Elvis,
Ive had a 25/06 since 1984.
Dies, brass, projectiles and powder are all avaiable.
Buy a decent set of 25/06 dies, a micrometer seating die is a nice addition but not a must have.
Cases are prown to stretching in the web area 6 to 7 reloads are probably the max number of reloads for a case.
100 grain projectiles are a good alrounder.
Barrel wear can be an issue if you run it with hot loads expect throat erosion to be an issue around 2000 rounds.
Barrel heating can also be high, but usually only at the range, hunting is usually only 1 to 3 shots.
The muzzle flash at night can be seen from the moon and will kill the night vision of you and anyone near you.
Devestating on roos, pig and goats, good for fallow deer.
Dupont imr 4350 or adi ar 2213sc or good powders look up adi-powders.com.au for loading data.
Let the fun begin.
Cheers

Elvis,
I had a similar situation when I made my 257 Roberts brass from 7x57mm.
The neck actually formed a small false shoulder and they were hard to chamber. After firing they are beautiful! Now, I was using new brass so the body fit was fine it was just the neck that was a bit tight at the shoulder junction. I think your brass will be fine once you fire it.

thanks guys that sort of confirmed what I had thought...
will run the paper clip feeler through them now....thanks for the prompt DHC...sure dont want to set our selves up for a non usable rifle mid trip.

wet to poke holes in paper today...usual spot was out due to horses being ridden nearby...off to spot #2,not ideal but found 60 yards with solid backstop...first up got my .308 dialed in properly...nice cloverleaf group...all good there
then the loud pool que...first two rounds off to side....hmmmmm had boresighted it last week and moved x hairs 5" sideways...now rounds hitting that distance off to side??? oh well clicked it around and got holes closer to target...a few more clicks few more shots......
last 6 rounds were 3 groups of 2 yeah yeah I know.... all put the 2 about 2cm apart...so not wonderful but not terrible....I dont like unsuppressed rifles anymore and my position wasnt terribly stable,was muscling rifle onto target somewhat...so believe it is going to all good once we iron out the kinks a little.
on brighter note Ive got 33 cases sized up and now another 8 to do aswell.

Good for you Elvis! the worst day at the range is better than most other events.
You got something to begin with so a bit more fun at the bench and more shooting!

it bit me too.....sure sign my position/form wasnt spot on.....dropped it into gunsmith this morning for recrown/threading so we can poke a muffler on her to reduce the bark....
walked into the guys shed/workshop and just stopped and inhaled the air.....pure pleasure it was..linseed and gun oil....the man is a stock maker who does all sorts of stuff...a real old school tradesman....rifle will be picked up tomorrow ready for the weekend.

WOW what a different rifle to shoot with a muffler stuck on the end...recoil is all but gone....shoulder still tender from last effort.
found box of winchester 90grn hp varmit loads to try... starting to lean towards using the 87grn speer TNT as our main quarry is light skinned wallabies...the 50grn vmax work well in .223 it seems the softer/more explosive the better. the TNT is cheap ....very cheap and the 125grn version goes well in .308 on wallabies. doesnt often exit even smaller ones. I guess they are similar in body mass to your yotes....looked at 100grn speer hp projectiles,would appear to be a varmit projectile still but maybe not as frangible as the TNT????
for deer etc will stick with some of the 117grn factory federal for now...maybe pick up sample pack of partitions for later.

It sounds like you are well on the way to sorting a new hunting rifle Elvis...good job mate. At least you are able to get out mate.

well we got up at sparrows fart,,,trudged up hill in drizzly rain,saw 3 distant wobblies.3 were seen semi close but they didnt hang around to be introduced,mate fired a shot at head sized rock some 300 yards away and smoked it...he VERY happy how rifle now shoots...prior to this rifle he has fired my .223 maybe a dozen rounds and other that shotgun all his previous shooting was .22lr....
we decided to take different route back down hill,hadnt been that way for at least ten years...steep as heck but semi open crappy bush...nearly back to wagon some pigs grunted and moven off in thick gorse...Meg knows how to indicate but never been taught to catch them so no dice there...back to wagon at 13;00 soaked through to skin even with full wet weather gear...happy as sandboys.
just cleaned rifles even though mine never even got fired....wet and dirty they were too.

All things considered it sounds like a great day!

If you'd bought a 25/06 and wanted to keep it in good condition over the long haul by using a powder that was reasonably kind to it, ie sane, efficient, but not dramatic loads, what powder would you choose?

And also, what powders are just a little too hot /fast for it?

told 2217 is a good option as is 2209....we intend to run 90grn varmit pills not sizzling hot and run federal 117 factory for bigger stuff.
Paul S ...WE went back up same hills today and my mates young fella fired his first ever round out of centrefire...standing using my .223 his day stood his rifle upwards under forend to hold it up,I held buttplate and was long enough to cause wee fella issues...had to stand to see over tussocks and the wee fella pulled of a stonker of a shot to absolutely SMASH a wallaby at about a hundred yards in very trying conditions....neckshot no less. not sure who was prouder but his dad n I were jumping around whooping with joy.
I managed to pull off a running shot at about 40 yards in bush,a great day in trying wet foggy conditions.

2506 responds well to slower powders to drive a bullet hard but there are other powders that can generat good performance at reduced velocity.
Having said that I would go with H414 and a 90 grain bullet which will take the cartridge to it's velocity limits. That means that I would sacrifice barrel for the velocity as long as accuracy was good.
If I wanted to keep the barrel for a lifetime of shooting I would choose the 120 grain bullet using H870 or H450. The H870 is best suited to the case and bullet but H450 will get you close to 3000 fps and keep the pressures and velocity down a bit.
You will notice that I recommend double based powders. That is because they are capable of holding pressures high over a longer period that continues to accelerate the bullet the full length of the bore. Most people wrongly assume that the higher average pressure comes at the cost of higher heat bur double base powders produce lower heat of a longer time to get the velocities that are so high. Using a magnum primer with these powders burns all of the powder during the pressure peak (in the first few inches of barrel) and allows the pressure to continue to hold that pressure better. It is easier on the barrel as long as velocities are kept reasonable. There are not sharp edges on the burning powder kernels and that slows erosion. Heat and abrasive wear are the hardest on the life of a barrel. Hard burning kernels scraping the lead and the rifling does more harm than the spherical grains of double base powders.

PaulS wrote:

2506 responds well to slower powders to drive a bullet hard but there are other powders that can generat good performance at reduced velocity. Having said that I would go with H414 and a 90 grain bullet which will take the cartridge to it's velocity limits. That means that I would sacrifice barrel for the velocity as long as accuracy was good. If I wanted to keep the barrel for a lifetime of shooting I would choose the 120 grain bullet using H870 or H450. The H870 is best suited to the case and bullet but H450 will get you close to 3000 fps and keep the pressures and velocity down a bit. You will notice that I recommend double based powders. That is because they are capable of holding pressures high over a longer period that continues to accelerate the bullet the full length of the bore. Most people wrongly assume that the higher average pressure comes at the cost of higher heat bur double base powders produce lower heat of a longer time to get the velocities that are so high. Using a magnum primer with these powders burns all of the powder during the pressure peak (in the first few inches of barrel) and allows the pressure to continue to hold that pressure better. It is easier on the barrel as long as velocities are kept reasonable. There are not sharp edges on the burning powder kernels and that slows erosion. Heat and abrasive wear are the hardest on the life of a barrel. Hard burning kernels scraping the lead and the rifling does more harm than the spherical grains of double base powders.

Paul S, are H870 and 450 Hogdon Powders?

I think H-870 and H-450 are no longer in production?