The texture evolution of a Zr-2.5wt pctNb alloy pressure tube is characterized after the $$\alpha \rightarrow \beta $$ transformation and the $$\beta \rightarrow \alpha $$ transformation by room temperature EBSD maps and reconstruction of the high temperature $$\beta $$ phase. The $$\beta $$ phase forms a deformation texture which varies along the radial direction of the tube and changes after thermal cycling. Variant selection during the $$\beta \rightarrow \alpha $$ phase transformation is shown to be strongly influenced by residual stress within the material, with a more randomized variant selection for water quenched samples. Slower cooling rates were found to create orientations in addition to the 12 $$\alpha $$ variants expected by the Burger’s orientation relationship in a given $$\beta $$ grain.