223 or 22-250 Single shot varmint rifle in PA

[steinmaster]

I have been doing a lot of research on these two calibers and still cannot make up my mind. I will be purchasing a single shot Cooper Varmint rifle and cannot decide between the 223 or the 22-250. I live in PA so my longest varmint shots will be about 300-400 yards. I will be shooting ground hogs and coyote. I'm planning occasional trips to mid-west for some prairie dog shooting. I plan to shoot the rifle a lot at paper and GH's, so I want some good barrel and throat life. I also want my 7 year old son to be able to shoot it with my supervision. I will be reloading my own ammo. I guess my question is how much will I "give-up" on the 22-250 if I go with the 223. I'm a going to see a lot more barrel and throat wear with the 22-250 if I stay below 4,000fps. The sales rep at the gun store said the 4,000fps was a good measure when throat and barrel wear starts to significantly increase.

I know one big advantage of 223 is the availability and cheaper price of brass. The brass is almost 1/2 the price of 22-250. I'm not concerned about the powder differences.

Any advice and/or real-world experiences would be much appreciated to help me make a decision.

 

[RTH1800]

Personally have much use for both, but no use for single shot varmint rifle. None, zero, might be even less than that.

 

[pprochnow]

300-400 yards is a cake walk for .223. It's cheap, effective and low recoil. Barrel life is better and costs less to operate, but you can go faster with 22-250. I shoot p dogs and steel and love it. For the record I don't have a 22-250, mostly because the .223 is cheap and fun enough. If you are staying below 4000 fps then you are only about 300 -400fps difference from 36grain .223. But if you want a 22-250 by all means get one, i have plenty of guns in calibers that aren't necessary.

 

[rancilio]

A ss Cooper should be nice, especially after you give her some company now that your boy is shooting with you. A ss Remington XP-100 chambered in .223 might make the Cooper decision easier. A single caliber will create efficiencies and provide cost savings.

 

[mallrat]

I'm going with a 22-250, think I'll see if I can find a chamber adapter to run 223 also. Obvious disadvantages exist, but I figure it's worth a try.

Practically speaking, within the range you specify 223 will perform adequately with cost, availability, and barrel life advantages.

 

[Smithcollector]

I've been thinking through this recently myself.

I like single shot rifles a lot, and have a Cooper 223 as well as a 204, both single shots. Both were made when Dan Cooper was still around, both are very accurate and well-fitted, but I've not been able to get anything over 52 grains to shoot well in the 223. I really wish it had a 1:9 or faster twist, so I could shoot heavier bullets.

At 400 yards the lighter 223s just don't hit that hard.

The 22-250 has the same slow twist, I can only imagine how awesome that chambering would be mated to a barrel capable of stabilizing 69gr+ bullets.

I'd love to have another Cooper, but I shoot my Remington 223 5r much more often than the Cooper, and at 400 yards, it's easier to hit with the Remington.

Cooper would be glad to build you one with a faster twist, the cost difference isn't much, so all it's really costing you is time. I think they can also lighten up the trigger, but in trying to get info out of them, I've found them to be slow in response and just haven't wanted the hassle. I've had rifles built before, and for this one, I sort of want to bring something home RIGHT NOW, not 6-8 months later.

So I guess given your parameters above, I'd get the 223, for reasons previous posters have stated. Also there's something very sexy about the slim 223 action on a Cooper that you won't get with the larger 22-250.

Staying in the Cooper line, limited to their off-the-shelf barrels, I'd check out the ballistics of a 32gr 204 vs a 50gr 223, with factory-load velocities.

Good luck, it's a fun decision to make, because there's probably not a wrong answer.

 

[hollowoutadime]

I have a .223 savage accutrigger/accustock in .223 and a Remington 40XB in .220 swift. I took both to Colorado last summer(twice) to shoot prairie dogs. The 220 swift (almost identical to 22-250) will get you more hits on dogs as it's a much higher velocity round and as such shoots flatter and is more forgiving of misjudging distances. 22-250 is widely available and around $20/box, a bit more than run of the mill .223. I reload both and the 220 is devastating.

Varmints like pdogs are hard to range accurately, even with a decent laser, so the flatter round works better. The only advantage with a .223 is probably less felt recoil so if you don't have a spotter you might see misses better.

Single shot is fine. Spend some money on good glass. IMR3031 and IMR4064 with 52 gr bullets shoot well out of my 15 yr old Rem 40x

Even though the 22-250 uses about 50% more powder than a .223 (25.5 gr vs around 37g) with a 55 gr .13 cent Varmagedden bullet, both are relatively inexpensive to shoot.

 

[JimStC]

I have a Cooper Model 21 in .223. Accurate and a pleasure to shoot. My only single shot but I would definitely buy another. My wife loves the caliber and the rifle. Actually, I bought it for her. It should suit your son well.
Whichever caliber you choose I'll bet you will be pleased. Nice decision to have to make. Good luck and have fun teaching your son to shoot.

Jim

 

[SporterII]

If inside 300 mostly, 223 is my pick. I shoot a couple different 223 and when shooting on a dog town they can get hot fast. That 22-250 will need a 223 to shoot wile it keeps from frying. No shade out where we shoot either. My vote is 223, and get a second ordered from Cooper. 2- 223's. 8tw., and a 12. Two barrels, two bullets, all the rest simple.

ETA; Not trying to be a smart ass but two Coopers, ya got to admit...