I cannot think of any non-magnum round of commercial status that benefits more with a longer tube than the 25-06. Remington saw the potential of the Wildcat round, just as they did with others, such as the 22-250. This was back in the days that Rem. had some Riflemen in their ranks and displayed quality in their products and they paid attention to actual cartridge performance. With that in mind they correctly brought out the 25-06 with a 24" barrel. From a cost standpoint, it would have made sense to use the 22" tubes of the std. volume rounds (270-30-06), but they actually thought about the end user & offered it in 24" & a fatter profile as well. Later, when Ruger came out with a 25-06, they wisely followed Rem's footsteps. They saw, again because Mike Walker of Remington and others actually used their products, that the combination of this new round & surplus 4831 & 24" barrels gave a worthwhile boost over the Roberts, otherwise why bother?
However, P&L statements are the big thing these days. Many think the 22" will "work" on the std rounds and 24" on the mags., have 2 tube variations and run with it. I am not slaming Browning, Tikka & others, they have good products, but I have ZERO doubt that a 22" tube is a cost decision & as long as people still buy them it will remain such.
But all this stuff doesn't matter if you aren't shooting beyond 300 myds. at Deer sized game and smaller. If you want the round to behave about like the Roberts with handloads (absolutely nothing wrong with that), the 22" will do. So, it never hurts to define your needs & performance goals.
I have shot the 25-06 off and on since the mid 70's, I did not have a chrono. then, but I have since the early 90's & have seen enough to realize that I don't want a 22" 25-06 because I want to get the full potential out of this round.
I load for 5 25-06's, an old Ruger 77 24", a Ruger Target Lam 26", a Sendero & 2 Sendero's that are now in AI. So 4 of the 5 have 26" tubes &
they really perform well. A couple of years ago I worked up loads for a friends Marlin 25-06 22", a nice rifle for the money & quite accurate, but velocities sucked. I conveyed this to the owner, but it was not that important because he would not be shooting Deer over 200 yds. from his stands & was not interested in shooting Coyotes beyond 300 yds., besides the 100gr. BT load was an exact duplicate in traj. out to the max. distance he would shoot with his Ruger 338 he uses for Elk with the 200BT load. So for him, it served his purpose, which is the important thing.
Well, one 22" tube is not representative of all of them, but from what I have seen, it's a no-brainer IF optimal performance is desired.
This is especially so if you use the heavier bullets & slower powders, the diff. is less with lighter Varmit bullets.
I don't pay much attention to most of the paid off gun writers, but John Barsness is one of the best & has a good article in the newest Handloader (Aug 2012) titled "A Pair Of 25-06's" Along with pointing out the good features of the round, he works up loads for these 2 rifles, a Lipsey special 24" Number 1 & a Ackley built Mauser with a 26" tube, not an Ackley Improved, but rather a 25-06 built by the late P.O. Ackley.
He mentions the fact that the 26" comes into it's own with the heavier bullets and slower powders. For some that won't see the articles here are some of his heavier bullet loads, 24" vs 26"
110 Accubond, 58gr. Retumbo, 3,182 vs 3,260
115 Berger, 60 gr. Magnum, 3,148 vs 3,316
117 Sierra, 55gr. RL 25, 3,112 vs 3,320
20 Nos. Part., 56.5 Retumbo, 3,089 vs 3,167
Now personally, I have not seen so much diff. between a 24 & 26, but the point is made. But I have not ONCE seen the results I wanted with a 22" 25-06.
Another good read by someone who actually shoots is Wayne Van Zwoll's book: Shooters Bible Guide to Rifle Ballistics. He has very good and researched Chapter dealing with the Optimal barrel length for a given caliber, this was not based on barrel length avail, just the length that gave an optimal tradeoff. For the 25-06 and 300WM he determined the optimal length to be 25", for 308 it would be 22", for the big cases like the 257Wea, 264 & 300RUM, 26", which makes perfect sense.
For me and my friends who use the 25-06, we like the 26" for top results, but we have shorter guns for thicket hunting with other rounds like the 308. I would have no real problems with a 24" and for all-round use have their merits, to me the 25-06 is a less than ideal match of cartridge and rifle, from actual tests, again it depends on your expectations.
I want to leave this with a very good 25-06 Article by a hunter who has taken over 50 Big Game animals with this round & notice his choices.
The .25-06: Deadly On Deer > Buckmasters > Classic Articles
