22-250 or 243 700 Yard Woodchuck Caliber

mike33 · #1 07-05-2010, 04:54 PM

Ready to re-barrel and was wanting some opinion on woodchuck caliber. Should i stick with the 22's or go with the 6's? I really dont have need for anything past 700. Twist and bullet also. I currently have a standard 22-250 and a 243 factory. My 22-250 i would like to see how much i could bend the barrel it shoots so bad. Both are on a rem 700 action sporter contour.
mike

lewwetzel · #2 07-05-2010, 09:06 PM

Frankly, you're not gonna kill too many larger 'hogs @ 700 yards with a .22-250; I sometimes get "crawlers" at not much over 1/2 that distance with my SPS Varmint in that cal. (55 gr. ballistic tips.) In fact, after getting a couple .204's, I'll probably trade the '250 on a 243 for longer ranges. Not that the .22-250 isn't arguably one of the best varmint calibers ever...

Petersen · #3 07-05-2010, 09:51 PM

i would definitely lean toward a 243 caliber. i love my 22.250 but anything past 325 yards is a gamble on predators with my 52 gr. bthp's..

or a fast twist 22.243 or 22.250 AI with 75 or 80 gr. bullets.

johnnyk · #4 07-05-2010, 10:44 PM

If I was going to stay with the .22 caliber then I'd go with the .22-250 AI with 1-8 twist. Nothing slower than 1-9 for sure. When the range for the .22 centerfire(s) ncreases then I think the weight of the projectile should increase also. This gives them a little more stability and "thump" on out there.
There may be some guys out there than will tell you the .22-250 is good to 1000 yds. It might be, but not in my hands. Too much of a stacked deck at LR. Even the lowly, but tastey, GroundHog deserves clean, humane kills.
Go with the 6mm's. I shoot a standard .243 and with bullets heavier than 75gn, it does great. The 55 and 65gn bullets aren't much better than the .22 CF's in my opinion. I like the 95gn Ballistic Tip as my go to bullet for varmints, predators and deer. My 11yr old was smacking my 500yd gong Saturday with my .243 using this bullet ahead of 44.0gn of Vhitavuori N560 and BR2's.
When the barrel goes out I'm going with a .243AI barrel and play with that for a while. Good luck. JohnnyK.

Broz · #5 07-05-2010, 11:50 PM

6 mm BR, 8 twist 28" barrel , 30 gr of RL 15 under a 107 SMK and watch every hit in the scope.

Thats what I would recommend.

Jeff

trebark · #6 07-06-2010, 09:44 PM

given the choice of the 22-250 or 243 for long range.....DEFINITELY go with the 243. Get a 7 or 8 twist barrel and you can shoot the 105 or 115 grain bullets. With the heavier bullets....if you can see the chuck, it's in range.