Wooters wrote that his short, light, fast-handling and accurate rifle based on the SAKO L-461 action, topped with a 3X Leupold telesight, was to be his general purpose rifle for everything up to and including coyotes. It was intended to be used during most of his outdoors time, when big game seasons were closed. With mild cast bullet loads, Wooters wrote that the .25-222 Copperhead worked fine for small edibles such as squirrels and rabbits. He intended full loads with jacketed bullets for varmints and fur bearers up through coyotes.
To the best of my knowledge, Wooters never did not try to make a deer cartridge of the .25-222 Copperhead, though both Sam Fadala, with his wife's 6mm-222, and Wayne Blackwell, with his .25 x 47, did intend their wildcats to be successful on deer. Sam Fadala wrote at length in the tenth edition of Handloader's Digest about his entire family's successful use of the 6mm-222 on deer and pronghorns out to 200 yards.
Handy versatility was Wooters' chief goal, and mild lead bullet loads were an integral part of his definition of versatility. Because Wooters admitted that he couldn't consistently make good cast bullets in diameters less than .25, he chose the .25 caliber. It should be noted that Wooters started his .25-222's range of intended game with rabbits and squirrels and ended it with coyotes, whereas Fadala and Blackwell started with varmints and ended with deer and pronghorns out to 200 yards or so.
260Remguy may be correct in his suggestion that the new 6.8 mm Remington cartridge may be versatile enough to provide a factory equivalent to the .25-222. A titanium and stainless Remington Model 7 in 6.8 Remington, when Remington decides to offer it, would probably cost less than a custom-built .25-222 on a Remington Model 7 or a CZ Model 527 action. Maybe CZ will do something interesting if the new Remington blue steel Model 7 sells well.
Versatility fans, our time may be at hand!
