Why a hunter would choose a 22-250 over a 243 for medium game

[Pumpkin]

As the title says, why would a hunter make this choice?

I know that MV and drop can influence this decision but after that what benefits might go to the 22.

[Paul B.]

Less recoil but that's about all. Recoil from an average weight rifle in .243 is for all purposes negligible.
Paul B.

[1972RedNeck]

If a hunter had two very similar rifles, one in 22-250 and one in 243, with suitable ammo for both, they would pick the 243 every time.

At least all of the hunters that I know.

[jmr40]

I wouldn't choose a 22-250.

But I have left bigger guns at home and hunted with a 223 and killed deer with it though. I wouldn't want one as my primary hunting rifle.

I'm not really a 243 fan either. In 2024 the 243 is an excellent deer cartridge but is bigger than needed for varmints and borderline for anything bigger than deer. When introduced it was conceived as a dual-purpose varmint/deer cartridge, but things have changed.

IMO most 223s' are better suited for big game than 22-250 because they are generally better suited for 60-80 gr bullets whereas 22-250 is usually better with 50 gr and lighter bullets. I believe all around cartridges start at 26 caliber.

That said, the most prolific family of hunters I know locally switched to 22-250 back in the 1980's. The whole family was sold on them and they killed a truckload of deer every fall. Using lightweight varmint bullets.

[GeauxTide]

There are few, if any, true game bullets for .22 caliber. At 76, I'm not the shot I was at 40, so my minimum is a 243 with 100gr Grand Slams.

[44 AMP]

IMO most 223s' are better suited for big game than 22-250 because they are generally better suited for 60-80 gr bullets whereas 22-250 is usually better with 50 gr and lighter bullets.

Most .223s being sold today are AR pattern guns, and have the twist rates needed for the 60gr+ bullets. My .223 (the one I have kept) is an older Ruger Mini 14, from the 80s, and will not run the heavy bullets, as it was never made to. .22-250s are still (almost exclusively) made to be the varmint rifles they always have been with the traditional twist rates for varmint bullets.

I wouldn't take my .22-250 deer hunting, unless it was the last operable rifle I had, as its a 12lb+ varmint rig, and I'm well past the point of lugging that much rifle into the deer woods.

I have a nice light, short, handy carbine in .243, but since I also have the same rifle in .308Win, the .243 usually stays home if I'm after deer. Personal preference, not for any other real reason.

Where I live, no .22 is legal for deer, so the question of .22 or .24 doesn't come up. State law requires .24 or larger, so the question is ".243 or bigger?"

I believe all around cartridges start at 26 caliber.

Everybody has their own opinions, and generally they are right, for themselves. I met fellow once who thought his .243 was an ideal elk rifle. He had taken 6 elk with his, and still had 12 rounds of ammo left in the box! I know others who won't use anything less than a .30 and a couple who use a .35 or larger.

And while I do like the .26 (6.5mm Swede) I don't consider my .25-06 to be any slouch and the .257 Roberts and even the .250 Savage have long reputations of success.

If its a legal round and it works for you, then it works. But what works for you might not be the best for everyone.

[Pumpkin]

Speaking of the 25-06, I really don’t understand why it seems to have lost popularity? I always thought it was an excellent sub .308” medium game cartridge and reasonably popular. Also, thanks in my experience, factory rifles chambered in 25-06 seem to shoot very well.

Wasn’t it one of the more successful middle bores for a while there? Curse of Remington maybe, 6mm, 280/7mm Express, 8mm Rem Mag…….

All very good cartridges.

[taylorce1]

.25-06 is a great cartridge but it's limited by bullets, 120 grains or less for 1:10 twist barrels. There are more shooters than hunters, so the traditional hunting cartridges are going to fade in popularity. The .25 cal is starting to gain in popularity in shooting competitions, but in the .25 Creedmoor with around a 1:7 twist barrel. Also since the advent of the 130+ grain bullets requiring a fast twist barrel I have two hunting buddies that built wildcat cartridges in .25 Nosler and .25-7PRC.

I myself would be more interested in the .25 Creedmoor as it's basically a .250 Savage AI. However, I have a 6mm Creedmoor so the .25 Creedmoor isn't going to offer much over what I have for hunting deer. While the .25 cals are certainly capable of killing elk, I'm going to opt for a larger bullet diameter 99.9% of the time.

[44 AMP]

Speaking of the 25-06, I really don’t understand why it seems to have lost popularity?

It doesn't fit in a standard AR platform. Add to that the hype (and the actual performance) of various 6.5 and 6.8mm rounds that do, and the "kids" who are buying new rifles are not going for the old, long. rifle rounds very much these days.

For me, the .25-06 is about the ultimate long range varmint round, the 87gr HPs on top of a case full of IMR 4350 will destroy woodchucks at 500 yards. And the 117 /120gr slugs have a long history of being very effective on deer, antelope, and in the hands of a good shot will take elk and bear.

But you need an AR that can take the .30-06 length and there aren't many of those, so all the benefits (and bells and whistles) of an AR can't be used for a .25-06.

In a way its very similar to the situation with the 6.5x55mm Swede. Too long for the standard ARs, so they have invented new cartridges that give Swede performance but fit in ARs. (or short action bolt guns)

[stagpanther]

I love quarterbore cartridges and have quite a few of them--the 25 creedmoor is one of the best of the breed IMO in terms of excellent performance and reasonable barrel life compared to the others that tend to be overbore when driving larger bullets fast--maybe one reason the 25-06 has faded in popularity (still a great cartridge IMO) though in the hands of a hunter that only shoots it a few times a year still a good choice. My less than 2 cents.

[Pumpkin]

Before all the “Bean Field” deer rifles were a thing I always thought a varmint barreled 25-06 was the bomb. I have an old friend of mine has taken too many white tails to count with an old 77 RUGER V. Even the regular 77’s had the heavier magnum bbl taper.

[Rex Rugged]

I have three rifles, a tack driving 22-250 Savage tack hammer, a very accurate 270 Win deer slayer that is also very accurate, and a 270 Weatherby that is powerful medicine for Elk. My bases are covered.

[NHSHOOTER]

Pumpkin I got a 25-06 from my brother and I was skeptical about its virtues that my brother bragged about. I went to NC deer hunting 2 yrs ago and decided to bring along the 1/4 bore model 77 ruger, I was not sorry, took a 4 point at 100 yds with a shoulder shot that just flipped him over backwards, drt. with 117 gr hornady sst reloads, 1" groups or better at 100 yds. Get back to NH and carry it to my ground stand 1 morning and get a buck crossing the trail broadside at 150 yds lazered and he went maybe 20 yds with a double lung shot..Wish my brother was still with us so I could tell him how right we was...

[Nathan]

Recoil and possibly twist rate.

Basically, I would use the one that will launch the best projectile for the job at the lowest recoil or best accuracy level.

[bamaranger]

Under the somewhat weak excuse of "because that's all I have" you might justify a 22-250 on deer. My thought is, trade that 22-250 away PDQ for a .243, which is far more versatile and a true dual purpose cartridge.

You can obtain or load light bullet .243 ammo and turn the .243 into a varminter, but it's hard to make the 22-250 into a suitable medium game rifle. Sure the 22-250 will kill a deer, I've got a brother-in-law who's advised in his foolish 'teen years, he did just that regularly with run of the mill 55 gr SP bullets. But he's quick to point out he'd never do it today.

I'm not endorsing the practice, but a suitable bullet for the hot .22 centerfires with slow twist might be the Nosler 60 gr Partition. Seems I read somewhere that it was designed purposely with a relatively blunt spitzer (semi-spitzer) profile to help it to reduce overall length and help stabilize it slow twist bores common in older sporting .223/22-250 rifles

[pete2]

I don't know why anyone would choose the 22-250 but some use a .223, don't know why but I could guess, don't want to go into that here.

[Brian Pfleuger]

Originally Posted by Pumpkin

Speaking of the 25-06, I really don’t understand why it seems to have lost popularity?

I never understood why a true 25-08 never came out... after all, .243 is essentially a 6mm-08, and we have 7mm-08 which is amazing.... why not what would essentially be a 6.5-08? Remington came close with the .260Rem...

Anyway, I digress...
Regarding the OP, as others have said, the .22-250 can be effective under the right conditions but those conditions are relatively rare. I have personally seen 22-250 insta-kill full grown whitetail deer with both neck and high shoulder shots, using varmint bullets designed more for coyotes.

However, why a hunter would choose the .22-250 when they had a .243... which implies they are not exactly afraid of a .243, else why would they have one... I don't know. They shouldn't make that choice in most any real-world scenario.

[Pumpkin]

I have friends that purposely choose a 22-250 (successfully) for their Texas whitetail rifles. I think MV and bullet drop played a part in their decision, bullet construction as long as it’s not a HP is all good.

I feel that your automatically handcuffing your self needlessly, recoil and other differences being negligible between a 22-250 and the 243/6mm.

Never know when a less than optimum shot my present itself.

Brian, my 25-35 Contender also shoots 6.5X52R

[44 AMP]

I never understood why a true 25-08 never came out... after all, .243 is essentially a 6mm-08, and we have 7mm-08 which is amazing.... why not what would essentially be a 6.5-08? Remington came close with the .260Rem..

My guess would be Winchester didn't care and Remington didn't want to...

or vice versa....

Remington "burned themselves" several times by introducing cartridges with their vision being different from what the market wanted at the time, and while Winchester did it a bit less, they had their share of failures, as well.

Another interesting question is why we got a 7mm-08, at all???

Note that Remington waited quite a few years after introducing the 7mm-08 before they finally put out the 6.5mm-08 calling it the .260 Rem.

Most of us figure Rem did that so it wouldn't compete (and hurt sales) of the 7mm-08. Remember, its not just about performance, its also (and sadly, mostly) about SALES.

I'm a bit of an odd fellow, I don't have any .27 or .28 caliber rifles. I do .22s, .24s. .25, and .26, then jump up to .30s, .31s (oversize .30s), .32s, .35s, .37s, and .45s. Never got interested in .270s, or 7mms. They work fine, I just never got interested in them, having them well covered above and below.

I've never lived anywhere any .22 was legal for deer, so choosing a .22-250 was simply never on the table as a deer round. I'm well aware it will work, provided the shooter is precise enough but have no idea why anyone would choose it for deer, when there are other rounds that will work quite well with slightly less precise hits.

[Brian Pfleuger]

Originally Posted by 44 AMP

Another interesting question is why we got a 7mm-08, at all???

Did you get in a Faraday Cage before you typed that?! Lightning has struck for less blasphemy.
You might as well ask out loud why we bother with 1911s and 45acp.

[44 AMP]

I think I'm well grounded enough, thank you for your concern.

I do not know why you bother with the 1911A1 pattern guns, but I do know why I do, and so I am safe in that regard.

I have never been a fan of the 7mm bore size, not for any valid reason, just someplace I never found a reason to go. And, apparently, I'm not alone.

Remington introduced the .280 Rem in 1957. It was never a big success. Renaming it the 7mm Express a couple decades later didn't change that.

They did hit paydirt with the 7mm Rem Mag in 1962, but didn't try another 7mm until 1980 with the 7mm-08.

And they waited until 1997 before introducing their standard (non magnum) cased 6.5mm, the 260 Rem. I was mildly interested in that one at the time, but passed, as I already had the 6.5x55 Swede and the only thing a 260 does that the Swede doesn't is work in a short action.

SO, why wait 17 or 18 years between those rounds?? The only thing that seems to make sense to me is to allow time enough for market saturation and a reputation to develop before bringing out the next "new great thing".

[thallub]

i would never hunt deer with a .22/250.

Been there, done that:

In 1954 i inherited a Winchester model 70 rifle in .220 Swift caliber from the estate of an uncle killed in an Idaho logging accident.

i killed a couple bucks with neck shots. Then a buck standing behind a tree failed to show his neck: Shot he buck in the heart/lung area. My Brother, Dad and i spent all day tracking and retrieving that deer. No more deer hunting with the .220 Swift.

IME: A varmint rifle is the one i'm holding when a varmint shows up. While hog hunting with my Ruger 9.3 X 62 a big bobcat showed up at about 150 yards. i shot that cat.

In about 2002 i became a dedicated muzzleloader hunter. Since then all my deer and the vast majority of my hogs have been taken with muzzleloaders.

[bacardisteve]

Twist rate! I have a tikka t3x 8 twist 22-250 that has hammered a few deer with 75gr bthp before my son switched to 308. I have an old 11 twist savage 243 that doesn't care for anything but lightweight bullets I would grab the 22-250 in a heartbeat for deer the 243 not so much. Maybe if I found a tougher <80gr bullet for the 243.

[Pumpkin]

Looks like you have a unique pair there.

Every 243 I’ve owned has had no problem with 100-105gr bullets. I believe Remington used a 1-9 twist for the 243 and 6mm while most others went with a 1-10 for the 243 and 6mm.

[oldmanFCSA]

For whitetail deer hunting in upper MidWest states, I have used a 22WMR in a Ruger Single-Six at a range of 3" to back of head, to a 50BMG at a range of 600 yards. Both were Dead Right There. All were shot on my farm in NW Wisconsin (160 acres tillable farmland, 551 acres of timberland in side of National Forest land.)

22LR was me slowly getting down from my tree-stand and having a doe walk under me (I was meat hunting to feed a family at the time.)