When did the 25-06 become unpopular?

Maybe the guy at your LGS thought he could pick him up a 25-06 cheap. That sounds like the normal come on.

If the 25-06 is loosing popularity it probably because of all the weekend tatic-cools shooting their 1,000 yard, dial it in, multi adjustable stocked, threaded barrel, short action, want to be sniper rifles. Which is fine if your ringing steel.

Every darn article you pick up is 6.5 Creedmoor and then Ruger drops the 25-06 from the Hawkeye line so they can sell more Creedmoors, I suppose.

I just know the 25-06 is a great caliber that is easy to reload and with the right sight in you can hold on fur instead of dialing for dollars, cause its fast, flat and hard hitting.
 
In 45 years of hunting I know a total of 2 people who owned and hunted with 25-06s, me and a friend. I'd call the caliber "unpopular".
 
Last edited:
I've always wanted one since I was young and Bob Milek extolled its virtues in the pages of "Shooting Times". I have always had a 257 Roberts though and felt I'd just be duplicating what I already had. It would sure make a dandy ultralight sheep/caribou/goat rifle up here with a skinny 26 to 28 inch barrel and a light composite stock.

A coyote hunting buddy had one many years ago, a Remington 700V, and while he didn't use it for fur hunting, he did use it off season to make some incredible shots. If I remember correctly he used an 87 grain Sierra bullet. It was harsh on coyotes.
 
Im a 25-06 guy for certain stuff. I really dont know why I like it, just do. Its not sexy, and bullet selection is a little sparse, so its not so popular. Living in Kalifornia, bullet selection is even more spars, due to having to shoot non-lead.
Mark
 
If it doesn't end in Creedmoor, nobody wants it these day. Those [beeep] people at Hornaday are marketing geniuses... But the only way I'd go down a 25-06 and up another 6.5 is if I did a re-barrel to 6.5-06! I'm so sick of hearing about the 6.5 Creedmoor...
 
MPFD

Roger that!

I see where Remington is building rifles in the 6.5 Creed. I bet that was a bitter pill to swallow forced by sales. They made the 25-06 legit being proactive, now they are being reactive.

Guess I will just keep collecting 25-06's and maybe they will retire it about the same time I do. LOL.
 
I like the 25 caliber cartridges for thin skinned game. Especially the 257 Rob and the AI version and the 250-3000. And the 25-308 doesn't cause anyone who has one to choke.

However, the meager choices in bullets points to the true popularity of all of the 25 caliber cartridges, including the 25-06, in relation to other more popular cartridges and caliber choices.
 
For deer/antelope at the ranges most guys are truly capable of shooting, (I'll give them a big benefit of a doubt and say 500 yds.) a 25/06 is hard to beat.

I have shot one for 40 yrs. and like it as well as any round that I have shot. Of course, I don't really care to shoot the same thing as everyone else. I am thinking of building a 6.5, but it won't be a creedmore for just that reason. It will probably be a 6.5x47L.
 
BrentWin, with the advent of R#26, the std 260 Remington with a 130-140g bullet is going to be a very, very long range caliber, so is the 6.5 Sweed on a custom(long action) with 130-140g bullets.

I shot the barrels out of three 25/06's over the years on coyotes and jack rabbits. On competition hunts, you want to plant that coyote right were he is standing, and the 25/06 is made to order on super smacking them at 300 yards HARD! 500 yards, if you have your hold over right, they will be laying in their tracks. I shot 100g Sierra BTSP with a warmish load of IMR 4350 and IMR 4831, and there are a lot better powders available now.

100g Speer BTSP rocks the world on white tails!

Short action cartridges like the 25 Creed will be a success. Hornady will come out with some weird color tip for the cartridge and it will become the rage, due to less recoil than the 6.5 Creed. They might as well go ahead with a 22 Creed at the same time using Barnes tipped triple shocks...no flies on that case, either.

A lot of people are sick of hearing of the 6.5 creed, but with R#26, fed 215's, 2900 with a 140g high BC is real world with a 26" barrel, BC runs ~ .650 or better...very little recoil. Action length/mag box length should be addressed, wyatts in a Rem 700. This is where the smaller 6.5x47 Lapua has an edge for those that hate all things Creed.
 
I'll be a dissenter. There's a reason half-step calibers continue to fall from favor. They aren't different enough from the caliber on either side of it to make it be something either of the others can't accomplish.

17, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 33, 37. Those are the calibers that will continue to flourish in rifles. The "in betweeners" will continue to die off as time and knowledge progresses. The manufacturers have demonstrated that these are the calibers they are going to support. Rare is a press release directed at a caliber other than those. The manufacturers and distributors I talk to intend to keep it that way as it makes stocking desirable items easier when there are fewer.

The reality is, there isn't a single thing a 25.06 can do that a 6.5x284 wouldn't do better.
 
Originally Posted By: orkanI'll be a dissenter. There's a reason half-step calibers continue to fall from favor. They aren't different enough from the caliber on either side of it to make it be something either of the others can't accomplish.

17, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 33, 37. Those are the calibers that will continue to flourish in rifles. The "in betweeners" will continue to die off as time and knowledge progresses. The manufacturers have demonstrated that these are the calibers they are going to support. Rare is a press release directed at a caliber other than those. The manufacturers and distributors I talk to intend to keep it that way as it makes stocking desirable items easier when there are fewer.

The reality is, there isn't a single thing a 25.06 can do that a 6.5x284 wouldn't do better.

I have to disagree, it's all marketing. The manufacturers have to come up with something new and unique to sell their product. Looking back to early 2000 the .223 shooting heavy bullets was the rage. You couldn't find a post where the .223 wasn't the subject.

You have to hand it to Hornady, they did a great job on marketing the 6.5 Creed. Being a bullet manufacturer certainly helped sell it with new and better bullets too. Before the Creed there wasn't much happening in 6.5mm.

Eventually we'll see something new on the horizon and the 6.5mm will slip away too. I've been around guns to long to ignore the trends.

I'm a hunter, I don't rush out and buy something new every few years. Being a hunter practical ranges for me are maybe 500 yards at the most. I wouldn't shoot a deer past 300 yards and I use only bullets designed for hunting, not match bullets.

Reality to me is what does the 6.5x284 do that the .25-06 doesn't already do using my parameters. A hunter in heavy/deep woods could also ask what does the 6.5x284 do that the .30-30 doesn't. It's more about use then BC.

I'm not putting any cartridge down, I like all of them. They all have their uses and someday all of them will be obsolete.

 
Last edited:
I don't care how hard a company markets something... if people don't agree, it doesn't become popular. To say that marketing is what makes things popular is a big short sighted.

Before the 6.5 creedmoor there was a TON happening in 6.5mm... but it wasn't mainstream. It was us precision shooters that were all about 6.5. 6.5x47, 260rem, 6.5x55 and many others.

Look at 6 dasher. Benchresters were all about 6BR and wildcats based on forever... and now all of a sudden dasher is becoming the most popular cartridge in PRS. NO marketing at all. It just happens because performance is performance.

Just because people think its 6 of one or half dozen of the other, doesn't mean it is that way. Lets face it, most people don't do this for a living. Shooting is their hobby. Those of us that do this for a living have the ability to see the forest and the trees.

No one is making you go buy something new. No one intelligent is saying you can't hunt with a 25.06. Yet no one intelligent would claim a 25 caliber cartridges have the industry support and consumer popularity 26 caliber cartridges enjoy. There are different answers for different questions. This is as it should be. People can poo poo new innovative cartridges all they want, but it won't change the fact that if they are successful then it proves they filled a void. The 6.5 creedmoor is the most correctly configured 6.5 in a short action. The 6.5PRC will now begin to take over the magnum 6.5mm space. Not because of marketing, but because it makes sense.

I know of no consumer segment that resents new products like firearms owners. The constant resistance to innovation is loathsome. If some people had their way, only one cartridge would exist. I once had a guy tell me that there was nothing I could bring shooting which would out-shoot his 7mm rem mag at 1000yds. Imagine his surprise when I kicked his butt with my 6.5 creed.

The trends you see aren't generated by marketing. They are generated by market demand. Yet innovation is what leads the demand. The 17HMR is a great example. Someone invented it, and all of a sudden everyone wanted one. Now its a mainstay of our firearms industry. Marketing increases awareness, but if it was so terrible, people would have said so and it would have failed. Look at the 17hm2 in comparison. No amount of marketing hype could keep it in steady production more than a few years after launch. It fell into obscurity.

Remember folks; just because YOU don't want or need a thing, doesn't mean others don't.
 
Originally Posted By: orkan
Remember folks; just because YOU don't want or need a thing, doesn't mean others don't.
Very well put, you could have saved me some typing.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top