The 243 is a fine round and i think historically a little better for accuracy, but that said the 25-06 is far more versatile duz everything well , not great but well,,, better range and velocities just lacks the benchrest accuracy that most 243 have ! Since i can have both thats great but if i could only have one it would be the 25....
243 or 25-06
- Thread starter mrb1982
- Start date
Help Support Long Range Hunting Forum
The 243 is a fine round and i think historically a little better for accuracy, but that said the 25-06 is far more versatile duz everything well , not great but well,,, better range and velocities just lacks the benchrest accuracy that most 243 have ! Since i can have both thats great but if i could only have one it would be the 25....
Out Back
Well-Known Member
.243 all the way......................its not close to the 22-250 unless you can shoot a 105gr bullet out of a 22-250 or a 75gr V-Max....... The only difference with the 25-06 is that you can shoot a 120gr bullet for deer............but the .243 has a much better BC in the 105gr over the 25-06 and I don't think you can tell any difference in killing power.
TX Badger
Well-Known Member
If Berger or Hornady would make a VLD or ELD bullet in about 130 gr., this debate would end quickly. Assuming one was willing to order a barrel to stabilize such a bullet.
GelatinousPig
Active Member
be awesome to see a .25 130vld sitting in a necked down 6.5 creedmoor (or necked up 6 creedmoor).
The quarter-bores have always been handicapped by slow standard twist rates, and the resultant low-BC bullets. I blame this on the lack of a past standardized military round in the caliber. There are 22, 6mm, 6.5, 7mm, and 30 cal that were or are designed to shoot long-for-caliber bullets in military arms. Now the specs for 25's can't match what are currently available in 6 or 6.5, and it is nearly pointless to push for faster twists and bigger bullets in the 25.
Im not sure i believe this.........BC .390 and .453 are not a bad BCs !!!!!
You're welcome to your opinion...mine is that anything under 4 is crappy, and that anything under 5 is not worth the money. Which is why I prefer the 24 cals. I can use a smaller case to push the same weight bullet to have more energy at long range compared to a 25 cal with greater case capacity.
If you only need a 390 bc, then you shouldn't be worrying about bc at all.
Thats a crock of POOP !
Take for example a 100 gr bullet in 243 the bc is little lower than the 25-06 100 gr and the 243 is going a little more than 300 fps slower than the 25-06
So how can a lower bc and a lower velocity end up being BETTER ????
The only spot a 243 is a tiny bit better than a 25-06 is as a varmint round such as prairie dogs and coyotes,,, it falls beneath a 25-06 for deer or elk.
what ? No comment now ???? JACKWAD !
Last edited:
Creedmoor shooter
Well-Known Member
If you use standard 100 grain hunting bullets then yeah the 25-06 will win since the bc on both is nearly identical. Run a 105 Berger vld or a 110 smk I out of a 243 vs a 25-06 then come back and tell us the 25-06 is better.
The .243 is the better cartridge plain and simple. Throw away all the magical killing power and BS surrounding the .25cal and be serious. Run the numbers, better yet I will do it for you. The .243 is more efficient, is cheaper to shoot, more available rifles, more bullets, easy to load for and extremely accurate.
Below are two ballistic charts. The first one is a .25-06 loaded with a 100gr SBT at 3350fps. The second is a .243 loaded with a 100gr SBT at 3100fps. Proof is in the pudding, the .355 BC of the .25 is easily matched with the slower .243 but its .430 BC makes up the difference. No more he said, I did, this and that. You want apples to apples, there it is, the .243 is a more efficient and better cartridge overall. It matches and can exceed the .25-06 while fitting in a short action and burning 7-10 grains less powder....
Below are two ballistic charts. The first one is a .25-06 loaded with a 100gr SBT at 3350fps. The second is a .243 loaded with a 100gr SBT at 3100fps. Proof is in the pudding, the .355 BC of the .25 is easily matched with the slower .243 but its .430 BC makes up the difference. No more he said, I did, this and that. You want apples to apples, there it is, the .243 is a more efficient and better cartridge overall. It matches and can exceed the .25-06 while fitting in a short action and burning 7-10 grains less powder....
Attachments
More bullet selection yes,,,, less powder yes,,,, everything else NO !
243 max bullet weight 115
max bullet weight 25-06 120 gr
And will push same bullet weights sooooo much faster than the 243 will.....
No bull crap,,,,.243 Slower,,,, less range,,, less killing power....
25-06 wider range of hunting application varmints to big game.
Nosler 100 gr BC is .409 ,,,,,NOT .355,,,,, and at 3390 FPS,,, what happened to your apples to apples JOKER !
Last edited:
It's still cheaper to load for.... cheaper brass, more available brass, uses less powder which means you buy it less, bullets are cheaper, many loads that are accurate and the .243 is not picky. I've spent a lot of time with mine and a couple others and it's easy to load for and isn't picky. There's also more rifles available in .243! So everything I originally said still stands. The .25-06 has nothing better going for it that the .243 can't match or out due. I presented ballistic charts proving that the .243 equals the .25-06 with the 100gr bullets like you mentioned earlier.
Speed doesn't mean anything if the other cartridge has a higher BC and matches the other down range. My .243 spits 75s at 3550fps but my .308 Norma pushes a 208gr at 2900fps. Which has more killing power and better ballistics the Norma. If you actually look at the charts I provided you would see the .243 is neck in neck with the .25-06 out to 1000 yards and even begins to have more energy the further you go out and past 500yds the .243 has more velocity than the .25-06. The .243 also has less wind drift. And wider range of application? You can shoot anything from a Nosler 55gr up to a 115gr Tubb bullet in a .243.....
I have a ton of military surplus 30-06 brass that is easily converted to 25-06 for 15 cents ea,,,, far less than the cost of 243 brass !
And i can buy brand new brass for 50 cents each or 243 for 43 cents each.
Some of what you say true but much of what you say is right out BS .
And i can spit out 75 grains at 3700 FPS...
And 120 grain at 3100 FPS
Just like you spit out a bc of .355 for the 25-06 when its .409,,,, i can spit out BS like you do to make the 25-06 look better.... but i won't !
And your charts don't mean SHEET using incorrect velocities and BCs !!!
The 25-06 is simply better in not all ways, but most ways !
And just like you and your 308 norma, if i ever need more i could dust off my 30-06 at about 300 fps slower than yours ....
And here is a shocker for you,,, if i could only have one of the two it would be the 243 ONLY because i dont hunt bigger game.
Now days I only hunt ground squirrels, prairie dogs, coyotes and various other varmints....and .223 is WAY cheaper to shoot than 243 and with even better accuracy and bullet selections than the 243....
Last edited:
