cheapest caliber to easly reach to 200 yards

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Paper punching, the possibility of varmits, and cheap. It's a 223. I'm a fan of the 22-250, but it doesn't hold up in the cost dept, unless your reloading, then it's close. The 204 has the same downfall for that matter. Get a respectable 223 and have some fun.

If you do plan on using this gun for varmits, then 30-06 is a bit much.
 
Well, here's the real question: what kind of accuracy do you require and what kind of sights do you feel you will need? If you really want 1-2" at 200 yards, then cheap ammo is not part of the equation. For that you'll have to go with handloads, good commercial loads or "sniper/match" grade surplus, and of those only the handloads are cheap.

Now getting to 200 yards with reasonable drop isn't much of a problem. All you need is a rifle shooting at 1800 fps or so and pretty much all modern centerfires do that.

7.62x39 or 7.62x54R are about the cheapest out there and there are some decent loads available for them. I find 7.62x39 Golden Tiger to be fairly accurate. I can get 2 MOA groups with it using my Saiga if I allow the barrel to cool between shots. Unfortunately, the only tackdriving rifle I'm aware of in 7.62x39 is the CZ527 and that will run you about $500 and then you'll want to add glass. In 7.62x54R, 148 gr. Wolf shoots really well out of my M39. I get about 2 MOA with it and that's with iron sights. Unfortunately, Mosin Nagant's don't really lend themselves to scope mounting and the Russian ones seem to have pretty lackluster accuracy.

5.45x39 is also cheap, but you'll pretty much be limited to shooting it out of a Romanian AK.

Cheap commercial plinking ammo for the .223 and .308 tend to deliver abysmal accuracy.

So if you really want to shoot cheaply and accurately, you can buy a used Remchester with a decent scope and then spend another $4-500 on handloading equipment and supplies. With some work that should get you to MOA accuracy for around 30 cents a shot and will cost you maybe $900.

Another option might be to find a good shooting Mosin Nagant and scope it. Most aren't terribly accurate, so you might need to go through half a dozen or so before you find a really good one. Or you could spend $300 and get a good Finnish rifle, (those are accurate). Add a scout mount, pistol scope and a lace up cheekpiece and you'll have a 2 MOA rifle using 50 cent ammo. You can still shoot the cheap surplus stuff, but don't expect the same accuracy with it. With handloads you might even get it down to MOA.
 
the more i read and talk about it i think the .223 will be best, im just looking for something that can reach to 200yards and still be close to where i aim for varmit, most of it will be around 100-150 yards max.
 
I'll have to give the Bulgarian a shot. I've got 3 unopened cans of it that I got in exchange for a POSP. So far I've used Czech silvertip and Czech copper washed, Albanian, some really awful stuff that came on stripper clips, (don't remember the country of origin), and two varieties of Wolf. Of all of it, the copperwashed FMJ Wolf was easily the best, but the Czech silvertip was nothing to sneeze at and I even had pretty good luck with the Albanian.
 
I also recommend the stevens 200 in 223. I have one and love it. Mine has easily shot MOA with hand loads off sand bags. I think that with further load development, and possibly a better rest, I can tighten the groups even further. Mine has a 1:9 twist, which will work with some of the heavier bullets. Right now I am shooting the 65gr sierra gameking over varget. The gun's favorite load will shoot 1.85" high at 100 yards for a 200 yard zero. Muzzle velocity is about 2875fps. With the 60gr V-Max at a velocity of just over 3000 fps, I sight 1.6" high at 100 for a 200 yard zero. Also with the low case capacity, vs 22-250, you can get a lot more rounds per lb. of powder. As always, YMMV, but I dont think you can go wrong with the stevens. Plus, if you ever decide you want a larger caliber, you can swap the barrel on the stevens yourself.
 
Listen to J Warren

That is the second time in 2 days that I have had to write that. Apparently you can still get Wolf ammo for around $5/20. Last time I looked at Wally world they had some Remington Fmj for $7/20 and you can probably get Federal bulk pack Hoolow Points for $60/200. The Savge rifle is the way to go. Spend a little more on the Accu-trigger you won't regret it. If you plan to do any real amount of shooting start reloading.
 
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