Thread: 25-06 why hasn't it achieved fame and success in New Zealand?

It’s always good to revisit a thread like this. Reminds me how far we’ve come in recent years. Humour aside the simple fact is that the old .25-06 will flatten deer within normal hunting ranges and there isn’t really anything wrong with it.

Apart from the fact it’s a long action case that needs too much powder for the performance, it’s too loud, it needs a long barrel, has a rubbish bullet selection and if for some reason you wanted one that wasn’t shot out, you wouldn’t be able to find one.

.25-06 fans get their ardent admiration for the cartridge from their grandfathers. Luckily my grandfather had moved on to short action modernity as he was a bit of a flash git, so when it was my turn there was none of this antique cartridge business.

But I’ll say this, the one and only time I have ever hunted with a .25 aught six, I pointed it at a medium-ish antelope, it went BANG and the animal fell over right in front of my very eyes. My abiding memory of that moment was just how loud the bloody thing was, and the fact that it had a set trigger which I had not been educated on how to use properly. So I got a big surprise. But nonetheless, the old quarter bore sealed the deal, and I will always remember that moment very fondly. So much so that I’ve always thought that if I was to buy an antique cartridge in a timber and blued steel hunting rifle, it would very probably be the .25-06.

call me a hypocrite. You’d be correct.