.25 Cal (Quarter Bore) / Big Game Success - 25 Creed, 25-284, 25-06, 25 PRC, 25 SAUM

[Elk Chaser]

25 PRC made short work of this last day MT bull at ~275 yards. Didn't bother with autopsy pics as I was solo and needed to get him taken care of. As expected the 134 eld-m worked beautifully, hit him three times through the lungs as him and the herd were just standing around...on his feet for maybe 30 seconds after the first shot. I have to say I'm very impressed with the US OG6.5 as well. Coming from a TBAC U5 I'm certain the whole group would have been sent into far more of a frenzy after the first shot. As it was, they just milled around confused until the bull hit the ground. I'll be working up a load with the 128 eld-x over the winter to see if I can wring a little more speed out of my 18" barrel.

 

[sierracharlie338]

25 PRC made short work of this last day MT bull at ~275 yards. Didn't bother with autopsy pics as I was solo and needed to get him taken care of. As expected the 134 eld-m worked beautifully, hit him three times through the lungs as him and the herd were just standing around...on his feet for maybe 30 seconds after the first shot. I have to say I'm also very impressed with the US OG6.5 as well. Coming from a TBAC U5 I'm certain the whole group would have been sent into far more of a frenzy after the first shot. As it was, they just milled around confused until the bull hit the ground. I'll be working up a load with the 128 eld-x over the winter to see if I can wring a little more speed out of my 18" barrel.

View attachment 977306

I can’t wait to kill something with the 134 lol

 

[Elk Chaser]

I can’t wait to kill something with the 134 lol

That makes one antelope and one bull elk for me this year with them. Interestingly enough both right around 275 yards as well. Antelope was DRT pretty much as expected, very happy with the performance thus far...I really feel these new 25 caliber bullets strike a happy medium with recoil when using a good suppressor or brake and just a little more bullet mass than the 223/243 offerings.

 

[FredH]

Larger cases are needed to make the heavy/high bc 25 cal bullets competitive. A 20in 6cm will run heavy bullets at 2950-3000mv. A 20in 25cm will be at top end around 2700-2750mv. You have to step up to a short mag or larger to get them going fast enough to see the difference on paper. But now you're at a significant recoil disadvantage. The 25 cal trend is cool, but they are near same mousetrap as a 65mm.

Heavy for the 6cm topping out at 115 grs and heavy for the 25 cm topping out at 134 gr. Or are you comparing 103,108 and 109 grain bullets to the 134 grain bullets in the 25?

 

[khuber84]

Heavy for the 6cm topping out at 115 grs and heavy for the 25 cm topping out at 134 gr. Or are you comparing 103,108 and 109 grain bullets to the 134 grain bullets in the 25?

Dtacs aren't the best bullet for the 6cm, been stated a lot on here by the powers that be. I run 112s at 2940 in a 20in barrel. I don't feel any discernable difference in recoil of a 108-112 gr bullet at that velocity. Also run 109s at 2860 in an 18in barrel as well.

Switch to my 23in 25cm with 134s going 2800, and there is a definite difference. I don't feel any difference in my 25cm VS my 65cm with 144s at 2720.

 

[FredH]

Dtacs aren't the best bullet for the 6cm, been stated a lot on here by the powers that be. I run 112s at 2940 in a 20in barrel. I don't feel any discernable difference in recoil of a 108-112 gr bullet at that velocity. Also run 109s at 2860 in an 18in barrel as well.

Switch to my 23in 25cm with 134s going 2800, and there is a definite difference. I don't feel any difference in my 25cm VS my 65cm with 144s at 2720.

I have a 257 Roberts and my heavy bullet load is a 120 gr. Speer BTSP at a bit over 2800 fps. out of a 20 inch barrel. Oddly yes it does buck a bit harder than my 243 but still very tolerable. Could be because I am running the 85 gr. Sierra BTSP this year at 3250 fps out of it's 20 inch barrel. I only use them for deer and I have no shot opportunities over 350 yards so both work pretty well. When you mention 144 gr. bullets at 2720 fps that is getting pretty close to what the average 308 factory load does with a 150 gr. bullet. I wonder how comparable the recoil between the two is?

 

[ezwy]

25 PRC made short work of this last day MT bull at ~275 yards. Didn't bother with autopsy pics as I was solo and needed to get him taken care of. As expected the 134 eld-m worked beautifully, hit him three times through the lungs as him and the herd were just standing around...on his feet for maybe 30 seconds after the first shot. I have to say I'm also very impressed with the US OG6.5 as well. Coming from a TBAC U5 I'm certain the whole group would have been sent into far more of a frenzy after the first shot. As it was, they just milled around confused until the bull hit the ground. I'll be working up a load with the 128 eld-x over the winter to see if I can wring a little more speed out of my 18" barrel.

View attachment 977306

User name check out.

 

[khuber84]

I have a 257 Roberts and my heavy bullet load is a 120 gr. Speer BTSP at a bit over 2800 fps. out of a 20 inch barrel. Oddly yes it does buck a bit harder than my 243 but still very tolerable. Could be because I am running the 85 gr. Sierra BTSP this year at 3250 fps out of it's 20 inch barrel. I only use them for deer and I have no shot opportunities over 350 yards so both work pretty well. When you mention 144 gr. bullets at 2720 fps that is getting pretty close to what the average 308 factory load does with a 150 gr. bullet. I wonder how comparable the recoil between the two is?

None of these cartridges have heavy recoil, just different levels of light/tolerable. I have a short barrel 11# 300 norma improved, with 215 hybrids mid 2900s for mv, suppressed. That's recoil! Kinda like my 338 rum that hasn't been shot in a LONG time.

 

[sierracharlie338]

None of these cartridges have heavy recoil, just different levels of light/tolerable. I have a short barrel 11# 300 norma improved, with 215 hybrids mid 2900s for mv, suppressed. That's recoil! Kinda like my 338 rum that hasn't been shot in a LONG time.

lol I know the feeling. My 338 Lapua has been sitting in the safe for a good minute now. I saw some factory ammo at a bass pro over the weekend, thought about it for a second, and kept on walking

 

[FredH]

None of these cartridges have heavy recoil, just different levels of light/tolerable. I have a short barrel 11# 300 norma improved, with 215 hybrids mid 2900s for mv, suppressed. That's recoil! Kinda like my 338 rum that hasn't been shot in a LONG time.

True. For a while I ran 200 grain Partitions through my 300 Win mag which was not a heavy rifle though it had a 26" barrel. I was getting pretty close to 3000 fps and yep it bucked. It did kill everything I shot with it very quickly. But so did my 30-06. My real complaint was the length of the rifle. Getting in and out of a truck it was just a bit loonger than I liked.

 

[sierracharlie338]

..I really feel these new 25 caliber bullets strike a happy medium with with recoil when using a good suppressor or brake and just a little more bullet mass than the 223/243 offerings.

Yeah I definitely agree. My wife preferred the suppressed 25killmoor over an unbraked 223 in a tupperware stock. Then killed her first big game animal with it.

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

I’ve been debating between getting a 25-06ai barrel and a 25-284 for a tikka 270 that I don’t enjoy all that much. The 25-06 will need a longer mag or stuffing the bullet super deep to get it to feed, which is why I’ve been leaning more towards the 25-284. Does Anyone with a preferred barrel blanks prefit know what reamer they use? Could I load a 134 or 128 out long and take advantage of the long action?

When I talked to them a couple years ago, they were willing to use dummy rounds for chamber/throat guidance. OAL for my 134s in the 25-284 is 3.14, and that is essentially BT at the neck/shoulder junction. It runs perfectly in Tikka LA mag and LA bolt stop.

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

Yeah I definitely agree. My wife preferred the suppressed 25killmoor over an unbraked 223 in a tupperware stock. Then killed her first big game animal with it.

The recoil from my Tikka 23" OEM fluted 6.5 WSM running the 147 ELDM at roughly 3100 MV, is barely noticeable over my Tikka 25-284 with the 134 at 2820 MV. They're both running OEM stocks and limbsavers, and the same can, however, the 25 has a 22" #3 McGowen and the 6.5 has Tikka OEM 6.5 PRC barrel. Both are enjoyable to shoot and recoil does not limit practice time.

 

[BLJ]

I have a 257 Roberts and my heavy bullet load is a 120 gr. Speer BTSP at a bit over 2800 fps. out of a 20 inch barrel. Oddly yes it does buck a bit harder than my 243 but still very tolerable. Could be because I am running the 85 gr. Sierra BTSP this year at 3250 fps out of it's 20 inch barrel. I only use them for deer and I have no shot opportunities over 350 yards so both work pretty well. When you mention 144 gr. bullets at 2720 fps that is getting pretty close to what the average 308 factory load does with a 150 gr. bullet. I wonder how comparable the recoil between the two is?

What twist?
I’ve got one that I’m considering an AI chamber for and a rebarrel. It’s twisted painfully slow now. Around 1/14.
Also would be interested in your load data as well if you wouldn’t mind.

Thanks

 

[Unclecroc]

I broke out my trusty 25-06 and I was able to harvest a few does the other night. I was using the 90gr absolute hammer.
I shot the first doe at 180 yards, she was quartering away so I held for the opposite side leg. She went 40 yards and crashed.
Entrance

Exit
The second doe I shot at 200 yards and she was almost facing me. It was getting pretty dark and I held on the facing shoulder and the shot felt good when it broke. She dropped on impact let out a bawl and laid down dead.
Upon skinning I discovered I hit to the right a bit and caught her high in front of the hip. I about blew the spine in half. At the angle she was I impacted 6” right of where I was holding. Not sure what happened but all is well that ends well. I must have caught an artery in order for her to bleed out that quick.

 

[FredH]

What twist?
I’ve got one that I’m considering an AI chamber for and a rebarrel. It’s twisted painfully slow now. Around 1/14.
Also would be interested in your load data as well if you wouldn’t mind.

Thanks

Mine is a 1-10. I just use Hodgdon's max load data with I4350. It likes 100 gr. Ballistic tips best.

 

[Hunt4lyf]

I love my 25-06, everything I shoot with it dies fast and I rarely need a follow up shot.

25-06 rem 100 gr ttsx, facing me at 95 yards. The bullet entered between the shoulder blades when his head was down feeding, center punched the spine and was found under the skin 26-28” just in front of rear leg.



Bullet entered at orange handle knife, exited at filet knife blade and was found at front of rear leg just under the skin



No clue on weight retention, I don’t have a grain scale.

 

[Unclecroc]

I love my 25-06, everything I shoot with it dies fast and I rarely need a follow up shot.

25-06 rem 100 gr ttsx, facing me at 95 yards. The bullet entered between the shoulder blades when his head was down feeding, center punched the spine and was found under the skin 26-28” just in front of rear leg.

View attachment 980483

Bullet entered at orange handle knife, exited at filet knife blade and was found at front of rear leg just under the skin

View attachment 980484

No clue on weight retention, I don’t have a grain scale.

View attachment 980485

It don’t get mo betta than that. Congrats.

 

[ezwy]

First elk with the 25 PRC. Good broadside shot at 231 yards that I rushed, thinking they would bolt. Muzzle velocity 2995. I hit her a little low and back (bottom of the lung) she just stood there for a minute or so with the other two. I could tell she was sick, but hadn’t dropped so I got steady and put the second one through the back of her head. Happy with the results considering the lack of vital tissue I hit.

 

[khuber84]

@ezwy what bullet?