22-250 vs 243 for coyotes….with a twist

G

Gsjcky

Member
I know the 22-250 vs 243 has been rehashed time & time again. But what if the comparison is changed a little bit? Say, a fast twist 22-250?
I've been looking over ballistics, and it seems to me that a ‘250 with a high BC 60-70 gr bullet, competes very well with a 70-80 grain 243 bullet.
Less powder, component bullets are cheaper, and I have a ton of ‘250 brass.
Looking for a calling rifle that puts down coyotes with authority out o 350 yards or so. Light weight, 20” barrel for suppressor. 2 or 3 different manufacturers are now making fast twist barrels for the ‘250, so it would be both economical and simple to do.
What do you think?
 
Lots of people do it and have lots of success. It's an old formula. It will work just fine.

Out to 350, I never had any trouble dumping coyotes with a 55gr Sierra 1365 out of 14 twist barrels though. And out to 350, that's a flatter shooting recipe than 70's are. Only advantage to the 70's are wind. For me personally, I rarely call in many coyote in the kind of wind where that really matters. I've always much preferred a flatter mid range over wind drift in a calling rifle. Much, much, much preferred. That's just me though.

Economy? For a calling rifle? Has never been of any consideration to me. Very few people call in enough coyotes to make that even a small consideration. But, looking at it from that lens, a fast twist .22-250 barrel is going to wear out a lot faster than a slow twist .243. Really though, so few people will wear out a barrel on a calling rifle to even give it any thought. I never have.

- DAA
 
Thx for the reply. As far as the economy goes, I was referring to range time. It’s a cheaper to feed a 22-250 than a 243.
 
Ahh, well... My ways are just my ways. I don't mean to imply that they should apply to anyone else.

For me, there is almost no such thing as "range time" for a calling rifle. I work up a load, I get it zeroed. Done. After that, once every two or three years shoot a couple of groups at the range to verify zero is still good and see how accuracy is holding up. And make adjustments for accuracy as needed. But my calling rifles have never seen any range time to speak of. They're calling rifles. Not target rifles.

So, from that lens. Very few guys are going to shoot even 100 rounds a year through a calling rifle. The cost of feeding it is of zero importance. It's just ants in the afterbirth.

But again, my ways are just mine. I don't criticize other ways.

Still, the minimal difference in feeding cost vs. the cost of a new barrel is worth considering. For a purely calling rifle, it means nothing. But if going to the range and pumping rounds through it is part of the program, it becomes more of a real consideration. I've had some fast twist .22-250's. I'm not speaking from speculation but from experience. They wear out fast.

- DAA
 
Lol..no range time, just sight in and go calling.
Exactly what I do. Real "range time" hasnt existed for me for many years.
 
Taking the dedicated coyote rifle out for pigs is “range time” for me. I’m lazy and just find a factory ammo that works and buy several boxes when they do.
 
It isn't till 400 that BC really comes into play.

If it's blowing hard enough to miss a coyote at 350 due to the wind, I'm probably not going to be out there anyway.;)

While I haven't killed anything besides prairie dogs with the Hornady 62 ELD-VT, it's almost worth building a gun around.

Decent BC and velocity potential is kinda like having your cake & eating it too. Takes an 8 twist to spin them.

Then again, hard to argue over a 14" twist shooting 52 Bergers or 53 Vmax at 3800 to 350, point & shoot.....
 
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