25/06 Powder

K

kevlars

New member
I am starting to reload for my new Marlin XL7 in 25/06, and I would like to hear what your favorite powders are. I picked up a pound of Hodgedon H4350 to try. I want to shoot coyotes, and other varmints with it, so I will try 75 grain VMaxs for that. I also want to use it for deer in Wisconsin, and had someone tell me that the same VMax would work for that at reasonable ranges, probably no shots over 150 yards.

What do you think? I want to hear your opinions/suggestions. If you have any pet loads, that would be great!

Thanks, kevlars
 
Try Reloder 17 its a brand new powder and it is very good in the 25-06 with lighter bullets. I was getting 3480fps with the 87gr Sierra with good accuracy.
 
kevlars....AA3100, RL19, N160 hav worked for me....either flavor of 4350 wud be a good start'n place....3100 in my #1 puts 87TNT's & 120 nosler SB's to same POI@100yds....but IMO 78Vmax's are to frangible for deer....unless you shoot'em behind either ear /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
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Congrats on the new rifle and one heckuva cartridge!! I've used it to take coyotes, antelope, deer, black bear, and elk out to 600 yards. Its by far my favorite caliber. Am on my 4th one now. Got a ton of data and experience with the 25 over the 10 years I've been associated with them.

75g vmax are great on dogs from the 25-06, as are the 85g nbt's which I like better for longer ranges. 3600-3800fps makes for bad medicine with either bullet. They would work ok for deer if you limited yourself to head/neck shots but thats not a good idea either. The 75g vmax is a very fast/light fragile bullet and will literally explode within the first few inches of penetration, it IS NOT a deer bullet in any way. It very rarely exits coyotes, so it would very rarely exit on deer. The 85g is still not a deer bullet at this speed. Its very explosive. It will exit coyotes with a nasty hole darn near every time, but I wouldn't trust it on deer.

I used IMR-4350 and IMR-4831 for my 75g loads so cant give you much help with H4350.

For deer since your shots are close, your going to want a heavier bullet of decent construction so you wont have a bullet failure if you hit shoulder or heavy bone. My first instinct is to go with the 115g NBT, but thats more of a LR bullet. Thats what I've used but I'm out west where my shots usually start at 200. I would lean towards the 110g AB at 3200fps or so if I was you and be done with it. They'll work as good as the partitions and cost a bit less. They'll work from muzzle to as far as you care to shoot deer at.

I just came upon the mother of all loads in my 25-06 a few months back. I was experiemnting with Retumbo, one of the few powders I hadn't tried yet, with some 100g NBT's. In my 24" shilen barreled 700, I am getting 3500fps and 1/2 MOA out to 400 yards. Also using Retumbo and 115g vld's, I was achieving 3275fps and 1/4-1/2 MOA at 400 yards. Retumbo is fast becoming a favorite of mine in my latest 25-06. Beats other powders by a good 150fps and is not giving up anything in the accuracy department.

I've used all sorts of powders but if I had to pick 3, they would be RL-19 for the lighter weights, RL-22 for middle weights, and Retumbo for middle and heavy weights. I've also used IMR-4350 and 4831 and H4831 with great success, but I've burned far more RL19 and 22 then anything thats for sure.
 
The 25-06 was my Coyote/Deer Rifle for a long time. I have no comment on the powder because all I ever used in it was Imr 4831. I used an 89 grn ball in mine for Coyotes and very rarely for Deer. Basically if I was Coyote huntin and ran across a nice Muley at the same time the 89 worked. But if I was stictly Deer Hunting I would switch over to a 100 Grn Ball

I eventually quit using it as a Coyote Rifle because at that time I was selling the hides and it would create HUGE holes in them. I still use it as my Deer Rifle.

When I was a teen and in my early 20's my Dad would get so mad at me when we would go Coyote Huntin. Back then I was a pretty good shot and if you could reasonably see it I could hit it. I wasn't a Game Hog or anything but that rifle is such a flat shooter I could take shots my Dad and Brothers couldn't.
 
I use my 25-06 for big game only. I use H4350 and I really like RL-22. I also had success with H4895. All with 117 grain Hornady SST. They are awesome.
 
H4831 works great in my Browning A-bolt. To me, that is "the powder" for the 25-06, but whatever works, works. You may have to experiment a little.

By the way, I shoot Speer 100 gr. SPs for everything. Those bullets have taken five Wyoming antelope, a mule deer, groundhogs, crows, and corsican ram. Great bullets and great cartridge.

You'll love the 25-06. Keep us posted about your new toy.

David
 
I had the best luck in min with H4831sc. H4350 worked great with the lighter bullets in my rifles but the H4831sc gave me the best velocities overall with big game bullet weights.
 
I recently tested a new Marlin 25-06 that a friend bought & was very impressed. A member of this forum, ArkyYoter, told me of a 75 V-Max load that has worked in every 25-06 he knew of & it sure worked in the Marlin. The load is 51gr. of 4064 with WLR primers & Rem brass. It averaged .620" groups (3 shot)& grouped better than any other load, the 100BT was .830". Of course, work up slowly. It is a great Varmit bullet. For Deer, use 100 gr & over in my view.
 
I'd recommend H-4831, it's been a standard for the 25-06 for years.

H-4831 and H-4831sc are the same powder, though you'd be hard pressed to find standard H-4831 anymore. The SC or "Short Cut" powder, measures easier.

HOWEVER,
do not confuse or mix up the load data between Hodgdon H-4831 and IMR-4831. The IMR is hotter. 30 years ago I had a reloading book that didn't show this difference. I ended up popping a few primers out the back of the cartridge before the bolt was opened. It's kind of scary to have that HOT of a load. Thank goodness for strong actions.
 
In the 25/06 (Ruger 77 w/ medium sporter barrel), I had 1/2 inch groups with Norma MRP [now there's a blast from the past]and the Sierra 75 gr. HP...sorry, don't have my reloading book handy for the powder quantity.

I think that MRP was later replaced by MRP II, and then MRP was re-introduced, so both may now be available.

Have read good things re RL 22 for this caliber; check a burn rate chart for comparison to MRP and RL 22
 
I'm shooting H-4831SC and RL-22 in my 25-06, and just yesterday bought a pound of 7828 to try based on a recommendation from a friend who uses it in his 25-06 with good results.

Martyn
 
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Try Reloder 17 its a brand new powder and it is very good in the 25-06 with lighter bullets. I was getting 3480fps with the 87gr Sierra with good accuracy.



You are right that Re 17 may be good to try. I found out that Rel 19 was great for the 85BT and good for 100 gr. bullets, but Rel 22 was better for me with 100 gr. bullets as was Rel. 25. H4831 does very well in most weights.

I tried Retumbo in the Marlin with 100BT, but results were not good, I think because the higher charged loads were not grouping well in this gun & the 22" barrel. I take seriously KyoteKiller25's results with this slow powder doing well for him & I will try it in my Sendero & it will likely do well in that gun with the longer tube & it's thirst for hotter loads.

With the 115 & heavier I like Retumbo, IMR7828 & Rel 25.

I say all of this because some state a particular powder that works well for them, but I have found the best powder used can be quite different for the 75 gr. & 120gr. bullet.

But since the question was about the 75gr. specically, I have to say that 4064 beat everything I tried as previously stated with the combination of Vel & accuracy that I was looking for.
 
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