.223 vs. 22-250
Recently my friend bought a varmint rifle in 22-250 and I got a chance to shot it feels good but when I took him to a range I kind of liked my Colt AR15 in .223. To piss me off he claimed that his Remington 22-250 beats my AR any time and that 22-250 is much better cartridge that .223. Not that I give a _____ what he says, but which is better, ballistics and power. Can some one compare those two, or has any one had any experience with those cartridges. I am shooting targets and not as much varmint hunt but in case I would which would be better
Thanks Mark
Thanks Mark
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marek13...look at the size of the cartridge and you can answer your own question. No doubt the .223 has some advantages...zillions of rounds of cheap military surplus rounds, you can find it anywhere, you can load 30 round mags and spray and pray to your heart's content. But for old fashioned varmint extermination there is nothing(except the .220 Swift) like a .22-250 for a pink mist at 200 yards. I've started shooting a 77 grain .223 at 600 yards..it gets out there but there just isn't a lot of power. Haven't taken a shot at 600 yards with my .22-250 but I have to guess it would still be far more impressive even at that range.
Of course with your AR-15 you can enter service rifle competition and have just about the maximum fun possible with your pants on...There's no way a guy with a .22-250 is going to show up for an "across the course" match...he just laughs and tell you about the pink mist instead. Both calibers are good for what they were intended to do. Just keep enjoying your .223. Beach0 -
22-250. Just for an example, 25.2 grains of IMR 3031 would give you approximately 3300fps from a 20 inch AR-15 barrel using a 50 grain bullet. That is listed as a maximum load. Using 35.6 grains of IMR 3031 and the same 50 grain bullet would give you approximately 3900 fps from a 26 inch barrel. That is also listed as maximum load. You do the math on the same projectile with 600 fps different muzzle velocity! The 223 is a great cartridge. Accurate and readily available. The 22-250 is a superior cartridge and in the accuracy department is also great. There were actually BenchRest shooters who used this cartridge early on in it's life. I don't think I've ever seen a 223 listed in Bench Rest results. It was outshot by the now relegated to obsolete status 222Magnum! I speak from experience as I own all 3 and have shot many thousands of rounds through them. The 22-250 is superior in the varminting arena! Hope this helps! GHD 0 -
GHD--you fellers covered that topic purty danged good. I sure envy you GHD when you start telling us about the numbers of ground hogs you get the opportunity to exterminate. I've pretty much had to satisfy myself with occasional crows with an old .222. I've got a 22-250 also but have never shot it much. An old gunsmith up your way but not quite so far west told me 40 years ago that I had to have one; you ever have any dealings with Harvey (Frank) Miles?
OleDuk0 -
beachmaster73-
you stated that the 22-250 would likely be far more impressive at 600 yards than the .223. my question is what 22-250 load has enough bullet weight to reach out this far?? looking through a load list by all major manufactuers the heaviest 22-250 bullet is a 60 grain.(3600 fps) i would think the 77 grain 223 would retain more speed and energy, not to mention stability at such long ranges. am i off base here? please elaborate on your comment as i have both calibers but have only shot at 500+ yds with the 223 for fear the 22-250 wouldnt retain enough oomph0 -
IMHO each caliber has its place,but my Ruger Model77 22-250 will shoot much better than any of my 223s.
Best!!!
Rugster
Toujours Pret0 -
cwinn...I was speaking theoretically but the premise is valid. My .22-250 Ruger Number 1 has a 1 in 9 twist barrel and therefore is most happy with 45-55 grain bullets(and hyper velocities at relatively short range). My match AR-15 has a 1 in 7 twist barrel and truly likes 69-77 grain bullets. If I rebarreled my Ruger with a 1 in 7 barrel to match my AR and then looked at shooting a 70 grain Speer SP bullet from each weapon, I'd see 32 grains of VARGET pushing that bullet out of the .22-250 with an initial velocity of 3200 FPS. The max load the .223 could handle would be around 26 grains of VARGET with an initial velocity of right at 3020 FPS. It really does come down to case size....more powder more oomph. Now I could, right now, reload my .22-250 and shoot 70 or 77 grain bullets through it, but the accuracy wouldn't be there. The difference in getting another 6 grains of powder into the casing is always going to give the .22-250 the edge over the .223. Of course I'm primarily a service rifle shooter; I'm sure the real varmint killers can elucidate with far more clarity than I the relative merits of the .22-250 and the .220 Swift. Beach 0 -
OleDuk, Can't say that I know Mr. Miles but if I'm not mistaken I read about some of his work in Precision Shooting. I had a set of those magazines almost complete from 1962-1995! I used to reread stuff and then discard them then I figured out there were probably some people like me who would like this stuff! Put a note on (we're not supposed to mention other sights, but it's initials are P.U.) and somebody took them off my hands and he has said he can't put them down! If you ever have a chance to get some of the old (60's, 70's, 80's) Precision Shooting magazines take them!! You can learn a lot and most of those old writers were ahead of their time! The guys we read today wouldn't make warts on those guys butts!!! GHD 0 -
marek13....For your stated intentions your .223 is just as good as your friends 22-250. The 22-250 is recognized as a superior cartridge but for your and my uses the .223 is plenty. I have 2 Mini-14's and a Winchester bolt action .223 that I shoot at targets at about 100 yards. I am satisfied with the results in the center black of the targets. Your friend might have another use for his rifle in 22-250 so allow him some leaveway.
If you don't care where you are going, you can't get lost.0
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