Need a little help choosing a caliber.

Biggjimm · Post by **Biggjimm** » Sat May 26, 2012 1:36 am

I really enjoy shooting my .22LR. When I go down to the woods where I shoot it's not uncommon for me to go thru atleast a brick of ammo & sometimes two. I always pay a little attention to all my rimfires but usually my 10-22 & 22-45 get the most use. The last couple years I've been more & more interested in longer range precision shooting & as I have been honing my skills, I have finally caught up with the capabilities of my .22 rifle. I am looking to step up the power just a bit so I can work my way up to some 200yd + shooting & also do some ground hogging & some coyote hunting. And I'd like for my wife & daughter to be able to shoot it comfortably also. With that being said, I want a caliber that is fast & flat but still has the energy to dispatch a 'yote at the mid to upper limits of said calibers effective range. When the $$ allows I'm gonna build an AR for myself & my daughter but until then I'll probly pick up a varmint barrel for my super sweet T/C Encore (maybe a couple if I can sell my .44 mag levergun real quick) I would like to know the charicteristics, pros & cons & shooting styles of calibers like .204, .223, 22-250 & whatever else you guys may think will fit my needs. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated as the only one I have shot was a H&R handi rifle in .223. The gun shot nice but I'm not sure how the ammo performed as we we re not shooting at paper targets or anything to give me much feedback, we were just shooting a couple rounds thru it. Thanks. Biggjimm.

charlesb · Post by **charlesb** » Sat May 26, 2012 8:58 am

You can get .223 ammo much cheaper than the other ones mentioned, and it is effective.

All of the cartridges that you mention are great though. If you stick with that list, you can't go wrong.

My regular varmint gun is a Savage bolt-action in .17HMR, and I now have a .243 for varmints that are too big, or too far away for the sweet 17.

The great thing about the .243 is that it will double as a deer/pig gun.

My .17HMR is a definite step up from .22LR and has accounted for many varmints around my farm - but it's too light for use on coyote-sized critters.

A great feature with the .17HMR is that the recoil is so slight that you can observe hits through the scope. - But its only good for the smaller critters, out to 150 yards or so, perhaps 200 in a real pinch.

I'd rather shoot a .204 or .223 if I were going to regularly take shots at 200 yards.

The .22-250 and .243 are for reaching out past 200 yards, and for anchoring larger varmints with heavier bullets. They are a lot more expensive to shoot, and a lot more muzzle-blasty than the other ones mentioned.

The main thing is to have fun!

bgreenea3 · Post by **bgreenea3** » Sat May 26, 2012 2:50 pm

A lot of folks like the .17hmr for coyotes because it doesn't damage the hide so much. 223 REM is an excellent caliber and is easy to get good accuracy out of it.

Biggjimm · Post by **Biggjimm** » Sat May 26, 2012 8:12 pm

I've been kinda leaning towards the .223 but wanted a little feedback from some of you guys first. Charlesb, I'm in Indiana do the .243 is a no-go for deer for us. Has to be basically revolver cartridges for us to use rifles. .357 or larger with a min case length of 1.2" & a max case length of 1.8" I've found a fluted bull barell in .223 for my encore locally for a good price so I'm gonna try & pick that up.

Post by **Bullseye** » Sun May 27, 2012 4:31 pm

Since it's a military round (mostly) there's plenty of it available in whole cartridges and parts. The more there is the less expensive it is to pick up.

R,
Bullseye