oxymoron??

ruger #1 , truly accurate.

love those #1's

I've never seen a unicorn while sober but I HAVE seen an accurate Ruger No.1. In fact, that's another example of the accurate rifles chambered in .25-06 my uncle had once upon a time.

I had to fight for it! I tested higher powder charges. Then tested seating depth. A Sako gave me fits like a Christensen. I never expected that.

200 Yards

What bullet are you loading?

110 gr Tipped Game King

That’ll do.

Well now...that's more like it.

For whatever reason, that rifle seems to be very picky and when fed something it does not like raises hell like a 10-month old when you try to feed 'im peas-n-carrots. It's got personality!

And issues maybe. Stress in the barrel? Just a WAG on my part.

Aluminum chassis that's also bedded. Free floated barrel. I checked screw torque on everything again, before shoting it again. Nothing was loose. I cleaned the barrel again before shooting. 3 foulers at 100 yards.

Stress in the barrel while it was being machined is my best guess.

We haven't loaded for it, but my buddy has a R77 in .25-06. It has the heavier barrel mentioned above. Not varmint, but heavier than his .270.

We tried 5 different factory loads from Hornady Precision 110 to Berger 115 to some others. Most were 2-3" groups like JG posted above. This was after free-floating it and torquing all the screws. Rem Corelokt shot about 1.5" which is what it's loaded with now. Scope was verified on another rifle. He's poor or I'd send it to Jason. A bedding job probably wouldn't hurt but it was sure disappointing initially.

The .270 will shoot 3-shot groups under .75" with several factory loads. Oddly enough, he has a .30-06 that shoots much like the .25-06. But a friend gave him some generic .30-06 handloads with 125gr bullets and they shot between .5 and .75.

It took me forever to find a load for my 25-06. By far the pickiest rifle I own and it was well built.

Rem 700 action blueprinted and trued
Douglas Air Gauged barrel 26" target crowned 1-10
Timney trigger
Pacific Research stock pillar bedded

I don't have the load data in front of me, but it was right at the book max of 4831sc, 120gr Speer BTSP, Hornady brass and Win LRP. I typically use CCI primers, but they refused to work with any of the loads I tried. Finally switched to the Winchesters and got much better results. Go figure.

As I said earlier, I think it is the nature of the cartridge.

If there are easy to load for cartridges, there also has to be difficult to load for.

Some definitely seem to be much easier than others. I think that generally speaking higher powder capacity, smaller bullet diameter, and higher operating pressures tend to make a cartridge more sensitive, but most who've played the game a while have encountered a particular rifle---or three---that are just extra picky with their sensitive natures. I've never had one that expressed its discontent as emphatically as that Sako you've been wrestling, but I have had rifles that were pretty hard to get along with. I've had a few that were just as accommodating as can be and never shot anything badly.

I just got my rebarreled Mark X back from Pac-Nor, and while I've only had it out once with a variety of handloads to begin feeling my way with it, it's looking like it may be one of those "I-don't-care-what-you-feed-me-I-will-be-happy" rifles. A part of that may be the fact that it's chambered in a mild mannered and well behaved number, the .260 Remington. I have offloaded all my different centerfire rifle chamberings and am down to .223 / 5.56, .260 Rem, and maybe an occasional .375 Win for a friend. Handgun reloading has spun out of control in these envrions!

This one here will shoot pretty tight at 100 yards. Cheap Ruger American Go Wild in 25-06. It's a 1-10 twist

1 inch group at 200. They touch at 100. Using Hornady Precision Hunter Brass .25-06 Rem 110 Gr Factory ammo.

JG has said those Rugers are ugly but will shoot.

My 7MM PRC in the same gun does the same using either the Hornady Outfitter 160gr or the Precision Hunter 175 grain. It's a 1-8 twist

Now I am bagged up and in a sitting position. (Kinda Cheating. LOL) But either will kill anything I'm gonna hunt.

Picture for reference only.

Now that I've graduated into the lathe portion of a barrel blank being turned into a finished barrel. I firmly believe the picky rifles are how the barrels were held in the lathe, centered to what degree, turned, threaded and chambered. Performing all those processes what I believe is "the right way" ends up with the rifles that are fairly happy with whatever you feed them. The quality of the steel and the condition of the bore also comes into play, of course.

This was my first (extremely) picky Sako or Tikka. Is it coincidence it was a .25-06, or is the cartridge a problem? I don't know for sure. It was my first time with the cartridge. I told Judd yesterday I'm on standby waiting on some other rifle to come through in .25-06. See if it gives me fits like this last one did.

The "over-bore" topic most definitely has merit. Two very well made 26 Noslers should have shot much tighter. I know the parts used and the man that built them. One can count on all. But it was the best they could do, which wasn't as good as I was expecting. Neck that same piece of brass from .264 up to .284 and it is peas and carrots, with a 1:8 and 195 gr Bergers.

J.G., is it an A7 by chance?

Yes it is.

I load for 8 25-06’s in the family. The hardest rifle I’ve tried to dial in has been a sako A7. Finally got a decent load with RL 22 and a 110 accubond. Maybe it’s an A7 thing in 25-06?

Maybe it is.

It's has been the most finicky Sako or Tikka I've ever seen. Every Sako or Tikka before this one (probably 100 different rifles) has been easy to tune a load for.

J.G. did a fine job with load development for my A7 300 Win Mag and in short time.