Thinking about a yote rifle, open discussion on .223 WSSM for yotes

Z

Ze Stallion

New member
Well the title about says it all. I need a yote rifle for the farm. My brother is an avid outdoors man and has put together a 22-250 on a old mouser action. Boy does it look good. Almost to good to muddy up with some scope mounts its so perdy with all its inlay and all. Wish I had a pic for ya but I don't sorry.
Well he was knockin me for not havin a yote rifle, says the flat shooting 22-250 don't need special bullet drop compensator recitals, just hold right on out to 500 yards and Bang away! So I think well thats just great. My fields are so huge I really could use that range so I got to lookin at hornady's reloading data on the 22-250 and then I noticed the new .223 wssm in there. And despite some stupidity on their part I was very impressed by it.
They had the .223 WSSM up to 4800 fps out of a 22" barrel with 1-8" twist
 
IMHO it is garbage and going by the way of the dodo bird.
I smoked a barrel in less than 4 boxes of shells.
Stick with the 22-250. Been around longer than me and probably you put together. And there is probably a reason for that! Of course there is always the .243 if you want to "bump up"
 
Do you think I need to "bump up" for killing yotes? Does the .223 cal. bullets do the job just fine? With which bullets? bonded or el cheapo 10 dollar boxes?
 
The 22-250 has a 1/14" not 1/24" twist for rifling. The 223 is a good 300-350 yard varmint gun the 22-250 will add another 100 yards over the 223. The 250 will reach farther but the barrel will get hot faster if you are doing volume shooting, like praire dogs and you can burn a barrel up. The 223 is cheaper to reload and buy factory ammo for. I have both calibers and I find myself shooting the 223 more and more. Just my 2 cents
 
The 223 WSSM has the speed, but will burn the barrel quick.
Winchester tried to chrome line the barrel to improve the barrel life, but that caused accuracy problems and the WSSM is falling out of favor now.
 
No way I would jump on a WSSM. Like the guys said, my first choice would be a .22-250, then a .243. This is IF you just have to have a lot of speed and long range. On the same note, I'm shooting a ar-15 in .223 for coyotes in my part of Georgia. There are much better choices than the WSSM.
 
for just yotes the 243....seen some shot with a 58 gr. vmax at long ranges..and they tumbled in there tracks....and is real flat shooting...

jmo fellows
 
i tried them all and swear by my 243.
17 rem, 220 swift, 223, 233wssm, 22-250.
the 220 swift is my next choice in a coyote rifle then 22-250.
i was never happy with the drop on the 223 after 300 yards.
17 rem shot placement was to critical
223 wssm costed to much and even though i don't shoot enough in a row to heat the barrel i worried about it shooting out. on coyotes three shots in a row is rare.
 
OK, back to the 223wssm...

My son shoots a Browning 223wssm, and it is a hammer on coyotes. He shoots a 60gr Nosler B-tip at just over 3,700fps. You can't beat this performance in any other .22cal factory cartridge.

Barrel burner? With the chrome lined barrel, Browning claims the same barrel life as a 22-250. Accuracy is sub-moa with handloads. DO NOT get the Winchester in this caliber, only the Browning.

If you need/want to take very long shots at coyotes, get a 243. You can get 4,000fps with the 55gr bullet. Not even the 223wssm can get that speed
 
I don't think its really worth it at all. You'll get more barrel life out of a 22-250, with out losing any real world balisics over the WSSM.

Yo be honest with you, even though I own two, and will buy a third, the 22-250 is more then enough for a coyote, you could get by with less 90% of the time.

By and large the vast majority of my shots are less then 200 yards, most of the time a lot less then that. There is no noticable difference between a .223 and a .220 swift at those distances. You could argue about energy, or a slight difference in drop but in the end if you hold on fur, there is a dead coyote.

I would even argue that the .223 is at times better. The slower velocity keeps the plastic tipped bullets from becoming explosive granades the minute they hit flesh, to something with a little more penitration. Its about half the price to shoot factory loads, can be found anywhere, and has a much larger selection. Barrel life is as long or longer then anything else out there, and its availible in chromelined if you want.

For most of the shots, most of the time, the .223 is enough gun to get the job done. Only really highly skilled people can actually take advantage of the slightly better balistics offered by the "magnums"
 
I haven't heard much good on the 223 wssm. I primarily hunt with a .223 or a .22-250.

"Hold dead on at 500 yards" - mmmm...... no way. unless the coyote is standing vertical on his hind legs, absolutely motionless, and you hold "dead on" on his head. Then you have a pretty good chance of hitting him somewhere in the vitals.

I think you have been given some good advice. .243, .223, .22-250. cost effectiveness for factory stuff - .223, then .22-250. You can get the white box winchester stuff pretty reasonable. For reloading - same order.

JMHO.
 
Now give him some credit, he didn't say hold dead on at 500 and expect to hit anything, just bang away. I could do the same about my 10/22. In fact I've hit prairie dogs out to 400 with one, it just took a few mags and a good bit of luck to walk it in
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Going off my reloading manual a 22-250 has about 10% higher muzzle velocity than a .223 using max loads. It takes 30% more powder to get there. Doing the math it gives about 40-50 yards to a PBR.

If I really wanted hard hitting at longer ranges, it would be hard to beat an old school .243. I really haven't read anything good about the super shorts.
 
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I would also suggest the 22-250 or the 243. I have no experience with the 250 but I do with the 243. If you are that good, and think you will be shooting at 400yds plus, go with the 243 and 70-85gr bullets. Coyote hunting isn't like pdog shooting, so barrel life will not be as big of an issue, but most 243's will still give 1500-2000 rounds of accurate service.

With the 243 you can push a 70gr bullet past 3600fps and that will pack a whollop on a yote still at 500yds. All that with just a hair more recoil than the 22-250.

On top of that, you'll have another deer rifle should the need arise. Load it with a suitabe deer bullet, (TSX, Partition, or the Hornady or Nosler all copper offerings) and you'll have a good 300yd deer killer as well.

Use a 75gr Vmax or, my favorite, a Sierra 85gr BTHP, and they will not move anywhere except down.
 
Originally Posted By: Ze Stallion says the flat shooting 22-250 don't need special bullet drop compensator recitals, just hold right on out to 500 yards and Bang away!

Had a fella tell me his 7 Mag would do the same thing. I must not be loading hot enough.
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Seriously, stay away from the 223 WSSM its already dead, Winchester just hasn't pulled the plug yet. If you want more speed that a 22-250 go with a Swift or 22-250 AI.
 
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You mentioned that you are a reloader, so ammo should not be an issue. I have seen coyotes in MO and I doubt you are a fur hunter, so caliber really does not matter if you are not saving fur. I have not grudge against the WSSM's and feel the 25 may be the perfect youth cartridge. All of the suggestions so far have been good. Perhaps a dual purpose 25-06 would be a good one for you.
 
I am one of the few here who likes the .223 WSSM (and probably one of the few who has actually owned one). I have the Browning and although I only have maybe 80 rounds through mine, the thing is a shooter, especially for a hunting rifle. Also it puts the hammer down on coyotes. You say you're buying a hunting rifle....how many coyotes do you think you'll shoot if you're worried about burning up the barrel? I only bought mine because I got a SMOKING good deal on one at Bass Pro Shops since most people are like the posters here and shy away from them. If you're hand loading, just don't load it so darn hot. I haven't crono'd mine, but I'm shooting 50gr V-Maxes with 41 grains of Varget and it shoots really well.

I have heard bad things about the Winchester, but the experience I have with my Browning has been nothing but positive.

This guy sure didn't know what hit him:

CoyoteCropped.jpg
 
I bought a winchester model 70 223 wssm back in 2004. I have really enjoyed mine. shoots 3/4" at 100 yards. However, looking back on it, I wish I would have gotten a 22-250 instead. Ballistically, there's not very big difference between the two. I'm pretty much restating what several others have already said. You cant get any more dead than dead. But I was younger and bought into the whole "speed kills" mindset and marketing propaganda. I don't shoot in large volumes at a time. Heck, I haven't even had five boxes of rounds through mine, so shooting out a barrel isn't an issue for me. The biggest reason i regret getting the wssm instead of the .22-250 is ammo availability. ammo for the 22-250 is much more readily available and less expensive. i have a hard time finding factory ammo for my wssm. Since i'm not a reloader (yet) this is a real issue for me. Sadly, I must agree with BrentWen... the caliber is dead. If not already, then it's certainly on it's way out in the not so distant future I'm afraid. So having said all of this, I cannot recommend the 223 wssm with a good concience in doing so, even though I own and use one. If i had it to do over, I would have gotten a 22-250 or 243.
 
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