Very small caliber, VERY high velocity rifle?

Question

I enjoy shooting as a pastime and Im looking to buy a rifle. Right now I just shoot pistols and my Savage .22. I'd like to buy a very small caliber (.25 or smaller) with very high velocity (4000 FPS or better) thats a "surgical instrument at 300 yards. I've looked at 22-250, 220 swift, 30-06 accelerator etc... My father who has lots of experience with rifles (retired army) tells me a very small bullet is susceptible to wind and I should use a higher caliber. I just like the idea of "small & fast". Any suggestions? And by the way, what's the highest velocity rifle I can buy? Thanx.

Answer 1

The fastest factory cartridge ever produced is the 204 Ruger-4225 fps with a 32-grain bullet. The 223 WSSM can also achieve this with the use of 40-grain bullets. Your father is right about the small bullets. It all depends what you want to do with the rifle. Weatherby loads it .257 Magnum with 87-grain bullets at 3825 fps. If you handload, and simply must have the highest velocity, there are companies which make plastic sabots which will allow you to load .22 caliber bullets in .308, 30-06 or a .300 mag to achieve velocities close to 5000 fps.

Answer 2

I'm putting my vote in with the "not so fast" crowd. You can go with something like 17 Remington or 204 Ruger, but you'll wind up disappointed on 300 yard shots if there's any wind. It's also a little hard to find a 220 Swift any more, so 22-250 would be a more practical choice. My personal preference is for 6mm Remington, and the 70 grain loads poke along at a leisurely 3580 fps or so, which ain't tortoise speed.

Answer 3

Highest Velocity Bullet

Answer 4

The only (commercially available) rounds that achieve 4,000+ at the muzzle are the:

.17 Remington; .204 Ruger; .22-250 & the .220 Swift. One of the 40 grain .223 rounds comes very close, however, all of these drop to between 2700 fps to less than 2100 fps at 300 yards. All shoot extremely lightweight bullets. None of these are suitable for deer size game as all are varmint calibers.

My 24" barrel Remington 700 ADL .25-06, on the other hand, starts out at 3,000 fps and with most loads is still moving at 2,000+ fps at 500 yards. With quality hunting 110-120 grain bullets this is a stellar deer gun.

Best.

H

Answer 5

This will sound dumb but I had a .50 cal rifle but I used a sabot-ed .308 bullet had awesome range 3/4 of a mile with a 1/2 in group with a 150grain bullet we were pushing 7000 fps at that speed wind does very little to move the round. You can probably do the same for say a .308 and using a sabot-ed .22 for almost the same results.

Answer 6

Hey! I suggest checking out the new .204 ruger. Way fast bullet, 20 cal! You're dad does have a point. A bullet that's too light will not be surgical at 300 yards. Personally, if you want to be surgical at 300, The 6mm, 250 Savage, 257 Roberts, 260, and 270 would all be pretty good cartridges. Note: None of those will exceed more than 3200 fps, but these cartridges tend to be all-round better for accuracy. The small caliber bullets you want aren't designed for 300 yard performance.
Either way you go, good luck and have fun!

Answer 7

I would say that your choice of a .22/250 is an excellent choice.
I am not too real excited about all those 'BB' guns that has caught the buying public attention. I would venture a guess that if someone came up with a high velocity 'needle' shooter the buying public would have a new 'perfect for everything' gun.
There is nothing new under the sun.

Answer 8

If you want a small caliber, high-performance round, check the .240 Weatherby Magnum. That thing is a rocket, flat-shooting and accurate, powerful enough for game up to whitetail, with enough range for varmints.

Answer 9

I like the. 220 Swift which with factory loads will run at 4111 fps. but you all are aware that factory loads are generally loaded at a 40% underload, primarily due to our becoming so litigious society over the past 3-4 decades. At 4111 fps. 40% down, the full house hand load ought to bring the speed up above 6500 fps at least and more likely closer to 7000 fps.

Answer 10

There is another factor to compare when talking about wind drift. A smaller bullet may move more when pushed by the same wind, but if it is going signifigantly faster than a heavier bullet, the wind will have less time to push on it. So in some cases it actually moves less.

Regardless of these facts all bullet will move some when the wind pushes on them. The trick is knowing how much for your individual round, being able to correctly read the wind, and then making the appropriate correction.