Walking Varmiter

I don't know that Id consider any .22-250 a walking varminter; even the light ones are hefty enough. Your price range suggests whatever you want, but I suppose for weight savings I would recommend a Remington 700 ADL....


I myself have been eying up the CZ 527....maybe in .221 Fireball.
 
I've walked 1000 acres with a heavy scoped, bipod wearing, 10+ lb varmint rifle. It's not a big deal if you're a young man.

Rem 700 is a nice gun. Savages are better than their price tag. Very accurate. My Ruger MkII in .204 (which is what I'd recommend over 22-250 if you don't handload) is a consistent 1/2MOA shooter.

Take your pick of which one you like better.

If you don't mind spending a bit over $1000 (closer to $1200) I'd recommend buying a Savage target action and getting a custom "prefit" Savage barrel. That way, you get exactly what you want, length, contour, flutes or not, stainless or not... Whatever.

Look at Sightron SII Big Sky for optics.
 
I don't think a .22-250 is an ideal walking varminter for one reason. You need at least a 24" barrel, preferably a 26", to get the full potential of its velocity and avoid muzzle blast. Also a .22-250 with a lighter profile barrel will heat up with just a couple shots. A .223 or .204 would be a better walking varminter IMHO. I might take some criticism for it but I think the Mossberg MVP would be a dandy little walking varminter.
 
I was accually looking at a Ruger Predator or a Winchester Featherweight in 22-250. Can't get 223 ammo as of late and the 22-250 has more down range energy than the 204 Ruger. I thought about the 204 for a while but I'm going with the 22-250. Just need to find something with a reasonable weight for fast handling. I'm shooting in wide open spaces.
 
Last edited:
How come you would choose a .204 over a .22-250?

The .204 has a little longer barrel life, doesn't need quite as long of a barrel to get all the velocity out of it, and it won't heat up as fast as a .22-250.

The .22-250 has its place and if you are shooting varmints at longer range, say 400+ yards, the higher ballistic coefficient .224 bullets will really start to shine over the .204 that will be running out of steam and be quickly dropping past that.

IMO if you don't have a long, heavy barrel on a .22-250 you aren't getting the full potential of it.

Not saying one is better than the other, they're just different.

Also a rifle in .17 hornet is on my short list of future purchases. If you kept most of your shots under 300 yards, it would be a good option as well.
 
@Brian

How come you would choose a .204 over a .22-250? I have no experience with either, just wondering.

The .204 is a little quieter, has a little less recoil and (on average) slightly flatter shooting with most factory ammo offerings.

I don't agree that you need a long barrel to get the most out of a 22-250, unless you're really picky and worry about 25 or 50 fps at 4000+ fps. At those speeds, a couple inches of barrel gains you almost nothing.

However, if you handload (and you really should be), virtually no other cartridge can shoot any bullet as flat out to 500 yards as a 22-250 loaded with 35gr bullets at over 4,400fps.

As far as "burning barrel", the 22-250 will be somewhat worse but the .204 is also "over bore" and is not exactly barrel friendly. If you're going to shoot a lot, as in excess of maybe 3,000 rounds in 5 or 6 years, its possibly a concern. Otherwise it's no factor, IMO, as the cost of an excellent barrel is $400 or so. If your original barrel lasts 5 years, that's a cost of $6.66 a month.
 
I agree as well that you don't need a 24-26" barrel to get full potential out of the .22-250. .204 Ruger is a great option as well, and don't worry about down range energy you're shooting varmints not big game. You don't need much energy to make the bullets work for the .22-250 or .204, in fact you don't need much velocity either.

The nice thing about the .204 Ruger is that you'll be able to watch bullet strikes in the scope where as you might not be able to with the .22-250. The .204 offers similar performance to the .22-250 as far as the trajectory and velocity go. Plus you get there in a smaller package.

As far as a walking varmint rifle goes, remember weight isn't your friend. You don't want a heavy barrel rifle, so if you can find one with a medium to light taper that will be better. Walking varmint rifles are just that they are meant to be carried more than shot so anything in the 8.5 lb. or less range is what you want to strive for.

For rifles I'd look at Tikka T3, M70 FWT or Sporter, and M700 SPS for rifles, the only reason I didn't mention Savage is that they don't show a sporter weight rifle in in .22-250 anymore. However if you can find an old Steven 200 or M10, I wouldn't hesitate to pick up one of those as well. Pair any of those rifles with a decent 3-9 or 3.5-10 power scope and you'll have an excellent varmint rifle.
 
The .204 has no problem with wind. I shoot mine out to a bit over 400 for groups and have killed a woodchuck at 364. I could hit them pretty reliably at that distance but I just don't ever get the chance.
 
Hmmmm. I'm torn between the 204 and 22-250. I guess I need to hear more about the 204. All I'll be shooting is coyotes. So if someone would list the reasons a 204 would be better then a 22-250 I'm all ears. There is alot of 204 ammo available.
 
Last edited:
I read one of your older post about 223 that you had good luck with shooting factory ammo and you regret selling that rifle.

I haven't priced factory ammo you might want to go back with 223 and be a good case to learn how to reload if you haven't already started.
 
I can tell you the differences, but "better" is up to you. I wouldn't hesitate to shoot a coyote with a .204 at any distance that I would make the shot with a 22-250.

The .204 is slightly quieter (still way loud, just less really loud), has less recoil, you'll see your shot hit it's mark and it is just about the flattest shooting, relatively long-distance varmint round you can get in factory ammo.(The .220 Swift guys will chime in here.;):D)

The .22-250 has slightly more power (not really relevant with coyotes), is very popular, has a wider variety of factory ammo and is THE flattest shooting thing for varmints, if you load your own ammo. (The .220 Swift guys will chime in here.;):D)

Either will kill any coyote just as dead as the other. The differences in trajectory with most any ammo out to any reasonable distance is irrelevant. You're not guessing at 500 yards. You're either measuring and adjusting or you're missing. Won't matter what cartridge you're using. Both are too loud to shoot without hearing protection.

I love my .204. It's fantastic. I really like the almost complete lack of recoil. But, I also really like the .22-250 and have loaded for and shot one a far bit. It's also a great cartridge. I lean towards the .204 because I like to be "different" and every Jo Bob and his brother has a .22-250 but it's purely personal choice.
 
Roper
I recently bought a Ruger VT in 6.5 Creedmore. It is really starting to shoot. Today at the range I shot 3- three shot groups at 100yrds the largest was 3/8" and the smallest was 1/4". My 5 shot groupe was a tad over 1/2". So I have my fun target rifle. Plan on shooting at 200yrds next week. Now I want something to throw over my shoulder and go for a hike. I'm over the 223.
 
Back
Top