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why no 22-250 in the AR platform?
- Thread starter mdd
- Start date
NoSecondBest
New member
The parent cartridge is the same as the 243, 7-08, and the 308. In fact, you can neck down any of those cartridges and make 22-250 brass. The reason they don't make a 22-250 in an AR platform is there is no market for it. I like 22-250 and I'm not trying to say anything negative about that caliber. However, it doesn't do anything a 223 won't do up to the practical distances this type of firearm is used at. The 22-250 comes in to its own beyond 300 yards compared to the furthest practical distance a 223 is effective at. Shooting at targets beyond 300 yards is more for a good single shot or bolt gun with a heavy barrel (with a few exceptions). There just isn't a market for it."The parent .250 Savage case won't fit in the standard AR lower. It also tapers very quickly, which doesn't help when fed out of big magazines".
In the AR15, you have a maximum case length to deal with, overall is about 2.300". That means most of the larger rounds must use the AR10 action. The .22-250 is loaded out to 2.350 - which means it will be really short in an AR15.
Short loaded rounds would have to jump .050 plus the free bored leade of up to .100. Even the first .050 would cock the bullet in the barrel because the ogive doesn't have much straight section to keep it squared up. Accuracy would be horrible.
The case head diameter is .472, much larger than the AR15 bolt can safely tolerate. That also forces the .22-250 into the AR10 class, which puts it on the lower end of light varmint rounds in a 10 pound main battle rifle for full power cartridges, like the .308 and bigger.
For a varmint and crow bolt gun cartridge, it doesn't work out very well, partly the round itself, partly AR's weren't made to shoot old bolt gun rounds. The military doesn't want or need them, the guns are designed much more restrictively for just one caliber.
A read up on the 6.5Grendel and 6.8SPC will show how the AR15 mag well has affected the design of other cartridges. Both have the same obstacle in overall length, the separate designs went different ways with different goals to achieve different purposes. Comparing them shows what short or long cases, thin or fat case diameters, case head size, and powder capacity do to overall bullet length and what kind of ballistic coefficient you then get. The 22-250 is too far out of the envelope, or it would have been easy to neck down a .300 Savage case to some 6.x bullet diameter. It just won't fit.
Short loaded rounds would have to jump .050 plus the free bored leade of up to .100. Even the first .050 would cock the bullet in the barrel because the ogive doesn't have much straight section to keep it squared up. Accuracy would be horrible.
The case head diameter is .472, much larger than the AR15 bolt can safely tolerate. That also forces the .22-250 into the AR10 class, which puts it on the lower end of light varmint rounds in a 10 pound main battle rifle for full power cartridges, like the .308 and bigger.
For a varmint and crow bolt gun cartridge, it doesn't work out very well, partly the round itself, partly AR's weren't made to shoot old bolt gun rounds. The military doesn't want or need them, the guns are designed much more restrictively for just one caliber.
A read up on the 6.5Grendel and 6.8SPC will show how the AR15 mag well has affected the design of other cartridges. Both have the same obstacle in overall length, the separate designs went different ways with different goals to achieve different purposes. Comparing them shows what short or long cases, thin or fat case diameters, case head size, and powder capacity do to overall bullet length and what kind of ballistic coefficient you then get. The 22-250 is too far out of the envelope, or it would have been easy to neck down a .300 Savage case to some 6.x bullet diameter. It just won't fit.
spclPatrolGroup
New member
22-250 is a hot round, you can load them to preform well over 4,000 fps, the way people spray rounds out of AR's at the range, I wouldn't think the barrel would last that long shooting 22-250.
NoSecondBest,
The 22-250 does NOT use the same parent case as the .243, .260, 7mm-08, etc. The .250 Savage case and the 22-250 do have a lot more taper than the .308 based rounds. Secondly, AR based rifles are used for precision shooting well past 300 yards in other chamberings, so that does not seem like a valid reason either.
ps. the .243 case necked down to .22 is known as the 22-243 Middlestead and has quite a bit more case capacity than the 22-250.
The 22-250 does NOT use the same parent case as the .243, .260, 7mm-08, etc. The .250 Savage case and the 22-250 do have a lot more taper than the .308 based rounds. Secondly, AR based rifles are used for precision shooting well past 300 yards in other chamberings, so that does not seem like a valid reason either.
ps. the .243 case necked down to .22 is known as the 22-243 Middlestead and has quite a bit more case capacity than the 22-250.
Last edited:
sc928porsche
New member
Stoner should have based his rifle on the 22-250 instead of designing a complete new cartridge for his ar. I am sure that most would agree the the 22-250 outperforms the 223.
"Stoner should have based his rifle on the 22-250 instead of designing a complete new cartridge for his ar."
sc928porsche, as a simple internet search will show you, Stoner did NOT design a new cartridge for his AR.
The AR-10 was designed as a replacement for the M-1 Garand. It had to be designed around the .308W/7.62X51mm AS SPECIFIED by the military.
The AR-15 basically is a scaled down AR-10 designed around the .223R/5.56X45mm. It was originally designed as a replacement for the M-1 Carbine for the USAF! It had It had to be designed around the .223R/5.56X45mm AS SPECIFIED by the military.
It would have been silly to design his rifle around a cartridge that would have caused its immediate rejection AND if the military wanted a .22-250 Stoner could have modified his AR-10 to do it.
Tim
sc928porsche, as a simple internet search will show you, Stoner did NOT design a new cartridge for his AR.
The AR-10 was designed as a replacement for the M-1 Garand. It had to be designed around the .308W/7.62X51mm AS SPECIFIED by the military.
The AR-15 basically is a scaled down AR-10 designed around the .223R/5.56X45mm. It was originally designed as a replacement for the M-1 Carbine for the USAF! It had It had to be designed around the .223R/5.56X45mm AS SPECIFIED by the military.
It would have been silly to design his rifle around a cartridge that would have caused its immediate rejection AND if the military wanted a .22-250 Stoner could have modified his AR-10 to do it.
Tim