Horizon Firearms Core Bandit 25 Creedmoor 22" 5rd Rifle

The 25 Creedmoor filled a gap nobody talked about for twenty years. Quarter bore cartridges have always killed out of proportion to their recoil, but the old ones were built around short, blunt bullets and the rifles chambered for them could not make use of anything better. Modern barrels and long .257 caliber bullets changed that math completely. The 25 Creedmoor now sits between the 6.5 Creedmoor and the 270 in performance while staying inside a short action, and it does it without beating up the shooter behind it.

The Bandit is the Horizon Firearms bolt action, and the Core version is the straightforward one: 22" barrel, 5rd capacity, no gimmicks. That barrel length is the sensible middle for a 25 Creedmoor, short enough to carry all day on a deer hunt and long enough that you are not throwing away velocity you already paid for at the case. Horizon comes out of the custom rifle world, which shows up in the details more than on the spec sheet. For one rifle that will take deer and antelope cleanly and still ring steel at distance on the weekend, this chambering in this size is a hard argument to beat.