Does the 22-250 really have the stuff?

[wheeledrifleman]

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.

[kkeene]

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

[Uncle Jack]

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

[Blue Avenger]

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.

[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..

[ICUDIEN]

...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..

+1

[Skunce]

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

[BrentWin]

...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..

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

[CJ in WY]

...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..

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

[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..

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

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

[Blue Avenger]

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! :)

[the_right_reverend]

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

[handirifle]

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.

[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

[Joe T.]

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.

[tammons]

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.

[Quackaddict]

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.

[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.

[gmac75]

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

[letsshootem]

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!

[MAGNUS]

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/

[wildwv]

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

[Live Oak]

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.

[handirifle]

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 .

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.

[TesTed]

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.