22-250 220 swift 243 whats better for varmint-whitetail hunting

C

cb guy

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i have been considering buying a rifle for my wife for all around varment hunting and have been considering one of them calibers for her to replace the 38-55 she now uses,anybody have any input on them calibers.pro or con thank you.
 
Easy choice....243. You can use bullets from 55gr. at 4000 f.p.s.+,all the way up to 100gr. Great for varmints; deadly on whitetails.
 
While they will all work for varmints, I feel that anything less than the .243 is too light for deer. Just my opinion, and I'm sure that somebody else will tell you otherwise. In fact, just about a week ago I was listening to a guy go on and on about how deadly the 22-250 was for deer, funny thing is, he was carrying a 7 mag for deer hunting, and telling several of us that our .270's were weeny rifles. I got my deer, he didn't.
bergie
 
No lower than .243.

And, personally, I think the .243 is a little light for deer, but that's just me.

You may want to take a look at the .250 Savage.

This is, quite frankly, an INCREDIBLE cartridge.
 
The problem with the small-caliber, light-bullet cartridges as deer-cartridges is that of a bad hit. In the neck, or in the heart/lungs, smaller deer drop quite readily. A hit on a heavy bone can result in a surface wound, with the deer escaping to die unfound, wasted. Same for a gut shot...

I'm not saying this can't happen with a .257 or an '06, but it is less likely.

Of the three, the .243 is the best choice. With the 100-grain bullets, the .243 has been proven to quite effective on white tails. I've taken some 20 or so, myownself.

Mule deer? I go to my '06.

Regards, Art
 
Hey cb guy, Though lots of folks use various 22 caliber centerfire rifles on Deer each year, they are just not my choice. I normally take a Deer or two each year with a 243Win and have done so for a long time. My current bullet choice is the 90gr Speer Hot-Cor, but have no arguments at all with the folks who recommend the 100gr weights.

One other problem inherent to these smaller calibers is a general lack of Sectional Density which (generally) equates to penetration ability. Some of the places I hunt have a very dense understory. Due to this, an "Exit Hole" is a tremendous benefit, especially if the shot is taken near dusk.

So, between the calibers you listed, I'd vote for the 243Win. But if you reload, I'd recommend the good old 7mm-08 in a Remington S&S M7. You can load 100gr Sierra HPs for the varmints and a 120gr Speer Hot-Cor for the Deer and get a good bit more performance than the 243Win at the same recoil level (depending on the powder you choose).

Good hunting and clean 1-shot kills, Hot Core
 
thanks for the info guys it seems that in the middle of (new rifle fever) i did indeed forget the cons of using smaller caliber on whitetails,somethhing the wife would of reminded me of when she opend the box,this probably saves me from a reality check when it would of been more embaressing!
 
rifle choices.

243 is great all round caliber, i shot one [on varmints] for over 10 years. Excellent caliber to reload for with many differing bullet choices and powder selections.

Recoil is low and with light weight bullets can be pushed to 220 swift velocities.
 
In VA you can legally hunt deer with .23 caliber or larger. So that rules out the .220 Swift and the .22-250. I don't know about other states.
 
Art,

Nosler makes Partition bullets for .243/.250, and other manufacturers make similar bullets for small calibers, as well.

This at least helps mitigate the effect of a hit on a heavy bone by keeping a chunk of the bullet together.

I personally think Nosler partitions are one of the greatest bullets ever designed.
 
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