22/250 or 243 win

I'm thinking #1A in .243 w a Leupold 4X compact........as my polite deer rifle.

The .22-250 has been a pain in the butt to reload. Case stretching is terrible and I've had to trim cases after each firing when using relatively hot loads. I should have re-chambered mine to .22-250 Improved to reduce stretching, but the rifle shot too darned well to take the chance. It won lots of turkey shoots for me...resulting in it being banned from my favorite shoot in Boothbay, Maine.

I've not had that experience, but then again I set up my rifles for minimal headspace. Dunno if one particular brand of rifle/barrel is more prone to generous chamber dimensions than others.

rbernie said:

I've not had that experience, but then again I set up my rifles for minimal headspace. Dunno if one particular brand of rifle/barrel is more prone to generous chamber dimensions than others.

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I understand that the reason the .22-250 cases stretch so much is the combination of body taper and shoulder angle. The .22-250 Improved corrected both of the problems and it became easier on cases. It could also be loaded to higher velocity than the original.

Since I no longer hunt for woodchucks and crows, I had my last .22-250 re-barreled to .243 Win and never looked back. The .243 Win is a much better coyote and deer round. I'm very impressed with the cartridge and handload some impressive rounds for it.

I dunno - when I measure case length growth over time, my 22–250 brass does not seem to grow at a faster rate than, say, my 223. In fact, I would say that my 300 Blackout brass is the worst at the amount of case length growth between firings. I have always assumed that is due to generous chamber dimensions and a poorly defined shoulder allowing brass flow. I have always heard that, regardless of case taper, brass cannot flow beyond the defined chamber dimensions.

mushu said:

22/250 or 243 win which would you choose, it would be used for jack rabbits p dogs coyotes and just a bumming around rifle for the desert, what do you think.

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You probably don't need any more opinions, but here's mine anyway. My brother and I have shot 100s of the targets you listed. On our trips we usually had, among other calibers, a .243 and a 22-250. With them we killed lots of critters. But, over time (15 years of prairie dog shooting with occasional jack rabbits and coyotes) we eventually left them in the case and opted for .223, .204, and 17HMR. You will never go wrong with a .243 or 22-250, but IMO the .223 and .204 are equally suited to the task in terms of killing and have the added benefit of less recoil and less noise. The 17HMR is especially quiet compared to all the center-fire rifles and zero felt recoil. It is really a fine round for prairie dogs and jack rabbits, plus fairly cheap to shoot and no reloading.
I still get plenty of use out of my .243s (I have 2) with deer and coyotes. Of course, I can shoot coyotes with my .223 and .204, but prefer my .243 just because I like it.

yep 243 is cool as I like the 100gr loads better for me

Because we hunted woodchucks in April and early May in Maine, I found the .22-250 a bit too wind-prone for consistent hits beyond 200 yards, so bought a heavy-barreled 6mm Rem, which worked well, but because we walked miles in search of chucks, was way too heavy. Chuck hunting became difficult, due to the numbers of people and coyotes hunting them, so we quit and I traded the rifle toward a Weatherby O/U that my son still uses.