Varmint Velocities with a Bang

Choose your favorite


  • Total voters
    69
Status
Not open for further replies.
I ordered a Savage bolt action
.223 Remington Rifle to try some of the Factory Ammo that's out there, like the
Hornady Superformance 32gr. NTX and the 40gr. V- Max that are claiming to have some fast Velocities
 
Savage 11 in 22-250 that i put in a Boyd’s stock and topped with a Leupold VX-2 4x12.

I just glass and pillar bedded the stock in December. (Many thanks to THR for the many helpful bits of advice on that project)

When i re-sighted afterwards with 55g Nosler BT over H4895 i had 3 shots just over 5/8”. I also like Sierra 55g HPBT (#1390) over IMR 4064.

I enjoy it so much that I’ll bring it along when i’m taking my son deer hunting (he seems to have claimed the 30-06)

(64g Nosler PSP are my pet load for the 22-250 for deer).

upload_2020-1-27_21-39-11.jpeg
 
For our past three or so ventures up to South Dakota for prairie dogs, I've shot a 204 Ruger AR-15 with a 26" heavy barrel. Pretty good medicine on prairie dogs out to 500-600 yards.

I like the ability of quick follow up shots with the AR-15 but I load 10 round magazines with only 5 rounds. It helps me consider that I will have to reload more frequently so as to make my shots count better.

I chose 204 Ruger over the 223 Remington becasue it shoots a bit flatter out to a bit longer ranges than the 223 Remington.

My shooting companion has a 22-250 Savage Model 12. Also good medicine on prairie dogs but it has a bit longer reach than my 204 Ruger.

I'ver been working on a 22 Bench Rest bolt rifle for my next prairie dog trip. with heavier bullets, I hope it will have a bit longer reach than the 22-250 or the 204 Ruger. I will take the 204 Ruger as back-up.

To get out to 1000 yards and more more on prairie dogs, I feel a larger caliber is necessary, 6mm or 6.5mm. I'm kind of wishing I'd built a 6mm BR rifle instead of the 22 BR. If the 22 BR does not perform, the change over will be just a new barrel. The rifle is built on a Savage action.

Just my opinion. There are lots of good cartridges out there that will get the job done.
 
I guess it depends on the critter, some small ones I can’t tell the difference in mangled animal between a 35 grain Vmax out of my .22 hornet, just over 2800 fps and a 52 grain JHP moving at 3700 fps, either can make a little bag of goo out of a varmit.
 
Hornady is boasting a whopping 4,000fps from their 35gr NTX , Superformance
.223 Ammo, looking forward to checking it out on the Chrono. and seeing how well it performs.
Has anyone tried them yet ?
 
savage-arms-110-tactical-rifle-1507133-2.jpg
I've been using my Savage 110 Desert Tactical 6mm Creed. for target shooting with great results but I'm looking forward to
trying out the .223 Remington with Varmint Loads
 
I cut my teeth on a 22-250, rebuilt it into a fast twist AI, but eventually conceded to the AR-15 and 223rem. That was many moons ago now, and I’ve largely stuck with the 223rem since then. I have a 22” 204R AR-15 and still have a 700 in 22-250, but I favor the 223rem on most days, simply for the logistical simplicity - I shoot them a BUNCH, so I just keep a boatload of 223 brass, ~50lb of Varget, and a whole bunch of 50 Vmax’s on hand ready to get pressed whenever I need to restock live ammo.

Always love seeing Varmint threads - especially for how many appearances are made by Savage 12 BVSS’s!
 
I cut my teeth on a 22-250, rebuilt it into a fast twist AI, but eventually conceded to the AR-15 and 223rem. That was many moons ago now, and I’ve largely stuck with the 223rem since then. I have a 22” 204R AR-15 and still have a 700 in 22-250, but I favor the 223rem on most days, simply for the logistical simplicity - I shoot them a BUNCH, so I just keep a boatload of 223 brass, ~50lb of Varget, and a whole bunch of 50 Vmax’s on hand ready to get pressed whenever I need to restock live ammo.

Always love seeing Varmint threads - especially for how many appearances are made by Savage 12 BVSS’s!

One of my son's and i took my 2 Savage 22-250's out yesterday. I wanted to see if the one I got on a Cabelas sale 3 years ago would duplicate its first outing where I had shot an 1 1/4" group at 325 yards (first three shots through the rifle). My cousin did a 3/4" group with it also that day.

Yesterday the first three for me at 300 yards was 5/8" with one in the middle of the x.
When I bought this rifle it was $319 after the Cabelas discount and I got a $100 rebate from Savage so it cost me $219 +tax. I put a 10X40 Tasco scope on it and I'll never own a more accurate rifle.
 
I started with a Ruger #1 in 22-250. I have never had any of the accuracy problems associated with the #1. It does one half or less minute of angle at 100 yard with 40 and 45 gr. bullets and a tiny bit larger with 50 gr. bullets in my handloads. I still have it but shoot it very little anymore. A scarcity of prariedogs is the reason. I also built another 22-250 on a (blush) Axis action for a coyote rifle. It does very well with my 55 and 60 gr. handloads running in the half to slightly larger minute-of angle groups at 100 yards. Despite building a completely new stock and installing a Rifle Basix trigger and it's good accuracy I can't love it a whole lot.

I finally got into the .223 game in the early 2000's with a G2 Contender with a 23" bull barrel. This little rifle is super accurate with my 40 gr. handloads but it suffers from the same prairiedog problem. Not long after S&W came out with the M&P AR I got into the AR OR game for a coyote rifle. I've modded it with a low profile gas block, free float hand guard, and LaRue two stage trigger. It's no Contender in the accuracy department but I can do three fourths to one minute accuracy at 100 yards with 55 and 60 gr. bullets in my handloads. Both the the 22-250 and 223 coyote getters are suffering for action due to smart coyotes and a geezer that can't hike long distances anymore to find dumber coyotes.
 
Last edited:
.22-250 AI , takes factory ammo with a 150 FPS loss on first firing . From then on it has 200 FPS possible velocity gains over factory ammo and longer brass life. Get it wit a 1-8" or even 1-9" twist and you can shoot bullets over 63 grains no problem. A 75 Grain Amax at 3500 FPS is absolutely amazing and far out classes any .223. Also the .22-250 is the superior deer round if pressed into that use. I used the 60 grain Nosler Partition for years on the light Blacktail deer (I must confess also used that bullet in the defunct .224 Weatherby too) with 100% success . With 45 or 50 grain bullets touigh enough to hold up to 4000 fps they vaporize pests and work great on Coyotes to 500 yards. Love my ..22 -250s !
 
With 45 or 50 grain bullets touigh enough to hold up to 4000 fps they vaporize pests
I'm with Mr Gordon on effectiveness of light bullets at high velocity. When I ordered this Rem. 40-X .223, I specified a 1-14" twist so I could get best accuracy and close to 4000fps velocity 40 gr bullets. Effect on prairie gogs is spectacular. Also ordered it with LH bolt even though I shoot right handed, I can get off more shots PM (Per minute) with left bolt.. DSC_0342.JPG DSC_0367.JPG
 
I have never been interested in the .204, because my friends who run them say it is difficult to impossible to get the same velocity from handloading that you do from the factory. The velocity is kind of the whole point.

Between the other two, I would break it down by which platform you would rather run. If you prefer to run an AR, run .223. If you prefer to run a bolt, run 22-250.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top