May I throw in the wrinkle of “Where do you like to punch the hole in the deer” question?

Every single 25-06 bullet I’ve fired into gelatin blocks at 50 yards, either fully explodes at 8-12” inside gelatin…or has a big wound channel at that distance, and throws expansion pieces off and continues to penetrate deeper with significantly less hydraulic shock diameter from bullet center wound.

Shoot a 12” wide deer without contacting bone, and it will have a .257-ish entry wound, and about 1,5”
Exit wound.
Hit bone, and it’ll have a 3-6” hole out the other side.

However…if you shoot a BigBoy with an SST in a 25-06 through the chest, there may or may not be an exit wound. It doesn’t matter if it bang/flops where it’s standing…but due to what I’ve seen with my own tests with gelatin blocks and 25-06 through .338 Win mags…Barnes 100% copper solids, Hornady GMT 95/5% solids, H-Type bullet structures, Interlocks, etc…(front explodes off and rear of bullet punches on through)…those will just about always have a punch through exit wound.

Myself with a 25-06, I truly LOVE a high shoulder/spine area shot, or a neck shot. They rarely move in any direction but straight down DRT.

FYI-If any of you all want to do some gelatin block shoots sometime?…it’s VERY cool to see EXACTLY what your bullet does at a specific distance.

-Butch