.223 or 204
 

I am putting together another varmint shooter in .223 or 204 to go along with my 17 hmr. I like the remington SPS and the Savage 12BVSS. I also like the Mossberg MVP . I have read ( or thought I did ) the mossberg will accept 556 ammo. I am leaning towards the Savage, but if the Mossberg will accept surplus ammo that might sway me that way ...my goal is to shoot at a distance that is outside what the average person will shoot..I plan on getting in to reloading to get my accuracy even tighter..I mostly shoot praire dogs and the like. Just curious what the masses think.......or if there is different model I should be looking at let me know....... Thanks

Either the Savage or the Mossberg will take 5.56 Nato rounds.
Many of the Savages come with a faster twist these days and the 69 grain bullets are excellent for long range shooting out to 1K .:)
You may not want to go THAT far on a Pdog with a .223 however!:)
Cat

.204 with a 1-1o twist barrel and shoot 40gr vmax

.204
 

I'd get a .204 for the gophers! I'm told you can see the hits because recoil is so low. 1/2 incher for sure! I'VE only done range work myself!

Love my .204 on gophers due to lower recoil.

Either one will work fine for p-doggin but my favourite is the 204. I use three of them and is one of my favourite pastimes.
Recoil is minimal so hits can be seen through the scope with visuals like these

http://www.predatorhuntcanada.ca/for...rning-Graphic*

http://www.predatorhuntcanada.ca/for...rning-GRAPHIC*

http://www.predatorhuntcanada.ca/for...ar-**graphic**

love my stevens 223 pretty good out to 400 yards but fix trigger changed stock to a boyds and a simmons predator quest scope

If you are planning on going long there is no question the 223. You just can't buy a factory 204 with the twist rate to handle a high b.c. bullet. I would suggest the savage 12 as well.

Out of curiosity, how much more is the .204 susceptible to wind drift than the .223. When would you start noticing a difference, wind-wise and distance-wise?

.204, 40 gr V-Max nuf said! As far as high BC pretty hard to fine a .22 bullet that even comes close ..... especially when you include the velocity difference into the equation.

300-500 yds on gophers with WAAAAAAAY less wind drift, then with the .22's.

Funny though, how you never see anyone use a 204 in f open. The savage 12 is available in twists that will handle the 80-90 grain bullets. The 40 gr v max can't be pushed fast enough to compete out of a 204

Why not just shot a .243 if your going to shot that heavy of a bullet? say maybe a 85gr. Sierra HP? I don't think this guy is looking for a long range gun but a varmint rifle. BIG difference between the two disciplines.

Just curious what kind of velocity you would get out of a .223 with that heavy of a bullet? I am getting about 3800 fps. out of both of my .204's with 40gr. V-Max. With my .222 Rems (2) I am doing good, if, I get 3300fps. with a 50gr. bullet. (so add about 50fps. for a .223 if your lucky).

Let's bust er wide open then an why not a 22-250,, you can get good twist from a savage but most of the rest have a 14 twist and you most likley need to go bull barrel to get a 26 in barrel as well.

.243
 

I'm with 6.5 Shooter! Once you mention 22-250 you might as well go .243!

I don't know what you think your talking about comparing a .204 to a hot .22. The BC of a .204, 40 grain v-max is .225 and I push it to a little over 3700 fps. It's a great round and has the advantage of being able to spot your shots and uses significantly less powder then a hot .22
The .223 is merely ok IMO, it's great barrel life, cheap ammo, low recoil are all pluses but if strictly comparing the two, for pdogs I'd choose the .204
However my beef with what you said is comparing the .204 to something like a 22-250, I've got "factory" 22-250's and they still buck the wind better then a .204 but I've also got one with a 1-7" twist barrel on it and I'm shooting 70 grain vld's. With a BC of .371 and a velocity of 3500 fps they blow the .204 away in every regard at long range. I like that gun for long range gopher work just about as much as my 6mm's.
To the OP, if your going to reload I would buy the .204 if you really want to stretch the range out and plan on killing yotes with it, a 6mm is hard to beat. They vaporize half the gopher at any range and the other half will be 40' in the air. The down side is increase recoil, noise, heat and a fair bit more powder per round. I take about 8 centerfires to the gopher patch so warm barrels never slow me down but with a single 22-250/6mm you'd spend a lot of time plinkin with the .22 rimfire while letting the barrel cool off.

thanks for the replies... its nice to read advice and not ridicule. I have thought about a 22-250, but the 204 and .223 are a little cheaper to shoot and I am a father of 4 ..thanks Gube, those are some amazing pics.. I am looking for a solid shooter out to 5 or 600 yards, I am slowly working out to the 1000 yard mark, my goal is a savage model 10 BAS-K .308 :sHa_shakeshout: , to reach out to the 1000 yard mark. again thanks