What caliber for varmint hunting?

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whale
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What caliber for varmint hunting?

Post by whale »

What calibers do you use for varmint hunting? I was invited to a hunt, but I will have to pass due to recent car accident. I was thinking 22-250 or 243. Also, does anyone use their high powered silhouette rifles with lighter bullets? Thanks.
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Re: What caliber for varmint hunting?

Post by Trent »

What type of varmint, and how far out are you wanting to shoot? There are tons of options in cartridges. You hunting groundhogs, prairie dogs, coyotes, ground squirrels... ? Are you wanting a cartridge that you can also buy ammo off the shelf, or can it be an established wildcat?

.22-250 is nice, but I like the .204 Ruger better. Less recoil, less powder, more speed (4000+ fps with 32gr bullets). Both will turn pdogs into mush. With the correct bullets it is a coyote killing machine. Also, the .204R ammo is very small compared to the .22-250 which makes it easier to carry in the field.

.20 Practical, .20 Tactical and .20 Vartarg are exceptional cartridges that are very low recoil and still hit hard. Not quite as hard as the .204R though.

6br is wicked if you are looking to add distance and still hit hard at range. The venerable .243win is equally hard hitting at longer ranges. A 6mm Creedmoor would also be wicked.

Lots of choices!
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Re: What caliber for varmint hunting?

Post by Trent »

Don't forget the good old standard .223rem.
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Re: What caliber for varmint hunting?

Post by Bigfoot »

Imho the 22-250 is far and away the best varmint rig only slightly ahead of the .222.

With the right twist barrel you can send thousands of chucks to the afterlife with minimal recoil and better than avg accuracy. The 222 only comes in second as it gives up out past 300 but until that point it's a surgical instrument.
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Re: What caliber for varmint hunting?

Post by whale »

Trent & Bigfoot,
Thank you for the replies. Also, sorry for the lack of information. The hunt that I was invited to was for prairie dogs. I wanted to know if people used their HP rifles with lighter bullets or if they had dedicated varmint rifles. My new Ruger SR-556 could be used, but I think a good bolt action rifle would be better especially at longer ranges ( 300+ yards ). I will look into the .204 Ruger. However, I think more rifles are chambered in .22-250 and .22 ammo is more plentiful. Any load data on the .204 Ruger Trent? Maybe get a Browning X-Bolt in .204 Ruger or in .22-250. Thanks again everyone. Whale
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Re: What caliber for varmint hunting?

Post by edgehit »

I have dedicated varmint rifles. I don't want to send 100's of bullets at dogs out of my silhouette rifles

You can shoot what you got, the AR, but beware that with an auto loader and light barrel you can burn up a barrel like, "right now." Heavy barrels dissipate heat better. So, get a varmint dedicated upper from white oak armory and shell catcher

The old 222 was and still is a fine cartridge, especially with 40gr V-max bullets. It provides long barrel life and benchrest accuracy. Nothing wrong with 223 either. 22-250 is a hammer. All the .20's are great

Problem is there are many choices. You will end up reloading if you do any of this because you will shoot hundreds of rounds in a single day and will want precision accuracy
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Re: What caliber for varmint hunting?

Post by DennisC »

AR with heavy barrel...5 gal buckets of ammo...never know when them dogs might mount up a charge :shock:
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Re: What caliber for varmint hunting?

Post by Trent »

edgehit brings up a good option. If your Ruger SR-556 has a good trigger then there is no reason you couldn't just invest in a nice varmint upper for it. They are available in .204R along with many other cartridges.

I do have load data for the .204R!!

Here is a spread sheet that I made up several years ago (I drastically need to add to it with new load data provided). This data is compiled from a bunch of members over on http://www.204ruger.com/forum/index.php myself included. When you open it the spread sheet is organized by bullet weight, bullet manufacturer and then by powder type. You will see that there are three powders that are prominent. They are RL-10x, BL-C(2) and Benchmark. Lots of other powders but those are the "go to" powders and RL-10x is the most popular I believe. That is what I use (26.5gr for the 32gr bullets and 26.0gr with the 39gr bullets). My 32gr bullets are just over 4100fps although I think I have a slightly faster barrel than others. That kind of speed is certainly not necessary.

http://www.keepandshare.com/doc/2580584 ... -29-pm-19k

The only caveat to the .204R is DO NOT use CCI-400 primers. Their cups are too thin and the .204R runs at too high of pressure for them. They will pierce and you'll get blow back into the action and your face (myself and many others have experienced this). Unless you run light loads.

I love the .22-250 and have two of them (well... they are just barrels now). Once I went to the .204R I realized the advantages of it. An often overlooked advantage of the smaller cartridges is the ability to carry the same amount of ammo in 1/3 the space. If you are hunting from a vehicle this isn't as big of an issue. The other big advantage is recoil. It is noticeably less than the .22-250.
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Re: What caliber for varmint hunting?

Post by Trent »

All that said. If you have an ample supply of .223 brass I might consider going the route of the .20 Practical or the .20 Tactical. (they are nearly the same)

Both those rounds are VERY close to the .204R in performance (the .204R has a bit more case capacity since it is based on the .222 magnum). The brass for both of them is easy to make, and Lapua even makes brass for the .20 Tactical.

If you gotta reach out and touch a dog at 400+ yards though you may need to go with .22 or .243 calibers.

This is almost as hard as picking out the right scope!
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Re: What caliber for varmint hunting?

Post by whale »

DennisC,
Thanks, but my AR will not be getting a new upper. It already received a new trigger by Wilson Combat. It may see some form of silhouette shooting here in New Jersey before it sees varmint hunting. A lot of people were thinking of putting small bore silhouettes at longer ranges or HP ones at shorter ranges to use their ARs. Seems like a lot of people are interested in using ARs, but not dedicated silhouette rifles. Some shooting would be better than no shooting at all. Also, some ranges have recently closed due to the current political climate and the value of land.
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Re: What caliber for varmint hunting?

Post by whale »

Also, my AR will be getting a new barrel with a 1-8 twist by Marvin Pitts.
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Re: What caliber for varmint hunting?

Post by whale »

Trent,
Thank you for all that information and link. I am looking at the Ruger Hawkeye Varmint Target rifle and the CZ 527 Varmint rifle both in .204 Ruger. The Ruger being $100 more. A person from a bullet manufacturer that I know informed me that the 32gr bullets in .204 Ruger are devastating on prairie dogs. Also, he agrees there is less recoil, noise and barrel wear depending on bullet and powder combinations used. However, if I wanted longer ranges, heavier bullets and more variety and availability the 22-250 may be the route to go. Also, people are having guns built with interchangeable barrels. So you can get a 22-250 with both a fast twist and a slow twist barrel. Another possibility is to rotate two barrels if two dedicated varmint guns are not possible. The last possibility is to ask the queen of the house for forgiveness because you just purchased two new toys. One in .204 Ruger and one in .22-250 Remington. My friend also stated that the availability of components and ammo is still difficult to say the least. You may have to settle with what you can find. They are working on it, but demand is still outpacing supply.
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Re: What caliber for varmint hunting?

Post by whale »

Trent,
The Savage 12 Varmint looks like a contender.
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Re: What caliber for varmint hunting?

Post by kevinbear »

I think it depends on how much you actually plan to shoot the rifle, I could never see spending lots of cash on an expensive rifle chambered in a cartridge that burns barrels out quickly. Stick with a common rifle like a Remington 700 in a small case like 223 or 204 that can be bought at a big box store on sale. I also wouldn't buy a heavy barreled rifle, they heat up at nearly the same rate as a sporter barrel but take forever to cool down. If you shoot it alot it will have lost it's best accuracy in just a few years and will be ready for the gunshow, then go get a new one and do it again. Rebarreling prairie dog guns makes no sense to me unless you won the lottery.
Let the availability of bullets and brass dictate which cartridge you choose, the 204 is the hands down better performing cartridge but only if you can come up with components.
If your plan is to go on one prairie dog hunt use you silhouette rifle.
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Re: What caliber for varmint hunting?

Post by Jerry G »

If you are going after thoes little p dogs, take a couple of rifles that don't burn a lot of powder. You could ruin the bbl of a 22-250 in a day if the shooting is good.

If you are going after coyotes in AZ, take a big cal gun cuse some weare flack jackets and shoot back. :ymdevil: =))
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