22-250 or 243 700 Yard Woodchuck Caliber

[mike33]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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 gun)gun)

 

[trebark]

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.

 

[Rimfire]

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 gun)gun)

+1 if you go with a 22 I would shoot 75's or 80s


Varget 30.6 with a 107 on a calm day it kills what ever you point it at.

[/IMG]

 

[Gary Kaney]

I just rebarreled my Model 70 22/250 to 243. Just got done with barrel break in.
41 grns. of H4831 and Horn. 105 A MAX. and 41.7 H4350 with Horn 95 SST. both are 1 hole groups @ 100 yds. will play to 600 this weekend.
NO more 22's for me.

 

[HOGGHEAD]

I find myself in the same boat as you. 700 yards is about max shooting for me also. Maybe an occasional 800 yard shot, but mostly 400-600 is the long shots.

I spent alot of time looking at bullets and cartridges before I decided what to build. I went with a standard 22-250 with a 28" 1in8 twist Krieger barrel, on a reworked 700 action with a Manners stock.

I built this rifle to specifically shoot one bullet. The Hornady 75 grain A-Max. And shoot it does. As well as having a much better BC than the 75 grain 243 pills. I stayed with the standard 22-250 and not the AI because IMO 3300-3350 fps is more than fast enough to push the 75 grain pill. You can get it up to 3500 fps with the AI and Swift, but the barrel life is reduced drastically-so 3350 seemed to be the perfect velocity.

I realize the100 grain+ bullets in the 243 have a decent BC also. But for 700 yard shots you just do not need a 100 grain bullet to kill a ground hog. And I detest crawl offs also.

All you really do with the 243 is burn more powder with a heavier, more expensive bullet, with more recoil than the 22-250 to kill a ground hog. Personally I just do not think the243 is necessary. Maybe if you want to extend to 1,000 yards. But if I wanted to extend to 1,000 then I would skip the 243 completely and go to a 6.5mm caliber.

Study the 75 grain A-Max bullet. You will be pleasantly surprised. Tom.

 

[mike33]

After thoughts, im going to have Travis redell build me a 22-243 8 twist for the 75 a-max. I know barrel life will be shorter than 22-250 but they make barrels everyday and it will tkae a lot of pigs before burning out. I wanted the 22-250 ai vel. but hate to waste barrel fireforming cases. For anytrhing longer range i have a standard 243 shooting the 95 bergers 1/2 moa.
mike