.223 or 22-250

[elkslayer99]

I am in the process of buying a varmit rifle, I pretty much know what rifle but would like to get suggestions of which round .223 or 22-250 would best. Mostly will hunt coyotes with it.

Thanks

[h20hunter]

I would suggest .223. Less powder and longer barrell life. However.....22-250 is a smoking round. Will you be reloading?

[jrebel]

22-250 cause you will always be able to find ammo for it.  I love my 22-250 It is a tack driver.

Of course the question I have for you...is, why not both??

[elkslayer99]

I would like to get into it, but not right away.

[h20hunter]

Agree that .22-250 may be easier to find. With a single stage rock chucker you could get set up to reload the .22-250 fairly cheep, save some $$$$ and really have an accurate shooter.

[FALFire]

I'd stay with the 22-250 due to current ammo supplies.

[Ridgeratt]

Something else to consider is that the 222 rem, 223, all use a small rifle primer. The 22-250 uses a large rifle primer and they are fairly easy to come by.
If you remove one item from a reloading step it makes the round useless. Many differant types of powder can be used and brass can be reused several times.  That only leaves a few select choices.
The parent case for a 22-250 is a 250 savage so you should be able to find brass also.

[elkslayer99]

22-250 cause you will always be able to find ammo for it.  I love my 22-250 It is a tack driver.

Of course the question I have for you...is, why not both??

I would love both but one step at a time...

Thanks for all your input so far

[jrebel]

What gun are you looking at...If you don't mind me asking?

[Karl Blanchard]

    Can't go wrong with either.  Both have their positives and negatives.  223 isn't as flat and ammo is in short supply but I have noticed that most places still have premium stuff (hunting cartridges) but it is the most pleasant round to shoot short of a 22lr. 
    22-250 is a flat shooting s.o.b. but you can shoot the barrel out of them and although ammo is easier to find you will pay a premium for it compared to 223. As stated before you need small primers for reloading the 223 so if you were to get into reloading you would need a seperate component for that than your other rifles. 
  I have both and love them both for different reasons.  223 is my go to rifle in the winter when I don't want to mess up a nice pelt and my 22-250, well it honestly hasn't left the gun case in years because my .243 is faster and flatter.  What rifle did you decide on if you don't mind me asking?

[elkslayer99]

Being left handed my selection is limited, I am going with the Remington SPS 700 Varmiter seems to have pretty good reviews. Price is pretty good I am tring to stay around 1300 with a scope and bi-pod so it fits the bill. 

[Karl Blanchard]

Can't go wrong with anything on a 700 platform!  You will love that rifle!

[suga]

The 22-250 is a pretty smoking round. One of my favorite calibers, and pretty easy cartridge to start reloading with, IMO

[C-Money]

Either one is a winner with my edge leaning towards the 22-250. The .204 I hear is a great cartridge as well!

[elkslayer99]

Another question, what scope gives you the best bang for your buck? Do you guys use the BDC reticle?

[CoryTDF]

What do you want out of the gun? Do you want long range or do you just want to put rounds down range? The 22-250 is better suited for shots past 300 yards and it's faster velocity makes it a little better for running shots. That said having 30 rounds to walk in to a running dog is nice as well. The 223 is a great round and kills dogs for sure but it dies out very quick after 300 yards. It will kill past that but accuracy is harder to obtain due to slower velocity. If you don't plan on missing and want to be able to shoot farther i would say go with the 22-250.

[tlbradford]

Look at ballistics tables and decide what you want your rifle to do.

[jrebel]

Another question, what scope gives you the best bang for your buck? Do you guys use the BDC reticle?

I am a firm believer that the optics are far more important than the gun.  I would look for a variable power scope with a minimum of 14 max power.  Example...4.5 X 14 x40 vx3 would be a great scope.  For brands of scopes I like Leupold, Bushnell (Elite series only), Nikon is not bad but not my first choice and if you can afford it swarovski....leica.....zeiss, etc.

[FALFire]

Zeiss 3.5-10, 4.5-14 or the new 3-15 any one of these would be a great asset to the rifle just be sure to get it with the Rapid-Z 600 reticle for BDC holdover, it's darn near perfect.

[SquirrelHunter]

I use a millett lrs-1 with moa dials, and mil dot reticle,love it

[elkslayer99]

What do you want out of the gun? Do you want long range or do you just want to put rounds down range? The 22-250 is better suited for shots past 300 yards and it's faster velocity makes it a little better for running shots. That said having 30 rounds to walk in to a running dog is nice as well. The 223 is a great round and kills dogs for sure but it dies out very quick after 300 yards. It will kill past that but accuracy is harder to obtain due to slower velocity. If you don't plan on missing and want to be able to shoot farther i would say go with the 22-250.

What I want out of my rifle is it to be versatile most of all, and I do want to be able to shoot out past 300. I like a good challenge! So it looks like I am leaning at the 22-250. Thank you all for the input, this is really the first time I get to put together a rifle and I want to make it good! 

[elkslayer99]

Well got my rifle ordered I went with the 22-250 Remington 700 SPS Varmint, I am putting a Bushnell 6x24x40 Banner mill-dot recital (bought it from carp) for starters. My next question is Bi-pod or shooting sticks?   

[Big10gauge]

Harris Bipod HB25CS.  Lasts for years. I could never get sticks to work good when a coyote comes in from hard right or left.

[madcow41]

I have a 22-250 VLS with a leupold dot reticle... horrible choice for a reticle and it has those scope caps that dont allow for fast turret adjustment. but I like it because once I shoot out the barrel I have a great platform for a .308 or whatever else I choose

[BOWHUNTER45]

All great picks  I would throw the 204 in among st the group !

[coyotekiller]

hey i would go with a 223 over a 22-250 because 223 is not is not to big for coyotes and its not to small for coyotes i shoot a 223 ar and i love it

[Special T]

I think the main reason for going with .223 is the AR platform... If i were getting a bolt gun it would likely be a 22-250.

[coyotehunter]

If you are hunting just coyotes, get a .204. If you hand load I've got a great receipt, if you're gonna shoot factory loads, 32 gr Hornady or 34gr Winchesters.
I've had both .223 and 22-250 as coyote rigs, you can't go wrong with either. But the ULTIMATE coyote rig to up to 350 yards is a .204.

my 2 cents.

[wildweeds]

Check out the Savages,they got lots of lefty options,I just got a 10/110 predator hunter max 1 in .204 because I've wanted a .204 since they came out with it.Got a bonus at work and treated myself,the gun out the door was 850,I should be picking it up tommorrow.I checked a predator 10 model(solid camo) same action as the one I bought with a 2 inch shorter barrell,the stock is the cheesiest thing and actually it didn't seem that bad.

Being left handed my selection is limited, I am going with the Remington SPS 700 Varmiter seems to have pretty good reviews. Price is pretty good I am tring to stay around 1300 with a scope and bi-pod so it fits the bill.

[Big10gauge]

If you are hunting just coyotes, get a .204.  But the ULTIMATE coyote rig to up to 350 yards is a .204.
my 2 cents.

Sorry to disagree with you, but the ultimate caliber is the .243 WSSM and the .20 Tac, both in AR platform  my 2 cents

[coyotehunter]

If you are hunting just coyotes, get a .204.  But the ULTIMATE coyote rig to up to 350 yards is a .204.
my 2 cents.

Sorry to disagree with you, but the ultimate caliber is the .243 WSSM and the .20 Tac, both in AR platform  my 2 cents

Of course you do. 

[Big10gauge]

LOL