NUMBERFARMER

The 25-06 is a great deer rifle as well as a great antelope rifle. I love to use my hunting load with 117 grain bullets to shoot praire dogs at fairly long ranges from 250 to 500 yds. It is a great coyote gun as well, but can be fairly hard on pelts. However if loaded with a solid bullet, this could be avoided as well. Muzzle blast can be a little aggressive in a shorter barrel, but other than that it's a great dual purpose caliber.

Todd1700

Well I have a 25-06 Tikka. Love the caliber and the gun. Best factory trigger that I have encountered on a rifle in a long time. Super slick action and a very accurate gun as well. If you plan to do a lot of after market work on your gun then you will find a lot more options out there for a gun like a Remington model 700. If you plan to leave it alone and shoot it as is then I think the Tikkas are a far better gun straight out of the box compared to any american gun that you can get for less than a 1000 dollars.

If you don't plan to hunt anything bigger than whitetails or mule deer you will never notice a difference between a 25-06 and a 270 on deer sized game. Very flat shooting caliber and there is little difference in what a 120 grain 25-06 bullet and a 130 grain 270 bullet will do to a deer. The 25-06 will kick you a little less. Loaded with a 100 grain bullet (WHICH MAKES RECOIL EVEN MILDER) it makes a heck of a Coyote buster.

As far as really big game the 270 would be better but I have never understood trying to buy one gun that does everything anyway. Lets be honest, if you can afford to routinely go out of state after elk and moose then you should be able to afford a gun specifically suited to that task.

Mykey

I don't know anything about Tikka and i may be a tad bit bias here about the caliber because i love the 25.06. I can say from years of personal experience that the 25.06 is an awesome deer caliber. It can be very accurate and most are especially with handloads and it's a fast flat shooter with mild recoil that really packs a punch when it hits the mark. I can honestly say as of yet i've never had a deer to run off after shooting one with a 25.06 and i've shot quite a few with it at all ranges. I have two rifles chambered in 25.06, a Remington Classic and a Sendero and my son has an older model ADL. My favorite deer rifle is the Classic loaded with 115gr Nosler Partitions which has proven to be pure deer poison and kills deer like lighting at any range and my son shoots those same 115gr Partitions with equal results. My brother also shoots a 25.06 but he uses Speer 120gr Spitzers exclusively and has had excellent results on deer with that combo as well. IMO the 25.06 is a great deer caliber no doubt! Oh, did i mention i love the 25.06!

bigcountry

Frizzellr, we agree on something. I feel the 25-06 is way too much overbore. Thats wierd from someone that shoots big guns. A 270 or 30 is a better choice.

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NVMIKE

Not adding much, but the 25-06 is a great deer/varmit combo gun. The 270 is a pure deer rifle, although I've shot coyotes w/ a 300win mag.

frizzellr

I disagree. I have a 90 grain HP load that works wonders on varmints.

NUMBERFARMER

I've been trying to make a load like that for my son's 270 for years, would you mind sharing what works for you. Hopefully I haven't tried it yet.

frizzellr

Sierra Varminter 90 grain HP over 54gr IMR 4350, Rem case, WLR primer

Superpig

I have owned a 270 more than once. I currently own a 280, 25-06, & 257 Roberts. I generally reach for the Roberts more than any other. In my opinion if you are hunting whitetail or mulies the 25-06 is an awesome round. You can shoot 115 gr Bt's or even better 115 gr. NPT. The 06 is deadly on deer. For some reason most of my shots on broadside animals put them down on the spot. Where as with the 280 or 257 the usually go 20-40 yards before pilling up. I also have my hunting partner that uses the 25-06 and he gets the same result. He also owns a 270 7MM WSM and 243. He uses the 25-06 almost all the time nowdays.