Which 22 caliber?

[peterf225]

I am looking at building a walking rig for coyote/deer hunting. I have the action and barrel blank already. I have a Shilen 22cal 8 twist blank and plan on shooting the 75gr A-Max. Which caliber would you recommend and why? I am considering the 22BR, 22-250, and 22-250AI. Thanks for any input.

 

[Klong]

22-250 is what I would choose.

Reasons:
1. You can buy ammo if you need to.
2. It will kill everything you want to shoot.
3. Plenty accurate.
4. You could sell it easily.
5. No need to fireform. Saves on barrel life!
6. Brass is not as expensive as the BR.

 

[m-saunoras]

for a walking rig, 22-250 definitely

good brass is available without forming and you're not going to gain a whole lot between the other 2, not enough in my opinion.

obviously the BR will be more accurate/efficient but not so much so that it's in a class of it's own. the AI would be the fastest but at the expense of having to fireform brass for it. i doubt a yote would know if you shot him with an AI or a BR

now if you were asking about a bench gun then you have a whole different story. it's gonna hurt to loose a piece of BR brass in the weeds ;D

 

[zedsdead]

You can't go wrong with the 22BR or the 22-250. The AI version is FAST but you will burn up some of your barrel life fire forming and if you check the ballistics on the 22-250 with 75 grain bullets it's already pretty damn impressive.

At the end of the day any of the three will do just about anything a reasonable person can expect out of a .22 caliber rifle.

 

[Phil]

I really have to do things the hard way.....I went with a .22 Dasher.

 

[JLDavid]

I did to phil. I went with 22 BRX. It shoots faster than 22-250 and 22-250 AI I had. More accurate too.

 

[kitsap]

Reasons:
1. You can buy ammo if you need to.
2. It will kill everything you want to shoot.
3. Plenty accurate.
4. You could sell it easily.
5. No need to fireform. Saves on barrel life!
6. Brass is not as expensive as the BR.

Clearly the 22-250 for the reasons above plus if your action is a repeater it will feed easily and reloading dies are readily available.

DougF

 

[dtucker]

Go with the 22-250. It is a fantastic cartridge and has all the speed you need. As said above their is alot going for it. I have had a few through the years and it has never let me down varmint hunting. I had no problem working up a load quick and all where sub 1/2 inch guns. Their will always be 1 in my safe.

 

[jawshunting]

Peter, I'm going with a 22-6mm AI. I got rid of the Shilen because of the twist. Several guys I know are shooting the 22-6mm AI and the 22-240 Weatherby. They have done extensive testing with all sorts of bullets and told me I messed up going with the 1 and 8 twist. They told me that the 1 and 9 twist is what I needed. I went with a Krieger 1 and 9, because Midway had it in stock. Anyway, they advised that the 1 and 8 shooting fast as they are, the bullet was turning with too many RPM's and they were coming apart before hitting the target. They found that the 1 and 9 or 1 and 9 1/2 were ideal for what I'm doing. Honestly, I have no idea, as the fast 22's are new to me. I know this does not relate too much to your question, but letting you know why I got rid of the Shilen. For what you are wanting, the 1 and 8 will be fine. (I think) By the way, I plan on smoking the bullets, and I know it comes with a price (barrel life) but you only live ONCE.

 

[357Mag]

Which .224" caliber?

Peter -
Howdy !

I went w/ my own wildcat.... .35 Rem necked down to .224" cal; after
multiple .22-250's failed to meet my ( accuracy ) expectations.

This included both factory .22-250s from Rem, Ruger & Win; and also multiple custom .22-250's that I either owned & loaded for; or loaded/shot for friends.
I had custom .22-250s that were 'smithed by Ackley, Meracle; and Sinclair.
Also tried out a .22-250 'smithed by Penrod. These were OK, but I wanted more/better acuracy. .22-35 met my expectations.

Accuracy load in a 24" Hart SS 1-14" was Hornady 55SX over either 41.2gr WW760
or 41.6gr VV160 and FED LR BR MAG primers. Accuracy load vel was 3,690fps from 24" bbl.

In a 28" SS K & P 5-groove, .22-35 could put 3,500fps on a 75 "A"-Max.
That load was 40.5gr AA3100, and FED LR BR MAG primer. For accuracy load, I only had to swith primer to FED LR BR..... vel dropped to 3,420; but groups were superbly tight. This type of bullet/bullet wt/vel maked .22-35 a valid 1,000yd varminter. Inside 500, a shorter barrel ( shorter than 26") should work fine.

.22-35 has easier to form shoulders than .22-250 AI, and provides usefull vel w/o having to shoot the extra powder the AI requires.

I also liked both my .22-35s ( 1-14 & 1-8 ) better than my custom 1-14 .22BR.
Available power and confidence @ longer ranges made the difference.

There are finite limits to what the smaller capacity .224" cases can accomplish, even w/. the faster twists/longer barrels.

The 1-14" .22-35 went past 3,400 rnd before it ever keyholed its first bullet, and that was after years of barrel abuse.... when I was ignorant over how to treat a good ( custom ) barrel.

Best of luck in your endeavors !.

Regards,
357Mag

 

[m-saunoras]

kinda off topic but i've got a question for you 22-6mm shooters

i have a factory savage 9 twist 22-250 barrel (which doesn't shoot good enough for me to leave it on the rifle) if i get it rechambered to 22-6mm or 22-243 will it clean up the throat a little bit?

i figure this tube is the perfect candidate for a barrel burner cartidge

edit - i should have looked in my hornady loading manual before posting this. the 22-6mm is over .300" longer than the 22-250