what caliber to choose?

freddygotarf

freddygotarf

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I'm thinking of buying a varmint rifle.The calibers I'm looking at is .223,204Ruger and 22-250.Give me your input on these calibers.I've only owned a 222Rem. once,and it was always left in the gunsafe.I prefered to grab my 6.5x55 instead.Any advice is appreciated.
 
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22 250 is a barrel burner, but fast.
223 is cheap and there all all sorts of options for brass, bullets, dies etc. guys also have good luck with heavy bullets like the 80 bergers or 75 Amax hitting 1000 yards with them.
204 is nice and fast, accurate but not as far reaching as 223.

6mmbr is a good varmint caliber, the ultimate in accuracy and efficiency. Its a little bigger than the 20 or 22 cal bullets tho.
 
I have owned almost everything except a 204 I hae never tried it. 7 years ago nothing existed in my world for a varmint rifle unless it said 22-250 and it was a good choice. Since than I have owed and shot 222s 223s, 17s, and than I bought a 243 , 2 years ago, after owning 6mm ppcs and BRs I thought I would try one.

Its better than anything else (22 cals) varmint cals, and you have the ability to shoot accurately at distance 55-107 grain bullets and a better wind bucker. I bought my last varmint rifle in the 243. I was just to stubbern to see the advantages over the 22 and 17 cals.

This year alone, the 243 in a 700 has killed 2 deer with 2 different shooters with 100 grainers and one at a good distance, has taken 25-30 ground pigs at the farm with 70 gr smks and i think 2-3 coydogs this past summer. I have also shot the gun out to 800 yards in 15 km winds with exceptional results with 100 gr bullets. the 243 I bought has been claimed as a hunt camp and farm gun for anything, and I am told its not leaving lol!! I think i need to buy a new one for me. I am not sure if this one was just a shooter, but with a little TLC bedding and a trigger job the gun is just awesome for anything up to deer size.
 
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22-250 will give you more speed and probably perform better if you're shooting coyotes. If it's just for gophers, crows and such I would go with the 223. The 204 would be interestign but I think that the light bullet would get tossed around pretty badly as distances extended. 223 would be the best choice for a 100-400 yard gopher gun, IMHO.
 
You planning on shooting gophers or coyotes. Or both? I would say .223 for either or both.
-Long barrel life
-Lots of components
There used to be lots of bulk Winchester ammo that shot superbly, but that is now extinct.

I also have a .243, blows up gophers something fierce. Also gets the job done on yotes.
 
I haven't shot coyote's but my 22-250 for gophers is a giggle. 50gr V-Max pills going just short of 4000fps makes for some very red mist out to 400+ yards.
 
I have a 243 that I loaded up with 85g SGKs and I have taken a buck with it, dead in his tracks and shot a coyote as well with not too bad of damage to the pelt.
 
I can see the advantage with .223 ,easy to find cases and reloading pieces.
The advantage with .243 is you could use it for deer hunting also.
I wanted to go coyote hunting and possibly do some gopher shooting.
These smaller calibers are cheaper to shoot.
 
If you reload go .222. If you buy store ammo go .223.

If you plan on some really long distance varmint hunting 300+ yards try a 22-250 or 220 swift.
 
204 or 22-250. Both run over 4000 fps and speed is the secret to success with varmints.

I have owned a couple of 204's and I have an SPS Varmint in 204 right now. I have killed coyotes out to just past 400 yards and anything closer than 300 is no challenge. In September, I took the top of a Coyote's head off at 325 meters confirmed with a range finder. It has a very long point blank range..

The 204 has no recoil so you can watch kills in the scope and bullets are cheap. Barrel life is about equal to a 22-250.
 
freddygotarf said:
whats the reason of not reloading .223?
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There's no good reason, just lots of cheap ammo out there. If your rifle shoots the cheap stuff well then there's no reason to shoot handloads. In my world, it would have to shoot factory ammo pretty frickin spectacularly for me to not handload.

Gophers are pretty small targets (pocket gophers are about 1" across and ground squirrels 2.5") so you need ammo that will group nice and tight to make the venture any amount of fun.
 
the 223 is great, ammo is easy to come by and cheap, but for the money i would take a 243, if coyotes are the main reason for the rifle, i like the increased range of the 243 those 55 grain ballistic tips or 90 grain bergers hit hard
 
I'm leaning towards the .223 but I've never tried a 243.I'll have to get my buddy to bring his to the range so i can try it.Tomorrow I'll ask at work if any one has a 204R I have never shot that caliber either.I sure like the look of that new Tikka laminated stainless!
 
freddygotarf said:
I'm leaning towards the .223 but I've never tried a 243.I'll have to get my buddy to bring his to the range so i can try it.Tomorrow I'll ask at work if any one has a 204R I have never shot that caliber either.I sure like the look of that new Tikka laminated stainless!
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It's not fair to the .22-250 to call it a barrel burner. Loading anything to wring out absolutely every fps possible is hard on throats. That's why I use my .243. I could wring out 4050 or so fps with a 55 gr CT S'Tip, but I load them to about 3750-3800 (24" bbl) and launch a bullet that's much superior to any .22 caliber for bucking wind and retaining punch enough for wolves at long range, my version of varmints. Coyotes go down like they've been hit by lightning. Every time I get the urge to get a .204 I remember the predator hunter on Wild TV and the takes and trimmed out clips that don't show the long runs some of the dogs made after being hammered with a .204 - that and the copious amount of bloody coyote carcasses you eventually see. There are so many great 6mm varmint bullets out there for outright instant kills to hide preserving considerations it's a shame not to use the .243. Besides, if you ever burn it out you can rechamber to a 250 Page Pooper Scooper or whatever the hell he called it. Add that to the fact that it will kill deer just fine with a proper bullet and high speed load you can't go wrong.
 
Obtunded said:
204 or 22-250. Both run over 4000 fps and speed is the secret to success with varmints.

I have owned a couple of 204's and I have an SPS Varmint in 204 right now. I have killed coyotes out to just past 400 yards and anything closer than 300 is no challenge. In September, I took the top of a Coyote's head off at 325 meters confirmed with a range finder. It has a very long point blank range..

The 204 has no recoil so you can watch kills in the scope and bullets are cheap. Barrel life is about equal to a 22-250.
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Obtunded, I have the exact same gun as you (SPS Varmint 204). Bone stock, it shot 32gr Winchester factory HP at 1 MOA.

I have loaded some 32gr Nosler BT and 32gr VMax with Benchmark. Could you share some loads perhaps? I also have 35gr Bergers and 26gr Barnes VG inbound, and have IMR 4064 and Varget in the wings.

Any suggestions on how to improve the rifle? I was thinking a trigger job (or new trigger altogether) and a stock to replace the current one. What would be a good, bang-for-the-buck choice?

And sorry for the hijack :redface:
 
CyaN1de said:
I think he was saying that if you DO reload use .222 and if you DON'T reload or have no intention of reloading go with .223
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Exactly.

A .222 with a well developed handload is tough to beat when gopher hunting. VERY accurate and easy on barrels.

If you don't want to handload, get .223 as there is a lot of commercially available ammo out there.
 
I don't understand the AI craze. If you want more power from your 223 go a step up like 22 250 or 243. The AI stuff is overrated and doesn't feed well unless you have a single stack mag.
 
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