What is your opinion of a .222 Remington and 25 WSSM as the beginning team of a varmint battery?

Thank you for your input.

Buliwyf: I have no experience with the 25 WSSM so I can not comment there.
One of my first centerfire Varmint Rifle was in 222 Remington caliber. I have been in love with this caliber from that day on! 40+ years now and counting.
The 222 Remington is even a better Varmint caliber today than it was 4 decades + ago, due to the expanded selection of bullets and bullet weights that perform so wonderfully in the 222!
I heartily recommend you give the 222 Remington a fair chance to earn a permanent spot in your Varmint arsenal!
As for 25 caliber Varminters in general - I have owned some in the past and to tell the truth for many years now (decades!) I have been very happy with my various 24 caliber Varminters (from 6mm Remington Ackley Improved and 240 Weatherby on down!), my 22 caliber Varminters and more recently my 17 and 20 caliber Varmint Rifles!
To much recoil and to much barrel heat from the 25's for me to (happily) do much with them anymore.
Best of luck with your "sprouting" Varmint arsenal!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

The 222 is very accurate.....enough said..

The 25 WSSM is the only factory WSSM cartridge that I actually would have an interest in...

I have played with necking one up to 6.5 mm...

The 222 would be a very traditionalist approach and the 25 WSSM would be a radical approach..

So since you have the far left covered and the far right covered.. seems to me, you are doing okay right in the middle...

A quote I love to use from an old song...by a group called Steeler's Wheel..

" clowns to the left of me.. jokers to the right... here I am... stuck in the middle with you!"

I'd give the two choices a big thumbs up!

lf only two,l would always pick the 222 and 6mm Remington.
just my $.02

Thank you gentlemen. I've got my .222 Remington deal wrapped-up now and I'm very proud to own one.

I'm going to focus on the "big bore" now, whether 25 WSSM, 6mm Remington, or .243 Winchester. I'm leaning to the 25 WSSM because of Steeler's Wheel....

If you go off the wild side and skip the 25 WSSM, believe me, the traditional 257 Roberts or the 6mm Remington can take up the slack... and give you the same performance...

I have a 6mm Rem on a long action Model 700, and with generic 75 grain HP Hornadys, with a load of 47.5 grains of H 414.. this thing gives me a MV of about 3700 fps or better.. and is the most accurate rifle I own....

A 200 yd prairie dog, was hit with it, and it was raining prairie dog parts all over the place....

I saw a guy out in Montana, whom was a local with a heavy barreled 257 Roberts, do the same thing with a 75 grain VMax...

Isn't the 25 WSSM pretty much the same ballistics as the .257 Roberts? Or .257 Roberts AI? Maybe the pressure curve is different due to case shape?

The 25 WSSM is supposed to be the ballistic twin to the 25-06.
My two cents worth, I would go with something in a 264 caliber. The bullet selection for the 6.5mm is so much better than it is for the 25 caliber. There are many options for the 6.5. If you want a factory chambered rifle you might look at the 260 Rem or the 6.5x55. If you are looking for something custom there many good choices out there.