Noob looking for guidance!

[kellenritter]

Hey everyone! I about to purchase my first long range yote' gun! Here's what I'm looking at for my setup, a Remington 700 VLS .22-250 topped with a Leupold VX-II 6-18x40 Adjustable Objective Target scope. Any opinions or experience? I'm looking to shoot out to 700 yards, maybe 800. Is this possible with that setup? I would be looking to kill coyotes out to 500 yards. I'm not setup for reloading so if anyone can point me to the best store bought ammo for this as well it would be appreciated! Any other tip tricks or help you can give would be gladly accepted! Thank you!

 

[WildRose]

Nice choice of rifle and scope. Can you shoot it that far? Yes but with such a light low BC bullet selection in .22 cal it's going to be difficult to find a load that shoots much better than MOA at those ranges in all likelihood.

The exception would be if you have a fast enough twist to shoot the VLD's from it but most factory guns are going to be set up for the 50-60gr bullets.

I've shot PD's quite successfully out to 600yds with the .220 Swift but after that you get a lot of inconsistencies due to the light bullets and wind.

I'd say float it, bed it, shoot it and have fun.

Start at 100-200yds and then just work your way out from there a 50-100yds increments and your in for some fun.

 

[kellenritter]

Thank you for the reply! So I should keep it 600 and less if I want to be consistent? I'm also thinking about getting a trigger job. (1 or 1.5lbs) I'm a fair shot at distance, I just seem to have a knack at it, or a lot of luck! Lol, I just what to step up my game at see where it goes. If I'm gonna do it, I wanna do it right.

 

[WildRose]

Thank you for the reply! So I should keep it 600 and less if I want to be consistent? I'm also thinking about getting a trigger job. (1 or 1.5lbs) I'm a fair shot at distance, I just seem to have a knack at it, or a lot of luck! Lol, I just what to step up my game at see where it goes. If I'm gonna do it, I wanna do it right.

No, just work your way out and see where it becomes inconsistent. 600yds should be very doable, and more is possible depending on your set up and bullets.

You'll find though that things get much more complicated from 600yds on out than they are at sub 600yds ranges especially with small calimbers.

If yours has the modern Rem trigger you might want to see about finding an old style trigger or upgrading to one of the better aftermarket triggers.

 

[kellenritter]

Thanks again Wildrose, and thanks for your service to your country! I just picked up my final DD-214 yesterday. As far as the caliber selection, .22-250 is not set in stone. Would I be better off with a different choice? My options are as follows: .204 Ruger with 26" barrel and 12" twist, .22-250 Remington with 26" barrel and 14" twist, .223 Remington with 26" barrel and 12" twist, or the .243 Winchester with 26" barrel and 9 1/8" twist. If i dont have to step up to a .308 i dont want to, i already own a .270 in a 700 CDL. After thinking about where and how i will be hunting, im going to say i will only be shooting 500 yards and less on average, with an extreme max of 600 yard maybe a 650 once in a blue moon. I just want to make sure that I don't regret my choice. $ isn't real plentiful in my wallet so I need to get it right this time around. I just haven't learned the technical side of shooting yet. Ballistic coefficient, MOA, and pretty much any ammo talk shy of store bought is new territory for me. I do understand ballistic tables, and my shooting "ability" is quite solid. Once again, and help is appreciated!

 

[minute of elk]

i have the same scope on my 270.
i recently sent it in & had them put in a LRV reticle & repair the turrets (they weren't tracking well). i'm still working out some load development & then i'll need to spend some time making dope charts & field checking them. i've gotten first round hits at 800+ with this gun/scope combo the last two times i've shot it.
based on my personal experience, you have a scope that will work great out to 800 (at least, i'll push it further when i finish load development) on a 270, so i'd recommend putting it on your 270 & seeing how it works.
for ammo, you're just going to have to try a few & go with the one that your gun likes the most until you get access to reloading equipment.

just my 2 cents,
Rob

 

[rick523]

You may want to look closer at 243, better bullet selection. jmo.

 

[WildRose]

Thanks again Wildrose, and thanks for your service to your country! I just picked up my final DD-214 yesterday. As far as the caliber selection, .22-250 is not set in stone. Would I be better off with a different choice? My options are as follows: .204 Ruger with 26" barrel and 12" twist, .22-250 Remington with 26" barrel and 14" twist, .223 Remington with 26" barrel and 12" twist, or the .243 Winchester with 26" barrel and 9 1/8" twist. If i dont have to step up to a .308 i dont want to, i already own a .270 in a 700 CDL. After thinking about where and how i will be hunting, im going to say i will only be shooting 500 yards and less on average, with an extreme max of 600 yard maybe a 650 once in a blue moon. I just want to make sure that I don't regret my choice. $ isn't real plentiful in my wallet so I need to get it right this time around. I just haven't learned the technical side of shooting yet. Ballistic coefficient, MOA, and pretty much any ammo talk shy of store bought is new territory for me. I do understand ballistic tables, and my shooting "ability" is quite solid. Once again, and help is appreciated!

Well if you didn't already have the .270 I'd say maybe look at the .260 Rem as it's a fantastic varminter and more than capable for deer and elk sized game (within reason) along with being very economical to shoot if you are loading your own.

However the 22-250 is a great varminter and also quite capable of at least taking deer sized game out to 300-400yds while being extremely economical to shoot whether you are buying factory rounds or loading your own.

The real bargain varmint caliber that seems to slip right by everyoen these days is the .22hornet which is a great round, cheaper to shoot than about anything else out there and I've taken lots of deer with one as well.

Your reasonable limit with it though even as varmint round though is about 400yds.

All that being the case I'd still say your 22-250 is a great choice and the only thing similar that I'd take instead if it were me is the .220 swift but it's not as economical to shoot.

Take a look at berger's site and see what they recommend for twist rate with the heavier .22's, and see if you can get one barrelled accordingly. If you can shoot up to the 70gr VLD's you will have much, much better LR performance than you will with standard 50-60gr varmint bullets that are on the market.

 

[angus-5024]

If your not selling pelts, go for the .243 win. It will do alot better than the 22-250 when it comes to LR, the ballistics are just way better. That said, they destroy pelts under 200 yards.
Ive seen the 22-250 do alot of damage, so its no sloach. It just really has a hard time in the wind.
any of your options will work well for you, but my vote for yotes is .243win!
I like vortex stuff, particularilly the PST line.

 

[rscott5028]

I think it's all been said, but here's another perspective.

Small, fast cartridges like 22-250 and 220 Swift are excellent for varmints out to mid range when you may not have time to dope and dial precisely. They shoot "flat" and you can often hold hair to 400+ yds.

However, the high BC bullet selections for bucking the wind are more limited for 22 cal than 6, 6.5, and 7mm. Even if you have a fast enough twist to shoot the heavy bullets, then you're stuck handloading and will lose some of the velocity advantage.

243 was mentioned and this is a good compromise. But, a factory 9 1/8" twist isn't going to shine with the 105+ heavy bullets. If you could get an 8 twist to shoot 105's or faster for the 115's, you'll do much better in the wind. ditto for 6br, but then factory ammo is even more limitted although factory Lapua 6br ammo is awesome.

Similarly, 6.5's such as 260 Rem have an even better selection of high BC bullets. But, each time you step up in caliber, recoil increases and as a matter of personal preference, that may or may not bother you. 260 Rem is considered by many to be the perfect balance.

Regardless of what you choose, factory ammo will likely be your biggest constraint. So, look around for a ready supply of match grade factory ammo choices. Even that's just a crap shoot because you can't be certain it'll like your rifle.

In any case, 22-250 is an excellent cartridge and they are often tack drivers. So I'd say go for it and practice with and without wind to hone your skills. You'll be an even better marksman if you later build a long range rig and start shooting handloads with high BC bullets.

-- richard