I am thinking about adding a new barrel to my Encore. Am thinking of 243 Win. or 25-06. I have both cartridges in rifles and reload both. I was wondering if anyone would like to share their opinion/experience on these 2 cartridges in the 15" platform.

I recently started shooting/loading the .25-06 but have been very happy with it so far. I had a recent post with my experiences and other people added theirs under the Shooters Bench forum. Since you are set up to load .25-06, it would be my choice out of the two.

it would depend on what i wanted to get done....such as size of game and range i reckon. i'm a fan of the .243 for versatility overall. 55gr to 100gr gives plenty of that imo.
for strictly larger size game, i'd choose a .260 or 7mm-08 as a favorite.

My .25-06 Encore,15", does great on deer with 100 gr. BTs and 100 gr. Nosler PTs. I have a .244 AK Improved in Encore (a little more than a .243). It's only so-so on deer. Between the two I'd do .25-06, BUT if you haven't bought it yet, get a 6.5mm/.284. It does from groundhogs to elk size. I did a 800# kudu this year with one shot a 200 yards with this. A .243 or .25-06 lacks this versitility.

Uses?

I'd be hunting whitetail deer, nothing larger.

Either will do fine, but what better time to spread your wings a little. Larger bores suffer less from the short barrel blues so a 6.5 or 7 something would be a nice addition to your family.

I agree with s4s4u, try something a bit bigger. A .260 or 7-08 would be perfect, particularly if you handload. They exceed the power of a .25-06 with factory level loads, but can be downloaded to .243 performance when full power isn't needed. No flies on the .25-06, but a 140-grain bullet can do things a 120 simply cannot do. A lot will depend on the type of whitetail hunting you will be doing - blind, still hunting, long range sniping.


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Well..... found a couple of good deals and decided to do both..... Should give me lots to keep me occupied....

Have fun!

That's the spirit!
Congrats...expecting to see some pictures!

take two they're small lol. that should be a lot of fun

They are my 2 favorite cartridges in rifles so I thought I'd try them in Encore pistol......

Still waiting for the 25-06 to arrive, but here's a pic of my 243 setup....

Thay is a Beautiful gun!!

I got a 15in tc encore in 25-06 its really nice i killed a deer with it using 100 grain barnes tsx and it flattened the deer. Id got with the 25-06 it will kill deer and even elk.

I agree with s4s4u, try something a bit bigger. A .260 or 7-08 would be perfect, particularly if you handload. They exceed the power of a .25-06 with factory level loads, but can be downloaded to .243 performance when full power isn't needed. No flies on the .25-06, but a 140-grain bullet can do things a 120 simply cannot do. A lot will depend on the type of whitetail hunting you will be doing - blind, still hunting, long range sniping.

Which would you recommend, the 260 or the 7mm08? I have a rifle in the 7mm08 so logically I should get that in my Encore, but the 6.5 just seems to call to me.

The 25-06 is capable of reaching 3000fps with 100 gr bullets. It I a tuff little round with a good selection of bullets. IMHO, the 25-06 is in a different class than the 243. (yes I know I am going to get flack over this one…) The 243 is a good, capable round launching 80gr projectiles at 3000 fps with SSP bullets, the 25-06 just has a little more umph…