Well after nearly 20 years with my standard version 25-06 on a Rem 700 action and barrel, I passed it on over to my daughter. I had plenty of good times and great shots with it and it is still one of the most accurate rifles I have had the pleasure to have owned.
Just before I passed the reins, I secured a donor 700 action from a new rifle I found on clearance. Then came the add on's. I ordered a Broughton 1-9" #4 Heavy Sporter barrel with a finished length of 28". The barreled action was bedded into a HS Precision M24 A1 stock.
I had planned on using some of the then available 125 and 130gr Wildcat Custom bullets, and had plenty to get a good start with until I found a load and could order more. Turns out however the company was sold, and the new owners really never got back into the game. Not really an issue as I had located a supply of Remington 120gr CL's and had a good quantity of the older Nosler 120gr Solid Bases on hand. In fire forming some cases I found the CL's shot amazingly well. After one evening of shooting I had carried some up to the house and the next morning on the way back down the hill to the range I managed to catch a nice 250 pond boar trotting across the pasture. I didn't have much time to do anything but chamber a round, aim and shoot. The bullet slammed him so hard I actually thought I missed. He was a fine hog and I hauled him up and did the in depth necropsy as I quartered him up for the freezer. To my great surprise the 120gr CL which had left the muzzle in the neighborhood of 3350fps had held together really well. It had driven through the onside 1"thick gristle plate, the shoulder blade, through the bottom of the spine, through the offside shoulder blade, and gristle plate coming to rest just under the hide.
I had actually figured on the bullet exploding just under the hide after blowing through the gristle plate. While there was tremendous damage to tissue indie the rib cage but nothing much more than a 1" or so diameter hole bored through the shoulder bladed. I was REALLY impressed to say the least. Since then I have concentrated a bit more on the loads and have them tweaked into easily shooting an average of 1.5" at 300yds and most times less. Stoked with a goodly load of Ramshot Magnum they leave out at the above 3350fps.
The best part however, was yet to come. In keeping with the loads I had been using with my standard version. I tried out a couple of the other bullets I had and worked them up to this same load. While I DO have to reset the seating die for the Wildcat's, the Nosler 120 is simply a load and shoot proposition. I was also happy to find that both the 125 and the 130gr Wildcat's rock right in there with the CL's on both accuracy and velocity. I managed to pick off a 30'ish pound shoat at 283yds with the 125 with an ear hole shot. The bad part was that his ear was quartering towards me so the exit was down through the middle of his back. The Wildcat with the J4Jackets don't hold together quite as well as the CL's do, which resulted in me only being able to salvage one shoulder, one ham and a partial back strap. I haven't managed to take anything just yet with the Nosler's but it is only a matter of time. I have put several dozen of the CL's to task on the hogs though and from 15yds to 300yd they seem to hit with equal authority and leave about the same controlled expansion wound channel that I found with the initial hog.
So if the accuracy holds up in this one as it has in the other, and the supply of 120gr bullets I have holds out, I should be good till one of the grandson's takes this one over from me.
Also if your interested in a gander of the rifle, hogs, the recovered bullet or what not, look at the bottom of this page at this link.
http://s49.photobucket.com/albums/f285/41nag/Hunting%202010/?start=all
