Suppressed Shorty Bolt Action Varminter
- Thread starter EastCOYotes
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I'm shooting a 6mm Creedmore in a 1-8'' 16.5" , suppressed Medium Varmint barrel on a ARC Nucleus action. I lose 200 fps compared to my same caliber 22" barrel, shooting 105 gr, berger hybrids, shoots 1/2 moa at 600yds which is as far as my range goes. Deer season starts this weekend and Iwill post results if I shoot anything at long range. Yotes out to 300 drop straight down, hit anywhere with minimal exit wound, Texas yotes aren't worth much market wise, and are eliminated for predator control on whitetail ranches.
There are a lot of sweet .22s out there now. I'd consider the 224 valk, 220 thunderbolt and 22BR.
I had considered this but was thinking it still might be loud as hell even with a suppressor given how much powder you can fit in the 243 AI...
more 243 options in general. 6creed has more options and most with better brass leftovers
mom only loosing 80 fps from my 26” barrel to my 20” barrel 243 Ackley same load. 48 gr. Rl26
This is an 87gr berger. I had 2 of these. One was dug(melted) out of a frozen milk jug at 640 yds and one was picked up off the ground at 900yds. The one I picked up off the ground skipped in the snow in front of the plate. I saw the splash of snow and thought I missed but then heard "DING"....I was thoroughly confused so I drove down to the target, saw the skip mark in the snow. It went down in the snow, bounced off the ground, came back up out of the snow and hit the plate. The bullet was laying in the snow right in front of the plate. I dont know what happened to the 2nd bullet and I cant remember which one this was but I'm pretty sure this is the one I dug out of the jug at 640yds. Again I'm a target shooter so terminal ballistics dont matter to me but if I was using a rifle for anything bigger than groundhogs I would not be using a Berger. I know they say "hunting" but the terminal ballistics of a real hunting bullet have got to be better.
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I can’t tell the difference in suppressed sound between my 223 Ackley
And my 243 Ackley.
RL26 must be able to get most of the powder burnt in a hurry? Sorry I’m no powder expert, I’ve got H4350 in my 243 AI loads
True, but I likely wouldn’t shoot much factory ammo, will probably reload regardless of which direction I go
slow powder. high velocity. in a lot of stuff from creeds to saum and magnum cases
Not sure why I hadn’t considered 243 AI more to begin with on this. I do have a bunch of already fire formed lapua brass and dies from shooting my 26” 243 AI
Yeah this one will honestly probably get shot less than my 26” because I don’t think I’ll shoot much steel with it, just take it calling and such
If youre only shooting 400 yards max, get a 18-20" 243. Preferably an 8 twist. 9 twist would work too. Not with 105's though. And shoot 90/95gr Nosler ballistic tips. Or some Bergers. Youll smoke varmints all day. Every day. While also having plenty of horsepower to kill anything else you point it at. Ive seen a shitload of coyotes run a long waaays after being hit with a 22 cal. 223 and 22-250 mostly. Bullet diameter matters.
I've not used the hornady on critters but based on others I'd run them without hesitation. In fact I have a bunch of 80gr eld loaded in my 223ai that will get used some this season. The 80 and 90gr Berger vld kill everything from small varmints to deer out of my 22 creed just fine.
Berger makes an 88 gr varmint that fragments nicely on small game #24323. I shoot lots of pdogs with them, they come apart.
I use the HRDa spacer kit to load 6br in my ai 308 mags.
Gonna try to revive this thread and get some current feedback from some folks...
I haven’t built the shorty gun yet and my wife isn’t stoked about me spending the money building a whole new gun. So, I’m thinking of just getting a new 18” barrel for my rem 700 22-250 I have that currently lives in a Grayboe Renegade.
I’m now leaning toward a caliber that may be a little more barrel life friendly. Thinking maybe 223 or 223AI (should still have good velocity for light weight varmint bullets). Maybe the 223 AI I could even run heavier bullets if I wanted to use it as a trainer rifle.
Any other barrel friendly calibers to consider like 6BR? Not sure 6BR would be worth it in an 18” barrel.
picture of my rifle as-is today below (26” Varmint barrel)
I haven’t built the shorty gun yet and my wife isn’t stoked about me spending the money building a whole new gun. So, I’m thinking of just getting a new 18” barrel for my rem 700 22-250 I have that currently lives in a Grayboe Renegade.
I’m now leaning toward a caliber that may be a little more barrel life friendly. Thinking maybe 223 or 223AI (should still have good velocity for light weight varmint bullets). Maybe the 223 AI I could even run heavier bullets if I wanted to use it as a trainer rifle.
Any other barrel friendly calibers to consider like 6BR? Not sure 6BR would be worth it in an 18” barrel.
picture of my rifle as-is today below (26” Varmint barrel)
You’d need a new bolt for the .223/.223AI if you’re gonna go with rebarreling your current .22-250. If you’re gonna go that route, you’ll probably not save that much money over just buying a new complete rifle (or used rifle on the PX here).
IMO, it makes more sense to just keep using your .22-250 and cut the barrel down a little. You’ll lose velocity, but you’ll still be higher velocity than .223/.223AI with the same bullet weights.
IMO, it makes more sense to just keep using your .22-250 and cut the barrel down a little. You’ll lose velocity, but you’ll still be higher velocity than .223/.223AI with the same bullet weights.
I was planning on needing a new bolt but that is a good point. I hadn’t looked at how much they’d cost.
I really would prefer just having a new rifle but this barrel swap idea has appeal to me if I can get a good deal on bolt & barrel. Or just stick with a 308 based cartridge and not need a new bolt.
Since I haven't seen it mentioned...
.22 PPC or 6mm PPC is in the same ballpark mentioned here, at least on the lower end. Not exactly new, or flashy, but certainly capable especially when compared to .223 AI. Norma makes PPC brass, and Lapua makes .220 Russian brass (and Grendel if you want more cowbell) if you want less than a BR case capacity for barrel life and low-noise.
You can rebarrel a Howa Mini (<$400) or CZ 527 (<$500) for some very trim rifle proporrtions that fall under your $1000 goal.
.22 PPC or 6mm PPC is in the same ballpark mentioned here, at least on the lower end. Not exactly new, or flashy, but certainly capable especially when compared to .223 AI. Norma makes PPC brass, and Lapua makes .220 Russian brass (and Grendel if you want more cowbell) if you want less than a BR case capacity for barrel life and low-noise.
You can rebarrel a Howa Mini (<$400) or CZ 527 (<$500) for some very trim rifle proporrtions that fall under your $1000 goal.
I don’t run suppressed but if I did I would be taking note of what O’neill ops is doing with their new gunwerks built rifles. They say they are getting 3200+ with 75 eld match bullets from a 16.5” suppressed 22 creedmoor. Nice thing is the components you have for the 22-250 will still work. There are guys loading the creed in Lapua 22-250 brass. The budget friendly option would be a Remage 8 twist from x-caliber, buy some hornady dies and commence with the wackin’. If you live close enough you could even borrow my barrel vise and action wrench for the 700.
For varmints out to 400 22-250 40-55g bullet. Drive them nice and fast to get a flat trajectory out to 400. Get a good PB zero where you can point and shoot as far out as possible.
I did a 23" 22-250 light palma. I wish I would have went 20 or less.
I did a 23" 22-250 light palma. I wish I would have went 20 or less.
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I was thinking 223 would be nice for barrel life... but truthfully a 22-250 barrel would last me plenty long if I don’t shoot steel with it.
My current barrel is the original and still shoots good for what it is, no clue on round count.
I like it. I wasn’t crazy about the woodland camo at first but I got a great deal on it and the color is growing on me now.
The stock itself is solid, it would probably make a decent weapon itself if just used as a club.
All joking aside it is nice and the Grayboe bottom metal is very nice as well. It actually accommodates all of my AI mags better than my Hawkins bottom metal on another gun.
New bolt and barrel will run you at least $500. Probably would cost you less than $300 (maybe a lot less) to have your current barrel removed chopped and re-threaded for your suppressor mount. LRI lists a crown and thread job at $100, add in shipping and some shop time to spin it off and back on. Nothing wrong with 22-250, probably killed more coyotes than any other round. Might be easier to sell to the other half. That action can become whatever you want when the time is right.
