.22-243 Middlestead, Ultimate For Fox?

[Dalua]

I think they missed a trick by not calling it the .22-308.

It would have been the traditional way to name it...

 

[nowler]

I had a middlestead but it was built to shoot the 90gr bergers for rangers far beyond foxes. It’s a nice round and is a great foxing round if twisted and throated for lighter bullets than what I was using.

I have a friend with a 6/270WSM that he uses for foxes. 58grain ballistic tips at 4500fps. It’s impressive….. maybe 600 rounds of barrel life?

 

[Greenmist]

A friend of mine had a .22-243, using 77gr TMK, he was quoted a barrel life of 900 rounds, as he was a keeper and it was purely a foxing rifle he was happy with that

 

[njc110381]

A friend of mine had a .22-243, using 77gr TMK, he was quoted a barrel life of 900 rounds, as he was a keeper and it was purely a foxing rifle he was happy with that

That's the thing. Folk worry about barrels but in truth, 900 rounds on foxes should give at least a couple of years of hard use. Close to ten years for the average hobby shooter. Factor in the price of a rebarrel and it'll cost you a pound per day at the most - I bet half the moaners regularly stop for a Costa fortune coffee... It's all about priorities.

Just get it done. You only live once.

 

[Greenmist]

That's the thing. Folk worry about barrels but in truth, 900 rounds on foxes should give at least a couple of years of hard use. Close to ten years for the average hobby shooter. Factor in the price of a rebarrel and it'll cost you a pound per day at the most - I bet half the moaners regularly stop for a Costa fortune coffee... It's all about priorities.

Just get it done. You only live once.

Exactly, he said even with a 50% hit rate, thats a lot of foxes

 

[Bowland blades]

I would NEVER buy one ! For shooting foxes nobody needs this and few who shoot any real amount could afford the re-barreling .
243 win or 243 Ack are quite fast enough and have some really good High BC bullets . 55-60 rains are fast , flat crow medicine! 70 grain ( my favourite 70 grain nosler BT) I have with total confidence dropped Foxes first shot at 600 yards . Its really about wind when you get out there and the extra BC is more important than velocity , just dont do it when the wind is stiff and changeable .
I think chamberings like run at those speeds this are the realm of folks who own a barrel making company
The 22 creedmore with a big high BC bullet has more going for it but again Barrels dont last long enough to be practical for all but the very wealthy but i bet it does better than the above

 

[scotch_egg]

I would NEVER buy one ! For shooting foxes nobody needs this and few who shoot any real amount could afford the re-barreling .
243 win or 243 Ack are quite fast enough and have some really good High BC bullets . 55-60 rains are fast , flat crow medicine! 70 grain ( my favourite 70 grain nosler BT) I have with total confidence dropped Foxes first shot at 600 yards . Its really about wind when you get out there and the extra BC is more important than velocity , just dont do it when the wind is stiff and changeable .
I think chamberings like run at those speeds this are the realm of folks who own a barrel making company
The 22 creedmore with a big high BC bullet has more going for it but again Barrels dont last long enough to be practical for all but the very wealthy but i bet it does better than the above

When this topic was started you could get a lothar walther barrel fitted for £600. I don’t see that as beyond the common man.

However brass prep for the 22 middlestead certainly isn’t for everyone. I see wildcats as purely for the enthusiasts who enjoy the reloading and bragging rights, which i don’t fall out with as it interests me. This also goes for any Ackley cartridges that require additional stages of case prep, especially fireforming. Even if you get accurate firedorming loads you need to conduct load development again to see the benefits.

The humble 22-250 is enough for most in reality. Personally after all this talk of fast .22’s I really want a 22 Creedmoor but having just had its 6mm brother built by @Ronin I’ll not be adding one to the collection any time soon.

 

[Ronin]

Valkyrie

 

[Bowland blades]

When this topic was started you could get a lothar walther barrel fitted for £600. I don’t see that as beyond the common man.

However brass prep for the 22 middlestead certainly isn’t for everyone. I see wildcats as purely for the enthusiasts who enjoy the reloading and bragging rights, which i don’t fall out with as it interests me. This also goes for any Ackley cartridges that require additional stages of case prep, especially fireforming. Even if you get accurate firedorming loads you need to conduct load development again to see the benefits.

The humble 22-250 is enough for most in reality. Personally after all this talk of fast .22’s I really want a 22 Creedmoor but having just had its 6mm brother built by @Ronin I’ll not be adding one to the collection any time soon.

Likely £1 per shot just on barrel erosion ? expensive thing for most folks at this point in time , for how many shots you will gain success on over using a 243 and 70 grain nosler ? Next one wont cost £600 which of course is a very competitive price
I would say the common man who likes to shoot a fair bit might wince . I got a few thousand rounds out of the 243 tube and still kept it as barrel only because although worn it is still very accurate ( scary through the bore scope )
people are into different things though , even when i was wealthy i was still fairly practical on cost v benefit . If weight minimum is lifted from all UK deer legislation i would very likely drop back to a slightly faster twist 243 again for all deer and fox / long range crow

 

[swagger700]

It's all 22 creedmoors out our way

 

[long_range_rob]

Whatever floats your boat really. I’m happy with .243 and 70gn bullets myself