.222, .223 or .22-250 ?

glogin

Well-Known Member
I filled my FAC application and one of the rifles would be of .224 calibre. I am wondering what are pros and cons of these three: .222, .223 and .22-250. I know the .22-250 would be the most powerful of them all. On the other hand there will be cheap ammo available for the .223. I want to use the rifle on roe in Scotland.
Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Greg
 
.223 hands down less throat burn, If you want to chuck heavy heads get a twist around 1/8, my Tikka M595 has a standard 12 twist & shoots 52 grains spot on, but I will re barrel to either 1/6.5 or 1/7 when it is ready for it. :)
 
.223 for me too. 52grain v max does the job every time ..
cheep ammo avalible, buy some nato 5.56mm cheep as chips and get loads of practice in on a range.
If you lamp your foxes you will shoot 95% of them inside 200 yrds . The .223 is the spoton caliber for this job. set your pattern 1" high at 100 yrds you will have no probs.. 300 yrd and 400 yrd shots on foxes at night dont happen that often unless you are a super sharp shot :eek:
I shot 100 plus foxes last year with my .223 ,
As for roe deer I have only shot 3 with the .223 in Scotland, It seemed to do the job ok with 55 grain hollow points , they all dropped on the spot with a boiler house placement at about 100 yrds..
Against the 22-250 the .223 does the same job,burns less powder,less bang , see the impact , cheeper ammo, and you wont burn out the barrell in a week..
 
If you use 5.56 NATO ammo in your standard rifle it won't hold a group unless you have less than a 1-10 twist. Fine for plinking but just remember it is FMJ.
 
222 is a lovely little round, I used one for years; I think it does pretty much anything a 223 will do at sensible stalking / foxing ranges. I now use a 22-250 superb foxing round and taken a few munjac with it too. It will shoot one hole groups with 40grn B'Tips and not far off with Sierra 55grn GK's.

ATB

Tom
 
Hi Greg
I have had my M595 in .222 for 7 years it is fitted a T8 no recoil not mutch of a bang either. Tried 4 or 5 different factory loads & have settled for 55g Sako Gamehead
I no the T8 is a bit big for a .222 i also have a Remington 700 SPS Stainless in .243 that it is used on.
If we get a chance to meet up next month i could let you fire off a round or to.

Cheers
John
 
MACKY said:
Hi Greg
I have had my M595 in .222 for 7 years it is fitted a T8 no recoil not mutch of a bang either. Tried 4 or 5 different factory loads & have settled for 55g Sako Gamehead
I no the T8 is a bit big for a .222 i also have a Remington 700 SPS Stainless in .243 that it is used on.
If we get a chance to meet up next month i could let you fire off a round or to.

Cheers
John

Hi John,

That would be great. Let me know when you are back in the country.

Regards,
Greg
 
glogin said:
Has the old .222 any advatage then?

Greg

Speaking in generalities, I'd say accuracy was one of them. The .222 held BR records for decades. I have a plain-jane Winchester Model 70 that will plug 5 shots into a raggety single hole when I don't screw up. And this with bulk-grade bullets and non-prcision handloads. I am a fan of The Triple Deuce.~Muir
 
Greg

Just to add on from Muir comments. I have take deer & foxes out to 250m with my M595. It shoots 1/2 in at 100m every time would not be with out in.

JOHN
 
Have two aggree .223 been using one for 20 yrs plus,well 3 .223,s. You can still get 55gr ex-military ammo good enough for bunny,s and fox,also very handy for target practice very little damage,but not allowed for deer. I allso had a 22.250 for a while and did not get any advantage over the .223. Never owned a .222 but used 2 on a few ocasions exellent calibre and very easy to shoot. For me it is the .223, .222 then the .22.250
 
An added advantage of the .222 is that you can easily reform (full-length size, and trim) the more common .223 brass to make it. I simply take a small needle file and make a stroke aross the .223 designation on the rim to avoid confusion should I accidently drop a round someplace. One of the local Tribal Law enforcement entities had a qualifying shoot at our little rural rifle range last spring and left 22.5 pounds-weight of empty comercial .223 brass lying about to be picked up. I now have enough brass to feed my son's Howa .223 and my Winchester Deuce for some time.~Muir
 
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