Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Predators and Varmints 204 Ruger or 22-250

I actually built a 22-250 with a 28" Krieger with a 1in8 twist barrel to shoot the 75 grain A-Max bullets. The rifle shots like a dream. But it is too heavy to use for normal hunting. I wish I would have went with a lesser contour and a shorter barrel for the 75 grain A-Max. I have not had any negative experiences with my rifle(just too heavy). Tom.

Thanks


How much shorter/ lighter would you have gone? I was thinking ( still 243 or 22-250) with a straight tube like yours, to allow hits to be seen, curious where that magic length/ weight is appoximately. Maybe a 26" varmint taper...

Allen

24" or 26" with a varmint taper and fluted. The one I have is a full bull.

My rifle does not have a muzzle brake.

With a full bull 28" barrel you could not see the hits with the 75 grain A-Max. and a good dose of H-414. Tom.

Sorry hemiallen, I took this statement "Curious if you have the same negative opinion/experience on heavy 224's" out of context. I read it as you've had negative experince with them. Since I hunt with them I like to hear other's reasoning for or against them.

Back to your delima, I have a 243AI and a standard 22-250, when the barrel gets shot out on the 250 it will be replaced with a fast twist AI version but I won't give up my 243AI. If I had to choose one over the other, the 243AI would win.

Sorry for my confusion.

Thanks


Perplexed by the bull barrel and not seeing hits... maybe I am in need of a brake and the 243 AI...


I still haven't shot the donor 243 yet, so I have time to decide.


Thanks again for the information... and no Problem TWR, I am usually the person to misread posts, it's easy to do.

I do have the gun I bought the day I got married, an adl 22-250, maybe I need to make it a fast twist 22-250ai after the 243.

Thanks again

Allen

I think we're all different. I've worked with pretty near every factory varmint cartridge out there at one time or another. The only two I can see hits with in factory form, sporter or varminter, are .22 hornet and .17 Fireball. Put a different person behind the same gun and the result may be different. Don't worry about what other people can or can't see. Figure out what works for YOU and go with it.

Tom

204 upside:
-Less powder
-Less recoil
-Less muzzleblast
-Better external ballistics downrange than the 22-250 (generally speaking. Ppl like to argue this but the numbers don't lie)
-Can be loaded with trailboss to mimic 5mm rimfire performance with ZERO recoil and low noise

22-250:
-meets a .223 requirement some states have, if you plan on hunting deer
-If you go up to a 1-9 or 1-8 twist shoots heavier bullets that can do things the .204 can't

I am a huge .204 fan and more often than not a pair of my .204's come with me and my 22-250 stays in the safe when I head out of the house.

--Duck911

I'd choose the 204 for groundhogs. It's always fun to see your shots!

The 204 has as much energy as the 22-250 (with no special twist bullets) at 500 yards, so the actual energy is not the issue. Maybe it's the lack of bullet weight to create shrapnel when the velocity of both starts to drop.

ill vouch for the 204 i have been shooting one since their arrival. i got tired of rebarelling my 22-250. i have a total of 4300 shots through a savage 204 and it still shoots good.my son has one in a hr pardner. he has killed several deer with his using a 45 gr. hornady soft point.they do make 50 and 55 gr. bullets.my best loadings are 25.5 gr of rl 10x hornady case fed primers 39 gr. sierr blitzkings,i have dropped coyotes at 400 plus yards.

That last fella there knows what he's talking about. I haven't shot that much in my life and I hunted coyotes and vermin a lot!

Given favorable wind conditions, a 204 is probably a great choice for colony varmints. However, we primarily hunt where 20+ mph winds are the norm. I have a buddy who has a heavy barreled 204 that is a dandy shooter, but it gets whipped by the wind after about 250 yds. A 22-250 shooting 55 or 60 gr pills is a much better choice when the wind becomes a factor. As others have said, it is a little more versatile as well. The only advantage I see with the 204 is the ability to see your hits, but I usually lay bags over my scope and have pretty good luck seeing most of my hits. BTW, I shoot 52gr A-Max out of mine and the lift factor is incredible.

I have fired both, and was trying to decide between the same two calibers for my predator rifle. The existence of wolves that can exceed 200 lbs. in Alaska made my choice for me. My predator rifle is a Ruger M77 Hawkeye all weather in 22-250. It is more accurate than I had hoped, and I haven't even had a chance to put any handloads through it yet. I'm looking forward to developing some loads when I get home.