Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Predators and Varmints Range limits on 222 Remington

A farmer in my area shoots groundhogs and crows with
a 222 Rem 40X. He keeps his shots on groundhogs at
250 yards or less, because at longer ranges they sometimes
make it back to the hole. Crows on the other hand he shoots
at 300 to 350 yards. He also shoots foxes in the fall
at longer ranges than groundhogs. He tells me that foxes
are much easier to kill than groundhogs and with crows
you either hit or miss. I think he is pushing the 222
beyond its range. Any input? Regards, Jericho.

Back when my only varmint rifle was a .222 I killed woodchucks pretty dead out to about 400 yards pretty regularly. I shot 50 grain Sierra Semi-pointeds over, IIRC 21 grains of 4198. Yeah, I'd agree with him, foxes are pretty flimsy.

He uses hollow points for crows and groundhogs and
solids for foxes. This guy is one of the most savvy
hunters I have ever met, spends almost everyday in
the outdoors. Most of his shots are from a dead rest
and his deer rifle is a 40X in .25-06. I often spend
hours talking to him about hunting and guns.

I use my 222 on gophers (ground squirrels) and PD's, on PD's I am comfortable with a 400 yard shot. I use the 40 gr Nosler ballistic tips and even at 400 yards using it they do not make it back to the hole unless it is a marginal hit, with a good body hit there are parts flying. With that said I should note that I am driving them at 3400 fps. Also I need to note that I have never shot a goundhog with them but it is my understanding that they are generally larger than PD's.

It has been my experience though that during a wet year a well fed PD does absorb more of the bullet impact and is less "explosive" than during a dry year when they do not contain as much wet feed to absorb the bullet impact. It took me a few years to figure out why some years PD's seemed to "explode" more than other years. It is my understanding that groundhogs generally live near cultivated fields and generally in a wetter climate this leads me to think that they may be similar to PD's when their diet contains more wet food.

I am not sure that this holds true as much as caliber size and velocity increases.

Just my observations - yours may be different.

drover

Jericho: I actually own and Hunt Varmints with an impressively accurate Remington 40XB-BR in caliber 222 Remington!
I have owned this Rifle for 17 years now.
I have killed ROCK CHUCKS with it on many occassions out at and near 400 yards!
I have also killed Prairie Dogs with it out to 450 yards!
This particular 222 Remington has a Leupold 24 power scope on it.
So I do not Hunt Coyotes or Fox with this set-up!
I do have 3 (three) other Varminters in caliber 222 Remington and I have killed not only Coyote and Fox with them but also Porcupine and Badgers.
I have seen big Boar Rock Chucks and Badgers "take some lead" to render them dead and not make it to their den holes!
Foxes are gonna die (in a few seconds) with a bullet through their lungs - and usually they are far enough from their dens when shot that they are most always retrieveable.
I killed a large "relative" of the Crow at 246 yards with my "lowly" 17 HMR (rimfire!) last year - so 350 yards shots with a Remington 40X in 222 Remington on Crows would be about a "gimme"!
My 40XB-BR in 222 Remington IS one of THE most accurate Rifles I have ever owned - factory or custom!
If I were you I would try to buy that 40X from said farmer!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Then why would you think he's pushing past it's, or better yet, his range?

I've used a 222 for for quite a bit of coyote hunting. I've killed a few out past 300 or 350 yards without too much trouble, but I wouldn't want to make a habit of it.

I think he is right on track. The g-hogs are tough especially when their diet is good and they have a good fat cover.
Fox are soft all the way around and easily dropped.

I used a 222 rem on coyote for a number of years aided by hounds and I have called in many coyotes in the last 36 years and most generally at a calling stand I shoot at 100 yds or less and a 222 is perfect for such work but at long range a 222 does not have enuff grunt and coyotes can be tuff salty lil dogs very tuff to kill and for the most of my hunting life I have always hated to put a bullet in an animal and have it get away to suffer because of my hand........

I am thinking about getting a 222 remington in the rem 799 rifle that came out in 2006. It is based on the mauser action. I was wanting to hunt coyotes. Any thoughts?

While I like the 222 and the 223 for chucks I just don't use them. They will kill the chucks but they normally just put them to sleep and or the chucks will head for their holes and then croak. And I am mainly talking about shooting them at 300 yds and longer. As for where I live I see no reason to shoot them at ranges closer than 300.

Now at sub 300 they'll do just fine and on the younger chucks at closer ranges they'll even toss them around a bit.

But once the ranges get longer (300-700) we always used our bigger rounds like the big 6's, the big 7's and such. Even at long range they were very decisive on chucks!

As for his practice of using FMJ's on foxes I'm not a fan of that but he's the one that's gotta live with himself. I'd much rather see him use a 40 NBT.

As for crows, they're nothing but black feathers and brains and I find them tough to get onto.

Dober

I'm pretty much in agreement with Mark here on using the .222 and .223 on chucks--but I also suspect that some of the problem your friend has involves hollow-point bullets. These sometimes don't open even on prairie dogs at longer ranges. If he used plastic-tips his results would be more consistent.

50gr NBT's and SBK's in my deuce cubed, but I rarely get a shot past 300. Of course, I rarely get a shot less than a 100.

Going to try some 40's as soon as they get here.

One of my favorite rifles is my 222Remington on 40x action, loved the 40x trigger until it broke now it wears a Jewell with an H-S stock and the only good Pac-Nor 3 groove barrel I have ever owned. If the wind is calm this combo is great on rockchucks to 500yds and pd's to almost 600yds. never used it much with coyotes but had a 40gr blitzking blow one in half at 90yds.
Glad that Lapua started production of in-house 222 brass again this year.
B

I've had one a little over a year. I'm quite happy with it. It's killed 8 dogs. The furthest was 270 yards. Not a bang flop, but a couple of spins and it was down. Been using the Hornady 55 and 52 A-max, same POI. I really like the lite weight. Although I have it for sale it's not the guns fault.

I just read your reply. How much are you asking for your 799? Thanks Clyde.

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