25-06 Accuray

B

Borden811

New member
Ok, I'm trying to work up a load for my 25-06. It's a browning x-bolt, and has a 24 inch barrel with a 1 in 10 twist. So far I've tried RL-22 with winchester LR primers in RP brass. I started with 50 gr of powder and worked up to 56gr in one grain increments with 3 different bullets. All were 100gr, and they were nosler b-tips, sierra pro hunters, and swift scirocco II's. I got accuracy just under 1 inch with all of the bullets, but the nosler btips were the best, at .75 at 100 yards with 56gr of RL-22. The sciroccos were next, and shot just under an inch at 55gr RL-22, and the sierras shot right around .80 with 53gr of RL-22. I've played with seating depth a bit, and can't seem to get any smaller groups that that. I was really hoping to get the swifts to shoot around .5 at 100. When I shoot them at 200, they open up to 4+ inch groups. No idea what is going on. The nosler btips would hold 2 inch groups at 100, but I want them tighter. I'm considering switching to IMR4831. Any thoughts?
 
Last edited:
My Sendero shot the best with H-4350 with the 85-100 grain bullets.

The 115's preferred H4831SC.

Looks like you've got the R-22 as good as you can get.
 
I've got some 115gr bergers to try, but I don't want to go any heavier than that. I also have some 85gr nosler btips to try, but I'm saving that for after I get my deer load complete.
 
I used midway 2nds in 2 of mine last year. 1 rifle would go moa'ish with them, the other turned in touching holes. Same load.

What you have listed is pretty decent for a hunting round.

Core-lokts have turned in minute of hillside in everything Ive loaded them for.
 
True, for a hunting rifle, it's plenty good. However, out of my 3 main rifles(the other two are a .300 RUM and a .204 ruger) this one is the least accurate. And for some reason, I've become anal about getting small groups. The other two will touch holes at 100, so it's become a quest to get the 25-06 to shoot with them....I think it's a sickness!
 
Try going to your 85gr bullets and work a load up for them. My 25-06 does not like anything over 100gr pills. It shoot great with the 85gr nbt or even the 75gr v-maxes. Nice small groups. Throw anything over 100gr bullets in it and the groups open up to coffee cups at 100yds and watermellons at 200yds. This was out aof a 700 sendero. Brothers tikka is totally different. It doesn't like anything under 100gr. It really likes the 117gr. Same powder different pills. We have tried a bunch of different powders with no luck. SO I stick with lite pills and he goes with heavy's.
 
Keep trying. I like your combination of RL-22 and 100 gr Noslers with Win LR primers. But you may want to try RL-19 instead. I've worked up some very accurate loads with RL-19 and the 87 gr Sierra bullets. IMR4831sc has been another good one in my rifle, even better then the IMR4831.

But I tend to like the RL powders in the 06.

Maybe you need some bedding work on that rifle. I'm not familiar with Browning rifles but I could believe they would shoot better with some bedding work. Could also be the trigger. There is more to accuracy then just the load alone.
 
The browning comes with the recoil lug bedded, and the trigger is adjustable down to 3 lbs supposedly. I've got mine adjusted as low as it goes, might not be 3 lbs, but it isn't horrible. I should also mention that a decent amount of my groups(maybe 75%) the first 2 shots will be touching, but the 3rd will be about .75 or so out. I let the barrel cool between shots, shot them all the one after the other, cleaned between shots etc. always the same thing. Could it be a neck tension issue? There's not any rhyme or reason as to where the shot goes, e.g. consistanly high or left etc. I just can't a get a good 3 shot group. I think I might give the IMR4831sc a shot and see how that does, and after that try the RL-19 or the 4350. If it turns out it only likes light weight stuff, I guess I'll go the route of the TSX, since most of the other light stuff are varmint bullets in the 25-cal. Keep the advice coming guys, I've atleast got some things to try now.
 
Borden811, that almost sounds more like a bedding issue.

Sometimes guns will surprise you. I've owned my Remington 700 Varmint Special for 34 years. The best it ever did was 3/4" groups. About 4 years ago I was told the barrel was shot out. No problem, I sprung for a top of the line Krieger. First trip out shooting 100 gr Sierra bullets it shot 3/4" groups. Disappointed, I took it home, cleaned it and put it in the back of the safe. It sat there for 3 years till last summer when I reluctantly pulled it out to use for ground hog hunting.

This time out I tried the 87 gr Sierra bullet with RL 19, so a stop at the range to sight in was in order. At the range the rifle shot under 1/2" leaving a somewhat ragged hole for 5 shots. I was in utter amazement! Was it a fluke? No, it repeated the same results 5 times that day.

The lesson learned was don't be afraid to experiment with powders and bullets.

Another tip is try seating differently. My new barrel doesn't like bullets to close to the lands. Maybe the neck tension is more uniform seating deeper. I don't know, but I'm not going to argue with the results.
 
Last edited:
Lapua brass, 210M's, H-4831SC, 115 VLD's.

My Sendero shot pretty good at a 1000 yards.....

003.jpg
 
Try RL19 and 85 NBT work up towards max and it will tighten up. My abolt the faster they go the tighter they get. I could not get to max before I started flattening primers so be careful. I got the recipe from Noslers #6.
 
I have 2 25-06s. One Rem. 700 BDL and the other is a T/C Encore with a heavy barrel. Multiple people told me R22 was all I needed and if it didn't shoot well with that then it was a rifle problem. Well, that wasn't the case. The Rem. 700 perferred 4350 and a Nosler, and the Encore shoots well with Hornady 120gr hps and 4831; this rifle may shoot better with another bullet and powder, but these are very cool bullets. Both rifles took a significant amount of load development and working with 3 different powders each.
 
As others have already said, IMR-4350 is the way to go with 100gr or lighter bullets. In my opinion, RL22 is too slow with lighter bullets and a 24" barrel.

I had my 40 year old Remington 700 VS (25-06) out just today. With 49.0 grains of IMR-4350 and 100 grain Nosler BTs, it shot a .313" group.
 
Been loading the .25-06 for several years now, and for my limited sample size, I found that more powder behind a given bullet tended to yield better accuracy. I am running a 115 NBT over IMR4831 for a chrono'd 3150 out of a 24" tube.

This also held true when I was running 100 grain bullets....more powder : better accuracy.......
YMMV

Burt2506
 
I found Norma MRP works well with the 75-90 grain bullets, and IMR 4831 w/ 120 gr. weights

Try the Sierra and Hornady bullets, their accuracy will surprise you. Once you have a load worked up withem, then buy the pricier stuff you are shooting now.

ANY bullets you load should be 3/4 of an inch, you are close to that....its a hunting barrel, contour a #2 or so?

Or is it a medium sporter, i.e. #3 or #4 contour?

Maybe your rifle needs some torquing of action screws,etc. The X-Bolt is a fine quality rifle. Let it cool down well between every 2 shots when searching for accuracy loads.

Good Luck
 
Try the 85 grain Nosler with RL 19. Nosler list 53.0 grains as the starting load, 55.0 as the middle load, and 57.0 as the maximum at 3600 fps. They also list this as the most accurate powder tested. This load has worked well in three different Remington 700's. The 100 grain solid base bt's liked IMR 4831 but they would only group with the starting load of 49.5 grains. I switched to IMR 4350, starting load is 47.0 grains, middle load is 49.0, and maximum is 51.0. All three rifles shoot well at the maximum, but yours may not!
 
Last edited:
Back
Top