Y’all talk me out of a 22-250

king1886ranch

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Aug 7, 2016
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It’s time for a new coyote rig! I’ve been using a Savage 12fv 22-250 suppressed for about 6-7 years for prairie dogs, coyotes, deer and everything in between. I’ve always loved the cartridge but it’s time for a new rifle. That one is falling apart, it needs a new trigger and a new barrel, I think I’d rather just buy or build a new setup.

Is 22-250 the way to go or am I missing a better factory cartridge? I don’t want to reload this one, I just want to find a good factory load.
 
I like my 25-06. It's lights out on coyotes and is my main antelope rifle. I always carry my foxpro caller with me antelope hunting because I end up seeing coyotes. Plus it's a good backup rifle for deer. I've taken antelope at 400ish yards and coyotes out to around 500 with it. It's a fast flat shooting rifle.
 
Better factory cartridge...perhaps a .204 Ruger, perhaps not. A 6mm Creedmore would give it a run for its money if it was optimized for lighter bullets, but it’s not. My only beefs with a .22-250 are barrel life and case stretching. The barrel life, while not great, isn’t terrible, and case stretching is really only an issue for reloaders. Now if you hadn’t said factory cartridge and no reloading then I’d have suggested a .223AI, 6TCU, 6x47(6mm 222mag), and 6BR, and maybe even 6ppc USA. The .223AI will pretty much match a .22-250 with less powder and way more barrel life. The 6TCU is a .223AI necked up to 6mm. They’ll all fling 55’s around 3500-3700fps deepening on barrel length and how adventurous you are, and they’ll all have a longer accurate life than your .22-250.

All that said, for factory performance similar to your .22-250, other than a .204 Ruger, all the cartridges in that range have even shorter barrel life and offer very little increase in velocity, with no increase in accuracy or abundance, and all at a higher ammo cost. It might be worth it if you wanted heavier bullets, but if you’re happy with your .22-250, just build another one.

I’ve got a 6mm Rem project in the works.
 
I like my 25-06. It's lights out on coyotes and is my main antelope rifle. I always carry my foxpro caller with me antelope hunting because I end up seeing coyotes. Plus it's a good backup rifle for deer. I've taken antelope at 400ish yards and coyotes out to around 500 with it. It's a fast flat shooting rifle.

I've got 2, 25-06's that are great guns. Just looking at a smaller weight class.
 
Better factory cartridge...perhaps a .204 Ruger, perhaps not. A 6mm Creedmore would give it a run for its money if it was optimized for lighter bullets, but it’s not. My only beefs with a .22-250 are barrel life and case stretching. The barrel life, while not great, isn’t terrible, and case stretching is really only an issue for reloaders. Now if you hadn’t said factory cartridge and no reloading then I’d have suggested a .223AI, 6TCU, 6x47(6mm 222mag), and 6BR, and maybe even 6ppc USA. The .223AI will pretty much match a .22-250 with less powder and way more barrel life. The 6TCU is a .223AI necked up to 6mm. They’ll all fling 55’s around 3500-3700fps deepening on barrel length and how adventurous you are, and they’ll all have a longer accurate life than your .22-250.

All that said, for factory performance similar to your .22-250, other than a .204 Ruger, all the cartridges in that range have even shorter barrel life and offer very little increase in velocity, with no increase in accuracy or abundance, and all at a higher ammo cost. It might be worth it if you wanted heavier bullets, but if you’re happy with your .22-250, just build another one.

I’ve got a 6mm Rem project in the works.

I've owned and shot multiple of those calibers and reload quite a bit. Just not wanting to up my time spent reloading! 6x47, 6BR and 6XC are all very similar and wonderful cartridge choices. I agree whole heartedly about the barrel life and case stretching issues (one of the many reasons I was shooting factory in it). I haven't considered a .223AI though. Thanks for the opinion and info!
 
I don't think you're missing anything better in a flat shooting varmint cartridge with good availability of factory ammo
 
Like I say, for a factory cartridge in the same realm as a .22-250, it’s not particularly beatable, but if you’d actually consider a .223AI, it can offer some worthwhile advantages. I’ve owned two. One used a 12” twist .223 barrel and handled 65s, but not 68s. It was one of my favorite guns of all time. I put countless rounds through it with no particular loss of accuracy, then one day it fell apart. After examining I discovered uneven land wear, which is cleaning rod damage. I then discovered that my in-costed cleaning rod was bent. :(. My second is a 22” 14 twist .222 barrel that I had rechambered. It fails to stabilize the 64gr Nosler BSB or 60gr Partition. While I haven’t tried it, it should also fail to stabilize most solid copper projectiles. Because most .22-250s also utilize a 14” twist, you’d be in the same boat. On the other hand, for a .223AI you can pick up new take-off, or lightly used 223 barrels in 12” or 9” twists quite commonly and even tighter twists can be found from time to time without having to buy a $350 barrel blank. You could also simply buy whatever gun you wanted in .223 and rechamber it for the AI. It would come with a tighter twist than most .22-250s.

From context I think you’re thinking of a 6x47 Lapua, not the original 6x47 which is much smaller.

For coyotes only my preference by far a .222Rem. It’s easier on hides and the perfect match for 50gr Nosler Balistic tips. For P-dogs extra velocity helps for both range and explosive results.

I did notice that Nosler sells a tighter twist .22-250. It’s possible that other companies have started this as well.
 
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Ain't a varmit that will walk away from a 50 grain pill at 3800 fps. 22-250 is a solid round for it's purpose, and it's cheaper than the newest flashes in the pan.

I've got a Tikka T3 lite in 22-250 and it's one of the most accurate rifles I own, regardless of the load. Loves 50's, 55's & 60's.
 
Ain't a varmit that will walk away from a 50 grain pill at 3800 fps. 22-250 is a solid round for it's purpose, and it's cheaper than the newest flashes in the pan.

.

This

I have 3 22-250’s, one goes back to the early 80’s. Lots of good factory ammo available and you won’t live long enough to shoot out the barrel.
 
This

I have 3 22-250’s, one goes back to the early 80’s. Lots of good factory ammo available and you won’t live long enough to shoot out the barrel.

Maybe not on deer and coyotes, but on P-dogs that’s a whole different story. Accurate life a .22-250 is around 1500-1800 rounds. That’s not that many P-dog trips. Small targets like that at extended ranges call for higher accuracy levels than your average coyote or deer rifle. A 6BR and .223AI will both last closer 3000 rounds. It’s not uncommon for guys shooting p-dogs or chucks to wear out brand new .243’s or 6Rems in a single day.
 
22-250 is as close to a do it all one gun answer as any.


Plus it has actual resale value unlike the soup de jour.
 
I'd go again with the 22-250 but only if it's a 8" twist or faster. Some of the new, long, sleek bullets would be fun out of that. The 22 Creedmoor as suggested if you want to be more exotic.
 
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