I only see a few fast twist 22-250 being offered but I did see browning offering a left handed 22-250 with 1:9 twist. I have a fast twist 223rem. Would fast twist 22-250 bring anything more to the table in practical term? ie make a better deer round over 223rem?

IMHO it will only make a difference if your comfort zone is 300 yards instead of 200....

I'm not sure why you're asking about deer on the varmint/predator part of the forum.

At .22-250 speed, the fast twist has tradeoffs. It won't work as well with a number of varmint bullets I've used over the years. Twist is too fast for the jackets. You will gain ability to shoot heavier bullets but I'm not sure they're very useful for varminting. A buddy built a .22-250AI with a 1-9" twist. Shooting 75 grain A-MAX bullets he was getting mixed results. Accuracy was good, but terminal performance was considerably variable. Some would blow up as you'd hope, others would pencil through.

For varmint shooting, I want bullet disintegration on impact, partly for clean kills, partly to avoid ricochets. The fast twist gets in the way. If you can find them, the 53 grain VMAX partly solves the problem .. it is tough enough to handle the RPM and has a pretty decent BC especially for its weight.

For deer, unless you're shooting bullets 70 grains and up (I do like the 70 grain accubond), you don't need that 1-9" twist. A 1-12" will handle most hunting bullets .. not all. It will allow more flexibility in your varmint bullet choices than the 1-9" twist as well.

For varmints only, I'd stick with the original 1-14" twist. For varmints + deer, I'd go 1-12". For deer only, then I'd consider 1-8" or 1-9". For long long range paper I might even consider 1-6.5" or 1-7". Maybe. I would not build a dedicated deer gun in a .22 caliber. There are better choices that don't involve quite so much compromise. IMHO of course.

Tom

Tom nailed it!!

Well my 22-250AI is a 1/8 and I have never noticed anything penciling through. I shoot 55 grain NBT’s and 75 grain Amax’s and am pleased with both on coyotes. Can’t see a prairie dog being any different.

I have a Begora with a 1:9 twist and a tiger with a 1:8 twist. They both shoot 73 gr Hornaday ELD match very well. I use these for coyote hunting and have shot several deer as well. I really like the way they perform and knock down critters. I haven’t tried any lighter bullets in them. I have shot this gun out to 700 yards with consistent accuracy.

I have a 1-14 22-250. It shoots 55gr flat base bullets fine. It will not stabilize a 55gr boat tail like a nosler ballistic tip. A very good hunting bullet would be a 65gr Sierra btsp for Coyote and larger Predators like Cougar. The 1-9 22-250 would be what I would have if I did not already have another in 1-14. If you like heavy bullets buy the 1-9

Mohawk .22-250 with 8 twist Shilen, aluminum bottom metal and Timney, glassed and free floated, now wearing a 2-10x38 Maven. I went with a 22", slightly heavier barrel for more forward heft. To me, it handles better than OEM.

I had picked up some MidwayUSA bullets that I think must be surplus Hornady short barrel tactical 75's. Midway had advertised them as 80 gr. but were actually 75 gr. It appears they're from TAP/SBR .223 ammo; this bullet not a listed item.

I know, three shots, but it was pretty impressive at the time. I haven't reproduced quarter MOA, but they'll go half.

This gun really likes them. I'm not sure how they'll impact critters at .22-250 speeds, could be interesting. They're not real sleek, not a first pick for longer range.

And, where I hunt, only kids kill deer with .224 cal rifles. Grown ups use bigger stuff. I know, it doesn't make a lot of sense, but is what it is. And kids do lay them out with .223's. And a .22-250 is a good bit more gun than a .223. Go figure. I could probably use it if I really wanted to, but why push it with a safe full of more conventional deer rifles. It would be interesting....

DF

I have killed my last nine deer with a 22 Creedmoor and 69gr Sierra TMKs. Combined with a pile of pigs and many dozens of coyotes, I have zero complaints.

Around here, we don't care what others think we should kill things with.

I have a 1 in8 Tikka, shoots well with 62 grain Bear Claws and 62 grain TTSX bullets. Either will lay out pigs. I’m sure they would do the same to deer.

When I get the Maven scope sighted in, may consider shooting a deer with this load. Should do the deed.

DF

My first fast twister 22-250 is the 700 I had my gunsmith buddy put together in 2015. It started as a Christmas special Sportsmans whorehouse .243 ADL.

Ordered a 3 weight Shillen 8 twist and the stock here from Rick. Fairly budget build except for the stock as everything else was on sale and my buddy will work for good bourbon. Metal finish is a park grey moly coating from Brownells which was a freebie as he was doing several other guns in the same color.

In the pic it's wearing a Loopy but I got a discontinued Burris MTAC 4.5x14 with the reticle built for a 22-250 with 55 grain bullets. First and only trip to the range with that scope I zeroed 1.5 inches high with Hornady 55 gr V-Max ammo and ran it on steel from 300 to 700 and the reticle was dead on. Got home and cleaned it and stuck it in the safe and haven't shot it since. Need to remedy this.

Yeah, that’s a nice one. Needs to be rescued from the safe. It deserves better.

There are so many good bullets these days. If you can find them, that is.

DF

Yeah you're right. It hasn't recieved much love since I bought one of the Whittakers Tikka 8 twist 22-250s not long after I had this one built. The Tikka has an Athlon Helos BTR 2-12 which I'm really liking.

I've got a 8lb'er of StaBall 6.5 which is supposed to push a 62 grain TTSX to almost 3700. This is my near term project as I want to take this combo to the campfire hog hunt and see what it'll do to some hogs.

I'm waiting on an 8 twist Shilen to spin on my 22-250. I hate the 14 twist

Twist is why I traded my 220 Swift.

DF

I asked a similar question of Mule Deer a few years back and he opined that most 22-250 shooters are happy shooting 55 grain bullets and that the faster ROT might result in some of those lightly constructed bullets coming apart while in flight to the target. He printed the question and his answer in one of the Gun Gack book..

I have 1-8", 1-9", 1-10", and 1-14" ROT 22-250s that are set up to shoot bullets in the 55 thru 70 grain range. I'm not shooting anything over a quarter mile and am quite happy with the 60 grain VMax, 60 grain Partition, and 64 grain Power Point.

I know this fast twist thing is all the rage. I tried it and for me it is a waste. In .22-250 or a Swift or .223 I want to use light to medium wt. bullets that blow up on impact. Heavies might be ideal for shooting target, steel or what have you at long range. But for me the bullets I mentioned do it all. If I want to shoot coyotes at long distance beyond 500 yards, I use a larger rifle. I have deer rifles for deer. Enjoy if you like!!

I love watching rock chucks fly 2 to 3 feet in the air at 400 yards with a 8 twist and a 75 grain eldm at 3420 fps. Makes me giggle every time and you get to watch the hit because of low recoil.

I really like that! My favorite stock pattern too. Well I haven’t tried everything out there but of the ones I’ve had it’s my favorite.

I know from shooting coyotes there is a noticeable difference between 14 twist and 8 twist impacts from a .223.
Using factory hornady superformance 53 grain VMAX loads the bolt gun would blow through making a nasty exit. The AR15 rounds rarely exited

Dennis,

Have seen the same thing, in a different way, with a 1-8 twist AR-15 and a 1-14 twist .220 Swift. A friend was shooting the AR and I was shooting the Swift on prairie dogs. We were using the same 55-grainplastic-tipped varmint bullet in each rifle, but in the .223 the muzzle velocity was around 3100 fps, and in the Swift at around 3750. From the .223 they expanded noticeably more violently than from the Swift, at any range out to 350 yards.

Yep, but I was not addressing my opinion of the twists. Instead I was explaining WHY rifles factories still use a 1-14 twist in .22-250s.

The only .22-250s we own anymore are both special runs from Whittaker Guns in Kentucky, a Ruger American and a Tikka T3 with 1-8 twists. Eileen has been using the Tikka as her deer/antelope rifle, with the 70-grain Hornady TSX at around 3300 fps, due to her recoil headaches. It has killed them just as well as larger cartridges at ranges out to 275 yards--with far less recoil and meat damage.

I tried some loads the other day in my 14 twist Tikka Varmint stainless. I shot only to 100m with a 55gn Sierra HPBT with 35gn 8208. A pretty mild load. A 3 shot group went .6 inch. I intent to try some 60gn bullets, but reckon that's pretty good.

I'm sorry if I misremebered the specifics of your reply. I'll have to find my copy of whatever edition of Gun Gack it was in and reread it. I've got several piles of books stacked up on the library floor that need to be cataloged and put on the shelves, Because of shelf height restrictions, the only Barsness books in the library are Optics For The Hunter (1999) and Confessions Of A Rifle Loony (2010), right there between Lloyd Barc's High Country Hunting (1989) and Edwin A. Bauer's Duck Hunter's Bible (1965).