Do any of you use Winchester 45 GR JHP in the 22-250?

[DalesCarpentry]

I will be picking up a like new Remington 700 SPS Varmint in the 22-250 caliber on Friday. The rifle has a 1 in 14" twist. I will be using it for Groundhogs. I have been looking around for different ammo for it and found Winchester 45 grain JHP at 4,000 FPS at Walmart for $29.00 for 40 rounds. The price is right and was wondering if any of you have used this ammo? If so what were the results for grouping and how did it do on the game you shot with it? I also plan on getting into reloading real soon do you know if the 22-250 takes large or small rifle primers? Thanks Dale

[Wyo. Coyote Hunter]

  Dale, I seldom shoot factory ammo. but my pal shoot a bunch of that ammo in his .22-250...he loved it, but he loves anything that is cheap....It is almost impossible to tell if it will shoot well in your rifle unless you try some...one box. wont break you and you'll have 40 rds. of fine brass....it will take some shooting to sightin and breakin the barrel that should work ok for that project...I shot some coyotes with Fed. 40 grain HP come to think of it...it worked fine, except in heavy wind, but that is a given...compared to Wy.  Pa. doesn't have any wind...   

[Ladobe]

Used to shoot Winchester 46 grain OPE's in an old 22 Varminter I had.   Shot 55's in all my 22-250's though.

[Spanky]

Dale,

I bought some of this ammo for my 22-250 and shot it today. After I got the scope dialed in I was shooting 3 shot groups that could be covered with a penny. I was shooting at 100 yds. with a bipod on my gun. That ain't too bad.
I plan on doing some work on the trigger or replacing it... the pull is kind of heavy. Other than that I'm happy with the gun.



Spanky

[DalesCarpentry]

Good deal. Sounds like you have a shooter also. My bigest problem with my new rifle is the heavy trigger that must be 8 pounds. I must get that taken care of. Good shooting. Take care. Dale

[Ron 1]

 a couple years back i had a 22-250 savage with accu trigger and shot the 45 gr winchester shells i was very happy with the results. i could feather ball crows out to 300 yrds. i had very good results with those shells not to mention they were the best deal on the 22-250 bullets with out reloading. happy shooting
                                                                          rw

[Justin10mm]

I gave the 45 grain jhp load a try in my old Remington 700 BDL .22-250 rem. I shot a few coyotes with them but had very bad results. If memory serves, only one was a one shot kill, and that was a small female hit in the chest that ran about 80 yards before expiring. All the others needed a finisher to the head! Needless to say I never bought a second box. I have tried the same load in my 223, and they seem to do OK on critters that weigh no more than 15 pounds. So you may get good performance on groundhogs with good shot placement.
This seems to be a very safe bullet around buildings because of its very rapid fragmentation, but a poor choice for larger varmints. I shoot 55 grain BST in my 22-250 rem. now and have had very good results. I even killed a 200 pound hog with one shot right behind the shoulder using this load.