bolt action 223 or 22-250 for yotes and bobcats

[CAMPMEAT]

I have a Remington model 700 SPS Varmint with the 26" heavy barrel. Only think I have had done with it is a barrel break in and trigger set at 2Ibs. I have a Burris Signature Series 8x32x44mm with the Ballistic Mil-Dot. Handload is 25.5grs. of Benchmark powder and a Nosler 50gr. bt. using CCI 400 small rifle primer. Very accurate and pleasant to shoot.

700xcr,

I just ordered the 700 SPS 22-250. What's your truthful opinion on it. I have a T/C Encore 22-250 bull barrel and love it. Tack driver !!

Thanx,
Campmeat

[jdb]

why in heavens name would you want a bull barreled rifle for calling coyotes? Your going to get one shot maybe two if your lucky so there are no worries about heating up a barrel .
A bull barrel isn't going to be any more accurate then a lighter weight rifle .
 although alot of guys have been told they will be by dumb ars salesmen behind the gun counter that don't know what they are talking about.
for a calling rifle you need light weight and sompthing that will come up and swing FAST .
best bang for the buck is a savage , look at all the extras you get with a savage and do the math , its a great bargain , and i know of none that are not tack drivers out of the box.another great choice would be the stevens.
223 would be my choice unless you plan on calling in Wyoming  . If you cant  call a coyote closer then 300 yrds , well your not much of a caller , and should probably stick to deer and elk .The 223 is going to be much cheaper to shoot and your going to need alot of time behind the trigger ( practice) if your going to be a coyote caller , it happens fast and you will not have a minute to acquire your target, it will be seconds, they are nervous animals and don't stay put long if everything doesn't feel right .  
scope choice is important most guys go way to big on power , a 1.5 x5 or a 2x7 is a great calling scope as it affords you a huge field of view . I personally use a 3x9 but i have developed a muscle memory that puts the X hairs  where i need them when i bring the rifle up . Sorry if this sounds rude but i tell it like it is , been at this game for a while and i know what works, and have seen many spend money on the wrong equipment . that to me would be more of a slap in the face then this post . Best of luck with your choices, and welcome to the world of predator calling it aint for everyone.

well said. when I got started I spent untold fortunes on rifles and scopes that were all WAY to heavy. I recantly looked at a stevens that was pretty lite and balanced well, and very affordable, w/ a leupold vxI 2x7 you could be killin coyotes on the cheap

[drysideshooter]

Not surprised to see Jerry and some others reccomending mid range power scopes.  I can usually tell a seasoned, experienced hunter by the scopes that they reccomend.  A lot of newbie shooters get to thinking they need high magnification.  It's not true in too many cases, and certainly not true for a calling rifle.  Better off to spend money on a quality scope in the 1.5-6x, 2-7, etc than get a more poorly made scope with more power. I have always been fond of the Leupold VX-3 in 2.5-8 and have one on a few different rifles.   Remember that for low light use a good rule of thumb is you want the objective size to be equivelant to the power x5.  If you're at 8 power, you want to have at least a 40mm for low light use.  Like all rules of thumb, it's not exact.  Overall you'll probably be happier with a lighter rifle/scope combo that carries easily than with a bull barreled rifle with a monster scope on it.

Keep rate of twist in mind with either caliber.  If you go 223 be especially mindful to twist.  The 223 that I use most for coyote has a 1in7 twist, and it shoots 70gr bullets just fine, as would a 1in8 twist. The 1in14 twist rifles really limit the bullet selection.  I shoot quite a few 55gr bullets through a 223, but being able to shoot heavier bullets in wind, or when there is a chance something bigger than a coyote may end up being your target, is nice.   Even the 55gr pills won't stabilize well out of some of the slow twist barrels.

22 caliber rifles can be pretty sensitive to OAL of the cartridge.  If you reload play around with it a bit and you may be surprised how much accuracy you can pick up by loading longer than SAAMI specs.  A lot of 22 caliber rifles like to have the bullets seated with the ogive about .0020 off the lands.  Of course that's much more possible with a bolt action, and it's a different story with autoloaders.

Someone mentioned the Stevens. The Stevens 200 can be had for a bargain price. The stock is pretty flexible as it comes, which isn't as big a deal with a lighter recoiling caliber, but it's not great.  It's easy to epoxy fill some of the voids in the fore-end and stiffen things up quite a bit. The same can be done with a Savage Edge/Axis. The triggers on all are not great, and seem to vary a lot amongst different Edge/Axis examples.  There are quite a few aftermarket triggers available though, Rifle Basix and Timmney both make some good ones. I think the Savage/Stevens lower end rifles are a real bargain, and they tend to shoot great right out of the box.  They can be improved as you have time and money to do it.

Hard to go wrong with a Howa 1500 or a Weatherby Vanguard too.  Weatherby's are some of my favorite rifles, and though the Vanguards are not Mark V's, they represent a great value.

[700xcr]

I have a Remington model 700 SPS Varmint with the 26" heavy barrel. Only think I have had done with it is a barrel break in and trigger set at 2Ibs. I have a Burris Signature Series 8x32x44mm with the Ballistic Mil-Dot. Handload is 25.5grs. of Benchmark powder and a Nosler 50gr. bt. using CCI 400 small rifle primer. Very accurate and pleasant to shoot.

700xcr,

I just ordered the 700 SPS 22-250. What's your truthful opinion on it. I have a T/C Encore 22-250 bull barrel and love it. Tack driver !!

Thanx,
Campmeat

Alot of people says the stock are junk. So far the stock has not create any problems shooting groups out of my rifle. I have no pictures of my groups and I know people on here would call BS on me if I said actual group size at 100yds. With this load I am very happy with it. Later down the road I may try a Bell and Carlson Medalist with the alumimuim bedding block and have the barrel free floated to see if I could put all bullets in a 22cal. hole. So far I have only used this rifle on targets, golf balls and clay bird chips at extended ranges. But for now I am real happy with what I got.

[AWS]

The Savage/Stevens stocks haven't been a problem for me.  I hog out the barrel chanels and skim bed them.  I don't use a bipod and keep my sticks well back near the action.  They have been very consistant.

AWS

[CAMPMEAT]

I have a 700  bullbarrel 223 with an ATN scope on it. It's heavy, but is a tack driving fool and a very accurate gun. I don't carry it so weight is not a concern.

[demontang]

Yeah the stock is junk but the guns Ive seen still shot good groups around 1moa. As for scopes Ive realy go a soft spot for the 4.5-14 scopes, at 4.5 its a great up close and for the stubborn yotes that hang up the  14power helps

[kennedy244]

I do most of my yote hunting with a stag arms m-4 carbine, handles like a dream follow up shots are a breeze, but rearly needed.

[whacker1]

I bought a Howa 1500 in 22-250 a year ago at smoking deal at wholesale sports.  I have yet to shoot anything but targets, but I like it for the money.  I had an old scope that I put on it that will fill the need for the next few years.  Hopefully I will be able to shoot some animals with it this winter.  I re-load and found some pretty accurate loads and just need to find some dogs to shoot at.

[Bofire]

 :)I like a light rifle, Tikka T3 is real cool with me, I like to KILL what I shoot at and I do not beleive you can be over guned, so I prefer a 22-250 to a 223( although I have and love my 223). People talk about long range alot, "a 223 is good for 300 yards' or a 22-250 is good for 100 more yards" I use a 243 lot for coyotes cause... I like to KILL what I shoot. 'The truth is my 243 or 22-250 knocks the living crap out of them at 50 yards too!"I use a 300 WM alot for deer, cause I like to KILL what I shoot (see a theme here?)
So alot is up to you and how you feel about things and furs!
I hate looking for kills, DRT is my Mantra.
Carl

[Decker]

700SPS bull barrel Ruger .204 with 6.5-20x Burris Fullfield II. I've killed dogs out to 600 while standing off hand. This is no exageration, my wife will vouch for me (and that's a rare thing.) The ballistics of the .22-250 are SO similar, it is difficult to tell the difference. (At 500 yards the .22-250 may have an inch less drop.) I have done extensive comparisons in wind velocities, as that's where I thought the difference would come (due to shooting the lighter bullet in the .204 - I've used 32gr and 40gr - and they had the same amount of drift at 300 yards as the .22-250 (55gr?) can't remember the exact gr because I went with the .204. I will tell you the bark is WAY less, as is the kick. I can actually keep my eye in the scope and watch the report. Not sure why the wind velocities weren't different, the only thing I can think of is that the larger size bullet caught more side wind and evened out the amount of drift that would have been reduced from the heavier bullet size. This may go against what the manufacturers state and even conventional ballistics, I'm just reporting what MY tests revealed when deciding which gun to buy. I do not think that it is in any way operator error as I can shoot sub-MOA at 300 with my .204 and 3" patterns at 500 yards.

.204 FTW!!!!!