What is you favorite caliber in 125 grains or less?

5.45x39 7n6

6 BR Norma with 80 grain Bergers , very accurate and low recoil . Second choice is 6 x 45mm with same bullet and same reasons .

224 Valkyrie
I have had great accuracy with 77 grain hand loads.

25-06 with 100 gr - 120 gr bullets
6.8 SPC II with 110 gr bullets
22 Creedmoor with 75 or 88 gr ELD-M's
223 with 75 gr or 77 gr bullets

Did I miss something or does no one else still have a fondness for the beloved triple deuce or the 22-250 for varmints? yeah I'm into the 6mm and 6.5mm modern cartridges too but for 100 grain or more the old 25-06 was my first love and is still a great one.

.243 95 gr SST

6 Dasher- 105 Berger Hybrid

257 Robert's,

7.62x39. Nice and punchy at iron sight range.

For hunting, the 100gr 243 has always worked for me.

6.8spc would be my favorite. Mine stacks 115gn fusions and 120gn Hornady SSTs together good enough to where I can use either round without any scope adjustments. I do have some 95gn TTSX bullets I want to work up for the it.

Cowhide Cliff said:

Did I miss something or does no one else still have a fondness for the beloved triple deuce or the 22-250 for varmints? yeah I'm into the 6mm and 6.5mm modern cartridges too but for 100 grain or more the old 25-06 was my first love and is still a great one.

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The 22-250 seams all but forgotten now that people have moved to faster twist rates and 75-90 grain bullets in 223. I don't remember the last time I saw a new rifle in 222.

someguy2800 said:

The 22-250 seams all but forgotten now that people have moved to faster twist rates and 75-90 grain bullets in 223. I don't remember the last time I saw a new rifle in 222.

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I've wondered why someone hasn't tried (or maybe they have) chambering a rifle in 222 or 22-250 with a faster twist rate and chambered with a long throat to run some heavier bullets.

Target:
6MM SLR and 105 Berger Hybrid
.223 69 Sierra Tipped MK (1:9 twist) and Sierra 77 MK (1:7 & 1:8 twist)

Hunting: .260 Rem and 120 Nosler BT (whitetails)

Cowhide Cliff said:

I've wondered why someone hasn't tried (or maybe they have) chambering a rifle in 222 or 22-250 with a faster twist rate and chambered with a long throat to run some heavier bullets.

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There have been several threads here of late doing exactly that. It's a neat combination - pushing a 75gr at 3200fps to 3300fps with low recoil, decent ballistics, and using only ~32gr of power along the way.

I don't have a favorite. I like 5.56 with 77 SMK, 224 Valk with 80.5 Bergers and 6mm Creed with 107 SMKs or 105 Hybrids

Cowhide Cliff said:

I've wondered why someone hasn't tried (or maybe they have) chambering a rifle in 222 or 22-250 with a faster twist rate and chambered with a long throat to run some heavier bullets.

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Quite a few people have done fast twist 22-250’s but it’s a custom affair. It tricky to take an old cartridge and change the throat and twist and offer it for sale with factory ammo, because if someone bought the new style ammo to shoot in their older short throated rifle, they will either be blowing primers or sticking bullets in the barrel. It’s easier for the manufacturers to just make a new cartridge because it solves the ammo problem and then they have a new wiz bang wonder cartridge to advertise. I would say the modern equivalent to the 22-250 is the 224 valkyrie and the 22 nosler.

viking499 said:

Is that your varmint or hunting load?

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In South Georgia I wouldn’t mind using it for anything. It wouldn’t be my preferred deer bullet, just because I don’t trust the penetration, but then there are much better options to load in the .308 Winchester for that.

6.5 grendel. More power than a 223 and it still fits in an ar mag well.

2nd place: 257 roberts ackley improved. Cases last forever, recoil significantly less than 308, plenty punchy, and when there is a panic, 25 cal seems like the last bullet diameter to vanish. (Shameless plug: I have an ackley reloading set in the classified section)

3rd place: 277 wolverine. I haven't tried it, but I love it on paper. Similar ballistics to the 6.8spc, made from plentiful 223 brass, fits in an ar. It looks like everything I wanted the supersonic 300 blackout to be.

Honorable mention 6mm arc 105’s 87’s 109’s to name a few lol

75 grain Hornady BTHP Match in 223 and for fun, 110 grain FMJ from a 30-30. I’m almost out, so naturally they’re my favorite now.

I use a couple different ones.

The first is a 222 Remington, with a 50gr Sierra. It's murderously wicked on furry critters out to about 250. Possibly my favorite rifle cartridge of all time.

The second is a recent addition. I just finished a Savage 110E build in 243 Winchester. So far, I've used 60gr Sierras and 85gr Speers. Both are boringly accurate, but I've not yet seen how the Speer performs against a live target. The Sierra load turns coyotes off, that simple.

Third, and final, is the good old 30-30. I load a 110 grain Hornady, that will absolutely stomp a varmint as far as iron sights can see. Or at least as far as I can use them. The result is, well, wicked. It is almost too heavy for a varmint load to be honest.

Mac

300 Blackout Handloaded with either 110 grain Hornady VMax for GP use or the Hornady 110 grain GMX for repelling borders.

For me, .22-250 all the way. Love shooting prairie dogs and the 250 is my favorite gun for that. 1:14" twist with 55gr hollow points; low recoil and it's capable of reaching out there a long ways.

250-3000 savage. I use 75 grain bullets for varmints and wood chicks and 117 grain round nose bullets for deer both hand loaded. Cases formed from 22-250 as 250 savage cases are getting mighty scarce these days. Good hunting.

I have always been a 7mm & 30 caliber guy.

Of the guns that I have owned and used in taking game and punching paper the 25-06 is my favorite with under 125 grain bullets. I do own a 243 win but have not used it on game yet so the jury is still out until I have some experience with it.