22 centerfire, which one and why?

deerstalker.308

Well-Known Member
Don't want a fight, but I'm interested in opinions on the various .22 calibers, .223 22-250 and .222, (plus any others for which factory ammo is readily available for that matter).
What's best alrounder for vermin control? Is there much or any difference? Which are prone to cooking barrels etc?
I've only ever had deer rifles and .22lr so no experience but I'm feeling the need to maybe change that.
 
.223 for me. With the popularity of the ar platform in America, everyone does ammo of all types for this round, you can buy it anywhere, its not expensive, its not too loud, its not overpowered, plenty of thump for foxs out to ranges most of us cannot reach to anyway.
 
For practical purposes you can treat .222 and .223 as more or less the same. Lovely short to medium range fox and small deer guns. Exceptionally easy to shoot and hard to shoot badly. Require very little maintenance and go on for ever.

.22-250 and .220 Swift. Medium to long range fox and small (or even medium) deer. Feel and sound similar to a 243 to shoot (so a noticeable step up in noise and recoil). More finicky to get to shoot really well, and take more looking after.

.22 Hornet. Short range fox and not legal for deer. Very much liked by those who like it. Generally ignored by everyone else. Personally don't see the point if .222 is available.

The thing to do is to first decide on the average range you're going to be shooting at. Out to about 180 meters, stay with 222 or .223. Beyond that, worth moving to .22-250.

But ultimately it doesn't really matter. Find the RIFLE you want.
 
I had a lovely BSA Hunter in .22 Hornet. As another said with .222 or .223 why bother now.

It made sense when there was nothing "under" the .220 Swift save, perhaps the .22 Savage (really a .228").

But today? Give it a miss.
 
222/223 - can be built into a nice small rifle with cheap ammo and as said above with kill any fox out to a good range and good on targets out to 600m plus.

22 Hornet ammo is even cheaper to run but not small deer legal.

For a deer stalker in the UK, I don't think 22-250 makes much sense, when a 243 is legal for any deer and with lighter bullets pretty much mimic the 22-250.
 
home loading i would go 22-250 and down load it for barrel wear and then up load it if you need the point and shoot of the round out to 250-300 yards.

for factory ammo that is a little easier to get hold of, then its a 1:8 twist .223. not a 1:12. then you can get into the home loading with the heavier bullet for the (up North) roe, and muntjac while still sort of saving on carcass damage. saying sort of as they still cause a wee bit of a mess.
 
I have a Tikka 595 in .222 - very, very accurate, effective on deer up to Roe (where allowed by law), foxes and smaller game/vermin. Easy and cheap to reload and doesn't burn out barrel - what more do you want. Oh, and shoots cast boolits for hunting bunnies.
 
i have shot .222 .223 and .22-250 granted the .22-250 was a brand new gun. but i've always liked it over the others. personal preference though. also faster and therefore harder hitting round. better ballistics too.
 
My preference would be the .222 , effective on foxes out to 300 yards great for small deer ,easy to reload well and cheaply and they have a certain charm which the others lack .
 
Don't want a fight, but I'm interested in opinions on the various .22 calibers, .223 22-250 and .222, (plus any others for which factory ammo is readily available for that matter).
What's best alrounder for vermin control? Is there much or any difference? Which are prone to cooking barrels etc?
I've only ever had deer rifles and .22lr so no experience but I'm feeling the need to maybe change that.

Having all three I like them all, but there are other factors other than performance.

The .222 and .223 are chambered in micro-actions so light & portable. The .223 ammunition is cheaper than .222 and available in a lot more configurations, but that doesn’t matter a bit if you reload for both.

You’ll have a much wider choice of rifles in .223, but they will almost certainly have done more mileage than a .222 & be a bit more pricey to buy.

Obviously the .22-250 needs a .243 action, so will be a kilo or so heavier than a small-action .222 or .223. The .22-250 is a safer choice bullet-wise than my .243 in the spot where I often have to use mine.
 
I have a 22-250 on my ticket but have always toyed with changing it to. 223. Being a Blaser I don't think it really matters about barely wear or weight.
 
I gave up my .222 for a .243 because I don't reload and a few times I'd struggled to get the right factory ammo for the triple.
Thought about a .22-250 but settled on the .243 because its deer-legal in England and Wales, ammo is easy and with light foxing bullets is practically indistinguishable from the .22-250 except for slightly more noise and recoil
I still miss the .222. I used it for long range rabbits as well and it didn't feel over the top for that. It was incredibly easy to shoot and any target out to 250 yards was almost unmissable with seemingly no effort from me. Time after time I've checked the zero after cleaning and at 200 yards it always without fail shot thumbnail sized groups. I don't know why I bothered because it wasn't fussy about cleaning and never went off or needed shooting in. It was just utterly dependable all the time. It was less good beyond 250 yards but that may have been my rifle and the fact it preferred 40 grn bullets to 50s. Federal V-Shoks were best. I had a few reloading sessions with a mate just to see what it would do but we couldn't beat the federals for consistency.
.222/.223 moderate very well. Shooting my HMR alongside someone with a .223 you could barely tell them apart for noise.

Perfectly happy with my .243 and I wouldn't change it as a fox and roe rifle but if I was loading my own I'd have another .222 tomorrow for shooting rabbits.
 
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Perfectly happy with my .243 and I wouldn't change it as a fox and roe rifle but if I was loading my own I'd have another .222 tomorrow for shooting rabbits.

Would have done the same myself if lived in England. Why have two rifles when one will do. Would have done the same only in NI the 243 is too powerful for the fox. even though the 22-250 is, as you say, argueably just as powerful. But im not a law maker. C'est la vie.
 
It would between a 223 and 22-250 for me, probably the 22-250 as that's my all time favourite. Very capable on foxes and Roe out to 350m. Shot thousands of deer and foxes with mine. Barrel life was good, think it was 15 years old and fired 500 shots a year before accuracy started dropping off.I did find years ago that the 50 grain bullets didn't open up very consistently but the 55 grain ones did. Think that was when we used Sako ammo. Hit a animal in the chest it's down or not far away, you always get a blood trail a blind man could follow.
 
For vermin,I don't think you regret going for a .204,although to get the most out of it,a 24" barrel 1:10 twist shooting 30gr,would be best. Although,I had a 20" 1:12 shooting 32gr BKs and that was super accurate running at 3800fps. Plenty for vermin And as flat as can be out to 300. 22.250 drop n drift in a smaller,quieter package. :)
 
Don't want a fight, but I'm interested in opinions on the various .22 calibers, .223 22-250 and .222, (plus any others for which factory ammo is readily available for that matter).
What's best alrounder for vermin control? Is there much or any difference? Which are prone to cooking barrels etc?
I've only ever had deer rifles and .22lr so no experience but I'm feeling the need to maybe change that.

I've been shooting the 222 for years and IMHO for long range rabbiting, foxes out to 220 yds and woodland stalker on muntie they are the bees knees, 35 grn v max hand or factory loads for a heavier load, superbly accurate and so quiet

mine shoots 10 p piece at a 100 yd all day, lovely calibre and faultless

phil
 
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