Is a 22-250 enough gun for whitetail?

[big drift]

Well it wasn't a .270 but my boss took a pronghorn at 370 yards lasered with a Browning High wall .25-06 and I took a doe and a buck pronghorn with a .25-06 and a .280 lasered each at 270 and 269 yards respectivly.

Just comes back to knowing what your rifle and ammo are capable of by loading ballistics and range time.

[roosterslayer]

I am not sure i understand your point, a gut shot with a 30-06 and a gut shot with a 22-250 will have the same effect. same with the leg shot. If other states find it legal then so be it, just hit where you are supposed to and you should have a problem. people in canada take 100+ pound wolves with the 22-250 with no problem, so why wouldn't that work with a deer.

[lawdog]

Quote:

---

My guess is you were born in the 50's.The 3006 is a fine weapon but mid range in all bullistics,so many choices in todays rifles.good gun if you never leave the woods.

---

What a ridiculous statement. Actually I was born in 1971 and I would still chose my '06 as the most versatile gun out there. Go to any hunting camp and about 1/2 or more of the guns will be 30-06's and there is good reason. With all the tags we get in Wisconsin, I've killed so darn many deer with my 30-06 I can't even count them all anymore and hardly any were in the woods. It's hunted with me in four different states and never failed me, not even on my bull elk this year.

If you think you need so much more gun, you must be lacking in hunting skills and feeling like you need to compensate!

[Ufatz]

Rooster: If you read my post again you'll see that I did NOT say a 22-250 won't kill a deer. My point, and I make it time and again, is that we have an obligation to make quick, clean kills and GENERALLY a larger caliber, heavier bullet will do that better. So WHAT is the point of the 22-250? Just that you CAN do it? A trick shot?Why, why why? Use the 22-250 for what it is and was intended for. And just so you'll know-I was shooting a 22-250 bullpup in 1956!At crows.The thought of using if for game never entered anybodys mind. At least any rational minds! HA!

Oh...the other post about the 300+ yard shots. Sure. Don't doubt it a bit. Wide open country. Can you often see 385 yards in the midwest?

Toil on mi amigos, toil on.

[almostthere!]

Atually, due to low recoil, an average person growing up on a 22-250 will more than likely make better shots than an average person growing up on a much bigger caliber and flinching at the recoil. For that reason, a 22-250 will be better at killing deer because shot placement is better.

Would I use a 22-250 in Minnesota, if it is legal? You bet. But then again, I can take the head off of a squirrel from 100 yards away with my 300 Win mag.

[Ufatz]

Oh yeah? Well I can take the head off a gopher at 300 yards with my 7X61 S&H magnum! Hah ha ha haha. You guys are a riot!

[Kodiak]

i can make prairie dogs turn to spagetti sauce at 350yds with my 22-250.

the thing with the 22-250 is the accuracy and the speed of the bullet, put a 60grain bullet on it and you have a NICE deer gun..very accurate, you can take your cannon out there and be lucky to hit what you are shooting i will stick with my flat,fast,accurate calibers.

[BigWadeS]

wow, I didn't mean to start a fued...but thanks for the info and some laughs

[shae1986]

There is a reason that those smaller calibers aren't allowed. Mainly due to the fact that not everyone is a perfect shot. And with those smaller callibers thats what it needs to be. Where i hunt i will use my 30-06 for now and adventually purchase a 25-06.

A 22-250 is deadly in some peoples hands but not all.

A. Shae

Oh yeah, well i can take out both deers lungs at 40 yards with my 30-06.

[tonyjor]

My Dad hunted for years with my Grandpa's British .303. I own it now and decided to put a scope mount and a cheesy scope on it. It had open sites and a "mile site" before I put the scope mount on. My Grandpa was in the Korean war and this was his gun. I don't know if it has a bloody past, and I really don't want to know. I do know that my Dad could hit a nickle at 150 yds. and he only has one eye and that was with the open sites....

[Ufatz]

Tony, those old .303's have been around a long time and taken a LOT of game. You used to see them all over the Canadian north; Yukon, northern Alberta and B.C. They weren't pretty and sometimes they weren't accurate but apparently they were dependable. Your old rifle will drop anything you want to shoot in Minnesota with the right bullet. It will put you in a position to clean up the messes made by the 22.250 hotshots too if the need arises.

Take care of it and enjoy it and you'll have a lot of fond memories in fifty years.

[Kodiak]

cannons kill more trees than deer with all those misses.

[CAJ]

I live in open country, and am a firm beleiver in the 250. I took the advice of an old freind years ago. He told me that a very good hit with a small rifle, that you don't jump 10 feet back when you shoot, is better than 4 misses with the cannons. I have the big ones, but always seem to bring out the 22-250 when I get seius about huntting. Just my thinking. CAJ

[klw]

223 definately not enough gun and IMO an irresponsible choice

[almostthere!]

Actually, a 223 is more than enough gun for a deer. You just have to know where to place the bullet and your shooting limits.

[Blair Nelson]

A 22-250 is enough gun for whitetail ... with the right bullet. Let me load up some Barnes TSX's and some range time for getting used to the rifle I'd be quite comfortable taking after a whitetail with a 22-250 and likely eating grilled tenders soon thereafter.

Know a bunch of guys in Alaska that routinely take blacktails with 223AI's and TSX's. They're pretty serious about their hunting and know what they are doing.

HOWEVER ... shooting a VARMINT bullet out of a 22 cal at a deer is a receipe for disaster. Most 22-250 ammo is designed for coyotes on down.

A 223 or 22-250 is a responsible choice for deer hunting if it is 1. a legal caliber in the area hunted and 2. loaded with premium bullets designed to hold up in deer sized game.

[Hitman54]

Shae1986,

I bought a Tikka lite stainless-synthetic in 25.06 for my wife two years ago. I put a Leupold VariX II 3-9 on it. This in now my favorite gun! She has shot three deer with it the past two years. This gun is extreemly smooth, accurate and has enough punch to bring down a deer. I will tell you this, when the time comes to buy a new rifle for my kids, it will be a Tikka!

[Ufatz]

Saya there Blair, just where do those guys in Alaska hang out that are shooting all those deer with light bullets? I mean all 22-250 shooters huh? Can you rattle off the names of a few of the areas they hunt. Any on them wandering up Lisianski Inlet, Swan Cove, Seymour Canal or any of those other places heavily frequented by brown bears. All the guys I know want to carry something a little more substantial than a .22 caliber rifle when they wander those areas at this time of year. You must know a far more adventuresome bunch than I do. And say, what about that great snow fall of yesterday along the shores of Lynn Canal and around Big John Bay, where my cabin used to be.

Lots of guys huh? I'll be darned.

[Blair Nelson]

Ufatz ...

PM Incoming.

[Blair Nelson]

OK ... was incoming. You're PM isn't available.

Here's a link to one of their recent discussions. Good guys. Steelhead sent Big Drift a free scope for his daughter last year.

http://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=1052637&page=&fpart=all&vc=1

[Gissert]

Interesting discussion.

Back in the 1950's, my father had built a 220 swift on a Japanese Arisaka 6.5mm action.

He had a friend custom make a stock, and he fitted a Douglas barrel and a good Timney trigger on it.

After he got it dialed in, he took it out to Montana and hunted mulies with it. With a good 55 spitzer bullet, he said that thing was amazing how it would put a deer down.

He picked his shots, and if he could not get a good shot at the ribcage behind the front leg, the shot was not taken.

Shot placement was everything, as it should be with any caliber.

Dad's been gone a decade now, but I still love shooting his old swift.

[Ufatz]

Jeez! I had one of those old Arisakas a couple ice ages back! But mine was a cream puff collectible. I DID lug a 6.5 all over the north country for a few decades; a custom job built on a Swedish Mauser carbine. Gave it to my nephew and he dropped a nice buck last week within 30-miles of Gissert!

Look fellas, I know a small fast bullet WILL kill stuff with proper bullet placement. I just don't believe it is a good idea to use something like a 22-250 when there are so many better options. For years all we took were head shots so we didn't ruin meat on smallish blacktails. Theoretically you could have used a .22 long rifle to do it. But I only knew one old indian fella who did that, and he used it at ranges of from 10-50 feet.

Reccomending a 22-250 as a deer rifle is not prudent in my opinion. And there are many places in bear country where it is MOST unwise.If you want an instant case of Anal Lock go tweet-tweet on your deer call and then hear heavy breathing and look over your shoulder at a big furry head the size of a snowmobile staring at you!

[Gissert]

LOL. I have that swift, and a 6.5 Arisaka that Dad built. He had built a 7mm mag too, but sold that one, . The actions he had were very good, look to be pre war. They still have the crysanthmum on the receiver. I still have once action that I have not done anything with yet.

If it were legal, I would probably use my swift on deer as a stand gun, just for old time's sake as a nod to my old man.

I have gone the other extreme, and have used a .338 the last decade. It puts the bullet where I want it, so that why that gun is in my hands.

[Ufatz]

Hey Blair: I checked out the link. Looks and sounds to me like at least a couple of those fellas are deer hunting the islands near Kodiak. Paradise AK is a relatively new place along the Yukon. The guy is maybe a school teacher?

I give the guy with the pimp rifle an attaboy for raw courage showing up in the woods with that thing. He would never have gotten away with that in the good OLD days in Alaska.

Carry on.

[Blair Nelson]

Not one to beat a dead (osok'd by an unnamed sub caliber projectile, gutted, hung, tenders a grilling) deer, but a gentleman on (Contact Us Please).com took it upon himself (and beat me to the experiment) to load some .224 TSX's and do some cull hunting with his extra doe tags.

Here's a link to the thread:

http://www.(Contact Us Please).com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=32169

Moral of the story ... there are certainly more mainstream choices in deer cartridges, but if a .223 or .22-250 is all a guy has, and it is legal in the area hunted, it IS enough gun for whitetail IF used with premium bullets.