6.5-06

As any thoughtful shooter knows, our sport is full of deep questions, from ethics to “hard” science. One such question is whether the performance gap between the .25-06 Remington and .270 Winchester amounts to anything.

- John Barsness

Educated handloaders know that the .25-06 and .270 both feature the .30-06 case. The .25-06 uses spitzer bullets up to 120 grains in weight, while .270 spitzers range up to 160 grains. Thus theoretically the .25-06 is more of a varmint/deer cartridge, and the .270 more of an all-around big game cartridge for non-dangerous animals.

This is the practical consensus as well. While some hunters still claim the .270 isn’t enough for elk or gemsbok, they are mostly followers of a deceased Idaho gun writer known for wearing large hats. His name shall not be mentioned, because these days some folks are offended when any old-time gun writer’s name is invoked. Suffice to say that even though this large-hatted writer never really grasped the concept of so-called premium bullets, some hunters revere his opinion that the .270 might be an okay coyote cartridge.

Now let’s outline the experiences of a Montana gun writer who wears somewhat sweat-stained baseball caps, if he wears a hat at all. This gun writer has used the .25-06 considerably, but has also taken more big game with the .270 Winchester than any other big-game cartridge. He has never seen it “fail” on elk, or other relatively large and/or tough animals such as gemsbok, moose and bison. Mostly he’s noticed that a .270 bullet through the heart-lung cavity makes large animals lie down within a few seconds, because they are dead.