best 25 06 bullet for deer hunting!

best 25 06 bullet for deer hunting

  • barnes tsx

    Votes: 16 26.7%

  • nosler partition

    Votes: 23 38.3%

  • nosler accubond

    Votes: 16 26.7%

  • sierra game king

    Votes: 5 8.3%
  • Total voters
    60
Comparing accubonds to partitions is a tough sell with many hunters. The partition bullet has been around for 40+ years and is the standard we measure all other bullets against. I think the accubond performs as well on big game and better on medium and small game. It is as accurate as Ballistic tip and performs at a broader range of velocities than most other hunting bullets.
Many of the new bullet designs are accubond knock-offs.... new bonding processes and such.
 
speer also makes a grand slam in 120Grain for the 25-06 it wasnt terribly accurate out of my rifle , about 1 1/2" @ 100 but obviously good nuff to hunt with just not as accurate as I needed for BR compatitions
 
bone-collector said:
speer also makes a grand slam in 120Grain for the 25-06 it wasnt terribly accurate out of my rifle , about 1 1/2" @ 100 but obviously good nuff to hunt with just not as accurate as I needed for BR compatitions
Click to expand...
I have used the Speer Grand Slams, .308, 165gr in a model 88 Winchester in .308 & in my.30-06 Feather Weight Husqvarna. Accuracy in the .308 was pretty good, better than the results I got in th '06. On Deer sized game however the bullet did perform well.
I was never too thrilled with Noslers, some of the earlier ones anyway, as it seemed not to take too much of a hit on game before the front or nose section was lost.
Another partition type bullet that did work well for me was made by Norma, but no longer available. They made two 30cal 180gr Dual core, one with a spire point & the other had like a dimpled tip similar to the old CIL pneumatic. They both performed well on Moose sized game but for some reason, the dimpled version was more accurate in my .308 Norma Magnum.
 
Johnn Peterson said:
I was never too thrilled with Noslers, some of the earlier ones anyway, as it seemed not to take too much of a hit on game before the front or nose section was lost.
Click to expand...

That's the way the Nosler Partition is DESIGNED to work. Front section expands rapidly and does a lot of damage, rear section stays intact and continues to penetrate. This design kills well without sacrificing penetration through bone, etc. Regards, Eagleye.
 
Eagleye said:
That's the way the Nosler Partition is DESIGNED to work. Front section expands rapidly and does a lot of damage, rear section stays intact and continues to penetrate. This design kills well without sacrificing penetration through bone, etc. Regards, Eagleye.
Click to expand...
True, but with other more traditional bullets, I've obained a similar front end diameter of expansion, but weight retention was also better.
 
provided that the remaining bit has enough mass to penetrate adequately, who the hell cares WHAT the weight retention is? All the magazines make a big deal over the percentage weight retention so their advertisers are happy and can sell lots of new expensive bullets. But, with weight retention, higher ISN'T better. What IS important is consistency, adequate expansion and adequate penetration. Any weight that is 'lost' doesn't just vapourize, it's in there too having contributed it's part, and made lots of tiny secondary channels enhancing bleed-out. Same principal as a sharp knife vs a ragged one - assuming similar penetration, you'll bleed a lot more when you cut yourself with a dull blade, and it'll take longer to heal
 
but in most cases, higher weight retention = deeper penetration and less fragmenting, which means more damage to vitals and less damage to edible meat from bloodshot. I know it doesnt take much penetration to bite the vitals on a deer, probably 10 inches is sufficient, and it doesnt require a super premium 95+% WT bullet to dig that deep, but some of the softer bullets, especially when fired out of high velocity cartridges, can leave some pretty nasty results on game. A 25-06 is fast, and should be stuffed with a bullet than can handle that type of impact stress. If he was shooting a 250 Savage or 6.5x55, a plain jane vanilla soft point would work just fine.

my .02
 
keep in mind even when a bullet fails, more often than not it will still kill the animal probably just as fast as one that doesnt fail
 
DarrylDB said:
Lets be serious... If you were able to compare weight retention on a bullet from an animal, it has done its job.
Click to expand...
True enough. All I was putting forth is my experience with a few different bullet styles over the years, which has resulted in my resoning for preference & the choices I've made in hunting bullets. You can take it for what its worth.
 
any of those will work on deer, the 25-06 is fast and deer are fairly easy to kill with a well placed shot.

I've been using Nosler Blastic tips and when my current supply runs out I'm thinking of switching to Nosler Accubonds.

No real particular reason for the switch, but I'm loading up Accubonds for my 300WM
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by DarrylDB
Lets be serious... If you were able to compare weight retention on a bullet from an animal, it has done its job.


Johnn Peterson said:
True enough. All I was putting forth is my experience with a few different bullet styles over the years, which has resulted in my resoning for preference & the choices I've made in hunting bullets. You can take it for what its worth.
Click to expand...

Hey, Im with you on this one. I just think we spend too much time splitting hairs. Trying to figure out which is better between these three is redundant beyond reproach IMHO.
All three are top shelf premium bullets capable of high weight retention.
It bugs me when a guy goes on about his bullet failing because it broke into two pieces, and didnt exit, or it lost a petal. Even though the animal piled up like a 2 buck suitcase. Weight retention is a marketing ploy no different than any of the new cartridges.

:rockOn::rockOn::rockOn::rockOn::rockOn:
 
DarrylDB said:
Quote:
Originally Posted by DarrylDB
Lets be serious... If you were able to compare weight retention on a bullet from an animal, it has done its job.




Hey, Im with you on this one. I just think we spend too much time splitting hairs. Trying to figure out which is better between these three is redundant beyond reproach IMHO.
All three are top shelf premium bullets capable of high weight retention.
It bugs me when a guy goes on about his bullet failing because it broke into two pieces, and didnt exit, or it lost a petal. Even though the animal piled up like a 2 buck suitcase. Weight retention is a marketing ploy no different than any of the new cartridges.

:rockOn::rockOn::rockOn::rockOn::rockOn:
Click to expand...
You're right. I'm getting to a point in my life where I may be a bit of a stick in the mud, but I know what's performed well for me. Further to the 'age' thing, I just submitted the required forms for Canada Pension so that may help explain my opinionated stances.;)
 
todbartell said:
if weight retention is a ploy, maybe you should load some vmax for your moose hunt
Click to expand...

Why not? I used them last year on my moose hunt. I gots me a biggin' too. Awesome bullet performance from a 75 gr vmax out of my 25/06 AI:rolleyes:


Hmmmm, typing like a smartass just made me think of a new load. I think I've still got some 75 gr vmax's here. I should try those in my 25/06 AI for yote and wolves. I hadn't really thought of using it for dogs, just deer, but I think that would be an awesome performing load.:cool:
 
But haven't you heard that deer are now much tougher than they were years ago and actually have developed fur that is layered as such to better deflect bullets much the way a goose's feathers on its chest can deflect pellets.
 
I'm gonna try two new bullets in my 257 Roberts this year. 110gr Accubonds and 120gr Hornady HPs.

Everyone knows about the ABs, but the Hornadys are a heavy HP that were designed for big game and have a reputation for accuracy. Some older shooters I've asked about them swear by them, having used them before the current batch of premiums showed up. I think they might be a good bullet with the lower velocity the Roberts offers.


.
 
todbartell said:
keep in mind even when a bullet fails, more often than not it will still kill the animal probably just as fast as one that doesnt fail
Click to expand...

Explain to me how that failed than? failed to what? failed to stay together, but didnt fail to kill rapidly...


todbartell said:
if weight retention is a ploy, maybe you should load some vmax for your moose hunt
Click to expand...

Thats the ploy im talking about dude, the one that thinks you need a bullet to stay in one piece to succeed in killing an animal. But a fragmenting bullet is a different story all together...

Ok, allow me to reiterate... There is a bit of a difference between a speer hotcor, corlokt, winchester PSP, silvertip, ballistictip etc. and a V-max.

Do you think I'd waste my money on a Partition, TSX, X, whatever for a 30-06 or 308 30-30 class of cartridge? Aside from the vmax on anything but maybe grizzly ( cant say, I have no experience) you wouldnt notice the difference between any of the above rounds in int performance on game. the only difference is the dent in your wallet.
When you push the velocity envelope further into Short mag, Magnum, and Ultra class magnum categories, the need for a premium bullet does increase dramatically, and this is what the whole weight retention race was borne of, and where it applies... Not to most non magnum rounds as most apply them to.

We all to often blame bullet performance for a bad placed shot...
Its easier on the ego.
most try to cure it with a premium bullet, but what happens next time they miss the mark?
they're talking about how XYZ premium bullet doesnt open up well on deer, and they're going to try ABC ultrapremium bullet...
when the problem really lies elsewhere
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom