You Don't Have To Go Broke To Go Hunting

11/06/2022  – I was listening to Tom Waits this morning; “Hold On”, “Downtown Train”, “Looking For The Heart Of Saturday”, “Bounced Checks”… Yeah, I know. I’ve been to music taste rehabs a few times, but it just doesn’t seem to stick.

I spent my developmental years listening to Bob Dylan so I guess the combination of less than traditional voice, good performances and good lyrics is nothing new. The thing about both artists is that they are lyric writing machines.

The performances are less pop, more William James and William Faulkner. I don’t mind listening to what someone else has to say, even if my ears have to suffer just a little bit to get the message.

Thanksgiving, Christmas!.!!!

About the time I start getting stressed over holidays, holiday arrangements, shopping, prices, elections, inflation… I swear a little bit, my head explodes and then I remember the meaning of those holidays, days of reflection, and in how many ways I am blessed. I take a deep breath… swear just a tiny bit more and then relax.

With a roof over my head, food in the fridge, heating oil in the tank. With so many people in America homeless, living in fear, their lives devoid of opportunity, my life is a dream. The American dream. So these days, when I want to feel better, I do whatever I can to help others and stop fixating on my petty problems.

While the terms are relative in meaning, and mostly self assigned, I think we need two things to get by, people who have more and can give graciously and people who have less and can receive in the same fashion.

Robust firearm, minor price tag

I think this is the part where I should say I have lots of expensive, custom rifles, but would not take them out in Maine’s woods hunting. Actually, I do not own any expensive custom firearms. The fact I am 76 years old and still working should be explanation enough.

Subsequently, when I buy a rifle it needs to produce, it needs to be flexible. No, not bendy flexible. I mean application flexible. It also has to be rock solid reliable and accurate to make handloading efforts worthwhile.

The Ruger American Rifle, in various forms and configurations has appeared on Real Guns® many times. They particularly fit in well for handload development articles as they are a stout design and they are incredibly accurate.

The 3 lug, full diameter bolt is not only a strong design, it also yields a 70° bolt lift for a short, quick bolt throw. Twin cocking cams lighten cocking effort.

The Ruger Power Bedding® system permits this light rifle to shoot sub MOA accurately, consistently and with longevity. You can remove the stock for cleaning and/or maintenance and the rifle will return to zero when reinstalled.

The American offers good field safety with a drop safety integrated into the trigger and a tang safety. The trigger is adjustable.

The subject rifle ships with a Picatinny rail, which opens  the rifle to many mount/ring options and optimized sight positioning.

The barrel is hammer forged to make rifling precise and to make the bore finish long lasting. The barrel is threaded to accept a wide variety of muzzle mounted devices.

A synthetic stock can take a beating in the woods, keeps overall weight down and features a quality recoil pad. The scalloped and stippled gripping surfaces remain firmly in hand.

Maine deer hunting and rimfire ammo

Each state has a list of cartridges permissible for deer hunting. In the state of Maine, that list begins with the 22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire. Thirty six states of fifty permit hunting with a 22 centerfire cartridge and that list is growing. As seen above, all 22s are not created equal. (L-R 22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire, 222 Remington, 223 Remington, 22-250 Remington, 22 Swift).

Joe, why are we here? Why not just buy a rifle chambered for the 308 Winchester and call it done? Well, the original premise was to not go broke deer hunting and to identify a combination with versatility. Hunters don’t really need a room full of firearms to hunt three classes of game. A 22 centerfire could provide legitimate coverage from varmint hunting, through to deer hunting.

Cost of ammo can be a factor because, if a close comparison is made, the 223 Remington can be purchased on sale for as low as 50¢ per round, but until that price stretches to $1.20 per round, it is explosive varmint type or non-expanding match type. So the varmint hunter can get out there at 50¢/round and the deer hunter for $1.20/round.

The 308 Winchester hunter can deer hunt for a bit more, $1.35/round for 150 grain soft point ammo, but 110 grain ammo runs $1.75/round and 125 grain climbs to $2.35. For the handloader, 223 Rem brass starts at 30¢, 308 Win begins at 68¢. Where powder types between the two cartridges are often common, the 308 Win cosumption are typically at least 50% greater.

Component bullet price differences are significant. 22 caliber bullets, varmint, run 14¢ per as opposed to .308 bullets at 30¢. For the deer hunter, bullets with enough weight and tough enough construction begin at 25¢, for the 22 caliber hunter and 30¢ for the 308 Win hunter.

Yes, there are super costly component bullets for both. Not sure why as the basics still work. Well, that’s just disingenuous, I know exactly why. It is a marketing strategy to drive obsolesce and meet future year business revenue objectives. How do I know? Some manufacturers sell the same bullet with only a name change every couple of years. I have some that are three product generations old with the same UPC code and manufacturers item number.

A cartridge of interest…

While I have direct anecdotal evidence that any and all of the 22 centerfire cartridges are deer stoppers, with the right bullets and with proper shot placement in vital areas, essentially the same qualifications that apply to larger bore cartridges, my preference is for the larger capacity 22s. Pictured below L-R 223 Remington, 22-250 Remington and 220 Swift.

My favorite was a 220 Swift and a heavy barrel Model 700 Sendero that generated blistering velocity, super accuracy, but required a hand truck to move about. So I have toned down to the 22-250 Remington, which is the chamber in the subject 6.6 lbs Ruger American Predator.

If it isn’t necessary, why move up from the exampled 223 Remington? Well its not for convenience. As an example, while Winchester offers one deer loads for the 22-250 Remington, Winchester Super X Power Point 64 grain, but two 64 grain deer loads for the 223 Remington. The 22-250 Winchester load is not to be found on retailers’ shelves.

The reason is that the 22-250 Remington load is unpopular. Why? Because the round is configured for 1:10″ rifling but, historically, the 22-250 Remington rifles had a 1:12″ – 1:14″  rate of twist. Consequently, I previously had to rebarrel an action to get a tighter twist if I wanted to shoot relatively heavier/longer bullets. The Ruger is supplied with a 1:10″ twist so it’s I am good to go and handloading makes producing ammo of any type a simple process.

The 22-250 Remington has a major performance advantage over smaller 22 caliber rounds, deeper penetration on game with the right bullets and greater reach.

223 Remington 64 Grain
Near-Zero – yds.		26		Mid Range – yds.		138
Far-Zero – yds.		240		Max Ordinate – in.		+3.0
Point Blank – yds.		255

Best Zero : Range 0 – 300 yards
Yards		0	50	100	150	200	250	300
Velocity – fps		3020	2850	2687	2529	2377	2230	2089
Energy – ft.-lbs.		1296	1154	1026	909	802	707	620
Momentum – lbs-sec		28	26	25	23	22	20	19
Path – in.		-1.50	1.10	2.63	2.95	1.91	-0.67	-4.99
Drift – in.		0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
Time Of Flight – sec.		0.00	0.05	0.11	0.16	0.22	0.29	0.36

 

22-250 Remington 64 Grain
Near-Zero – yds.		30		Mid Range – yds.		157
Far-Zero – yds.		273		Max Ordinate – in.		+3.0
Point Blank – yds.		290

Best Zero : Range 0 – 300 yards
Yards		0	50	100	150	200	250	300
Velocity – fps		3500	3310	3128	2955	2788	2626	2470
Energy – ft.-lbs.		1741	1556	1390	1241	1104	980	867
Momentum – lbs-sec		32	30	29	27	25	24	23
Path – in.		-1.50	0.81	2.32	2.95	2.58	1.09	-1.66
Drift – in.		0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
Time Of Flight – sec.		0.00	0.04	0.09	0.14	0.19	0.25	0.31

The 22-250 Remington, on a +3 ordinate, extends point blank range over the 223 Remington by 45 yards to 290 yards.

The 22-250 Remington extends the rule of thumb for deer hunting of 1000 ft/lb level by 100 yards to 250 yards, compared to the 223 Remington which cashes out at 100 yards. If you don’t mind minor rounding, the 22-250 Remington holds up to 250 yards. But I am not hunting thumbs.

Momentum, a good indication of penetration capability is 16% greater for the 22-250 Remington at 100 yards and continues to increase to 22% at 300 yards.

Downsides? Oh yes. The 223 Remington is easier on barrels. How do I know? Because all of those guys on social media say between 500 rounds and 1,300 rounds and 5,000 rounds for the 223 Remington. Of course, people who actually own them and shoot them with that level of use have a different story.

Barrel burning is part cartridge and a good part how the barrel is treated. If they are use for high volume varmint hunting, where the barrel runs hot and is not given a chance to cool down or a range gun with the same type of use, yes, I could see sub 2,000 round life expectancy.

For hunters who practice and hunt expending 40 rounds per season and believe 3/4 MOA is useful accuracy, 4,000 rounds holds up and that is 100 hunting seasons. I suppose you can rebarrel at that point or buy another rifle. Even if you shoot a lot and only get that 2,000 round barrel life, you’re still go to go for 50 seasons.

Comparatively speaking, the Real Guns Barrel Burner Index Calculator for the 223 Remington 7.2, quite low. The 22-250 Rem, because of its increased powder capacity, gets an index of 9.9. For context, both have relatively low chamber pressure, 52,000 psi and 53,000 psi respectively which places both below cartridges like the 270 Winchester at 15.7 and the 30-03 Springfield at 13.3.

22-250 Remington ammo is about the same price as 223 Remington factory ammo when both are suitable for deer hunting. For the handloader, bullet cost is the same as the 223 Remington, powder because of capacity is about 20% more and cartridge brass, at 70¢ for the 22-250 Remington, is a tad more than twice the cost of 223 Remington brass. However, when not abused brass is good for 10 cycles so the difference becomes a little over 6¢ per handloaded round difference in favor of the 223 Remington.

In the end, my credo for cartridge selection comes into play, “Go fast and make a lot of noise”. Yes, I hear you, I am very immature… and you’re Mr Potato Head.

Bullets of interest…

L-R #1365 Sierra SBT GameKing 55 Grain, #16316 Nosler Partition 60 Grain, #30190 Barnes TSX BT 62 Grain, #WB223PP64 Winchester Power Point 64 Grains, #1395 Sierra SBT GameKing 65 Grain.

All of the bullets pictured above are listed by the manufacturer for use on deer either as a component of their ammunition or listings in their respective reloading manuals, with the exception of the Sierra bullets which were selected because of direct and convincing anecdotal evidence.

Put it all together, rifle and assembled ammunition