22-250 Remington:
The 22-250 Remington began as a wildcat cartridge based on the 250 Savage necked down to .224″ caliber. In 1937 J.E. Gebby put a 28 degree shoulder angle on the wildcat cartridge and named his cartridge, Varminter.
This cartridge was later adopted by Remington and went into general production in 1965 as the 22-250 Remington. Remington chambered it in their model 700 bolt action rifles.
The 22-250 Remington cartridge is an excellent varmint slayer for sure, capable of ranges out beyond 400 yards and at bullet speeds of 3,800 feet per second with a 50 grain bullet it does it rather quickly.
While the 22-250 Remington has been used for deer and even elk, bullet construction becomes the regulating factor here. Bullet jackets are just too thin on most bullets for dependable penetration and controlled expansion.
If you handload this cartridge with the heavier 60 – 70 grain .224″ caliber bullets it is capable of killing white-tailed deer and antelope sized game.
Any decent rifle will need a good scope. Check out this one from Bushnell.
As of lately, Winchester ammunition now loads a 64 grain bullet for the 22-250 Remington for use as a Thin-Skinned big-game round with their power point bullet design. These bullets work quite well for deer and pronghorn antelope.
The 22-250 Remington cartridge is one of the easiest of rifle rounds we have listed to shoot as far as recoil. The 22-250 Remington is a light recoiling rifle round that anyone would enjoy to shoot.
It is, however, loud because of the hyper velocity of the bullet — so hearing protection is well advised here as when shooting any rifle.
22-250 Ballistics Chart
This 22-250 Ballistics Chart shows 35 grain Hornady NTX Superformance rounds:
| Muzzle | 100 YDS | 200 YDS | |
| Velocity (FPS) | 4450 | 3709 | 3080 |
| Energy (FT/LB) | 1539 | 1069 | 737 |
| Drop (Inches) | / | +0.5 | 0 |
This 22-250 Ballistics Chart show 43 grain Federal Varmint and Predator Speer TNT Green:
| Muzzle | 100 YDS | 200 YDS | |
| Velocity (FPS) | 4000 | 3552 | 2618 |
| Energy (FT/LB) | 1528 | 1010 | 654 |
| Drop (Inches) | / | 0 | -1.8 |
This 22-250 Ballistics chart shows 64 grain Winchester Power Point:
| Muzzle | 100 YDS | 200 YDS | |
| Velocity (FPS) | 3500 | 3086 | 2708 |
| Energy (FT/LB) | 1741 | 1353 | 1042 |
| Drop (Inches) | / | 0 | -2.2 |
22-250 Remington Cartridge Dimensions:
Bullet Diameter = .224″.
Neck Diameter = .254″.
Shoulder Diameter = .414″.
Shoulder Angle = 28 Degrees.
Base Diameter = .469″.
Rim Diameter = .473″.
Case Body Length = 1.510″.
Case Shoulder Length = .140″.
Case Neck Length = .262″.
Case Overall Length = 1.912″.
Cartridge Overall Length = 2.350″.
22-250 Remington Rifle Barrel Specifications:
Bore Groove Diameter = .224″.
Barrel Length = 24″.
Barrel Twist Rate = 1 in 14″.
22-250 Remington Reloading Specifications:
Bullet Diameter = .224″.
Maximum Case Length = 1.912″.
Trimmed Case Length = 1.902″.
Primer Size = Large Rifle.
22-250 Remington Accuracy Reloading:
For the Deer and Varmint hunter hand-loading or reloading his or her own 22-250 Remington ammunition, Western Powders, Accurate 4064 rifle powder does an impressive job of launching 60 grain .224″ diameter bullets at high velocity.
Accurate online reloading data shows that a 60 grain .224″ diameter Nosler Partition bullet using 32.4 grains of Accurate 4064 powder can be driven to a velocity of 3,086 feet per second loaded at a maximum cartridge overall length of 2.350″ in the 22-250 Remington.
This load does not top out until the 60 grain bullet is at 3,507 feet per second at a chamber pressure of 58,700 P.S.I.
For the 60 grain bullet reload if you sighted your 22-250 Remington hunting rifle in dead on at 235 yards it would only be 2 inches high at 150 yards and only 4.2 inches low at 300 yards which would be an excellent deer and varmint load.
Hunting Uses
The 22-250 Remington rifle and cartridge in combination can be used to hunt the following animals quite successfully with the right ammunition.
22-250 for Varmints:
- Groundhog
- Marmont
- Prarie Dog
- Skunk
22-250 for Predators:
- Bobcat
- Cougar
- Coyote
- Fox
- Wolf
22-250 for Big Game:
- Antelope
- Black-Tailed Deer
- Mule Deer
- White-Tailed Deer
Other animals hunted with 22-250 Remington:
- Hogs
- Javelina
- Peccaries
- Wild Boar
Check out our rifle ballistics chart for many more cartridges and ballistics information.
