Opinions 204/22-250

[Ableshooter]

Just wondering if you guys have any opinions about how these two calibers stack up against eachother as Varment guns. I have both and bought them to use to shoot prairie dogs. I have not yet made it out to use either and summer can't come soon enough. But I have gotten the itch to buy another long range varment gun and these two calibers spark my interest the most.

All of the amunition that I use is hand loaded and tailored as best I can for my shooting needs. I have all of the stuff I need to reload for both. I was dead set on either a Savage Varmint 12BVSS 22-250 or Tikka T3 Varmint Stainless 22-250 but as I always do I am worried that I might be missing out by not buying either in a 204.

Do any of you own a 204 and or 22-250 and have an opion of which caliber would make the best long range 500yard, shooter. I am going to put a Leupold 6.5-20x50 VX-III 30mm Riflescope with a Varment Hunters reticle on what ever I buy. I just want to get the best shooter to go along with a great varment scope.

[versifier]

The .22-250 will work at longer ranges for these reasons: the lighter bullets in the .204 lose energy much faster and are more apt to be pushed around by light winds. That said, the differences in their performance will not be as noticable on very small game like prairie dogs, and you might well get good results with your .204 out beyond 350 yds. I know what the .22-250 will do from long experience with it. If the rifle is accurate enough, the .223 can work for them beyond 300yds, so you have nothing to lose by trying the .204 with its higher velocity and flatter trajectory. I do not believe it can equal the .22-250 in either range or versatility, which can shoot bullets from 40-60gr. To be able to consistantly take such small targets at 300-500yds, you need a very accurate rifle, whatever it's chambering. After sighting in and zeroing on paper at longer ranges, put some soda cans out at differing ranges and see if you can hit them consistantly. We roll them with ours at 400, the maximum range we can depend on it to cleanly kill a coyote with the 55gr Sierra SBT's & HPBT's that we shoot. You have much smaller targets, though more easily killed, so if you can hit the cans, you are good to go.