Olympic Arms Umar 22-250

[jpharcher]

Looking at increasing my coyote gun collection from one (Remington 700 sps Varmint 204 Ruger) to 2 by adding an Olympic Arms Umar 22-250.
I have read a bunch of reviews about Olympic, they all seem dated, anybody have anything good or bad to say?
Thanks

[calib]

Havent heard anything myself, i am interested in hearing about yhese and if they work well or not

[CAMPMEAT]

www.model1sales.com might be able to build you a complete upper. They built my 204 bull barrel for me. $780 delivered.

[Bofire]

The guy that owns Olympic came to a meeting at Cabelas a few years ago. He brought one, very cool but awful big and heavy. Seems like the Mag was a little weird also. WPHA meeting I think where Jerry Malbeck spoke.
Carl

[AWS]

I was at that meeting and got to look it over, seemed like a well thought out rig.  Like Carl said the Mag is a little weird, it is a custom mag to fit the larger case, with a change to the mag well also.  That said the mag well can be adapted back to standard if you want to install a 223 upper and use standard ar mags.  The rifle they brought had a pretty heavy longer barrel and might have been weighted in the butt for balance.  I wish I could go into it a little deeper for you, but AR's don't do much for me, I HAD to carry one for long enough that I don't care to do it again.

[Jerry malbeck]

I remember that rifle WAYYYYYY to heavy for my taste .But then im old. 

[jpharcher]

They are listed at 9.4 lbs just for rifle, 24" heavy barrel. I am told if you get the fluted barrel it is around 8#s....plus optics, bipod, ammo weight. Think it will still be lighter than my 700 heavy barrel 204 with optics and bipod

[jasnt]

Personally I like my rifle heavy!  Recoil is almost nothing and I can watch my hits threw the scope. I hunt with a REM 700 sps varmint 243 win. 26"barrel in an XLR industry chasi. I love this rifle! And it shoots so well I just never take any of the others.  Personally id put some $ in your current rig and skip the new rifle. A quality trigger and great glass and you wont be sorry!

[jpharcher]

Thanks J,
I have quality optics on my current set up, a trigger job it could definitely use, I was thinking a semi for long distance follow up shot and being able to keep optics on target.

[jasnt]

If your heart is set on a auto loader go for it.  Personally I love the bolt guns (especially longs range) but that's just me. I have way more confidence with my current setup. A timeny trigger is a giant step up from a factory REM trigger.  Do you reload?

[jpharcher]

I was just looking at increasing my arsenal, not sure I want to spend 1800 before optics, probably the only thing holding me back....but  xmas is coming, and my b day, 1 week apart.
Yes, I reload with 40 grain bergers pushed by varget, the best combo I have found for the 1 in 12 twist for this gun.
Might just pick up a bolt 22-250

[jasnt]

I have a friend with a 22-250. His biggest regret is not looking in to twist rates before making a purchase. If you want to shoot any of the high BC bullets get the fastest twist you can get. I believe he wished for an 1:8 twist.
I've always loved the 204 as a varmint rig. I went with 243 cause its also my deer and black bear rifle and has done great for everything from black bear to ground squirrels.

[jpharcher]

I hear you on twist rate.
I want to shoot the heavier bullets out of the 204, went and bought a bunch of superformance ammo and had it do nothing but keyhole every shot at 100 yards. Had me thinking my new gun was junk....not so much, just can't stabilize the factory loads at close to 4100 fps.
I then started reloading, picked the 204 first, took about 28 tries using different bullets and powders till I came up with some great shooting 40 grain loads.
I also have 2 really good 35 grain berger loads as well, but want to stay with 39 or 40 grain weights if I can.

[Reidus]

Personally I'd go with a 243 over a 22-250. Basically the same size cartridge but the 243 has better bullets available in terms of BC. Shoot a 55 or 60 gr bullet out of a 243 you will get more velocity than the same weight bullet in a 22-250 and a better BC in the 243 due to the jacket thickness. Semi's are fun to shoot but I've never seen someone shoot more critters because of the semi. Most I've seen miss a lot. To me, a light bolt gun is a lot less bulky to pack around and is more natural for me to shoot.

[jpharcher]

Is the 243 more damaging to the fur?
I am not sure what I want to do with pelts, but would like to minimize damage.