Bullets & Loads for 25-35

The only animal I've ever killed with the .25-35 was a 90-100 lb. doe in 1984. She was right at 85 paces, standing broadside at a slight elevation above me. The bullet was the Lyman 257464 (which I still have) cast from WW. I don't remember the load, but I am sure the velocity was near max, because even in the Contender those loads are still pleasant to shoot. My intention was not to take a deer at all that day, because the .25-35 was a 10” TC Contender and I was hunting with a friend who had not taken any deer as yet. I had wanted to try the Contender on some javelina because we had been seeing quite a few over the past couple days. As luck would have it, he was able to get his deer earlier that morning than expected. We decided to walk back to camp and get the pick-up to go back and get his deer. As we walked along the edge of the road back to camp and came upon a slight curve, we spotted three does standing near the edge of the road feeding. At this point we were about 125 yards away, further away than I felt comfortable taking a shot with the scoped Contender in that caliber. He stayed in the tree line where we first spotted them while I worked my way through the scrub Mesquites that lined either side of the road. I was able to work my way into position for the shot and fired sitting while resting against a tree. At the shot she just stood there, for what seemed like an eternity, but was probably 3-4 seconds when her front legs buckled and she went down. The shot went through the heart and lungs before exiting. The exit wound was not very big, maybe the size of a nickel. Later we discovered the wound channel, which was not that impressive, but good enough to get the job done. To this day I have never since been able to stalk that close to a deer and I still don't know how I was so lucky, but I will never forget it as long as I live. I also don't think I will ever part with that 10” octagon barrel.