25-06 tikka T3

Good round, great rifle.

Great caliber for Louisiana

600-900 depending on wood/syn and blued/stainless

I have a marlin, I think XL7, in 25-06. I like the gun, but it doesn't have a detachable mag. Kinda a pain in the butt. But not sure it's worth spending extra money just because of a magazine.

How does it compare to a 7mm-08?

I'd like to know how it compares to the 7mm-08 as well. What is the effective range on deer?

I'd much prefer the 7mm-08 for deer. It's going to be a more consistent performer on deer than the .25-06

If you shoot enough deer with the .25-06 you're going to have exit issues and poor blood trails. It's marginally better than the .243 and IMO is the bare minimum for consistent deer killing. On the other hand, the 7mm-08 is a minimum elk caliber with the right bullets.

The .25-06 is stuck between a heavy varmint caliber and a light deer caliber. I personally am not a huge fan of the caliber. I had a very bad experience with it.

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How does it compare to a 7mm-08?

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I agree with downshift. I like 7mm-08 better. You can even kill elk and black bear with it. I would be hesitant to use .25-06 on anything bigger than big sheep and deer.

I killed 3 deer and a 305lb sow hog with mine when I had it. The only exit I had was when I shot a very ugly 3 point at the base of the skull as it was flopping around on the pipeline after I put one in its shoulder.

If not for my tracking dog I would have lost the biggest deer of my life with it. Perfect shot behind the shoulder from 175 yards on a 175 pound 10 point. No exit, no blood. Deer was dead about 80 yards away in a briar thicket.

Shot a doe from 100 yards right behind the shoulder. No exit, no blood, buzzards found her 100 yards from where I shot her. Didn't put my dog on it because I convinced myself that I missed.

Shot the pig in the ear hole. Again, no exit.

Like I said, I had a very bad experience with it. I was shooting 117gr Hornady SST's.

Conversely, the only 7mm-08 bullet I can recall not coming out was a barns TSX shot on a hard quartering angle that broke a shoulder and was under the hide at the off side hindquarter. The 7mm-08 penetrates more reliably and I think the 7mm bullets tend to be much tougher than the light .25's

All of that said, the .25-06 is definitely adequate and will kill deer with negligible recoil and a very flat trajectory. I just don't like that I can't confidently send one through both shoulders like I can with a 7mm-08

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It's (25-06) marginally better than the .243 and IMO is the bare minimum for consistent deer killing.

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Sorry to hear you had bad luck w/ the 25-06, Downshift, but there really is no comparison between the 25-06 and the 243 Win as a deer hunting round. The key w/ the 25-06 is using a 120 gr bullet. I'm not familiar w/ the 25 cal SST bullet, but sounds like it may be hard enough for the 25-06. A properly constructed 120 gr 25 cal bullet at 2900-3100 fps should be deadly on deer.

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How does it compare to a 7mm-08?

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Compared to the 25-06, the 7-08 will: Use a short action; use less powder; run a 140 gr bullet (most common deer hunting load) at approx 2800 fps; possibly have less recoil (I haven't actually run the calculation so that's just an educated guess). Practically speaking, both rounds are fully capable of cleanly taking deer at typical ranges.