22/250 or 6BR?

[North Fork]

I have a 6br with a 13 twist i shoot 68gr and 80gr bergers on prairie dogs

 

[Varminator]

Try the 6BR and 87g Vmax, 9 twist. That combo blows up prairie dogs out to 800 yards. It will give better barrel life than the 22/250, and will stay in the wind much better. I shoot that combo over 3100fps out of a 28 inch gain twist barrel. That barrel has over 1800 rounds thru it and is still shooting sub 1 inch groups at 300.

I have to agree with LCazador. I have a 10 twist and my next one will be a 9 twist. I also have several Dashers but there are definite advantages to being able to expand the neck on a new Lapua case and drop the ball powder without weighing each load and insert the bullet.
No fire forming no neck turning and shoot everything from 55-95 gr accurately. My 10 twist won't shoot the 95s but my 9 twist will. I have had several 22-250s and have one now but almost never shoot it and am going to have a 9 twist .243 cut down to 6BR. I mainly shoot the 70gr SBK, 55gr SBK, 87gr VMax and the 80gr NosBT.
Mark

 

[Dan Hall]

I have both a 6 BR and 22-250 in Dakota Predator/Varminter. The 6 BR consistently shoots better and it's easier to find accurate loads. I use a 65 gr V-Max in my prairie dog load at about 3700 FPS. It's a laser. If varmint bullets are your main goal I would go for a 1-12 or 1-14 twist. But really the 6 BR shoots everything well with a 1-10, except for the 100 gr and over bullets. The 6 BR like the 6 PPC is so inherently accurate that it's easy to find accurate loads with just about any bullet you want to shoot. By the way this thread needs pictures

 

[jerdebson]

I agree, more pictures. Beautiful wood by the way.

 

[GrocMax]

22/250 and 6BR? No time needed on that decision, 6BR.

But, you need to build a 20 Practical to go along with it.

 

[vtmarmot]

I would get Bryan Litz' book "Applied Ballistics" for the program that comes with it, and for the bullet data it contains. Run hypotheticals on all the bullets of both calibers and the velocities you expect. I just did this for all my varmint and competition rifles and it is an eye-opener. My two least wind-affected rifles are a 6BR Savage Long Range Bench rest shooting 108 Bergers and a .260 Remington shooting 140 Nosler Custom Comps. I'm taking those to my next egg shoot. For Varmints, my choice would be my 6BR Cooper with a 1/10 twist shooting 80 grain Berger flat base. I also invested in a hand-held wind and weather meter. I'm learning a lot about wind these days.

 

[AckleymanII]

look at the BC of a Nosler 55g ballistic tip, shocking..........

in my 27" lilja 6BR with zero freebore, I am shooting the 55g Nosler at 3900+ and my groups at 300 yards are better than with any other bullet, and the bullet drop. Also shoot the 65 v max at 3700, but the 55's group tiny groups.

Heavy 22 caliber bullets do NOT blow up ground squirrels, they all turn into crawlers.

Also, if your 22's will shoot the 53g Hornady V max, the BC is close to the 60g V max.

In the future, you may turn one of your rifles in to a custom 22/250AI with a 12 twist and shoot the 60g V max at 3700 fps out of a 27" barrel or the 53g V max at 4100 fps.

Also, the 75g V max or the 70g Sierra Blitz King at 3800-3850 out of a long barrel'd 12 twist 243AI would be a great pick also.

If you skin the hide off a ground squirrel, there is not much to it, so use a poly tip bullet of some kind and the Sierra Blitz kings are more explosive on ground squirrels than the V max in my experience.

Don't shoot a match bullet on ground squirrels(1/2 the size of a p.dog at max) past 200 yards. Match bullets just pencil a hole through the animal, and they may not even react to the hit, and a minute later they may just fall over kicking or crawl off to the hole. Do the humane thing and kill the pesky animal instantly buy blowing them up.

 

[5spd]

I see you have a .220 & 22-250 & IMO you already have your 600 yard beldins squirrel & p-dog guns.
My pal runs his 1/12" tw .220 swift w/the 55g vmax and 53g vmax to 700+ yards w/no problems, winds or not.
Forget the build IMO, buy more bullets w/the money saved and get to shooting, but that's just me and 4-6k rounds a year into them from 50-700 yards and a simple .223.

 

[pacificman]

I see you have a .220 & 22-250 & IMO you already have your 600 yard beldins squirrel & p-dog guns.
My pal runs his 1/12" tw .220 swift w/the 55g vmax and 53g vmax to 700+ yards w/no problems, winds or not.
Forget the build IMO, buy more bullets w/the money saved and get to shooting, but that's just me and 4-6k rounds a year into them from 50-700 yards and a simple .223.

Have to agree with 5spd here but seems you can never have too many rifles! I would love to have a 6br myself. I have a 22-250 and have hit many a squirrel out past the 500 yard mark and further but at these distances there is almost always just enough recoil to need a spotter which is also fun too as I enjoy spotting for my buddies. Lately I have been liking the 20 calibers especially the .204 and can't wait to get the 20VT as you can see your hits without a spotter at any range you can shoot. If I was to get a 6br for prairie poodles I would build it as heavy as I could so you could see all of your hits at any distance.

 

[dkhunt14]

Put a brake on and you should see hits. Matt

 

[pacificman]

Put a brake on and you should see hits. Matt

Yes...great idea! I seem to always forget about that. Going to do that for future builds myself.