him. People say bears don’t bleed. He bled buckets that were full of froth. Both shots were perfect.

Shot a bear with a 6.5 cm at 342 yards. Same impact point. Bear was dead immediately and didn’t take one step. Very little blood.

Every shot is different.

 

[jimh406]

I wasn't going to post, but I think you guys need help to make it a few more pages.

I haven't used a 25'06. I'm on the side of the fence that I'd rather have too much than too little gun as long as I can accurately shoot it. Since I have a 300 Wby that shoots well with Partitions, I don't have a big reason to look for something else. The 25'06 has more power than many guns that have killed Elk, so I don't think it's the minimum.

The argument that the 25'06 is better than a poorly placed 30 Magnum is a silly one. We shouldn't be comparing bad shots to good shots. By all means use a caliber that you can shoot well, but that doesn't mean 30 magnums are bad for everyone. It's possible that a 30 Magnum is too much gun ... it's too much if you can't shoot it accurately.

I don't think any gun can guarantee DRT.

 

[FLS]

25-06 fanboy here. I’ve killed a lot of game with one. With proper bullets in the right spot, it’s kills as well or better as anything I’ve used, with modest recoil. I'll be carrying it west again this year with all confidence it will kill anything I hunt, if I do my part.

 

[BigNate]

Shot a black bear at 286 yards with my .300 win mag. I hit him right in the lungs and he looked like he was hit by a truck. While he was struggling to get up off his back I hit him again. He made it to his feet and ran about 60 yards, climbed around 80 feet and got stuck in an old growth Douglas Fir. I never was able to recover him. People say bears don’t bleed. He bled buckets that were full of froth. Both shots were perfect.

Shot a bear with a 6.5 cm at 342 yards. Same impact point. Bear was dead immediately and didn’t take one step. Very little blood.

Every shot is different.

Tell us about the loads for each if you would please. What bullets? How fast?

I've seen very different results at times myself, but I'll reserve my thoughts.

 

[35WhelenAI]

Shot a black bear at 286 yards with my .300 win mag. I hit him right in the lungs and he looked like he was hit by a truck. While he was struggling to get up off his back I hit him again. He made it to his feet and ran about 60 yards, climbed around 80 feet and got stuck in an old growth Douglas Fir. I never was able to recover him. People say bears don’t bleed. He bled buckets that were full of froth. Both shots were perfect.

Shot a bear with a 6.5 cm at 342 yards. Same impact point. Bear was dead immediately and didn’t take one step. Very little blood.

Every shot is different.

I thought I had heard a lot of hunting stories, but a lung hit bear, followed by a second shot, making it 60 yards and 80 feet up a tree takes it. Were you able to see the shot placement on the bear while it was in the tree, as you said they were both perfect.

 

[Pdzoller]

I thought I had heard a lot of hunting stories, but a lung hit bear, followed by a second shot, making it 60 yards and 80 feet up a tree takes it. Were you able to see the shot placement on the bear while it was in the tree, as you said they were both perfect.

Hunting partner was watching through 12x binoculars on a tripod and said both shots were perfect. I don’t have any reason not to believe it. I wasn’t joking when I said buckets of blood. Load was a factory Barnes 190gr lrx.

 

[North Idaho Stickbow]

Shot a black bear at 286 yards with my .300 win mag. I hit him right in the lungs and he looked like he was hit by a truck. While he was struggling to get up off his back I hit him again. He made it to his feet and ran about 60 yards, climbed around 80 feet and got stuck in an old growth Douglas Fir. I never was able to recover him. People say bears don’t bleed. He bled buckets that were full of froth. Both shots were perfect.

Shot a bear with a 6.5 cm at 342 yards. Same impact point. Bear was dead immediately and didn’t take one step. Very little blood.

Every shot is different.

I can second this. I shot a bear with my 45-70 and liquified his heart and he still went up the tree another 80 feet before dying.

The next year I shot a bear with my longbow, and a bear the year after that with my recurve. Both of those died on the spot. Go figure.

 

[cuerro viejo]

Ive killed several cows with 25-06 no issues. Killed bulls and cows with 257wby. No issues. All shoots <400. 100gr partition and 115vld

 

[Tradchef]

Here’s a bull I took a couple years back with my 25-06. 350 yards through the aorta and lungs. 110 grain ELD-X. Bull never knew he was hit and was dead on his feet. Never moved another muscle until he tipped over where he stood. I prefer using Barnes LRX but was curious how the Hornadys would do. They did what they were supposed to and worked great. It’s not my primary elk cartridge but if I have it with me and I have a tag in my pocket and I can get into effective range it’s a done deal if I do my part. I don’t even question it!!!

 

[Texasbuckeye]

Hunting partner was watching through 12x binoculars on a tripod and said both shots were perfect. I don’t have any reason not to believe it. I wasn’t joking when I said buckets of blood. Load was a factory Barnes 190gr lrx.

Not trying to derail this too much, but why didnt you guys cut the tree down?

 

[Pdzoller]

Hunting partner was watching through 12x binoculars on a tripod and said both shots were perfect. I don’t have any reason not to believe it. I wasn’t joking when I said buckets of blood. Load was a factory Barnes 190gr lrx.

Not trying to derail this too much, but why didnt you guys cut the tree down?

No chainsaws allowed in wilderness areas and even with my felling saw, cutting old growth Douglas fir isn’t really a quick endeavor. Not to mention it’s illegal.

 

[wapitibob]

I shot an Antelope buck with a friends 25-06, less than 100 yards. Bullet hit a rib right off the crease, followed the rib down, across the front of the sternum, and up the other side. Bullet was comparable to a dime when recovered, between hide and muscle about 1/3 way up the far side. The shot knocked him down then after a few seconds he started to get up and I shot him in the neck, that shot killed him. Needless to say that’s a caliber I’ll never own.

 

[Texasbuckeye]

No chainsaws allowed in wilderness areas and even with my felling saw, cutting old growth Douglas fir isn’t really a quick endeavor. Not to mention it’s illegal.

I had no idea it was illegal to cut down a tree. Pardon my ignorance!