Does anyone use a 22-250

used it on a couple of deer. it is obviously up to the task. that said, i don't think it is ideal.
 
a friend of mine uses his 22-250 for deer huntin . told me that he buys the federal blue box with the 55 grain soft point .drops the deer like a rock .
 
Boomer said:
With a 1:14 twist, I'd look at the 45 gr TSX for big game. I tried 53 gr TSXs, but they won't stabilize in the 1:14 barrel, even at .22-250 velocities.
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I must say, Boomer, I was a bit surprised to read your post. I have shot the 53 TSX out of my 1-14" Swift, and they shoot very well, indeed.
I don't know how fast you were shooting them, but my Swift was right at 3900.
I had a couple of 3-shot groups under 1" at 200 meters with that 53 TSX, so I wouldn't worry about taking a deer with that.
The 55 TTSX showed some keyholing, and unacceptable groups, however. Regards, Eagleye.
 
Use the right bullet and you will not have any problems. I have two killed two black bears now with the 64 grain power point (150 lbs at 150 yards) and 225 lbs (10 feet straight on) with a 22 250 at 3260 fps. Both bullets exited with massive internal damage. I ran the 64 grain power point versus the hornady 60 grain SP, hornady 55 grain SP, Speer 70 grain, 63 grain Sierra SMP and the 55 grain Sierra SMP into dry phone books on two different occasions. Dry phonebooks or newspaper will really stress the bullet and a lot of gun writers (John Barsness in particular) feel that is gives a good simulation of what a bullet will do when it hits bone. The 64 grain PP was the best of the bunch, each penetrating an extra 20 % over the others, although the 60 grain Hornady SP (without the cannelure) was a pretty close second. Depending on the twist in your particular rifle, the longer 53 grain TSX is another super penentrator although I find in my 1/14 twist that anything over 0.8 inch in bullet length starts to really ran the ragged edge of bullet stability. The 60 grain Nosler partition is another very good bullet. My 22 250 will hold them 5 shots for 1.25 inch at 100 meters and based on the penetration tests versus my 308 WIN 150 grain hornady SP and 165 grain BTSP, they will penentrate on par with much larger calibers. Of course, since the .224 bullet is much smaller in cross sectional diameter, the overall wound volume at equal penetration will not be as large. Intuitively, it makes more sense that a larger wound volume will be "more effective and allow for more error" but who really knows.

I do know for a fact that there are a number of guys in Montana and across the US that are using 22 centerfires very successfully for bears, mule deer, whitetails, hogs, etc. 223, 223AI, 22 250, 220 Swift, etc with the super bullets are pretty effective. On 24hourcampfire.com there are hundreds of posts on 22 centerfire use on big game and the results are always very positive.

I generally hunt with my 308 or a 30-06 but I would have no qualms using a 22 centerfire for deer here in NB at any sane range (with for me is 300 yards max with any caliber) with a tough bullet (partition, tsx, 64 grain PP, 60 gr hornady sp). I base this on my penentration tests, emperical results on two animals, and a lot of information from the guys in the US.
 
You can drive nails with a tack hammer if you wish. I prefer to use a more appropriate tool, and I just don't even want to use my .22-250 on deer.

I use a framing hammer to frame a house. I use a screw driver to drive screws. Same principle.
 
Riverjet said:
Yes I have a Browning Varmint Stalker 1-14, 26" medium heavy barrel. I'm a meat hunter and prefer young antlerless. Head shots out to 100yds is all I'm after. Like you say I just gotta find the right bullet etc. I normally shoot a 30-06 but it's time for a change.
For coyotes I shoot Hornady Varmint Express 55grn and they do well out to 200. I'm hoping 55-60 in a hunting bullet will work well.

Thanks for the input.
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If you are hunting for meat I think you will find you get much better meat by shooting through the heart\lungs which allows it to bleed out. A rib shot with the 250 will maybe break 2 ribs, likely only 1.
 
I have a few friends who use them if you reload speer makes a 70gr semi spitzer that will stabilise in a 14 twist this bullet is designed for deer size game.
 
In the early 1980's I shot over 20 sitka blacktail deer with my old 22-250 loaded with Sierra 55gr Spitzers @ 3660fps.

I always placed my shots high in the neck and never shot over 100 yards resulted in a 1/4" hole in & a 2" hole out and nothing but the hide holding the head onto the body obviosly the deer were instant DRT...

Now we have premium bullets like the TSX/TTSX/Partitions etc = if you do your part a 22-250 will do its.

With that said a 22-250 is definitely not my first choice in deer cartridges I haven't used it in 25 years because there are far better cartridge choices out there from 6.8SPC/30-30 to 45-70 I even shot a very nice 3X3 blacktail buck yesterday morning with a single shot 45-70 loaded with 325gr Hornady FTX bullets @ 1850fps...
 
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