varmint rifle

C

Chet

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I have a friend who wants to start varmint hunting, presently I hunt with a 9 twist 223, shooting the 75 Amax and a 6BR with a custom barrel, I am thinking of suggesting a Savage 22-250 with a 8 twist, I think they are available, Is this a good choice for him. any suggestions, he wants a factory rifle to start with. I feel the 22-250 with the fast twist will be a better choice for long range varmint than the 6bR, am I leading him on the right track.


thanks
Chet
 
A .22-250 with a fast twist barrel and heavy bullets would be okay for long range varmint shooting, but I think that barrel life wouldn't be too good. It all depends on what type varmints he wants to shoot. For marmots where there aren't likely going to be a lot of rounds fired in a short time it's not a problem. For prairie dogs where the shooting can sometimes be hot and heavy the long heavy bullets will do a .22-250 barrel in pretty quickly if they're loaded to take the most advantage of their higher BC's.
 
Larry Elliott said:
A .22-250 with a fast twist barrel and heavy bullets would be okay for long range varmint shooting, but I think that barrel life wouldn't be too good. It all depends on what type varmints he wants to shoot. For marmots where there aren't likely going to be a lot of rounds fired in a short time it's not a problem. For prairie dogs where the shooting can sometimes be hot and heavy the long heavy bullets will do a .22-250 barrel in pretty quickly if they're loaded to take the most advantage of their higher BC's.
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Hello Larry

We will be shooting PA groundhogs, shooting will be more like maybe 10 shots the most when hunting a day, maybe 50-100 shots a season, plus what ever it takes to find a load for the gun. aside from that what kind of barrel life are we talking from a Savage 22-250 with the 75-80 gr bullets near maximum velocity, I am after something with more killing power over 500yds without getting into something like a 6AI ect.

Chet
 
Chet

Chet said:
Hello Larry

We will be shooting PA groundhogs, shooting will be more like maybe 10 shots the most when hunting a day, maybe 50-100 shots a season, plus what ever it takes to find a load for the gun. aside from that what kind of barrel life are we talking from a Savage 22-250 with the 75-80 gr bullets near maximum velocity, I am after something with more killing power over 500yds without getting into something like a 6AI ect.

Chet
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pushing heavy bullets as fast as safety in reloading will allow will probably get you 5-8 years at your above rounds per year plus load development(a big wild card as to number of rounds though). The 22-250 uses a lot of powder for the bore size. I have an early 70's Winchester M70 varmint rifle, 1-14 twist that has about 1200 on it and it is moderately fire cracked for about 2 inches in front of the chamber. It still shoots pretty good.
 
Have you ever tried a 25-06? Good bore life, accuracy, trajectory, distance and hits hard. I don't have one but a buddy of mine does and it really smacks them.

Hovis
 
22-250 barrel life

Burned out a Remington factory barrel, Hart stainless, and a Shilen stainless, all between a documented 2300 and 2500 rounds. Bullets started keyholing, heavy copper, and an increasing number of "wild" shots. All with the standard load combo of 38 grs. H380 and 55 gr. HP bullets, slow rates of fire. All barrels were 1-14 varmint contours.
 
HovisKM said:
Have you ever tried a 25-06? Good bore life, accuracy, trajectory, distance and hits hard. I don't have one but a buddy of mine does and it really smacks them.

Hovis
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Hi Hovis

A few years back I had a Rem Sendero in 25-06 wasn't crazy about the accuracy, although I made a 587yd groundhog kill, took the gun apart and built a 6.5x284 and sold that also, but I been having second thoughts, maybe go back and try a 25-06 if my memory serves me right. the recoil was a bit much for Groundhogs, is the 6mmAI and easier on barrels than the 22-250 with an 8 twist.

Chet
 
Chet

Look into a 6BR,the accuracy is great,velocity will surprise you and brass is avaible from Lapua.Dies are easy to find.
Check 6BR.com for more info.
Nick
 
nickloy said:
Look into a 6BR,the accuracy is great,velocity will surprise you and brass is avaible from Lapua.Dies are easy to find.
Check 6BR.com for more info.
Nick
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Hi Nick

I am on my second 6BR, first was a douglass 27" barrel from SSS on a custom stock, shot it out at 2800 rounds, my current 30" 8 twist Pac-Nor, shoots the 80 Fowlers at 200yds with great accuracy. but I don't feel this hits any harder than my 223 9 twist shooting the 75Amax at 3000fps, now I could be wrong saying this, this is just my gut feeling shooting the 2 calibers, my buddy has 6AI shooting the 87 Vmax and this bullet gets way out there compared to the 6BR.

Chet
 
All this jibber jabber about varmint hunting, Savages and 22-250s has me thinking that I just might have a spare take off 22-250 barrel that I should sell.
 
savage12LRPV said:
it does say centerfire benchrest, they also double as varmint guns but guess you would not understand that............
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I guess from that remark that you have never used a LV Benchrest rifle for varmints.

22-250 hasn't been used for "Benchrest" for about sixty years...........:eek:


Glenn:D
 
i have not used 22-250 for br but i do use 223 and for 100 yd br out to 600 yd br.
 
savage12LRPV said:
i have not used 22-250 for br but i do use 223 and for 100 yd br out to 600 yd br.
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Hello 12LRVP

I started out doing some BR shooting with a 222, then I carried that BR concept into varmint hunting, I started with a Savage 22-250 112bvss with a 12 twist, then I moved into a Savage 12bvss 223 with a 9 twist and shooting the 75 Amax bullet, the BC of that bullet is around .435 and at 3000fps, I have had better luck connecting at longer ranges like 400-600 yds over the 22-250 shooting the 52gr bullets at higher velocities.in fact I feel more confident with my 223 shooting the 75 Amax then the 6BR shooting the 75 Vmax at the longer ranges, In all reality this should not be, the 6Br should work out better, but I will try testing some other bullets and powders for the BR.

Chet

PS any good ballistic software for click settings on scopes.
I have been using PCB ver 1.8 but looking to try something else.
 
I've seen some 25-06's that shot great and some that shot poor. For groundhogs, I didn't really mind the recoil and the splat factor was nice. I was once siting in my 257 weatherby Mark V. I was done and sitting at a the bench at my Dad's when way out...(a walked 575 yds) we seen something move. It was a groundhog. Only having the weatherby, we discussed it and I had just ran it over the chrono and figured the drop in my mind (kept wanting to hold higher but overcame the urge) and WHAM...rolled him and cut him about in half....I held about about 4-5 inches over his back. This gun for a hunter gun was a 3/4" 3-shot gun. The only downside was mining the copper out of it....I'd rather chip through granite with a rubber mallet.

That fall, I was checking the sighting for deer season at my former father-in-laws. Just got done and was just sitting at the bench taking things in and a deer walked out of the woods (some pines) and stood broadside, right in front of the target, the gun was still in the bags and was lined up....talking about a deer who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I guess the sighting in made him curious. Nice little seven pointer.

Hovis
 
Hovis...

HovisKM said:
I've seen some 25-06's that shot great and some that shot poor. For groundhogs, I didn't really mind the recoil and the splat factor was nice. I was once siting in my 257 weatherby Mark V. I was done and sitting at a the bench at my Dad's when way out...(a walked 575 yds) we seen something move. It was a groundhog. Only having the weatherby, we discussed it and I had just ran it over the chrono and figured the drop in my mind (kept wanting to hold higher but overcame the urge) and WHAM...rolled him and cut him about in half....I held about about 4-5 inches over his back. This gun for a hunter gun was a 3/4" 3-shot gun. The only downside was mining the copper out of it....I'd rather chip through granite with a rubber mallet.

That fall, I was checking the sighting for deer season at my former father-in-laws. Just got done and was just sitting at the bench taking things in and a deer walked out of the woods (some pines) and stood broadside, right in front of the target, the gun was still in the bags and was lined up....talking about a deer who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I guess the sighting in made him curious. Nice little seven pointer.

Hovis
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I just have to ask...what diff did the copper make since it was a 3/4" gun and was it deer season yet? :)
 
We Understand completely....

savage12LRPV said:
it does say centerfire benchrest, they also double as varmint guns but guess you would not understand that............
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That's why the attention was brought forward that this is not a varmint or hunting forum. There are hundreds of those with probably better information than that is readily obtained here. If left unchecked, this site would soon degrade into a over used, mediocre, hunting forum where opinion counts more than facts.

Sorry for the abruptness...virg
 
Savage 22-250 for varmints

The Savage 22-250 rifles only come in a 1-12 or 1-9" twist. The 22-250 in a Savage would make a good starter rifle. If cost for a factory gun is not an option I would look at the LRPV right bolt left port. The negatives this rifle has to other Savage Varmint Rifles is the extra weight, ( much heavier to walk around with ), reduced number of after market barrels for this action and additional cost. What you do get for the extra money is typically a more accurate rifle, nice HS Precision Stock and slightly better target accutrigger.

I always recommend a 223 to starting varmint hunters. The recoil is less, the cost of factory ammo is substantially less ( you did not mention if he is going to reload ) and it is such a great little caliber.

The 223 will not anchor a chuck as well as a 22-250 at 300 yards or more but I doubt if many of your shots out East will be over 300.

Mike.
 
glp said:
I just have to ask...what diff did the copper make since it was a 3/4" gun and was it deer season yet? :)
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Yeah, it was deer season...I always get started late. Four or five shots takes two days of soaking and about 100 brush strokes to get out. Haven't tried bore foam on it yet.

Hovis
 
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