foundland caribou, with my favorite 6.5-06. However, such rifles are far more appropriate for the larger size animals. Prairie dog shooting will heat up a barrel in as few as three shots. Although accurate, lightweight bullets were available from several sources thirty years ago, they have become fairly scarce now. Great larger game bullets in 26 caliber abound, but highly frangible bullets in this size are much fewer than they were. Calibers larger than the 6.5 bore are, of course, even less suitable for varmints or predators. I personally have never regarded
the various 24 caliber (6mm) cartridges as being suitable for big game. Yes, a 243 Winchester, 6mm Remington or 240 Weatherby will kill a pronghorn or a small whitetail if the classic broad- side shot is presented and you are in a position to execute the shot perfectly. However, the vast majority of shots I have had at deer have been either at the northern or southern end of the animal or else they have been a running shot where any hit is a good hit. I have just never had any great confidence in any 6mm cartridge except for varmint
hunting, where they excel with lighter weight bullets. Today’s swing-over caliber is
made up of the various 25 caliber cartridges. With bullets as heavy as 125 grains, a good 25 caliber such as a 25-06 or a 257 Weatherby Magnum can be suitable for even a head-on shot at an elk. Heck, enough moose have been killed with a 257 Roberts or a 250-3000 Savage to qualify both of these rounds as eminently suitable for such animals. On the other hand, today there are several lightweight 25 caliber bullets available that are suf- ficiently accurate for 200- to 300-yard shots at a coyote. Sierra, for instance, recently has introduced both a 70-grain and a 90-grain 25 caliber BlitzKing. Both are proving very accurate in a 25-06 Ruger, as well as in a custom 25/284 Ruger I found lurking in the back of my safe. My favorite “windy day” long-range groundhog rifle is a heavy-barreled Ruger 25-06 Ackley Improved, together with 85-grain hol- low points formerly made by the late Jef Fowler. At 3,400 to 3,500 fps, they will easily reach out 500 to 600 yards
with enough accuracy to put down a groundhog or a coyote out for a snack of said groundhog. When we think of viable 25 cali-
ber cartridges which would qualify as both a big game round and one suit- able for varmints or predators, we can eliminate a few semimoribund old timers. Very few people today even consider the 25-20 WCF or 256 Winchester Magnum for any use, and in truth they (as well as the rifles so chambered) are suitable only for pop- ping the occasional small critter at very close range. Good barn guns, but not much more. Then, too, although the ancient 25-35 Winchester has doubt- less been used on numerous coyotes as well as deer, elk and moose in the past, these last three words must be emphasized – in the past. No modern guns are now chambered for this round (at least over here, although in Europe the 6.5x52R, as they call it, may still be chambered in the occasional break- open combination gun). Likewise, we probably can eliminate the other extreme, the 257 Weatherby Magnum from consideration as a varmint round
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