HuntingNet.com Forums - .223 or .243 for varmint gun?

Quote:

Don't do it. If you want a real good varmint cal get a Remington 700, fluted barrel. Replace the trigger with a jewell trigger 2 pound pull. now you got a rel flat shooter. Be sure to add a good scope. Not a cheap one. 223's are not good for varmits over 100 yards. Too much drop.

What caliber do you recommend as a "flat shooter"?

And is case YOU can't read a trajectory chart (I've read your post about the "Poor misguided .223 guys", in case you can't tell), a 55gr SP with a BC of .235 fired out of a .223Rem at 3240fps has a Maximun Point Blank Range (+/- 1.5" from line of sight) of 230yards. That means that you can sight it in 1.4" high at 100 yards and still splatter a prairie dog out to 230 yards holding dead on. And the last time I checked, 230 yards was a touch farther out than 100 yards. The .22-250 is a little bit better, with a MPBR (+/- 1.5") of 254 yards shooting the same bullet at 3600fps. So these poor misguided .223 shooters are only sacrificing a whopping 24 yards of MPBR by shooting their .223's instead of the 22-250. The .22-250 will outshine a .223 at ranges past 250 yards, but out to 250 or so the trajectories are very similar.

One other thing, according to the ballistics table, at 200 yards the two bullets listed above would have 648 ft-lbs and 861 ft-lbs of kinetic energy left, which is still more than enough to take anything the size of a coyote or smaller.

You can find the trajectory chart I got these numbers from at http://www.chuckhawks.com/rifle_trajectory_table.htm and http://www.chuckhawks.com/rifle_ballistics_table.htm , that is IF you can read them![:@]

Mike