.222 or .223 or .243


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Re: .222 or .223 or .243

the .243 is better for longer ranges but the .223 is quite capable of 300 plus yard shots, it all depends on wether you want to save the hides or not! a 22 cal is better for hide saving and is way cheaper to shoot, I shot the 6mm for years expensive to shoot and way to much sewing and dockage of furs, with the .223 now I may loose the odd 400 plus yard shot but the damage is low and very cheap to shoot!

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Re: .222 or .223 or .243

I hunted fox/coyotes for years with a .222 and absolutely loved it. If you are just going to hunt varmits its a nice little gun. However, if you have any thoughts to use it on larger game, I'd invest in a .243. There is plenty of ammo choices out there for a .243 that will allow you to match bullets to anything from fox to deer.

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Re: .222 or .223 or .243

Of those choices, the .223 is probably the cheapest to shoot, and would be my choice just for varmints, but if you are going to consider hunting deer with the gun, step up to the .243 which is quite capable and effective on both. While the .222 would be effective for varmints, dont know about the availability of ammo.

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Re: .222 or .223 or .243

The first question is do you hand load?

If not and you're simply looking for a varmint cal you would probably be fine with the .223. If you're looking for a flat, long distance, versatile round look at the .243. Hornady V-max 55-grn is devastating to varmint. Ammo for either can be bought at the store pretty cheap, however the .223 has more of a selection in terms of really cheap ammo.

Personally id dodge the .222. There is nothing wrong with the cal but ammo is hard to come by and from what I can tell it pretty much matches the .223 Balistically.

just my $.02

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Guest Dirtydog

Re: .222 or .223 or .243

I have to agree, 223 is the cheapest and you can find them anywhere. You may have trouble finding 222 rounds at the local hardware store if you are out of town. If you don't have a big game rifle go with the 243. IMHO people spend too much time worrying about balistics and the perfect rifle for each game species than just being familiar, comfortable and confident with the one they have.

Dirtydog

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Guest onecoyote

Re: .222 or .223 or .243

jeramie, I don't know if you know this but the 222 was the father case to the 223, 223 mag, 221 Fireball, the .17 Rem and probably a few others.

Until the 22 and 6mm PPCs came out the 222 was the round to beat at all the benchrest competition shoots across the country.

Hard to find, yes. But a great little round.

Of the three calibers for western varmint and predator hunting.... 222, 223 or 243, I wouldn't pick any of them lol....J/K

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