Gastro Gnome - Eat Better Wherever

One gun to do it all .25 sst (Sherman short tactical)

Mustangs Rule said:
I do not shoot at flying deer,,,or flying elk.



A few months back I was visiting a friend who is a horse trainer that specializes in wild mustangs.



My moniker “Mustangs Rule” is no joke. This trainer likes to name geldings after US presidents. Often a nickname,,,some sharp sound a horse can hear clearly if issues develop.



This little flaxen maned mustang was named “Ike”,,,after Dwight D. Eisenhower of WW2 fame. He was my first and favorite president. “I like Ike” I heard people say.



Anyway, we were leading “Ike” around, and I just made a sudden move with my hand and the little horse launched ,,,into a jump so “anti-tiger” fast that no rider,,,save maybe 1840’s Comanche, could have stayed on him bareback. That little horse went airborne and sideways about 15 feet, it flew “deer fast” .



His speeeeeeed was so great he would had made Superman look so slow, like he had kryptonite for breakfast lunch and dinner.



Maximum heightened flight response was what Ike was exampling. That horse was airborne with all four feet off the ground. In a gallop or canter,,,all four feet get off the ground...in a trot two and depending on how slow a horse is walking just one foot might be off the ground.



Only the canter and the gallop could be called “running” as in shooting at “running game”. There is even a real slow kinda bouncy canter in which the horse is not really “running”’



Riding horses a lot really gives one a feeling of not just horses are like, but also any hoofed animal.



When I watch deer, or elk move, I feel like I can feel what they are doing,,,and responding too.



And I watch them both,,,a lot,,,and wild sheep, and when I am not lazy Mountain Goats too. I no longer live with antelope anymore, but I used to look at them out my living room window.



Every year I buy a mountain lion tag,,,which I have not, never have had the slightest interest in filling.

I do not hunt my own kind. Where I live has one of the highest wolf and lion concentration in the west,,,and because the habitat is so great, an excellent population of both deer and elk.



I just buy this lion tag as an excuse, to go wandering about with whatever rifle is my “do it all rifle” for the coming deer and elk season.



“Counting Coup” was a tradition of the plains Indians in which they just grazed an opponent on the head with a war club,,,instead of killing him.



With my “all around rifle” heaven only knows how many I have had,,and later sold and with dummy snap caps, I go about “Counting Coup” on deer, elk, and even moose.



“Calling one’s shot” on a target is an important step to being a real fine marksman. Just as the trigger falls, the shooter locks in where the cross hairs are. That is what I do,,,hike around,,stalk, dry fire,,at game that does not see me and sometimes does. I always try practicing my shooting on any critter,,,still or moving...The fast swing, sustained lead, snap shot,,,or even with elbows on my hip for level work,,,and then I sense where my sight image is when the trigger falls.



It is great practice, been doing it since Jack O’Connor suggested it in one of his books I read 60 years ago. So cool when it all comes together, the shooting practice and sensing how an animal will move.



With un-pressured wilderness animals, which I will be hunting, their maximum heighten flight response is not that high,,,they don’t “fly” that much.



Of course I prefer they have four feet on the ground, but as long as they have at least two feet on the ground in their gate, they are not running, and not going to live very long when hunting season begins if I have them in my very low powered scope, with whatever my “do it all rifle” is.



And when my critter is dead and down, I take out my Garmin In Reach satellite communication device and with a push of a button, tell the soon to come cavalry and pack horses exactly where I am.



The smoke from wildfires has cleared a lot,,,,no more excuses to stay inside and not to go out to split and stack firewood. Winter gets pretty cold here.



Thank you MtMuley



MR
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Dude, are you on acid?
 
Addicting said:
I shot a 25-06 for a lot of years. I ended up selling it because I just wasn’t happy with how it did on a trip out west.

I shot a mule deer buck and doe, along with a antelope buck and doe.

Now it did kill them all and but there was little blood trail. Of the 4, 2 went down right away. No tracking required but zero blood until I gutted them. The other 2 ran a ways over a rise and dropped in a large sage flat. We ended up having to grid that sage to find them as they dropped out of sight. The one was a marginal shot and it went several hundred yards. Only had an occasional drop of blood here and there. The other one we never found a drop.

.25 just isn’t a big entrance hole to allow much blood to escape. The ones that had a pass thru with maybe a 3/4” size exit. It seemed the hair on the animals soaked up a lot of it.

Where I found the gun to shine was when I was using for varmint hunting. It was a blast to shoot all summer long.

Quarter bores have there place and are fun rifles when used right.
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It’s sad, but I had to register just to comment on this. The 117 sst has always passed through every animal I’ve shot from 50 yards to 250 yards. Yes entrance and exit wounds were smaller than a 270 or 308, but the damage internally has never been matched. Every animal I’ve shot with my 25-06 has not taken another step once I switched to the SSTs. Yeah shooting cheaper Remington loads sucked on terminal performance, but not the SSTs.
 
Lol. I just had to register and respond as well. I read through all 6 pages of this thread trying to find info on the 25SST which I just invested into a build (really an assembly since I do shouldered prefits now).

I can’t believe how much crap a guy gets for saying “do it all”… I mean I really love my 6.5s I mean REALLY LOVE them but the 25 SST just jumped out to me and I haven’t been able to get it out of my mind for a couple of weeks now.
I’m also putting this together for my wife and my 7 year old who will be hunting soon and chose this exact cartridge because of all the same reasons as OP. I’m putting it together to weigh about 7.75lbs including scope but not mag.

Some interesting perspectives on this thread which proves there’s room for all of us in shooting/hunting sports.

There are a few solid bullet options out now in .257 and I don’t really care if there’s more than one to be honest (I bought enough bullets to shoot barrel out) as when I invest my time to source components, set my dies, finalize my load and final zero my scope I’m not going to shoot many different bullets or loads through that rifle anymore.. that’s what I have different rifles for personally.

More power to you for having it be your “do it all” rifle for kids and your wife. I’m dropping my rifle into a chassis to be able to change LOP and cheek weld so it will fit me as well which is a double winner in my book. It does have an arca Mount for a bipod (wink wink) as well though the only running shot I’d take on large game is if it was super close as though I may shoot farther than at least some on this forum when I shoot they die… at least up to this point (fingers crossed).

I have friends that tell me I’m unethical for shooting elk with a 28 Nosler (I shoot 175 gr eld @ 3,233 fps) but I’ve never missed and elk haven’t taken one step as far out as 627 yards. So if you think .264 is the golden ticket there’s a lot of guys that will be busting your …. Chops for that even. But my opinion is to each their own and more power to you! Who can dispute an animal dropping on their tracks? No one!

To everybody on this thread thanks for the adventure today and the distraction from work… time for me to climb out of this rabbit hole and get back to work. I just couldn’t not register even though it took 30 minutes to actually get me the confirmation email and type this. I really got a solid laugh at the triple prairie dog shot (I call them Kook-Aid cart wheels), the back and forth with the old timers and new schoolers!

Good day sirs!!!
 
Potter3524 said:
Let us know how your build turns out. I’m interested in the Sherman since Blackjack hasnt come out with their round yet.
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FYI Ryan Pierce (Piercision) has both the 133 and 135 Berger’s in stock right now… from what I’ve heard you’ll be waiting a really long time for the 131s.
 
Give a guy that is above average shooter and has an excellent knowledge of where to hit game animals and a good understanding of bullets and what shot he can make with them and he will bore you to tears killing animals with any rifle you give him from a 22 RF on up! if you know how to kill, killing is easy!
 
Potter3524 said:
It’s sad, but I had to register just to comment on this. The 117 sst has always passed through every animal I’ve shot from 50 yards to 250 yards. Yes entrance and exit wounds were smaller than a 270 or 308, but the damage internally has never been matched. Every animal I’ve shot with my 25-06 has not taken another step once I switched to the SSTs. Yeah shooting cheaper Remington loads sucked on terminal performance, but not the SSTs.
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I've had simular performance with the 100gr, and 115gr Nosler Ballistic Tip from my 257 Roberts.
Always a pass through.
Furthest a deer has made it is 20-25 yards.

This year i wanted to hunt with my 250 Savage, expecting short ranges.
Furthest shot was 50 yards.
Collected 2 deer.
But no pass through.
 
std7mag said:
I've had simular performance with the 100gr, and 115gr Nosler Ballistic Tip from my 257 Roberts.
Always a pass through.
Furthest a deer has made it is 20-25 yards.

This year i wanted to hunt with my 250 Savage, expecting short ranges.
Furthest shot was 50 yards.
Collected 2 deer.
But no pass through.
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My buddy used one of my 25-06s for his muley this year and used some 115gr BTs I loaded up. He got it at 240 yds and had a full passthrough. I'm rather fond of them. My Sako's throated too weird to use the 100s though, so I have to use the 115s primarily. Though I have a couple hundred of the 100gr ones that shoot well in my other 25-06.
 
I've been curious about the Sherman cartridges.
Would like to hear more of peoples results.
Especially the 7SS.
 
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ABC1000 said:
I have my 25SST shipping next week allegedly and am debating which muzzle brake to put on it. I usually do the titanium Christen Arms slayer brake but yours looks good on the proof barrel. What brake did you go with? Also, how do you like that swaro? 2nd FP I’m guessing?
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This is an Axisworks titanium brake they build to match the proof barrel contour. The scope is good so far. The 4wxi reticle is a little bit of an adjustment, but being used with a lot of youth I didn’t want a lot of extra reticle lines. Haven’t had much chance to mess with the illumination. It’s 2nd FP. I don’t think they make an X5 with FFP.
 
Latest group. Seems to have tightened up with RL23. With 56.5 gen’s she hit 3050 fps. With a little more barrel break-in I am hoping it hits over 3100. That should give it enough speed to open Berger’s out to 900 and 1500 ft lbs at 600.

E2443395-5BDC-4843-B686-FAF2DEFBD18D.jpeg
 
That with the 131gr Blackjack?
I'm assuming 100 yards.

Couple of guys i shoot benchrest with have commented that closer than 400 yards, the Blackjacks don't do that great.
Start stretching the distance though, and it's another story.
They were both shooting 25-47s.
 
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