I've always wanted a gun chambered in 25-06, and I've always wanted a BLR, so why not get both? Anyway, Kones Korner did a limited run of these rifles and I got the notification a few weeks back that the first shipment of 50 guns was coming in mid-Oct. I had to do the FFL transfer thing and I picked my rifle up last night, what a beautiful piece of hardware, I love all of my Browning guns but this one is kind of unique. Coincidentally my Leupold 3-9x40, base and rings arrived yesterday too. Cannot wait to get this bad boy out to the range and later hunt with it. When my son is old and mature enough this will be the gun he will hunts with, unfortunately my A-bolt in .280 rem would be way to much gun for him to start with, the 25-06 should be a good round to transition to from the .22. The spouse was unhappy because I picked up a shotgun last Friday and I come home with another gun last night, she's like WTF? what can you say besides the shotgun was an impulse buy due to being a great deal...lol. If anyone is looking to get a BLR in 25-06, I'm told they have a few unclaimed leftovers and will be getting another batch in a few months. I'm going to shoot a factory load, looking at the Hornandy SST in 117gr, any input for a good hunting load would be appreciated. Thanks
Nice! I have an older BLR from the 90's chambered in .257 Roberts. It's a great little round and it made me a fan of the .25 caliber. The .25 is a pleasant caliber to shoot. The .25-06 has the greater powder capacity and should prove to be a flat-shooting rifle for you. I've used Hornady BTSP 117's in the .257 and my BLR likes them. I just picked up some SST's which I will reload for this week. I've gotten good results with a variety of powders, but the rifle seems to like 4064, 4350 & 4831 the best.
Dropped off at the gun smith for the scope and rings mount and bore sight, also picked up a few boxed of Hornandy factory loads... I cannot wait to get out to the property and shoot.
Congratulations! That looks like a great rifle! Thanks also for posting Kones Korner. I have been trying to remember the name of that place for weeks!
Thank you MZ, the folks from Kones Korner had posted up that they were thinking of doing this gun in 25-06 a few years back, I kinda made a mental note and thought I'd love one of those. Then here we are a few years later and they came available, I just had to have one... It's great that we have folks out there who are willing to put the effort and resources into making these guns available in odd calibers like this. I'm headed to my hunting property tomorrow and put a few rounds through her, according to what I'm reading the break in procedure requires me to allow the barrel to cool inbetween groups, is there any truth to needing to go about doing this?
Barrel 'break-in' is a very controversial and polarizing subject. You'll see everything from manic insistence upon a very specific and tedious process of shooting and cleaning, to Gale McMillan saying that one of his competitors invented the notion out of thin air in order to sell more barrels (every shot wears the barrel, plus FAR more damage is done to barrels by sloppy cleaning or bad tools than possibly anything else short of full-auto fire). I would, and do, just shoot the gun. ...after cleaning it well to get preservative and packing grease off, that is...
I had been through the labor intensive barrel break in with my M1A, it actually stole allot of enjoyment and joy of owning the gun from me. That gun is no longer in my collection, good advice in clean and fire, I don't think I even have a bore brush close to that size and I doubt .223 will do it.
Weather in NC didn't cooperate, raining and wet. I put 9 cartridges through the gun, but I forgot my lead sled and was shooting off my soft cooler for support...lol. I'm hitting high at 100 but it's hard to tell when my groupings are inconsistent. I love this round, light kick and shoots flat. I'm almost tempted to take the lever gun with me in the woods this evening, but I'm not totally confident in the zero, I want to shoot a cold bore from a better rest before I hunt with the BLR.
Did Browning chamber the 25-06 as a 'regular' item, that you know of? Was it a 24" barrel, if they did? I like the 25-06, and I like the BLR. I especially like the 25-06 with a 24 - 26" barrel. That seems like it'd make for a very ... 'full-size' ... rifle, to me, though. Seems like it'd be quite a contrast with my 20" 243. I seriously dislike the 243 cartridge, and have for several years. If it wasn't my only BLR, and a nice-looking piece of walnut on it to boot, my rifle would've gone down the road long ago. A 25-06, though, could be tempting...
The rifle comes in a 24" barrel, it is what I'd consider a full size rifle (actually longer than my a-bolt). Below is the link for one they had advertised on guns America, the guy at Kones Korner said that they are having a 150 gun run of the BLR in 25-06, I ended up with 23 of the first 50. So they will be getting 100 more of these exclusive guns in the next few months. I'm sure if you contact them they will have a few that aren't spoken for, as a matter of fact he did tell me they had several that were left overs. If you have the extra $$$ give them a call. https://www.gunsamerica.com/934169694/Browning-BLR-25-06-2.htm
I ended up going with the 25-06 117 grain interlock BTSP American Whitetail Classic cartridge. I'd like to start reloading at some point, these are the cheaper of the cartridges that Hornady offers the links below (still $25 a box), the rifle seems to like the bullet. Thanks for putting me onto the BTSP, seems like it will do the trick for my needs. http://www.hornady.com/store/25-06-Rem-117-gr-InterLock-BTSP-AW/
