Spike Camp
Hunting with Weatherby => Varmint => Topic started by: Bulzye on February 10, 2012, 09:19:02 PM
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I'm looking to pick up a 22-250 for ripping sage rats, p-dogs and all the way through coyotes. I'm trying to pin down a good model and if anybody could help by giving me their .02 cents, I would very much appreciate it.
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Bryan
I have only owned one 22-250 I got it to be A run and gun rifle for coyotes and thats just what it is. its the rem. lvsf and its just not made for A lot of shots back to back I tried using it for my varmint leauge and it just heated up to much after 10 shots. So I went with A hevavy barrel 223 for that. If your going to sit in A prarie dog town and do A lot of shooting I would back off on the velocity the best load I found was @ 3500 fps in A 55 gr. nos. b.t. using 34.2 grs. of RL 15. I thought that rifle would be all I needed for varmints but the 22-250 is just to hot of A round for A sporter when A lot of shooting is involved.
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Thanks Mark, that's exactly the stuff I need to hear!
I even thought about 26" rem 700 varmint heavy barrel and putting on a Bell & Carlson pillar bedded stock.
The nice thing about a 22-250 from what I've read is that it's extremely versatile from 1500fps-4000+fps
I have a couple AR's I could use, but I really needed an excuse to buy another gun ;D
What are you using for a scope on them dogs?
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Easy stuff: I got a Vanguard Deluxe 22-250 off gunbroker.com, but  who ever had it before me shot it a lot and likely never cleaned the bore. I've cleaned the bore a lot, but it has a sweet, sweet trigger and an abused but still glossy walnut stock. The trigger is one of the finest I've ever had and is every bit as good as any Timney trigger I have.
Varget, IMR-4895 and H-4895 are what its 24" barrel does the best with, in particular the 52gn Hornady VMax bullets.
The only drawback to reloading it is the bullets are tiny. Large bullets are forgiving, small ones are not, but taking your time with them is likely going to give you some fine rounds that will put down coyotes in quick order.
(http://s3.amazonaws.com/weatherbynation/51177-400x400.jpg) (http://www.weatherbynation.com/image/tid/26368?startId=51177)
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eford, that's dead yote grouping there! thx
I'll be using my Forester Co-Ax to load and you're right, the .22 cal bullets are tiny compared to my 300 Weatherby's 180 or 200gr accubonds.
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Bryan I use A leupold VXII 4-12x40 AO on it. I love that scope I have another in gloss on my 300 wby. and looking at another for my 340 but a little concerned about the low end on the 340 but its A great scope for coyotes.
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I'm only a few miles from Leupold. I've been a Leupold guy for a long time and being close by them for any warranty stuff was a plus, but Leupold has backed way off their lifetime warranty unless you get the top of the line.
I've been looking at the Vortex Viper and I've read lots of good things about their scopes.
They have a warranty that's second to none! No receipt, transferable and lifetime. You can even damage your scope by dropping your rifle and they will take care of it. (from what their website states)
340..... Very Nice!
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I here you Bryan
I think life time warrantys catch up to you after time when you have millions of scopes out there. thats when they come back to haunt you. Kind of like the automtive industry with retired workers and life time benifits.it drives the price up just to keep fixing oder scopes. As for me I wont buy anything but A leupold I think I have 8 pluss rang finder binos and spoting scope. but I addmit im anal. lol
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I'll have to throw my 2 cents in on this thread cause the 22.250 is one of my favorite calibers, and my favorite for coyotes. Ive had a number of them over the last 20 yrs and literally shot over 1000 coyotes with them. Ive had heavy barrels in the past but dont care to lug them around snowshoeing. As far as for prairie dogs they would be great. Right now I have a custom built remington with a 1-12" twist, and a factory Vanguard, has a 1-14" twist for lighter bullets. I just got some 50 gr. bergers Im gonna try in the Vanguard, currently doing brass prep. My Vanguard isnt totally factory, I did free float the barrel and bed the action, also installed a timney trigger.
Remington makes a few different models in a heavy barrel. The one nice thing about a rem is if you ever want to do any modifying or rebarreling there about the cheapest and easiest for smiths to work on.
One rifle that really gets my attention is the Winchester Coyote Light, that may be worth looking at depending on your budget. Ive been eyeballing it as one of my choices for a new .243. Its a cool looking rifle, not so heavy with a 24" barrel instead of a 26" like alot of heavy barrels.
A Vanguard S2 would be a good choice in a sporter style rifle. I dont dont if its my bad luck but Ive had three factory sporter style remington 22.250s over the yrs, and none of them shot worth a darn, including the one I have right now so I made a shooter out of it. The heavy barrel rem's I had shot awesome.
I have fine duplexes in both my 22.250 scopes, a 4.5-14 on my rem, and a 4-12 on my Vanguard. The fine duplex is nice for a varmint rifle, I can even see the duplex at night when I go moonlighting.
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MIne is a Mk V with a heavy barrel. It is a nail driver. I topped it with a NIkon Monarch.
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David, I always wanted a accumark in a 22.250 but I have two and I have two... well sorta three accumarks. The little accumark isnt as heavy as a rem heavy barrel and it looks cooler ;D
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More great info!
I have a Weatherby .243 and many others, but no bolt actions below the .243.
I love Weatherby as much as the next guy but at some point you'll have to re-barrel a 22-250 if you want to keep shooting tight groups.
I'm not sure if re-barreling would ultimately be cost effective vs just buying another $500 rifle and put it in your higher end stock. I'm just tossing numbers around and barrel, labor, shipping, etc. may not be cost effective and it may be better to sell as is and pick up a new one.
Talking out loud........
The heavy barrel is a bit heavier, but if your not packing, it does take the longest to heat up. The fluted barrel has more surface area to help in cooling, it's lighter than a heavy barrel and of course looks the coolest. The standard diameter barrel heats up the quickest, but is the lightest of the bunch and if your not shooting lots of rounds at once may be the best option. The other side of the coin is when the barrel does heat up the heavy barrel takes the longest to cool down. Then there's target crown or regular crown. As long as you weren't shooting ultra long range, I'd think you could back of the load and extend the shooting time as well as barrel life.
Jeez... I already over analyze things and my heads turning to mush! :-\ (let the jokes begin)
I looked at that Winchester Coyote Light and it's a nice piece, but I'd slap a new Bell & Carlson on her. I'm a sucker for fluted barrels. I really like the idea of the rem 700 heavy barrel varmint and adding a Bell & Carlson stock.
I won't be packing it around on snow shoes, so I'm safe there!
I wish we could moonlight here in Oregon, but it's a no go in this state.
I'm planning on shooting lot's of rounds on the p-dogs and a heavy barrel shooting slightly reduced loads may be best if I'm not packing it. When the barrel gets a bit too warm, it's probably time to stop and run a patch down her.
Since I can only hunt coyotes in the daylight hours, long range may best be filled with my 243 with a longer range scope.
I thank you all for your input and advice, it's very helpful. As well as putting up with my rambling..... ;D
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Bulzye, the stock on the Winchester Coyote is a B&C, it's an all black one. The VS SF II Remington also has a B&C on it, thats the one I'd get if I got a heavy, polished stainless looks sweet. If I had a gun like that I liked I'd rebarrel it when needed, its just a better gun then. Get the action trued, get a good hand lapped barrel when it needs one, cant get that from the factory. They can make an identical barrel to whats on it, just more precise. Its fun to play ;D
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Ballistic, that VSSF II has me drooling!
What a beauty!
I always think that when I post some other brand than Weatherby that it may not be politically correct, but the more I thought about it, Weatherby can learn from what features that people like or dislike from other manufacturers. It can only help make a company stronger by listening to their customers about their shortcomings.... Like the plastic follower! ::)
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have had 4Â 22/250's,at present have a vanguard that I have glass bedded and free floated the barrel and installed a timney set at 2lbs, it shoots consistent 1 hole groups with 40 and 50 grn either the ballistic tip or sierra blitz king. it shoots under an inch with but have never had a 1 hole group with 55gr. probably because of the 1 in 14 twist. have used many powders over the years but consistently get best results with H380 and a magnum primer.(I use a mag. primer on any load over 30 grn that is a fine powder) Hodgen named it 380 because when they were developing it 38 grns with a 50 grain bullet shot 1 hole groups.have used many powders for it over the years and after reading about H380 tried it and been using it ever since.
my loads are 40 grn ballistic tip or blitzking 40.5 grn H380 WLRM of Fed. 215 primer,this load chrono's @ 3841 FPS - 50 grn ballistic tip or blitzking 40.0 grn H380 WLRM or Fed 215 chrono @3686 FPS. it will heat up,(don't let it get hot hot) when it does I set aside and use something else till it cools. this rifle has over 3,000 rounds threw it and still shoots good. enjoy your 22-250 but if you are going to load it down then get a 223.
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I shoot a Savage 22-250 in a model 16 with an accutrigger its not a pretty gun and its not that refined, but it shoots, I had it to Winner SD shooting p-dogs and I hunt varmints at home, ground hogs and yotes. I shoot 39.5 gr of h 380 behind Nosler b-tips that punch very small groups.
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I have a Rem 700 VSF .22-250 It has a 26in. heavy fluted barrel and it came with a nice tan and black spider webbed stock. It has been a great rifle. If I could change anything on it I would put a Jewell trigger on it like my Rem 700 Police has, but overall great rifle.
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Devildog, I found a picture of the Rem 700 VSF and that's a nice looking rifle. It looks like it's been discontinued though. I went looking on Remington's site and I don't see any blue fluted barrels anymore, only stainless and a black coated stainless on the XCR.
What can you tell me on Jewel triggers vs Timney? Looks like Jewel has a safety release on the bottom, but not sure which is superior. I would like a three position safety.
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I have never had a Timney trigger on any of my rifles, but I have really enjoyed the Jewell trigger. The Jewell trigger is available with a factory style safety. As far as a 3 position safety Im not sure. I think the new version of my rifle is now call The Rem 700 VS SF II. It has a stainless barrel and a black stock. Its a good looking rifle.
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have used both the timney and jewel,you can also get a timney with a factory safety.2 or 3 position. have found that once they a are installed you really can't tell the difference.
the only big difference between the 2 is the price.
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Look into a Ruger 77 with a heavy barrel or even a Ruger #1 with a heavy barrel.Great prarie dog guns.
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Remington Model 700 Varmint Special is a sweet shooter and comes in 223, 22-250, 220 swift and 243, they make them in stainless or blued 26" barrel models.
Thinking of picking one up for yotes and ground hogs but my H&R 26" heavy barrel Ultra Hunter in 25-06 is such a tack driver that I can't imagine anything shooting better ;D
Terry
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ya i have an ugly stick, rem model 788, but man does it shoot.
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ya i have an ugly stick, rem model 788, but man does it shoot.
I have had one in 222 and 22-250.Both tack drivers.Hard on the eyes.