Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles .222 vs .22 BR, .22PPC for dogs

I have a .222Rem that I just LOVE for shooting prairie dogs. I am thinking of adding another rifle to the battery and am considering the .22BR or the .22 PPC. What would you say are the pros and cons of these two calibers? It looks like the rifle would need to be a custom gun since factory varmint rifles in these calibers are not easy to find. I know of the Sako varmint rifle in .22 PPC, but could have a custom rifle built for close to the same price. Any one have experience reloading and shooting these three calibers? Please tell me what you think of them.

If I remember right, the BR has the edge in velocity, and therefore trajectory. The brass is certainlt cheaper, no small item if you want to take along a thousand or two. The PPC got a foothold before Remington got on the bandwagon, and got the jump in popularity. But the BR is inherently a one-hole design, certainly all we need for PDs. You do have to "form" the brass for the BR, but that's no big deal.<BR><P>------------------<BR><BR><I><B>Critr</B></I><BR> <A HREF="http://www.SaguaroSafaris.com" TARGET=_blank>www.SaguaroSafaris.com</A>

Why not the 223Ackley?......

If I were building a PD rifle on an action with a bolt face in the .222 family, it WOULD be a .223 Ackley. But if the bolt face was in the .30-06 family, it would be a .22BR<BR><P>------------------<BR><BR><I><B>Critr</B></I><BR> <A HREF="http://www.SaguaroSafaris.com" TARGET=_blank>www.SaguaroSafaris.com</A>

prarie dog shooter. You already have a gun for the closer stuff, why not go for the long range kills? My suggestion - 22 CHeetah MK 1. <P>If I knew how to post a picture on this site I would post a picture of mine. Oh wait, I can hear it now, WHY A PURPLE stock? lol.<P>Have a good one, Don

pds I have a 22br and love it. I get 3720 fps shooting 52 gr bullets out of a 24 inch barrel. The ppc is a great cartridge but doesnt have the capacity of the br. I didn't want the odd boltface so opted for the br. I screw that barrel off in the fall and screw on the 284 for bigger stuff. You will not regret the 22br.

prairie dog shooter<BR>If you shoot PD's from a bench , the 22BR would be hard to beat . But , if you shoot them like me , I like to lay on the ground and shoot everything in a 300 yd circle , then get up and walk and then lay down and shoot again . If you do that , you want a rifle that holds 4 or 5 in the magazine and neither the 22BR or 22PPC will function properly from a magazine . So while your theory is pretty good , I don't think it's very practical for 200 round + days of PD shooting . If you need a little more , go with Big Stick's suggestion of the 223 Ackley . You can blow out cases and kill PD's all at the same time .My buddy shoots one and I can tell you it's a real "over achiver" !! Just don't make something that's supposed to fun an ordeal or it wouldn't be fun anymore !! I use a couple of 223's for the close stuff and a 220 Swift for the long stuff and I have never felt I needed more gun . Of course 275+ is about my limit on the 223's and I use the Swift for anything from 275 to 500 but 90% of my shooting is inside the 300yd mark and your old 222 wil do a great job inside that range .<BR>bounty-hunter