The 25-06 Remington rifle cartridge originally was a wildcat cartridge first introduced by A.O.Niedner in 1920 based on the 30-06 Springfield cartridge case necked down to accept .257″ diameter bullets.
It was adopted by Remington and introduced to the shooting public in a Remington model 700 bolt action rifle in 1969.
The 25-06 Remington is a true dual purpose cartridge, it can be used for varmints sending a 85 grain bullet out the muzzle at 3,500 feet per second, making this a very good, flat shooting varmint and predator round.
It can also be used as a big game cartridge sending 115 grain bullets out the muzzle at speeds of 3,100 feet per second.
It has sufficient power out to the 400 yard mark for thin skinned deer sized game animals.
The 25-06 Remington with the power it offers down range will also recoil somewhat to the shooters shoulder with heavier bullet loads.
However, bullets in the 100 grain weight range recoil less, and also work well for a nice combination load for deer, predators, and varmints. This load is quite pleasant to shoot.
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While much has been written about the 25-06 Remington cartridge, it truly is a great North American, dual purpose, varmint, and big game cartridge.
If you were looking to buy a new rifle just to hunt in North America and you were going to hunt pronghorn antelope, mule deer, white-tail deer, hogs with the occasional elk thrown in, for the most part, the flat shooting 25-06 Remington offers plenty of range and energy for that.
For elk, leg and shoulder bones should be avoided and shots kept under 200 yards. If you were going to hunt varmints and predators at long range, the 25-06 Remington has a flat enough bullet trajectory with plenty of bullet energy for that as well.
25-06 Ammunition:
Most ammunition manufacturers offer at least one or two various loads for 25-06, as this is a popular hunting cartridge. Hornady, Federal, Remington, Winchester, and more all offer various weight grain loadings for it.
25-06 Ballistics:
This 25-06 Ballistic Chart shows 120 grain Federal Fusion rounds with a ballistic coefficient of .468:
| Muzzle | 100 YDS | 200 YDS | |
| Velocity (FPS) | 2980 | 2778 | 2585 |
| Energy (FT/LB) | 2366 | 2056 | 1780 |
| Drop (Inches) | / | 0 | -3 |
This 25-06 ballistics chart shows 90 grain Hornady Superformance GMX with a ballistic coefficient of .291:
| Muzzle | 100 YDS | 200 YDS | |
| Velocity (FPS) | 3350 | 3000 | 2677 |
| Energy (FT/LB) | 2242 | 1799 | 1432 |
| Drop (Inches) | / | +1.2 | 0 |
This 25-06 ballistics chart shows 85 Grain Winchester Ballistic Silver Tips:
| Muzzle | 100 YDS | 200 YDS | |
| Velocity (FPS) | 3470 | 3156 | 2863 |
| Energy (FT/LB) | 2273 | 1880 | 1548 |
| Drop (Inches) | / | 0 | -2 |
25-06 Remington Reloading:
Bullet Diameter: .257 Inch.
Maximum Case Length: 2.494 Inches.
Trimmed Case Length: 2.484 Inches.
Primer Size: Large Rifle.
Maximum Cartridge Overall Length: 3.250 Inches.
For more rifle ballistics information, please check out our in depth chart covering many different center fire rifle cartridges.
