New 25-06 - Browning X-Bolt or Tikka T3?

Which 25-06 rifle?

  • Browning X-Bolt Stainless Stalker

    Votes: 18 60.0%

  • Tikka T3 Lite

    Votes: 12 40.0%
  • Total voters
    30
  • Poll closed .
T

texgunner

New member
I'm in the market for a new 25-06 rifle. The two I'm looking at are the Browning X-Bolt Stainless Stalker and the Tikka T3 Lite.

Primary use will be target shooting from 100 - 600 yards and perhaps Whitetail deer hunting. I do intend to reload for this rifle.

All opinions are welcome but I'm most interested to hear from those of you who have owned both rifles.
 
Whichever one has a 24 inch barrel. The 25-06 needs at least that much to burn the big charges of slow burning powder that allow it to achieve the velocity potential that it is capable of, as well as keeping the muzzle blast reasonable. I have a Browning A Bolt 25-06, it is a very accurate rifle.

With a 22 inch barrel, basically you will have a very loud 257 Roberts.
 
OP I agree with Gman whichever rifle has the 24" barrel. I recently bought a 25-06 neither are the models you have listed but the ONLY reason I didn't get a Tikka T3 Stainless in 25-06 is it didn't have a 24" tube. If you limit it to a 22" barrel I'd go .270 or 7mm-08.
 
Yeah, the barrel length is what kept me from buying the Tikka, it's a really nice rifle. They both are and I wanted opinions on both.
 
Anything Wrong with a Remington 700

I am also in the market for a new .25-06 and am partial to Remington 700s, so right now my first choice is a 700 CDL, which has a 24" Barrel, unfortunately they no longer offer the varmint models with 26" Barrels in .25-06, which is what I would like to have. Tikka is Sako correct?

Bob
 
For all things target related the .25-06 would not be my first choice. Nor would a light weight sub 7 lbs rifle be on that list as well. If I were looking for a target rifle first and can reload, I'd go for a .243 Win, there is simply too great of a ballistics advantage with 6 mm bullets. Plus the .243 Win is superbly suited to take the occasional whit tail deer as well.

However, if I were looking for a target .25-06 I'd look at the M700 Long Range and the M110 Long Range Hunter. Both of these rifles with their heavier weights and magnum contour 26" barrels are far better off the shelf target rifles than what you've chosen. Plus don't talk yourself out of a 22" barrel as your only talking 50-100 fps difference vs. a 24", plus a .25-06 on average will always be faster than a .257 Roberts with equal length barrels.

I've only shot Abolt and T3 rifle both were accurate enough, both were magnums and I tolerated the recoil better from the Browning.

cptjack said:
rather buy sweedish than japanese
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Tikka's are made in Finland so they aren't Swedish by any means. Plus Miroku (Browning) makes some very fine firearms as good as anything the Europeans are able to produce.
 
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Can I vote neither, due to the detachable mags?

I guess if limited to those two, the X-Bolt has a nice sleek look to it, which appeals to me. Would way rather have an A-bolt II however.
 
However, if I were looking for a target .25-06 I'd look at the M700 Long Range and the M110 Long Range Hunter.
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^^This^^ I really like that new M700 long range, you get a 26" heavy barrel, and a Bell & Carlson M40 stock w/a bedding block, all it needs to be ideal IMO is to swap out that X-Mark Pro trigger with a Timney. However it is a 9-pound rifle without a scope so consider that if you plan to do a lot of walking on your hunts, but for target shooting the more weight the better.

http://www.remington.com/products/firearms/centerfire/model-700/model-700-long-range.aspx

A 26" .25-06 vs. a 22" is quite a difference in velocity. More so than most cartridges. The overbore .25-06 is really a beltless magnum when you consider the case capacity matched up to a .257 bore. Therefore it needs a magnum barrel length to show its full velocity potential. That's not to say a 22" .25-06 is worthless, it just has more muzzle blast/noise, lost velocity, and there are many other cartridges better suited to the 22" barrel length.
 
steveNChunter said:
A 26" .25-06 vs. a 22" is quite a difference in velocity. More so than most cartridges. The overbore .25-06 is really a beltless magnum when you consider the case capacity matched up to a .257 bore. Therefore it needs a magnum barrel length to show its full velocity potential. That's not to say a 22" .25-06 is worthless, it just has more muzzle blast/noise, lost velocity, and there are many other cartridges better suited to the 22" barrel length.
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You got data on that to back your statement up? I think what the .25-06 out of a 22" barrel will do might surprise most people. Real Guns Handload data on a .25-06 is all out of a 22" barrel. Then American Rifleman .25-06 data comes from a 24" barrel. In that data the difference between a 22" and 24" barrel is usually less than 75 fps for the same powder.

I can't imagine a 26" barrel being more than 200 fps faster at the extreme end using the same powders. The main thing to remember is that every rifle is different an a 26" barrel only gives you the potential to go faster than a 22". You never know when your going to get a slow barrel and you can't achieve maximum velocities with accuracy even out of a long barrel.
 
Either rifle will be fine.

But, given the intended uses, I'd skip .25-06 and opt for .308 Win, .243 Win, 7mm-08, or some other cartridge that has more target/match bullets available than .25 caliber.

If you want a fast .25, get a .257 Weatherby. If you want a pleasant and capable .25, find a .257 Roberts. If you want good bullet selection, get away from .25 caliber, altogether.
 
This is all true. A 25-06 rifle used to shoot targets will probable also have a fairly short barrel life. If the cartridge is loaded to its full potential, throat erosion can start be experienced sooner than you may think.

It is however, nothing short of fantastic in the authoritative way that it kills deer, even at longer ranges. The downside is finding a bullet that works well in 25 caliber, as was stated above. If a frangible bullet is used, bullet blow-up is a very real possibility. I have had bullets disintegrate in flight with mine.

A durable bullet that can perform on both ends of the velocity spectrum, (100 grain Swift Scirroco) that has a high BC for 25 caliber, can be expensive, and usually require a good bit of tweaking to get to shoot well.

What I have found is that the 25-06 can be a finicky round to get to shoot well, and I don't use mine for target shooting. I use a .308 for that. Easy to find a good shooting load, easy to find match bullets, easy to find a suitable rifle, and easy to shoot.

However, if I were to shop for a 25-06 target rifle, I would buy a Savage 110 Tactical. I see them used all the time for about $400. On the more expensive end of the spectrum, the Remington Sendero.

The two rifles that you have in your poll are good rifles, but you will probably be disappointed if you use either of them as a target rifle.

But I do understand the .25-06 thing. I really like mine. After replacing the stock with a Bell and Carlson Medalist, and a Timney trigger spring, it shoots .25 MOA. I use it on powerlines and big fields. 300 yard zero.
 
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I have a .25-06 that I never shoot. I shoot my .257WBY all the time. I have never had bullet problems. Just choose good quality bullets and they will perform well at velocities way north of what the .25-06 can deliver. My favorite white tail bullet is a 90 grain bonded Norma.
 
You got data on that to back your statement up? I think what the .25-06 out of a 22" barrel will do might surprise most people. Real Guns Handload data on a .25-06 is all out of a 22" barrel. Then American Rifleman .25-06 data comes from a 24" barrel. In that data the difference between a 22" and 24" barrel is usually less than 75 fps for the same powder.

I can't imagine a 26" barrel being more than 200 fps faster at the extreme end using the same powders. The main thing to remember is that every rifle is different an a 26" barrel only gives you the potential to go faster than a 22". You never know when your going to get a slow barrel and you can't achieve maximum velocities with accuracy even out of a long barrel.
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By "quite a difference" I was thinking 150-200 fps so we are essentially in agreement. And you are correct, not every barrel is created equal and some will be slower than others regardless of barrel length. But if you start out with a short barrel you are stacking the odds against yourself in terms of velocity. 200 fps may not sound like a whole lot, but it puts you in the same ballpark as a .257 roberts, only with more muzzle blast, recoil, and throat erosion.

My only personal experience was with a Howa .25-06 with a 22" barrel. I found an accurate, hot (almost a grain over max with no pressure signs other than a slightly cratered primer) load with Ramshot Hunter and 100 gr Nosler ballistic tips. I was just getting into reloading at the time and didn't have a chronograph, so I borrowed one from a friend. I knew the 22" barrel might hinder me a little but I was still slightly disappointed when I saw I was only getting only 3200 fps out of my load, which shows a max of 3324 fps in my manual. Same brass(Rem), same primer(WLR), same bullet, only my load was 0.7 grains more powder and the manual used a 24" barrel. Now some of that could possibly be blamed on different lots of powder, different chrono, different elevation, my barrel having more drag, etc. But it could have also had something to do with shorter barrel. If 2" of barrel could have made the majority of that difference, how much more could be gained with 2 more inches?


Either rifle will be fine.

But, given the intended uses, I'd skip .25-06 and opt for .308 Win, .243 Win, 7mm-08, or some other cartridge that has more target/match bullets available than .25 caliber.

If you want a fast .25, get a .257 Weatherby. If you want a pleasant and capable .25, find a .257 Roberts. If you want good bullet selection, get away from .25 caliber, altogether.
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Agreed.

I have a .25-06 that I never shoot. I shoot my .257WBY all the time. I have never had bullet problems. Just choose good quality bullets and they will perform well at velocities way north of what the .25-06 can deliver. My favorite white tail bullet is a 90 grain bonded Norma.
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I bet that 90 grain bullet is MOVING ON. What kind of velocity are you getting with it? How does a deer look after one of those is shot into it that fast?
 
steveNChunter said:
By "quite a difference" I was thinking 150-200 fps so we are essentially in agreement.
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150-200 fps in ballistics is no real difference when it comes down to the same bullet. 300-400 fps and you start to see advantages to the faster bullet. 500+ fps and there is no real argument vs. the faster.

In real life more than likely you'll only see 150 fps or less between a 22" vs. 26" barrel in a .25-06. That's around one MOA of adjustment at 600 yards the OP's longest stated target range. That's less than one "click" of elevation on most scopes at that range. No real world difference if we are speaking ballistics.

There are advantages and disadvantages to both barrel lengths. I chose 26" when I built my .25-06, but I mainly use it on pronghorn on the prairie where barrel length or weight isn't much of a concern. However if a 22" barrel would have suited my needs better I wouldn't have hesitated to use one.
 
I agree with you Taylorce1, but when you put 200 fps into terms of cartridges, taking 200 fps away from a .25-06 essentially equals a modern .257 roberts max load.
 
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