Does the 22-250 really have the stuff?

Hey everyone,

So here is the deal. I have a deer lease. During the off season I hunt hogs and coyotes with my .270 (it's all I have besides a ruger 10/.22) because I don't like hogs tearing up my land or coyotes bothering my deer...and well I just like hunting them. However, I am getting tired of using deer ammo for smaller animals. I've heard the .22-250 has the stuff to knock them down and go the distance at 300-400 yds. Will a .22-250 really kill a hog or a coyote without it running 300 yds or more post shot, given a good shot.

I have shot a lot of 125 to 200 lb hogs. I would stick with the deer rifle for the hogs at that distance. Hogs are tough critters and hard on bullets so use a premium bonded or Partition type deer bullet for those longer shots.

A well placed shot with a 22-250 on the yote should be effective but I have no experience on yotes at that longer distance. I have shot several at 150 yds with a 223 and had no problems. Another 400 fps with the 22-250 over the 223 should allow you to stretch that distance a bit. Remember that a heart / lung shot on a yote is the shoulder, not behind it like on a deer.

Have fun with them varmints!

Keith

I don't know what you mean by "deer ammo". The difference per round of .270 ammo versus .224 ammo is just pennys.

The answer to your question is, yes, a well placed 55grn or 60grn .224 bullet at 3500/3600 fps will get the job done.

Read some of P O Ackley's articles about the .220Swift written in the 1940's.

uj

I have hit chucks with a .223 Rem, .22-250 Rem & Ackley and a .220 Swift. Guess which one of the 4 dose not require a shovel to move the mess. That 500 fps makes a difference to small bullets.

...Just use the .270..lol.. ;)...By the time you buy a new gun & scope setup, think how much .270 ammo you can buy for that price.. :o

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Originally Posted by 1Shot

...Just use the .270..lol.. ;)...By the time you buy a new gun & scope setup, think how much .270 ammo you can buy for that price.. :o

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+1

You didn't say anything about reloading your own ammo, but that could save you some money and you could tailor your ammo to the particular varmint that your dealing with.

But then on the other hand it's always fun just to buy a new gun. I've been floating the idea to my wife that we need an 338 Edge :D

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Originally Posted by 1Shot

...Just use the .270..lol.. ;)...By the time you buy a new gun & scope setup, think how much .270 ammo you can buy for that price.. :o

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1Shot, that is just the kind of practical thinking that this site was designed to fight. Of course he needs a new gun. Why? Becasue he needs a new gun, enough said.

If he wanted to hear your kind of logic, he would have asked his wife :D

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Originally Posted by BrentWin

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Originally Posted by 1Shot

...Just use the .270..lol.. ;)...By the time you buy a new gun & scope setup, think how much .270 ammo you can buy for that price.. :o

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1Shot, that is just the kind of practical thinking that this site was designed to fight. Of course he needs a new gun. Why? Becasue he needs a new gun, enough said.

If he wanted to hear your kind of logic, he would have asked his wife :D

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Originally Posted by BrentWin

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Originally Posted by 1Shot

...Just use the .270..lol.. ;)...By the time you buy a new gun & scope setup, think how much .270 ammo you can buy for that price.. :o

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If he wanted to hear your kind of logic, he would have asked his wife :D

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..Where do you think I heard that from..lol..

you need a .22 centerfire to save you a bruised shoulder. the cost of the new rifle is less then the cost of shoulder surgery. long term the light recoil, cheaper ammo, will pay for the rifle. ;) the rifle holds value, so it is a good investment.

it is always easier to ask for forgiveness then permission! You found a good deal on a used one. Looks just like new., don't it! :)

Buy the 22-250 if the .224 don't put a big enought hole in the yote....


you can alway have Northland get you a Nice Shilen in .308 barrel

I say don't buy......build, a new 22-250. I say that because you need to get one with a 1-9 twist and use heavier bullets, up to the 69gr on most and even some of the 75gr bullets, if you single load. Point is, you can pack a lot more whallop with the heavier bullets and still be easier on the pocket and shoulder.

Use a Barnes 63gr TSX and I doubt even at 300yds you'll ever recover a bullet from pig or yote.

Besides, you ALWAYS need a new gun. ;)

If you want to hunt hogs and coyotes with the same rifle, I would NOT go for a .22-250 ..... they are fine coyote meds but when you factor in hogs ....

......... I would go UPSCALE to at least a .243 but better still a .257 Bob

Three 44s

The 22-250 has the stuff. A well placed shot will drop hogs, deer and coyotes. I have a 22-250 and I have seen the results of a 55gr on a lot of deer and hogs. A well placed shot to/through the ear is devastating. The 22-250 is a pleasure to shoot and the 1-9 twist offers a lot of options.

Okay for deer, but light for hogs.

With a 223 or a 22-250 I use a neck shot for deer. I hate tracking. The last deer
I shot with a 22-250 in the neck, it blew out the top part of his skull.

That said a 22 cal 62 gr barnes bullet should DRT a hog with a good shot.
The barnes bullets are expensive though so now you are back to expensive ammo.

I personally use a 308 or a 338 for hogs. Really tough critters. My neighbor shot a hog a while back with his 270,
thought he missed it. WE found it the next day, only a 100# sow, good shot, and the freekin thing ran about 150 yards and died.

Only gun I have used that would drop them in their tracks on the spot every time was my 338 with barnes bullets or a 375 ruger I use for a while.

I like my cousins approach too. He has an AR15 with an eotech site and buys bulk FMJ cheap ammo and
showers them with lead.

Loads 30 round clips and just unloads on them. Usually dumps the entire mag.
Last story I heard is he got 8 hogs with one mag full.

If you can get close enough you could try a 12 ga with buckshot with the plug out. Farmers hunting at night trying to get rid of hogs have been doing that.

I know of 4 guys that get together, in a jeep, find them at night with night vision optics, slowly creep up on them then they hit the lights and all four guys unload with buckshot. They kill a lot of hogs that way. That or trapping is about the only way to keep them down.

You have to kill 7 out of 10 just to keep the population in check.

Everything I have read about hogs tells me there tough critters, I would personally go to a 243ish caliber to do what you want. If I was going to kill just hogs, a good accurate 308 would be the ticket I would think. I would personally buy a rifle capable of killing hogs and then you will have plenty of rifle to whack a dog.

I used a 22-250 for a rifle hunt in texas and when we skinned that deer one of the shoulders was completely destroyed, so we couldn't get any meat of it. The other shoulder had bruised spots too so yea a 22-250 is plenty enough for deer.

once took a sow with a 30-30 entered the right rear ribcage destroyed the heart and out through the left front. the sow ran at least 30 yards before stopping. was about 150lbs of pork. ;D

As far as yotes. The 22.250 will do the job very well. If your shooting hogs and you can't shoot him in the ear I think I would pass. I'm not sure as to how hard there skull is, but I can tell you at 250yrds I shot a hog dead in the shoulder with a 3006 and he still went through 200yrds of the thickest stuff you can imagine! I go to SC. to shoot hogs every year. I now take my 270wsm and still want take a shot unless I can shoot him in the ear. A hogs vitals are futher forward than on a deer. If you shoot behind the shoulder like on a deer you will miss his vitals. Breaking that shoulder plate is hard to do. Well that's what I think. I would be scared to try to take one even with a ear shot with a 22-250. They are tough as hell!

You have a 270 you can use it for hog and deer. You can buy or build a 22-250 and use that for yotes and deer and small game too.

I have a 308 srub gun for hogs and a 223 for all varmints, ferrals, etc and deer. I can use the 308 on deer also if i choose. I also have a 22-250 AI for longrange shooting and a .17hmr for the small suff. I have a few other guns too but those are my goto firearms and most used.

I do personally love the different firearms and calibres available, but really love the idea off one calibre does all. If your looking for that one gun for all and you dont care bout the yotes pelt maybe you should get a quater bore rifle. A 250 savage or if you relaod or have a friend who does a 250 savage AI are my recomendations. Then you can take hog, deer, yote etc with that one rifle

The 250 AI can equal the 25-06 with less powder in a short action, im slowly getting one for myself and savage has the 250 as a shelf item....

http://www.savagearms.com/firearms/models/

I use a 22-250 alot on deer and use Seirra 52 gr. BTHP MKs, it flat out puts them in the dirt even with a marginal shot placement. I talk to a guy on another forum that shoots lots of hogs in TX. with his 250 and loves it. Good Luck

If you are not going to build a rifle or reload, an off the shelf solution might be a Savage VLP-DBM 22-250 with 1 in 9 twist barrel. With a good scope, bipod, and sling, this rifle will weigh in around 17 -18 lbs. and be very mild with respect to recoil. In my opinion, any shot beyond 200 yards on game animals larger than coyotes with off the shelf ammo would be inadvisable due to velocity loss and subsequent reduction in bullet performance.

Winchester makes 22-250 64 grain PP that would be "adequate" provided good shot placement on hogs, and good for pretty much any smaller/lesser game animals.

On the off chance you want to go the reloading route, the Hornady 75 and 80 grain Amax bullets would an even better choice in ammo.

I agree that the 270 would be a better choice but due to medical reasons, I have to go easy on recoil. The 22-250 is SOOOOOOOOO much more pleasant and enjoyable to shoot compared to the 7mm Remingtion Mag or 30-06.

It depends. If you reload, I'd suggest the 243. Use it with 70-85gr bullets and you'll kill either yotes or hogs with ease. The nice thing about the 243 is you will NOT have yotes running off, even with a fairly bad hit. I have used mine on yotes, and all I can say is do not use it if you want the pelt :o.

Seriously, the 243, with a 70gr bullet, will give about the same recoil, and the same trajectory and velocity as the 22-250 with a 60gr load. When I loaded some 55gr Sierra's I was exceeding 4000fps. Recoil was almost in 223 class. I gotta tell you, when shooting bullets that fast, it a real treat to see the impact BEFORE recoil has a chance to move the rifle. That is with a sporter weight barrel too. The 243 is a superb varmint caliber with a 70-85gr bullet, and loaded with an 85+ is a great deer round as well, easily to 350-400yds. On hogs I'd say it ought to do it at 300 and under.

Just ordered my 2nd Savage a Model: 12 VLP DBM in 22-250 and this ones for the varmints so I hope it will work well on the yotes/bobcats/foxes..Oh and if it doesn't do the job my my other Savage is 300WSM don't think I'll have any problems with knock down power here if 22-250 can't get the job done.

Since acquiring a 223WSSM, the 22-250 seems like a complete waste of time and money. I use a 223Rem for lighter stuff, and the WSSM if I need to go up whilst staying with a 22-cal. That said, I'd use a 243 or a 25WSSM for the multi-tasking under discussion here.

Quarter bore is the way to go.....
I use a .257 Rob for evrything: Deer, yotes and when I get a chance hogs. The coyote in the pic by my name was shot at 250yds running with my .257 Rob and he crumbled like a card house. Shot all the deer I've killed in the last several years with it also. I hand load a 100gr BT and it works great for all of them.
I have a .22-250 that I shoot crows with and a .17HMR.but my .257 is my all around Fav

The .270 gets my vote. My dad shot a 250 pound hog with his 243 and one lunged him at 70 yds didnt find him for a week. He trailed him in the brush for an hour and half and couldnt get another clean shot. Not saying it wont work but it didnt for him. That being said it depends if you want the meat or if your just shooting to get rid of them, the 243 did kill the hog but didnt kill him quick enough to salvage meat.

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Originally Posted by MZ5

Since acquiring a 223WSSM, the 22-250 seems like a complete waste of time and money. I use a 223Rem for lighter stuff, and the WSSM if I need to go up whilst staying with a 22-cal. That said, I'd use a 243 or a 25WSSM for the multi-tasking under discussion here.

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Seems like alot of extra powder used in the 223WSSM for minimal gain over the 22-250 i woudlnt bother, the 25WSSM was aslo a failure wouldnt bother with that either. There are many other quarter bores out there that are a better choice.

Just as much advantage and gain/benefit of the 223 WSSM over the 22-250 as there is in the 22-250 over the 223 Rem. I will agree, though, that there are an unbelievably large quantity of fools out there who merely repeat the party line of Win/Olin's competition, without any actual experience with the WSSMs whatsoever. Check the AR world; EVERYONE is building on the WSSMs.

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Originally Posted by ghogslugger

I used a 22-250 for a rifle hunt in texas and when we skinned that deer one of the shoulders was completely destroyed, so we couldn't get any meat of it. The other shoulder had bruised spots too so yea a 22-250 is plenty enough for deer.

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Well the Texas deer that i have seen are no bigger than a large dog, so sure a 22-250 will work fine. Most people shoot deer in the 200lbs plus range though and a 22-250 is just too light to be effective in the hands of anyone short of marksmen at very short range. Killing should be merciful. Save the 22 calibers for the crows and coyotes please.

My personal preference for deer and hogs would be a 25-06, but there are many options that fit the bill :)

I also belive the 25-06 is the perfect deer cartridge. And I also believe the 22-250 will be around long after the WSSM's are little more than footnote in cartridge history books. But, to each his own. I do realize that there are better bullets available these days for the 22's that were not available just a few years ago.

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Originally Posted by 1Shot

...Just use the .270..lol.. ;)...By the time you buy a new gun & scope setup, think how much .270 ammo you can buy for that price.. :o

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Ditto! ;D

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Originally Posted by EFBell

I do realize that there are better bullets available these days for the 22's that were not available just a few years ago.

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If you do use proper bullet choice like a barnes tsx or nosler partition then the 22-250 WILL be fine for all deer given correct bullet placement.

While a 22-250 MAY bring a nice buck down, In my opinion is barely sufficient to do the job and then only when placement is perfect.......

At 200yrds a typical .224 bullet that started at 3700fps has less than 1000ft lbs of energy left. At 300yrds it's down to less than 750ft lbs.

I've taken more than 40 head of Muley out west, with shots from 200-600yrds, Most, If not all were taken with my 270win using 130gr loaded to 3100fps. At 200yrds it's still got over 2000ft lbs of energy, enough to put a deer down with a nicely placed shot....

For many, many years my 22-250's have taken coyotes with no problem, but for big game, give me a big game rifle......

I've seen to many wounded animals running around from hunters that have gotten excited and not placed a bullet where it belongs and in the heat of the moment it's so easy..... Use a rifle that's designed to bring down the animal your hunting and practice, practice...... JMHO

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Originally Posted by Three44s

If you want to hunt hogs and coyotes with the same rifle, I would NOT go for a .22-250 ..... they are fine coyote meds but when you factor in hogs ....

......... I would go UPSCALE to at least a .243 but better still a .257 Bob

Three 44s

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Agree. I've been shooting a .22-250 for a long time, and it is great p-dog and yote medicine, but for a hog I would pass. .243 would be better, not a great hog gun, .270 is much better, but better than a .22-250.

I like the 22-250 also, but it is not a deer round. Well maybe some of the dog sized Texas deer, but not what I call deer sized animals across the majority of the US. A .243 is a minimum in my book.

Im gonna say this.. i kill deer with a 223 people kill deer all the time with a 22 hornet. Do i suggest this to everyone well no, but is it as humane and just as good as other calibres.. yes as long as you know how and what to do. Deer is by far not big game it is medium at best. Larger bore size is not a substitute for poor bullet placement in my books.

I shoot a 12FV 22-250 with a 1-12 twist and 55gr Sierra Spitzers, and on Coyotes it stops em in their tracks. I have never had the opportunity to take a hog, as them seem to be far and few between here in the midwest. As far as an all around gun that's light on recoil and cheap to shoot I always seem to find myself reaching for my my 12FV in 308 Win. If you need a gun to do it all I love the heavy gun and hard hitting power of the 308 12FV. Too bad they discontinued it for 2009. :-\

i also have a fv 22-250 and i have shot two hogs back to back with 55 grn sie. first shot i hit the 200lb hog right behind the ear drt the second was running towards me <150lbs>an shot him under the chin ,drt. 1st shot @ 125yds an 2shot @ 100 yds . 22-250 works for me with well placed shot :)s. have not shot deer with it ,i use 257 weatherby for deer it also works on hogs VERY WELL. ;D

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Originally Posted by MAGNUS

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Originally Posted by EFBell

I do realize that there are better bullets available these days for the 22&#39;s that were not available just a few years ago.

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If you do use proper bullet choice like a barnes tsx or nosler partition then the 22-250 WILL be fine for all deer given correct bullet placement.

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I personally feel that even the .223 is a perfectly acceptable round for most deer, but I&#39;d hesitate to use any .224 caliber round for mule deer. I don&#39;t doubt that an exceptional marksman could drop a charging grizzly with a .22 lr, but he would probably feel like a jackass drawing such a puny weapon.

Not that I wouldn&#39;t shoot a mule deer with a .22-250, I&#39;d just hesitate. It would have to stand broadside to me for half a minute like on all the hunting shows. You know, the kind of deer that doesn&#39;t spook when you start speaking in a low voice with your friends 150 yards away. If such a mule deer presented itself to me, I would take the shot with a .22-250.

Provided I have confidence in my load.