Talk me into a caliber! (.204 vs .22-250 vs .243)

What cartrige is best for me?

  • .204

    Votes: 3 4.4%

  • .22-250

    Votes: 12 17.6%

  • .243

    Votes: 45 66.2%

  • Other

    Votes: 8 11.8%
  • Total voters
    68
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W

Waffen

Member
Joined
Apr 26, 2004
Messages
384
After getting a nice offer from my employer and getting certified, I have decided to treat myself to a new rifle. I will be getting a Savage 12VFSS I re-load so ammo availability is not an issue. This rifle will be shot almost every weekend so barrel life will be an issue. This rifle will be used 80% from a 100-200 yard bench, 15% for varmints (Coons, Foxes, Coyotes), and 5% for Deer (small Texas whitetail). I plan to purchase this gun for my G/F to shoot at the range occasionally, so recoil is an issue. Barrel life is a huge issue, if not the biggest. Like I said I will shoot this every weekend, and I reload, so I go through ammo extremely fast.

First:

.204 Ruger:
I know there is limited availability of brass, and when you find it, it is more expensive than it should be, and from what I have seen the bullets are the same way. I'm not real sure what to think about this cartridge, I don't know if it's a gimmick or a solid performer. Obviously the speed of the round is enticing, and the explosive effects on varmints would be a plus. I could not use it on a deer ethically witch is a downside, but I do have a 30-06 that my G/F could use. The recoil factor I am assuming is almost non-existent. I would guess it is less than a .223 witch should be handled easily by my G/F. What concerns me is the barrel burning on these rifles. I can't imagine a .20 cal bullet moving at 4,000+ FPS with roughly the same charge as a .223 out of a smaller channel being anything but brutal on a barrel.

Second:

22-250
I admittedly don't know much about this round, other than it's basically a .223 on steroids. I hear it's quite an accurate round; however I read posts from standout members on this board saying that they could never work a load that shot the way they wanted. I suppose it would be possible with heavier loadings to go for a headshot on a Texas whitetail, however I probably would not. Again barrel life is a concern as with the .204 Ruger. I have never shot a .22-250, but would assume recoil is probably 10% more stout than a .223? This gun would work for both targets and varmints, but probably would not realistically suffice for deer.

Third:

.243
I am leaning towards a .243 only because of the versatility and the range of bullet weights I could shoot out of it. Varmints and deer would be covered, but I am not sure about accuracy. I don't see to many serious shooters on the firing line with .243's so it makes me wonder. I would guess barrel life would be much better with this cartridge, as it does keep the FPS low in comparison to the above listed rounds. What I don't know about is recoil? How hard does one kick?

I know it sounds like I want the perfect round, and I probably do. I guess I just need help finding one closest to my needs. If you have any other suggestions I would be more than happy to entertain them. I don't know anything about the 6.5x55, though it is not chambered by savage, let me know about it. I could change my mind and go CZ.
 
Of the ones listed

I'd go with the .243. You have bullet weights going from 55 gr all the way up to 100 or a little more depending on the manufacturer. Recoil is not that much of an issue. It bumps you a little more than a .22 but still isn't anything that is going to rattle your teeth. My daughter, at the age of 14, was very comfortable shooting mine at the range. If your G/F is still nervous, get her a PAST gel filled recoil pad. She won't feel a thing unless she is very fragile :D . Since you are going to be shooting deer, I wouldn't go with anything smaller than a 6mm. Too much of a chance of not being able to make a humane kill. As to accuracy - with a good rifle and tuned reloads, sub MOA should be achieved if you do your part.
 
since deer is in the equation, there is no viable candidate outside of the 243 of the choices you have listed.
 
Of the choices, 243 is the only viable chambering on your list that'll cover vaminting and small deer with any margin for error. It's easy on barrels, and relatively inexpensive to shoot; my basic range/small deer load uses 35gr-37gr Varget behind a Sierra 85gr GameKing. Can't get much mo' economical than that, and it clusters 10 shots into an inch or less from both of my Savage 99 243s.

Do you have any other CF rifles for hunting use? If so, that'll dictate the 'gap' to fill.... If you already have a larger deer rifle and just want a play rifle, I'd almost suggest a 223. On the other hand, if you don't have any other hunting rifles and need one all-arounder, then you might wanna look into the 260/7mm08 classes. These chamberings have lighter bullets (90gr-100gr) available for varmints and heavier stuff to cover the whitetail bases just fine.

WRT your GF - what I find most new shooters are sensitive to is not the recoil (as in da PUSH) but the blast/flash. I find that most any CF rifles are kinda intimidating in that regard, and that a 22LR or 22Mag is a better choice than even a .223 until they get in the swing of things..

HTH.
 
My point was that if someone wanted a 22-cal range gun and varminter, with most time being spent at the range, I'd recommend a 223 *instead of* a 22-250.
 
For Whitetail, you need the .243.

If you eliminate deer from the equation, I would go with the .204 Ruger. Better barrel life than the .22-250 (though this is probably still not proven--cartridge is too new.)

The folks at accuratereloading.com seem pretty excited about the .204. as a varmit round.
 
If deer hunting is a choice, then the .243 is the answer. It was designed as a combination deer and varmit round to begin with and does it very well. The .204 is definitely NOT a deer round, and the .22-250, while some people use it for deer, is limited by the twist rate. It cannot handle the heavier .22 caliber bullets which are designed for deer hunting in rifles of this caliber.

However, let me point out that Midway www.midwayusa.com sells caliber conversion kits for the Savage bolt action rifles. The .243 and the .22-250 share the same head design, so you would be able to change calibers simply by changing and headspacing barrels -- no change to the bolt or magazine needed.

While the barrel, tools and headspace gauges aren't cheap, they are less than a new rifle and scope.
 
waffen- i didn't see your choice for 'other' earlier... i believe the 25-06 is a fantastic do-it-all chambering. bullets available down into the 85-ish grain range, on up to 140's and i've heard noise of 160's - though it is awfully tough to beat a 25-06 pushing 100-120 grain bullets for an outstanding rifle. enough thump for any deer, soft enough recoil for extended prairie dog shoots... topped w/ a vx-3 4.5-14 or vx-2 4-12, here's your 'one gun'... my wife shoots my 25-06 on occasion, and hasn't complained about recoil.

agree w/ earlier comments - it isn't the recoil that gets new shooters, it is the noise. of course, put a junk scope on a rifle, and new shooter will quickly develop a flinch as the scope will come back very close to the eye, or even pop the shooter...
 
I'd go another route.. a Flat top AR15 chambered in 6.8MM SPC. There is no perceptable recoil difference between it and the .223 chambering. Ammo availability is low... but if you load just svae your brass. Switch out upper and magazines and you have a .223 Varmint rifle. I have heard of 6.8's at Aberdeen going 10k rounds with little loss of accuracy. I have one of these by the way... this is not an " I read about this rifle". It is accurate and pleasant to shoot.
 
Sorry it took so long to reply, I work nightshifts and I'm just waking up :eek:

For thoes who suggested a .223, I neglected to mention that I already own a .223 and really don't want another one. It's a great round, and my g/f loves to shoot it, however she has almost shot my barrel out with how much she shoots it!

I also wanted to say that I do have other centerfires that will cover deer just fine, however I just wanted to add another that would cover double duty as a range queen and a deer gun.

My G/F is not too recoil sensative, she can shoot endless ammounts of .223 or 7.62x39 in a range day, however my 30-06 and .300 Win Mag prove to be too much. I belive she could take a deer with either of my higher power .30 cals, however I am looking for a happy median. Big difference in the recoil of a semi-auto 7.62x39 and a bolt 30-06

Don't mean to nitpick, but aside from the 22 cal bullet, the 22-250 has no relation to the 223 and has been around as a wildcat ince the 1930s or so.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry, I did not mean in imply that a .223 was at all related to a .22-250. I basically was just speaking about ballistic performace.

I'd go another route.. a Flat top AR15 chambered in 6.8MM SPC
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AR's are great guns, and the 6.8 SPC looks like a good round, however AR's just don't "do anything for me". Kind of a strange personal perfrence. Since this is going to be used by reloaded rounds, I also don't want to have to deal with crimping anything. That and brass collection on a semi-auto is not fun.

That and can you imagine a Texas game warden pulling you out of a blind to check you're lisence, and you emerge with an AR :eek:
 
.243.

Unless you axe the deer requirement, in which case .204 ruger, which I believe will have a longer barrel life than the other 2, IINM.
 
.243 can be kinda hard on barrels if loaded to git-r-dun velocities. Lots of powder burning in a relatively small hole. It is a very accurate and mild recoiling cartridge though.
 
I've used a 22-250 on west OK deer with excellent results, BUT, the .243 is the only way to go from your options listed.Since you reload, the hornady 75gr bullets work great in a 788 and a mod 70; 55gr were not all they were wrote up to be and the 107 specialty bullets needed a faster twist than I could give them. 100 gr stuff was fine although I couldn't realise a difference in the deadness of the deer taken :rolleyes: A 260 or 7mm-08 are also excellent choices since you reload, most likely better than the 243 for range work or hunting.
 
My $.02

The .204 is said to be far less a barrel burner than you might think. They say this is because it takes less charge to motivate the small bullit. This is one of the .204's selling points as marketed by Ruger and Hornady. I would choose the 22-250 over the .204 and just factor in barrel life.
 
.243

Ditto on all who said this caliber is needed for deer-sized game. A .243 is the absolute minimum humane deer cartridge IMHO. On bbl burning: The smaller the hole through which you pour the more hot gas, the harder it is on the steel. .243 is a bigger hole than the other 2. Recoil: A .243's is negligible. Have never shot the other 2, but at my last range session there was a guy with his brand-new .204 and you could see that he was experiencing quite a recoil from it. Don't know what he had loaded, though.

BTW, good on you getting the Savage 12VFSS--I have the BVFSS and love it. (mine happens to be .300WSM) I expect that in .243 this rifle will be spooky accurate IF you do your part, and IF you mount some decent glass on it. The $89 Wally World Special 'scopes just don't cut it in the long run. Poor glass will make a great rifle perform so-so. Great glass will make a so-so rifle perform at its best, and allow a great rifle to be great. Going cheapo on the 'scope is false economy.
 
I once had a buddy who swore by the .22-250. Get a few beers into him, though, and he'd admit to losing a few - and he never took shots past 100-125 yards or so. He now uses a .25-06.

Of the choices, you need a .243, and with 100 grain bullets, I might add.
 
BTW, good on you getting the Savage 12VFSS--I have the BVFSS and love it. (mine happens to be .300WSM) I expect that in .243 this rifle will be spooky accurate IF you do your part, and IF you mount some decent glass on it. The $89 Wally World Special 'scopes just don't cut it in the long run. Poor glass will make a great rifle perform so-so. Great glass will make a so-so rifle perform at its best, and allow a great rifle to be great. Going cheapo on the 'scope is false economy.
Click to expand...

lol, you think a Burris Signature Select in 6.5x20x42 will be good enought? I am a firm beliver in mounting nice glass peices. Althought I have been giving a serious thought to Mueller optics. I read nothing but good stuff about them.
 
Waffen;

Well, with a bit of reloading manual reading, & some question asking, & other information gathering, watch out, you might could talk yourself into the better .243.

The 6mm Remington is also a .243 cartridge which will do everything the Winchester family round will do, and then a little more. I also reload & can tell you from experience that the 6mm is a sweetheart. The longer neck allows heavier bullets to seat well & not intrude into the powder volume. Generally speaking, you can either opt for about a 100 to 150 more fps advantage with the heavier bullets, or keep the velocity comparable to the .243 & operate with lower pressure & longer barrel life.

I'm getting outstanding accuracy with Winchester brass, 46 grains of IMR4350, CCI primers, Hornady 75 grain V-max bullets, & an OAL of 2.825". And you ought to see what that V-Max will do to a coyote!

900F
 
I love the .204 Ruger cartridge. I used 200 of my handloads last month in South Dakota, against prairie dogs, with great success. I had been using .223 up until that point. I have found .204 Ruger to be flatter-shooting and bucks the wind better, and I'm using the Sierra 32gr BlitzKing bullet. I use the Hornady 40gr V-Max in my .223 handloads. But, considering deer, it's not the right choice. Against, small vermin, like prairie dogs, it's superb.

I loaded another 250 rounds yesterday, and am driving to South Dakota once again this Thursday to do more of the same.
 
dude

that was a buy , my rem 700 .243 with weaver 6x cost me only the leupold mounts. (DAD gave me the rifle and mom gave me the scope.)
 
If you back off to the starting loads for your target shooting, the barrel life is dramatically lengthened. Load hot for varmints and deer.

I've gotten lazy. I use the 85-grain Sierra HPBT for both varmints and smaller deer. I've mostly taken neck shots on the 20+ deer I've killed with the .243. That bullet does horrible things to jackrabbits and coyotes...

:), Art
 
I don't know about the .243 but my father has a very old ruger M77 (from back when ruger outsourced barrels) in 6mm remington and I could not be more impressed with that cartridge. After zillions of rounds it's still one of the most accurate rifles we have. It's terminal performance on rodents is pretty spectacular with frangible bullets and yes he does also use it for deer. A very versatile round. Only downside is poor availability of a variety of factory ammo.
 
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