What should my next Varmint rifle be
- Thread starter bsnyder
- Start date
Help Support Long Range Hunting Forum
longrangebo
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Oct 8, 2005
- Messages
- 292
Go with the 6aI wow!
Terry Lightle
Well-Known Member
What Varmint Hunter said or 22 Creed for wolf
Purple Haze
Well-Known Member
I would do the 22 Creed if you are going to be shooting coyote and wolf for sure.
Xjetmech
Well-Known Member
I have had a .222, for over 40yrs, and still take it out when I can. I'm trying to save up to re-barrel my 6mm Rem, to a 6AI. In my experience, If most of your shooting will be on anything larger than a bobcat, and you want 1 shot kills, go with a 6AI, or the 25-06, either stock or AI. There is still plenty of .30-06 brass around, you can re-form, if you can't find factory.
I am in a similar situation to you in that I have a 223 bolt gun that I use for varmints. It is a great caliber and I shoot 55 and 69 grain bullets from it. I have found that the lighter bullets get blown around by the wind a good bit the farther away the target is, somewhat limiting my effective range to around 300 yards. I realize that there are better Shooters on this forum who have a greater effective range with the 223 than that, I'm just sharing my experience. I began looking for a second rifle caliber to extend my range and have bullets that were more wind drift resistant. I settled on a custom rifle in 6 Comp Match caliber. It is a wildcat cartridge based on the 243 Winchester cartridge. I shot a 105 Hornady Amax bullet with a .500BC at 3100fps that is much more wind resistant. I would recommend looking at the 6mm class of cartridges (243 Win, 6 Creedmoor, 6XC, 6BR, 6 Comp Match) as they will allow you to shoot heavier bullets of higher ballistic coefficient that are more wind friendly. You have the options for factory chambered rifles or custom route. The cartridge you choose just depends on how fast you want to send the bullets, weather or not you reload your own ammo, and the price that you want to invest. Good luck with your decision.
That was going to be my suggestion . I have one also, Love it
SteelShooter24
Member
22 Creed will cover them all the best with a good BC bullet and lots of speed. But if your focus is on smaller varmints, I'd stick with a 204 or 223. 223 barrel will last a lot longer than the other two.
Bret GRAVELINE Graveline
Well-Known Member
One thing that may help is how do you like to hunt, where do you like to Hunt, Are you shooting praise dogs in a town, rock chucks at evelation, jacks rabbits in the sage brush, calling predators from a stand?
Of the ones you listed, I would vote for the 204 or the 222. 204 for the speed, 222 for the class. However, since you have a 223, and you want to stay around $1k, I would up my capabilities to cover more bases and go with a 243 Win or 6mm Creedmoor.
CONatureBoy
Well-Known Member
Besides the 22-250 AI, I also varmint with a plain-Jane 243 Win with a 28" heavy-varmint taper barrel. It sends varmint bullets of various weights at 3,300-3,800 fps without trying very hard. For longer-range varminting consider any of the 6mm cartridges (a 243 for under a grand will do ya'), especially if you can find one with a fast-twist barrel to spin those long, heavy-for-caliber bullets. For closer up I love the explosive velocity of the 22-250 AI.
as an avid coyote hunter, I like some bullet weight for quartering shots where frontal quartering shots go though the shoulder then vitals, or rear quartering shots where the bullet breaks a hip joint, then travels to vitals.
The 22/250 AI is my very favorite coyote rifle, and I have had a room full of coyote rifles over the years. No flies on a 243 Win, 243 Win AI, 6 Rem, or the 6 Rem AI.
As you can see, I like to use enough gun. If I knew 90% of my shots were going to be 100 yards and under, then I would go 223 with 55g Sierra's, Ballistic tips, with a hot load of 8208 at 3450 fps out of a Remington 700.
50 lb coyotes where I live are not unusual, and I shot a coy dog a few years ago that weighed 63 lbs. These varmint rifles also make excellent hog/deer rifles if the caliber is big enough. The Std 22/250 loaded with 60g Partitions massacres deer like a 30/06 with FAST 150g bullets.
I quit saving pelts, and I just want those fawn killers real dead, real quick!
With a shortage of dies like no time in history, the easy button would be a22/250 and 243 Winchester. I would recommend the 22 Creed, but I did a search for dies for a friend recently and there was only one set I could find and that was from Whidden dies.
Dies and brass for the 243 Winchester and 22/250 are available, especially if you put a "want to buy" out on his and other boards.
Last edited:
I'd pick up a used Savage mdl 10,11,12 or 16 with a 308 bolt face and build a straight 22-250 or AI. The twist rate will depend on the bullets you want to run. I've killed groundhogs out to 470 yards with a 55gr Sierra Gameking out of my Savage mdl 12FVSS and wouldn't hesitate to shoot a coyote or bobcat at that distance with that bullet. Coyotes aren't hard to kill, tough yes, but hard to kill, no.
For wolfs I'd add a 6mm/243 barrel chambered in something I could stretch out if wanted, it only takes about 15-20 minutes to change barrels on a Savage. If you reload or not will decide (would for me) the caliber, 22-250 and 243 are normally readily available.
I built two short action LH Savages last year, a 22-250 and 260. Both have 24" Shilen Select Match SS barrels, and both are shooters. I have less than $750 without glass in each rifle, one started as a complete 308 and the other an action/bolt/trigger. I sold the 308 barrel to offset a little of the cost.
All this and $1.75 will buy you a cup of coffee in some places.
For wolfs I'd add a 6mm/243 barrel chambered in something I could stretch out if wanted, it only takes about 15-20 minutes to change barrels on a Savage. If you reload or not will decide (would for me) the caliber, 22-250 and 243 are normally readily available.
I built two short action LH Savages last year, a 22-250 and 260. Both have 24" Shilen Select Match SS barrels, and both are shooters. I have less than $750 without glass in each rifle, one started as a complete 308 and the other an action/bolt/trigger. I sold the 308 barrel to offset a little of the cost.
All this and $1.75 will buy you a cup of coffee in some places.
