My buddy is looking at Howa rifles for his son and told me he is only seeing them with a 20" barrel. He asked me if that was long enough for the 22-250. I am new to the chambering having just bought a Remington 700 with a 26 inch varmint weight barrel so I have no experience to pass on to him.

For a 22-250 Remington I'd prefer a 24" tube. The Howa's are pretty nifty rifles though; a Buddy has one of the 20" short-tubed, heavy-barreled .223's and with the trigger adjusted is a very accurate Boomer.

I've got a 20" pencil-thin tubed 22-250 Rem. in a L/H Mini-Mauser and it's been a safe queen for a number of years now. I'm toying with the idea of either installing a 24" medium-weight barrel in 22-250 Remington or making it into a super lightweight 22" 250 or 300 Savage.

Never Chronyed it but it's r-e-a-l-l-y LOUD and the pencil-thin tube heats up so fast as to cause burns if touched after several quick shots. Shot a coupla Roe Deer with it and didn't appreciate the badly blood shot meat.

I can verify the muzzle blast at twilight is pretty awsome.



Nah, not really what I had in mind when I purchased it but as most Lefties can testify, the action is worth more to me than the whole rifle.

Gerry, Being a lefty I know your pain. In my mind a 20" .223 would be o.k. but for the 22-250 I would think the extra barrel would better take advantage of the extra powder capacity.

I "think" Howa makes the youth combo and heavy varmint in the 20" The normal rifle is 22"

Well I would have said stay away from the 20" with a 22-250. However playing with QL even loading a 223 to 22-250 pressure the 22-250 still have a 300fps advantage in a 20" with a 55gr. About 100fps slower than a 22-250 in their 22". I'm sure there will be a big ball of flame at dark. I normal run 24" on my 22-250s.

No flys on the 223 either.

My Mauser M 03 22-250 barrel is 60 CM or 23.622 inches in length. It is very accurate!

Some years ago, I owned a Remington 7 stainless/laminated in 22-250 with a 20" barrel and a Ruger 77 RSI in 22-250 with an 18.5" barrel. Both rifles shot OK, but were very loud, even on the range with hearing protection. I decided that, for me, 22" was the shortest barrel that I wanted on a 22-250.

The .22-250 chambering worked great in a shooting buddy's XP-100 with 15" barrel. Very accurate and about 350 fps ahead of the .223 in the same barrel length. A 20" barrel will work well but like any high pressure cartridge with a decent powder charge it will burn the ears.



.

I believe my old Mossberg 22-250 had a 22 inch barrel, and the muzzle blast at dusk was very impressive.

20" .22-250 = .223

LWD

quote:

20" .22-250 = .223

My first thought as well. Both in a 20" the 223 gives up about 300fps to the 22-250.

Take a 20" 22-250 and it would still be 100fps more than a 24" 223. Or pretty darn close to equal.

Given these are all QL numbers.

Thanks guys your answers are pretty much what I thought. As it turns out it is the Heavy Barrel Howa he was looking at. He will probably go with a longer sporter weight barrel or save for a Remington HB.

I like long barrels in my rifles.

I have 26" barrels on a .223, a 22-250, and a 300WinMag and love the velocity that comes with it. I hunt in open areas and don't need to be concerned about crawling around in the tules. The weight is a non factor for me.

I ran my favorite .223 load through my AR's 16.5" barrel and the same load through my .223 26" barrel and the velocity change was right at 600fps for that load through my chronograph. That is a huge difference for me and what I'm trying to accomplish with my set ups. I have seen my buddy shoot his 22-250 through a Ruger 22-250 varmint rig with a 26" barrel and the same load through a 22-250 Winchester with a 22" barrel and have the Winchester post a velocity advantage of 150fps over the chronograph. Tighter chamber, I guess.

In my opinion, and it's an opinion that I really like, I would not buy a a 22-250 unless the barrel was at least 24"

You didn't mention the age of your buddies son. If not a big teenager or so, I'd go with a .223. The blast and recoil of a 22-250 is such that I'd go .243, if going the 22-250 route.

quote:

Originally posted by carpetman1:
You didn't mention the age of your buddies son. If not a big teenager or so, I'd go with a .223. The blast and recoil of a 22-250 is such that I'd go .243, if going the 22-250 route.

He is only 12 but has been shooting and hunting for the past 4 years. He already has quite a bit of shooting and hunting experience. He owns and shoots with a great degree of accuracy calibers as large as the 7.62x54 in a Mosin Nagant and even 12 bore flintlocks.

I used to have a 20" barrel 22-250. 55 grain bullets still went 3600+ fps, it was very accurate. Powder fowling was almost none existent, muzzle flash was increased, and as with all shorter barrels percieved noise was increased, but you should not shoot any rifle without ear protection so noise isw not an issue. If you are looking at a fast twist barrel and shooting 69-80gr bullets the story will change, big bullets and slow burning powders need longer barrels to do their thing.

quote:

My first thought as well. Both in a 20" the 223 gives up about 300fps to the 22-250.

Take a 20" 22-250 and it would still be 100fps more than a 24" 223. Or pretty darn close to equal.

Given these are all QL numbers.

You're right. The .22-250 will still be faster. It's just that in such a short barrel, much of the advantage or potential advantage of the .22-250 is lost with the negatives of very loud muzzle blast and flash.

LWD

Get him an 1885 Browning single shot. Its 28" barrel will maximize 22-250 performance, be no longer/louder than a 24" bolt gun and making the first shot count will be reinforced. They are also very accurate and a pleasure to behold.

A nice example:

http://www.gunauction.com/buy/...-leupold-scope-minty

somebody made a good score!

The new UGLY B 78 w/26" bbl. Wood could be
"de-Hertered" but it's still not an 1885.

http://www.gunauction.com/buy/...50-caliber-inmintyin

All of my varmint rifles have 24" barrels, however, I do have a .243 Winchester Model 670, that I got for cheap that has a 20" barrel. It is very accurate, and if the muzzle blast is excessive, I have not noticed it.
joe

I have two 22x47 Lapua rifles (6.5x47 lapua necked down for .224 bullet), whcih has same case capacity as 22-250AI. Both are fast twist. One has 21" varmint and another one 26" standard sporter contour. Let me tell you that muzzle velocity is nearly same in both rifles. (75 gr Amax, 3600 +/- 50 fps). With this being said, barrel lenght does not same same effect on overbore calibers (which 22-250 is), than on non-overbore ones, such as .223.

quote:

Originally posted by w123driver:
I have two 22x47 Lapua rifles (6.5x47 lapua necked down for .224 bullet), whcih has same case capacity as 22-250AI. Both are fast twist. One has 21" varmint and another one 26" standard sporter contour. Let me tell you that muzzle velocity is nearly same in both rifles. (75 gr Amax, 3600 +/- 50 fps). With this being said, barrel lenght does not same same effect on overbore calibers (which 22-250 is), than on non-overbore ones, such as .223.

Very interesting. I have a 19.5" Sako 22/250, it is very accurate with 55gr BT's, and chrono's at around 3600 fps with a stout load of Benchmark. Mine wears a muzzle can at all times, so blast is not an issue.

The barrel is getting on, so I am going to rebarrel shortly to an 8" twist, specifically want to shoot 75gr A Max's. What are your thoughts on going standard 22/250 V AI V 22x47L? In any event the tube will be 21" maximum.

If I were to do it again, 22-250 would be my choice, because Lapua now offers 22-250 brass and it costs lest than 6.5x47L. This was not available when I had built my first 22x47. Lapua brass quality is outstanding, head and shoulder above anything. I am on 15th reload of the same brass and primer pockets are just as tight as when they were new! 22-250AI would out of question, as fireforming is too much hassle for me. It is true that 22-250 has slightly less powder capacity than 22x47, but I think in the real world this would be negligible. There is a school of thought that small primer pocket contributes to brass longevity. I have no idea if this is true. The gunsmith, a friend of mine who introduced me to this caliber and built the 22x47s also built 22-250 in 1-8” twist for another friend, and it is 5 rds in one hole shooter at 100 yds with 75 gr Amax. With this said, I think bullet selection is far more important than minuscule difference in brass capacity and geometry. 75 Amax is fantastic bullet. Lot of people think of it as strictly target bullet, but it is excellent hunting bullet as well. It does not explode on surface. It tumbles as it penetrates, thus producing channel wound much wider than its diameter. I’ve seen this on small and not-so small game. It is impressive. As far as the powder selection, with heavy bullet and fast twist you will need slow powder. RL22 was my choice and worked great until I ran out of it and can’t find it anywhere. I switched to same amount of Vihtavuori N165 (39 grains)and results are identical with no pressure signs.