Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 22-250 for Antelope?

Bugger, I am glad to see someone still has common sense about rifles and hunting!

^^^

Back in the mid 1950's when my dad was in the business of flying groceries and mail to snowed-in ranches in Eastern Montana, upon his arrival the ritual (which thankfully remains the same today) was to sit down in the kitchen and have a cup of coffee. Dad said generally there was an enormous mule deer rack or two stuck to the wall. When he asked what they were shot with, he said nine times out of ten the answer was "220 Swift." Today it would more likely be "22-250."

Until this year, my friend Dober had a string of 48 1-shot kills on deer, elk and antelope with the 22-250. The 49th (an antelope) required an extra shot after it turned at the shot.

It's usually those with no experience with a round that make the most negative noise about it...

I really like the 60 gr Hornady spire point. It works even in a 14 twist.

I know of a guy who shot and killed a grizzly bear with a 9mm pistol. Everyone should be as good as that guy.
Come to think of it, I’ve never heard from anyone who used a 9mm on grizzlies and it didn’t work extremely well.

No need for the hyperbole.

Even when antelope “will not stand sideways” a halfway decent bullet will generally penetrate to vitals, as pronghorn are light boned.

We’re talking about an animal that weighs 125 lbs and is generally shot during good light conditions in open country.

A 22-250 is perfectly adequate.

Mostly, those who don’t use a 223 or 22-250 use a primitive form of syllogism to determine what the smallest cartridge is “adequate”. Unsurprisingly, the same people often take a top down approach to choosing an all around cartridge and praise the sort-sided merits of a 340 wby.

I wouldn't hesitate to actually have a 22-250 as a dedicated antelope gun. Doesn't even have to be a fast twist. A factory 14" rem 700 would do just fin and a 14 power scope. Toss a 55 grain hornady soft point with some varget in the case and you'd be good out to 400 if the wind held up.

Make mine a 55 grain Gameking with 4064 or RL-15.

That 60 gr Hornady was pushed by 34.3 gr of IMR 3031. It absolutely pulverized the thoracic cavity of one yearling mule deer buck. He died just like the many I killed with the same shot from a 30-06 with 165 gr ballistic tip. A 70 yd death dash and he fell over.

That was the only big game I killed with the cartridge. The rest ranged from ground squirrels, to rock chucks and skunks, to coyotes.

Exactly. I have substituted 4064 for varget before. 36 grains man. My varget load is 34.5!

You know, I've had 3 22-250s and every one of them has shot 34 to 34.5 grains of varget with a 55 in a 1/2 inch.

Anyone who discounts a ‘250 as the “ultimate” antelope rifle, hasn’t done much killin.

Not the ultimate, but will work great.
If I were to get a rifle as a dedicated antelope gun it would be a rem 700 in 26 Nosler. I'd go shilen no.3 at 26", no brake. Run a 140 vld.
I had a 240 weatherby for a while and it was a smoker but had a 10 twist. I shot 90s in it. Chasing antelope is probably my favorite thing to do on all of hunting, but often times I found myself on some sort of vantage point, whether it be a hill, truck bed, or in one instance I crawled on top of a load out chute to see the country side. I like to watch them more than chase them. Get a feel for where they are heading. Helps out alot when you can see a water tank, food, and cover from one spot and if need be launch a 6 or 700 yard bomb on one. I've had several opportunities to where a 3030 with irons would work, but those antelope move all the time, and sometimes it's best to just watch the prairie, get set up prone, dial on one, and shoot. I'm very familiar with a 6.5x06 and a 6.5x300, but I think a 26 nosler would be the sweet spot.
You'll often find yourself in country like this as most of you know and more often then not, there is little cover and wind. Helps to have the powder, but I could have killed several like this buck last year with a 22-250.

My bad, I’ve been accused of not knowing what I’m doin. It was a wild guess.

Won’t happen again.👊🏻

Gotcha. If I ever win a nosler rifle by accident, I’ll give it to ya.

I've used both of these in a 223 and they worked. Just use a decent bullet. I once saw a pretty good rodeo where I believe 55g Speers blew up on a deers shoulder blade and didn't penetrate. And additional 4 rounds and one of them went deep enough and hit something that brought the deer down. It was my friends in Africa that told me the 64g win power point worked well on game back in 1993. That's what we always used for deer in our 223s after that. Until I found some if the heavier stuff and had faster twist 223s. Two years ago I used 60g partitions and those worked great.

Bb

Whoa dude. Wasn't jabbing you or accusing you of anything. Just conveying how I do it and that if I had a 250, I would have been successful many times. It's all good.

As far as the nosler rifle goes, keep it. Prefer big green!

A ‘250 gotta be similar to my 22 BM. I don’t have much experience but they gotta be really close!!



This stuff is very foreign,👊🏻

Nice goat. The stock? Let me guess? Huskies fan?
Not familiar with a 22 BM, CM maybe?
Bet you can tip em at 6 with a 73 or 80 grainer!

Haha, the 24 hr no killin brain trust always cracks me up😆😆

Anyhow, ya McMillan hunter, not a huskies fan, just liked the idea of a purple color scheme. 8” hart rem sporter, 22”, 805 hunter trigger, 22 cm 75 eld’s via alpha brass. Love the platform and chambering