Sweet sweet tax money

Hi guys,
Thanks again for the help with my .270, expecting the stock to come in today or tomorrow and the trigger is all good so thanks for that.

In aus its tax time and I was tossing up between two options, either being smart and saving money or buying a new gun. Guess which has won?

I'm looking for a varmint caliber at the moment so been tossing up between .204, .223, .22-250 or 243.

Ballistically and cost effectiveness is pointing me towards the .250.

Using ADI 2206 with a 70gn pill I think you can get to around 3150fps using about 31-32 gn powder which is pretty good I reckon.

I have been looking at them in Howa 1500 with a hogue stock as they have come down to $650 new here.

Again I'm not very bright with firearms so does the howa have a 1:14 twist with their 250's as I've noticed it seems to be the norm, if so could I get away with using 70gners through it or would I be better sticking to a 50gn pill?

Cheers,

BH

Buy a cheap 243-308-7mm08 and chuck a fast twist 22 barrel on it chambered in 22-243 :thumbup:

Sent from my GT-S5360T using Tapatalk 2

Sounds good, but starts deviating away from the cheaper side of things haha was thinking of putting either a Ziess conquest or a VXII on it. It's only gunna be a spotlighting rig mostly so the scope doesn't have to be that good. I'm not one of those blokes that buys a Z5 for a spotlighting rig like I know some do haha

I can't go higher than 55gr and maintain accuracy in my 1:14

Your name sounds like you are the bloke I need to talk to! haha what do you have yours in?
I was a bit worried about that, 55's would be alright I was just thinking if I ran into a big stag I'd be better prepared with a 70gnr.
We have a .270 minimum on deer but if I was roo shooting in the bush and one jumped up and startled me I might accidently give him one haha

What 55gn pill are you using?

iv kind of been through this, in n.z at least one of the only factory fast twist barrels is the tikka 1-8.(.223) unless you break out the wallet and go custom.
for no reason, I wasn't a fan of the tikka, but now that I own one, its accurate and light to carry I cant complain.(the pee shooter barrel too) I shoot 80gr amax and 65? gameking, I believe I can go down to a 55 gr projectile.
its not as fast as a 22-250, factory twist. but I believe I have a lot better bc projectiles, and critters still die. :)
(oh, I did have to make the magazine insides bigger but it wasnt hard, I just sent mine to kiwi greg member here)

Pretty sure the later Howa's in 22-250 have the 1 in 12 twist barrels. ymmv

Have you looked at Kiwi Gregs 22 Terminator range?

I had a 204 (just sold it) and still have a sako 243. Dont use it for varminting tho, bit overkill, especially if your just lamping.

Now just use the .17hmr for my varminting. Sold the 204 because someone offered me well more than I paid for it and the scope was to higher power and had adjustable parallax which is a pain in the arse at night.

I wouldn't buy another centre fire for spotlighting as it was bloody annoying finding brass etc which you need to do to make it cost effective.

Cheers for the advice guys, I'll have to find out the twist rate, I can't even find a Howa website though??

Perazzi - I know what you mean, but we have some kick arse varminting here that includes: roos, wallaby's, foxes and in certain areas under permits wombats, wild dogs and dingos - none of the last three are near me but when I travel they get closer. so having something bigger than a .204 or .17HMR is handy. We'll get you on to some fun shooting whenever we coax you into coming to Aus!

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Originally Posted by bully

iv kind of been through this, in n.z at least one of the only factory fast twist barrels is the tikka 1-8.(.223) unless you break out the wallet and go custom.
for no reason, I wasn't a fan of the tikka, but now that I own one, its accurate and light to carry I cant complain.(the pee shooter barrel too) I shoot 80gr amax and 65? gameking, I believe I can go down to a 55 gr projectile.
its not as fast as a 22-250, factory twist. but I believe I have a lot better bc projectiles, and critters still die. :)
(oh, I did have to make the magazine insides bigger but it wasnt hard, I just sent mine to kiwi greg member here)

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What are the gameking's like? I've heard of them but never had any personal experience

It looks like it has a 1-14 twist :oh noes:

You mite get away with a stubby 69 grain.

I couldn't get the 53 Vmaxs to go in my 1-14 22-243 but they are quite long & need 1-12.

So you wont get high BC projectiles to go unless you rebarrell it to 1-9 or even better 1-8

There are the 50gn Barnes Varminator's? If I'm going to get the 1:14 twist, what projectiles would you recommend?

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Originally Posted by Bavarian_Hunter

What are the gameking's like? I've heard of them but never had any personal experience

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to be honest I don't really know about the effect on game yet. iv never used the 80gr amax on anything bigger than a rabbit, and I wanted something stronger to use for close range small deer or goats., I was told it was of similar construction, fragmental, but more stout. some say I could use the amax, but its easy enough to dual load with the same 100 yard poi.
they seem to group well and have a fairly good bc if you want to push them out further.

I wish I could just go back to being a completely ignorant idiot as opposed to the semi ignorant idiot I am now. My mates fit into the first category and throw whatever cheap factory rounds they have at the time in the chamber, although anything over 200m is an impressive shot for them. Whereas, I know enough to know better but don't know enough (or have enough money) to do everything that is necessary to have things work perfectly haha

A .22-250 with a 1:9 twist would be my choice. A very versatile varmint rifle with the option to fire most 50 to 75 grain projectiles.
Would take a lot of beating for what you have mentioned it will be used for.
Ranges can be hard to estimate in the spotlight at night and a fast and flat point and shoot rifle is great to own.

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Originally Posted by Bavarian_Hunter

Cheers for the advice guys, I'll have to find out the twist rate, I can't even find a Howa website though??

Perazzi - I know what you mean, but we have some kick arse varminting here that includes: roos, wallaby's, foxes and in certain areas under permits wombats, wild dogs and dingos - none of the last three are near me but when I travel they get closer. so having something bigger than a .204 or .17HMR is handy. We'll get you on to some fun shooting whenever we coax you into coming to Aus!

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Twist rates for all available calibers are on page 5
http://www.howarifles.eu/resources/HOWA.pdf

Yeah buy one of those cheap T3's you talk of, in 223 1:8 twist, and have it rechambered to 22-204 Ruger, then you will be close to 22-250 speeds, and have the fast twist barrel to shoot the heavy high BC pills that you want to. See Kiwi Gregs 22 Terminator he currently has for sale (that's exactly what this is)

Or just leave it as a 223
The cost of changing and the rifle then the hassle of sourcing 204 then necking it down for piss water gains in velocity

If your going to do it go 22-243 or something worthwhile
For night shooting ranges with suitable bullet selection there's nothing wrong with the 223

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Originally Posted by Bill999

Or just leave it as a 223
The cost of changing and the rifle then the hassle of sourcing 204 then necking it down for piss water gains in velocity

If your going to do it go 22-243 or something worthwhile
For night shooting ranges with suitable bullet selection there's nothing wrong with the 223

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+1

And there is normally plenty of good cheap non reloadable ammo (Hornady training) for them. You can get brass cheap enough and reload as well if you want to.

I might not have actually mentioned this but I'm planning on spending as little as possible on this setup so re-barreling and all that sort of stuff isn't really on the cards. My bro just got given a brand new howa hogue stock that he doesn't want so all I really need is a barreled action and I'm set.

hmm Maybe I should just go the humble old 243 then? bit heavier and it'll handle pigs and just squeezes me into to the legal category for fallow deer. Just use AR2206 with an 80gn pill and should be easily able to get that 3200fps.

.243 is a great caliber and would also do all that you've mentioned easily.
If you got the .223 you could run an AI reamer through the chamber and be good for an extra 150fps over the standard .223 which is what I did.
Lee standard neck dies will resize the neck and seat the bullets so no extra cost involved except the re chamber.
The .223AI is a great little round!

http://www.6mmbr.com/223Rem.html

You seem to be on the right track and shouldn't be left wanting with whichever option you choose.

If you want a .250 and want to shoot heavier pills your cheapest option is to buy a tikka t3 .223 with 1in8 twist and get it reamed out, in nz I think this cost around $250.
I also think savage comes with a 1in8 but not sure.
Or just go 243 witch still cheap to run and enough grunt to knock the bigger stuff over

Just on from my last post the main idea is to keep it cheap. It's just a bash around varmint gun. As I mentioned my bro has given me a hogue stock for the 1500 and I just got a quote for a barrelled action at $500 which isn't bad for a brand new gun. I reckon I might just take the cheapskates way out and settle for a 243 so I can run bigger pills and not have to go spending extra money.
Down the track I need a scope which I reckon will be a Leupold VX6 instead of the Swaro Z5 I've been craving purely for the money saving and then put the VXIII on the varmint rifle as its a 4.5-14x40mm which would be perfect. My bro has for now got a Zeiss conquest 3-9 I can use.

Thanks everyone for the help, has all been taken on board and definitely would've done things if money saving wasn't an issue, reckon I might try to pa a chunk out of my hilux loan as well haha

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Originally Posted by Smiddy

If you want a .250 and want to shoot heavier pills your cheapest option is to buy a tikka t3 .223 with 1in8 twist and get it reamed out, in nz I think this cost around $250.
I also think savage comes with a 1in8 but not sure.
Or just go 243 witch still cheap to run and enough grunt to knock the bigger stuff over

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You'll have to change the bolt face too.

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Originally Posted by Matt2308

You'll have to change the bolt face too.

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Witch takes about 7mins

Just go 243 , if you want light and fast Winchester do the 55 grain load and whatever else you like for the heavier load, less effing around and cheap which is what I like too, not long till I do my tax too but no rifle purchases for me:XD:debt reduction