Whats wrong with 22-250???

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olyinaz

New member
I never have understood why stoner didnt use the 22-250 cartridge instead of developing the .223 for his ar-15/m16. The 22-250 cartridge is far superior to the 223 and had been in exhistance for a long time.
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It wasn't about what was available, it was about what was good enough and 55gr at 3200fps was deemed good enough. Remember, the thoughts at the time were centered around wounding enemy soldiers, not dropping doped up insurgents. Also, the mags and ammo pouches - everything are much smaller with 5.56mm.

At any rate, my first center fire rifle was a Rem 700 ADL in .22-250 and I bloody well wish I still had it! Sold it when I was 17 and I've regretted it for decades. I have zero against the .223 but as others have said the .22-250 just does it all better out of a bolt gun.

Regards,
Oly
 
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riggins_83

New member
If I was starting out and had no ammo I'd take 22-250 over 223 in a heartbeat. Sadly that's not the case for me.....

It can be loaded very hot, very flat and stays quite stable. There are also some great factory loads for this caliber too.
 
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kiwi56

New member
22-250

I use Ackley improved versions of the 223, 22-250 & 25-06 I do not look at one rifle being any better or any worse tha the other, all shoot very close to 1/2 minute of angle and rather than comparing the different cartridges I feel they all compliment each other.
Generally when I go shooting I know what ranges I will be shooting and and select the appropriate rifle, The 223AI is good up to 400yards and the 22-250AI probably closer to 600yards but for any serious long range stuff (800+) or even at lower range in windy condition the 25-06AI comes into its own.
Too often we get bogged down by the arguments of x cartridge being better than y cartridge. At times the lowly hornet is excellent round, they all have their limitations and there is almost always going to be something a little faster or handle a larger bullet.
 
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tirod

Moderator
The first deer I saw shot was with a .22-250. It was still standing, with an exit hole the size of a basketball and daylight shining through. The guy who shot it was dressing out the larger doe. His son had put it down with a M1 carbine with AP rounds. This was about 1975. Both were not approved for deer in our state at the time.

You can use anything now - as long as it's centerfire. In the day, .22-250 was considered a varmint, and used on crows locally. Calling them in with recordings and pass shooting with a nice over/under was still to come.

I see the success of any wildcat as dependant on expected sales from public demand. It's like buying stocks on the market - you get some losers. Right now the .22-250 has been long acknowledged as the winner in the battle with the .220 Swift. Whether modern ballistics are better or not, the public thinks so.

Hence the popularity of the 6.8 SPC. It's got a history that sells, actually performs well even with the hype, and is getting offered by the major players. Like the .22-250, ammo is production line easy, and the number of available rifles to use it is huge.

Gunners argue the specifics of ballistics, but what makes the grade in the long run is public appreciation of performance with a solid reputation. The .22-250 has that - properly used, a given by responsible owners.

In MO, there are fewer farmers and more suburbanites, long distance shooting is minimal for many. So, the .22-250 is more a prairie dog rifle for a few. And the AR in 6.8 a much bigger opportunity - especially deer hunting, which is where a lot of interest is centered.

The game has to go down to sell the caliber.
 
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Art Eatman

Staff in Memoriam
Around 1937 or so, Nebraska gunsmith Jerry Gebby copyrighted "Varminter" for his version of the 250-3000 necked down to .22. My uncle got one of Jerry's barrels and built one on a bring-back Mauser action in 1946. Half-MOA critter with a Weaver K-10. Remington made some very minor changes when they adopted the Varminter as their .22-250.

The Swift's bad rep for barrel burning came in part from the use of Hercules Hi-Vel, a single-based propellant which burned hotter than IMR. My first Swift was a heavy-barrel Ruger, in the 1970s; a 3/8 MOA shooter with Sierra 52-grain HPBTs.

I've had a couple of Sako sporter .22-250s, but they never performed all that well. I'm sorta between high-power .22s at the moment; only my Rugilator 77 Mk II .223--but, it's half-MOA so why complain? :D
 
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Skans

Active member
A couple of things about a 22-250:

1. The ammo is generally very expensive.
2. The shells are not easy to reload. The beveled area of the case where it's necked down distorts and makes it difficult to resize. And, in my experience 22-250 brass is really only good for maybe 1 or 2 reloads.

I used to reload tons of this stuff for my Rem 700. Granted, I was a novice reloader, but it wasn't all me.....to some degree it really is the cartridge.
 
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L_Killkenny

New member
A couple of things about a 22-250:

1. The ammo is generally very expensive.
2. The shells are not easy to reload. The beveled area of the case where it's necked down distorts and makes it difficult to resize. And, in my experience 22-250 brass is really only good for maybe 1 or 2 reloads.
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#1) BS
#2) BS

Quality .223 ammo and quality .22-250 is the SAME cost. I'm not talkin wolfe crap.

I started reloading with a .22-250. I had never reloaded before. Within an hour I was getting ammo that shot sub MOA. And I can get 6-8 reloads outta my brass. Never had an issue (or anything close) when resizing.


LK
 
H

Horseman

New member
A couple of things about a 22-250:

1. The ammo is generally very expensive.
2. The shells are not easy to reload. The beveled area of the case where it's necked down distorts and makes it difficult to resize. And, in my experience 22-250 brass is really only good for maybe 1 or 2 reloads.

I used to reload tons of this stuff for my Rem 700. Granted, I was a novice reloader, but it wasn't all me.....to some degree it really is the cartridge.
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I strongly disagree with all of this. The 22-250 has a reputation as being easy to load for. 10 loadings is not uncommon for me on any of the 22-250 rifles I've loaded for. 22-250 is one of the more common factory chamberings used in "varmint class" 300yd benchrest at my club. I have never had any issues with the "beveled area where it's necked down" nor has any other loader mentioned it that I've shared load data with.

My guess is you had a bad batch of brass or a bad die. That complaint is not typical of 22-250 sizing.
 
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edward hogan

New member
Nothing wrong with the .22-250, but give some thought to going .22-250 Ackley. The .22-250AI is better.

Would be very interested in shooting 90gr match bullets in one. A fast-twist barrel would really give you some options.

The guy wanting to shoot in an AR-10 just needs to think 6mm or 6.5mm.

The .22-250 is a great case, and is what David Tubb started out with for the 6mmXC. 6mm or 6.5mm avoids being "over-bore" which gives such poor barrel life, and still delivers 1000yd accuracy

Dominion Rifle Club of Canada published an article by a guy who was shooting 90gr JLK bullets at 1000yds from a bolt in .223 rem. He got 15-20rd groups that averaged 2.5" vertical dispersion....

How much better could a .22-250 AI with 6.5 twist barrel have done?

I will take BC over velocity anytime.
 
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Skans

Active member
I strongly disagree with all of this. The 22-250 has a reputation as being easy to load for. 10 loadings is not uncommon for me on any of the 22-250 rifles I've loaded for. 22-250 is one of the more common factory chamberings used in "varmint class" 300yd benchrest at my club. I have never had any issues with the "beveled area where it's necked down" nor has any other loader mentioned it that I've shared load data with
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Like I said, I was a novice reloader at that time. However, I did check case length, and I what I reported about deformed brass is 100% accurate in my case. My cases would typically bulge in the beveled area, rounding it out. This made it difficult for me to chamber reloaded rounds. I used to shoot this gun every weekend for about 2 years, so I went through quite a lot of ammo, much of it reloaded. At most, I could get 3 reloads out of one shell.....at most. Remington 700 22-250 is what it was shot out of.

22-250 used to cost me nearly $1.00 / round for new ammo many years ago. Back then, I didn't really have a large number of choices, and this was way before the internet.
 
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GONIF

New member
IMHO the 6mm Remington is a better soloution to long range than a 22 250 .:D the clear choice for a varmint round under 300 yards is the .223 any longer the 6mm is the way to go .
 
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L_Killkenny

New member
Remington 700 22-250 is what it was shot out of.
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Guess you shoulda bought a Savage huh? LMAO

In all reality, your issue had to be gun related. I've never heard anything but praise from reloaders concerning the .22-250. To condemn the .22-250 because of a gun related issue is not accurate.

As for ammo cost: Winchester .223 and .22-250 are within 5% of each other for any flavor. Most of the other manufactures are the same. Now again, I'm speaking quality ammo. If the .22-250 ammo is $18/20 the .223 will be the same or no more than 5% less. Same if the .22-250 is $23/20 and so on. In other words, both cost about a buck a round. Comparing hunting quality .22-250 to plinkin crap in .223 again is not accurate.

LK
 
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Horseman

New member
Like I said, I was a novice reloader at that time. However, I did check case length, and I what I reported about deformed brass is 100% accurate in my case. My cases would typically bulge in the beveled area, rounding it out.
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I don't doubt that happened to you and I am in no way calling you a liar. I am merely pointing out this is NOT typical of sizing 22-250 cases and no doubt strange things have happened to every cartridge man has ever reloaded. It is not an accurate representation of the typical 22-250 sizing process.
 
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Skans

Active member
In all reality, your issue had to be gun related. I've never heard anything but praise from reloaders concerning the .22-250. To condemn the .22-250 because of a gun related issue is not accurate.
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Who knows - maybe it was gun related; maybe it was user error, maybe it was the dies - this was over 20 years ago. Was Savage even making a 22-250 back then?

I don't nor ever would condemn the 22-250. My Remington 700 was a very accurate rugged and reliable gun. I had that gun for years and shot the heck out of it. The ONLY thing that I mentioned was that when I reloaded 22-250, for whatever reason, the shell life wasn't very long and the gun didn't really like the reloads I made for it to digest. It was a bolt action, so I could smack the crap out of the bolt and eventually get it to shut.

It's a heck of a lot better round than the .223 - my only problem with it is that it deformed my brass to the point where I could only re-use it about 2, maybe 3 times. About every 3rd trip to the range, I was spending $40 on new bullets.

What more do you really want from me - I'm not "dissing" the 22-250, just leting others know that its more expensive to shoot than .223 and using reloads (for me anyway) was a real PITA.
 
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DiscoRacing

New member
Well,,well,,,well... For those previous replies pro and con.... There IS an issue of the bevel swelling forward...and it was NOT shot from a 700...but a savage... I tried to reload some of the new brass that I had already loaded and shot, and found that it would not rechamber after resized...I have a set of hornady dies.... does anyone have a clue why this will NOT take the bevel back down?? Am getting a set of lee dies as we speak... Im not sure if it is the dies... but in my op... full length sizing should mean that the bevel is back to where they are when new.... which they are not....
 
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