Fur Friendly 22-250 Options

[ObiWanKannoli]

Hi all,

I am putting together a new setup for night hunting and I've settled on the good old 22-250. I grabbed a Tikka T3X that is a 1:8T, and I will be chopping the barrel back to somewhere between 16 and 18 inches to run suppressed.

Any feedback on bullets that are a little more fur friendly than what the 22-250 is generally known for? I was thinking something along the lines of a heavier barnes like the 77 lrx?

I will primarily be hunting Bobcat, fox, and coyote within 300 yards.

 

[ARlife4me]

The only type that WON'T destroy fur are fmj's. Head shots might be preferable if not wanting to keep the skull? Many others will disagree, but they are my tried and true bullet to go to!

 

[ARlife4me]

Speer make a 75gr tmj as it's the heaviest in 22cal.

 

[Coldfinger]

D

Hi all,

I am putting together a new setup for night hunting and I've settled on the good old 22-250. I grabbed a Tikka T3X that is a 1:8T, and I will be chopping the barrel back to somewhere between 16 and 18 inches to run suppressed.

Any feedback on bullets that are a little more fur friendly than what the 22-250 is generally known for? I was thinking something along the lines of a heavier barnes like the 77 lrx?

I will primarily be hunting Bobcat, fox, and coyote within 300 yards.

Hi all,

I am putting together a new setup for night hunting and I've settled on the good old 22-250. I grabbed a Tikka T3X that is a 1:8T, and I will be chopping the barrel back to somewhere between 16 and 18 inches to run suppressed.

Any feedback on bullets that are a little more fur friendly than what the 22-250 is generally known for? I was thinking something along the lines of a heavier barnes like the 77 lrx?

I will primarily be hunting Bobcat, fox, and coyote within 300 yards.

22-250 on north eastern coyotes that can hit 60 pounds is pretty fur friendly. On fox and cats I don't know if you can make it fur friendly. It seems to blow everything smaller than a coyote in half. Even 223 with fmj was wicked on fox with body shots. I always figured if it's not in a trap and I wanted to save the hide better use 22mag or hornet. 22creed and 85.8 grain bergers was friendly on coyotes but hit and miss on fox with some serious vaporization going on. I think the bullet rpm's do as much destruction on thin skinned fox as does bullet construction.

 

[ARlife4me]

When I used to sell coyote hides (never shot a fox) all of the hides were in great condition using m193. Most shots were taken from a hilocopter. Talk about fun.... well except the brass deflecting off the cockpit and rolling down the inside of my jacket. Looked like I had hickies.

 

[Coldfinger]

Seems like fox react like water balloons to any bullet over 3K

 

[waspocrew]

Seems like fox react like water balloons to any bullet over 3K

Agreed - small animals to begin with and very thin skinned. My 6 Creed is too much for them with the 87 Vmax and 107 SMK.

I need to swap my thermal over to my 6 ARC. Hopefully it'll be a little easier on hides.

 

[SouthernGunner220]

I have shot 22-250 ai and 220 swift for years and have almost no fit damage with Hornady 52gr Bthp match bullets. It's my favorite coyote bullet for any 22 caliber

 

[rm76]

Hi all,

I am putting together a new setup for night hunting and I've settled on the good old 22-250. I grabbed a Tikka T3X that is a 1:8T, and I will be chopping the barrel back to somewhere between 16 and 18 inches to run suppressed.

Any feedback on bullets that are a little more fur friendly than what the 22-250 is generally known for? I was thinking something along the lines of a heavier barnes like the 77 lrx?

I will primarily be hunting Bobcat, fox, and coyote within 300 yards.

I would question whether 77 lrx will stabilize out of a 16 to 18" 8-twist barrel. I could not get them to reliably stabilize out of my 8-twist 24" 22-250ai barrel unless I really pushed them very fast -- at likely dangerous pressures. Finally just gave up on this bullet. For a 16" varmint rig in 22-250, I might consider something that would push 50 grainers really really fast (and flat), especially in a night rig.

 

[comfisherman]

I'll concur that under 300 on fox and cats the 22-250 is going to be tough on fur. Main reason the whole sub caliber genre not only exists but has a vibrant following. For sub 300 yards, I'd suggest something in the 50-55grain starting loads. Lot of time we get the big explosions from chasing extremes. Bullet that does good at 3200 can sometimes grenade at 3700, slow it down a bit most should work a bit better.

 

[F224]

I've shot several deer, a couple of coyotes, and a bobcat with Raptor ER bullets and they worked as advertised. They left six petals in the critters, and the main slug left .38 caliber holes on both sides of the animal. Virtually no hide damage.

357 Maximum 150 gr @2450fps. They make .224 bullets that would be ideal for your rifle.

 

[VinceMule]

FMJs may not be legal in your state.

Sierra 52g Match, bthp did not tear up coyotes bad in the 22/250 I shot with 38g of H380. Foxes explode very easy. I would down load the 22/250 with the 52s for fox, around 14g of Blue dot with 2600 fps. Also, it is not hard to just about shoot a cat in half, very soft skin.

 

[topwater225]

IMO - You're going the wrong direction. I prefer slower twist and lighter bullets. That being said, my AR is a 6 DTI (similar speeds as 22-250) I think 1:10 using 70 grain nosler BT's. I seldom have major fur damage. I love the Nosler BT's and they just anchor the dogs. This is the heaviest bullet I plan on using for the DTI. I've shot probably 6 dogs with this setup at 500+ yards, and I feel that is my max distance. However that distance doesn't happen very often as it's usually because a dog is hung up and won't budge or you're hunting pivots. You won't be shooting (or killing) dogs at very far distances with night gear. I know, because I'm also a thermal guy.

My .22-250 gets 50 grain V'max's. Sometimes I get more damage than wanted but they anchor very well. I keep saying the word "anchor" because you will definitely want to anchor them at night. Fur friendly comes as a last priority...LOL.

 

[zerosprk]

Try a 52gr. Berger and 36ish gr. of H380. The last coyote I shot was with that combination. About a 50yd. broadside shot, .224 dia. hole on one side and no exit. Yoke died like he'd been stuck by lightning.