223 or 22 mag ,what would you use

sniper243

sniper243

New member
I,m thinking of buying a new rifle in a semi
auto and i have narrowed it down to two things

(1) ar-15 in .223

(2) ruger 10/22 22 magnum

I am wanting to make this my night hunting weapon
and i realize the 223 has more power and range but the 22 mag is much quiter and lghter to carry.

Any other suggestions welcome.Thanks
 
Sniper,
I just purchased a Marlin 22 mag for my son. It's an absolute awesome weapon. Accurate out to at least a hundred yards. I have a 9 power scope on it for him. You're reaching max distance of a 22 mag at a 100 yards for killing an animal the size of coyote, but alot of my dogs come in much closer than that. I have a 223 myself, and it is two or three times heavier than my kids gun. Something to think about if you have an electronic caller to haul around in the middle of the night. Just my opinion though.

Billyote
 
Sniper
I have both and have taken animals with each one but I no longer will shoot predators with the 22 mag. I like that it is lite and quiet but it lacks the authority to drop every critter dead in its tracks even when distance is limited. My partner and I both have one and we will no longer use them. In one month last season we shot 5 bobcats and 3 yotes with the 22 Mag all but 2 required at least a fallow up shot. None were lost nor sufured but a quick kill is always preffered. If you are fox hunting or head shooting it might be fine but this is just my expierance and opinion. Buy a centerfire 22 ( 221,222,223, or bigger ) and you will not go wrong.
 
I agree with BigMo, the .22 Mag. is not enough. The other side of the coin is that the .223 does alot of damage to hides, if your not saveing them it makes no difference, but If your a hide hunter the .223 will eat into your profit. If you want to save the hides I would recomand a .17 Rem. I personally prefer bolt guns, but I tried to deal with a guy on an AR chambered in .17 Rem. but thought he was alittle high. An AR in .17 Rem. will be hard to find, but for a serious hide hunter worth it.
 
.223 all the way. I think it is just about the perfect coyote caliber. If a dog hangs up at 150 yards you have the gun to take him. You don't have that with a .22 mag. The .22 mag just doesn't have the energy to put them down hard every time. Bruce
 
I would go with the 223 also.Mine seems to be fur friendly this year.I have taken 10 yotes with it and have shot all of them under 100 yards.I have yet to tear up a hide with an exit wound bigger than a dime.The last one I shot was shot at less than 30 yards and only had a dime size exit.This is the first yote this year that I have had an exit on.(unless you count the one that I grazed and split it from its mouth to it's tail)

I shoot Sierra 55 Gr.SPBT's at around 2800fps.
 
I would also pick the 223 much more punch for the buck.I myself use a 222 Remington and have to say that I am very happy with it.But here in NH I have to use a Rimfire for night hunting so I use my Marlin 25MN in 22 Magnum but thats only because I have to if I could use my centerfire calibers at night I would.
 
Sniper243-
My vote goes to the .223 the .22mag is enough gun if everything is perfect but that doesn't happen very often.
Also I was looking to buy a 10/22mag and the dealer steered me away from it. He showed me 4 "workorders" from ruger on guns that he sold.
Ruger was having problems getting them right and offered to replace them with 77/22mag. I hope this was just an isolated problem and they get it resolved, but until I hear different I'll just wait.
 
I would go with the .223. There are several fur friendly bullets for the .223. I've never had a problem with fur damage when, and if, I cared about it.

With the .223 you have options. With the .22 mag your options are very limited.

Don't get me wrong. I love .22 mags. But for night hunting predators it's a little light in the loafers. Probably ok on grey fox and small critters but not coyotes.

.17 is certainly an option also.

Good luck
 
I'm with Curt here. Think about a .17. The 22mag isn't enough, too many chances of a mistake there. The .223 is chock full of options. If you can shell out the duckets for a AR, you can afford the .17. That's my next purchase.
 
Another option in the light category is a .221 Fireball. My Classic is lightweight, quiet, accurate,has yet to fail(knock on wood)!! You can load it down to Hornet levels or up to within a couple hundred fps of a .223.

.223 is a great round too! One of the most common used and ammo is cheap to operate!
 
Buy yourself an AR15 lower receiver then buy a 17 Rem barrel from Olympic Arms and have an upper receiver built with it. Since the 17 is based on the 223 brass, you don't need to get anything special in the way of bolt or magazines. It's an easy deal.

If you are adventurous, you can buy the parts as you can afford them and build it yourself. It's not difficult, but you will have to buy a combo wrench and a lower receiver vice block. Check out AR15.com if you want all the gory details.

I'm collecting parts for just such a project gun now. So far, I have just the lower receiver, but everything else is mail order, it's just a matter of keeping my eye open for bargains and sales.
 
Tom64,
thanks for the input,on the 10/22 mag i know first hand where you are coming from cuz i bought one and had to send it back and i know what the problem is,hell i even told them how to fix it and i was at a gun show a couple weeks ago and looked at one and i believe they may have it licked,the problem is the hulls would not eject properly they only had one extractor on the outside of the slide witch is fine for a long rifle but u put that extra lenght on the hull it dont clear the chamber cuz it slips out,that said all they needed is a double extractor to grab both sides of the shell.The gun i looked at had a double extractor,the gun i sent back had a single,oh and buy the way the gun i sent back they refunded my money and that was two years ago so im sure there are some still on the shelf so if u go looking again look for one with a double extractor.Good hunting and thanks to all for replies.
 
Have you seen Randy Andersons 2nd vidio? Rick Pallet uses a 22mag in a lot of the vidio and has to take as many as 5 shots on one dog for the kill. Thats 4 to many!!! I use an AR .223; If price is an issue you can look at the Savage bolt actions, their vary reasonable, and if you find one used, even better. My little brother bought one used at a gun show nicely equipped with scope,haris bi-pods, paid $300... pritty acurate too.
 
absolutly no dought. The 223 is made to shot coyotes in every situation that you can imagine. I watched a friend shot a coyote with a .17hmr on saturday, the shot was well placed between the shoulders as the yote was looking at us. I actually watched thru my scope and saw it hit. The coyote ran off and got in some very thick cover and we never found him.223 all the way.
 
I didn't even have to buy a .17 HMR to know that the results your friend had with it would happen. I'm not trying to be smart but 17 grains of a super expanding bullet is just not consistant coyote medicine.
 
I know that this post is a bit late, but I want to throw my 2 bits in just the same. I have the Ruger 10-22 mag, and it does a great job with the Winchester Supremes-no exits on fox and drops them hard! I also shoot a Bushmaster Varminter with BlackHills ammo, and it truely is all that and a bag of chips! The one thing that I would offer if I had to pick between the two is the performance vs price in the 2 cartridges. The 223 has such a higher leval of performance for pretty much the same money per shot that it is hard not to give it the nod. You can get the white box Winchester varminter loads (3600fps) at Walmart for a good price, and they minimize the exit wound on the smaller stuff if you can't find BlackHills in your area and don't want to order it in bulk. Happy Hunting
 


Write your reply...
Back
Top