An in-depth look at the 22-250 Remington’s capabilities and 22-250 ballistics, including velocity, energy and bullet drop.

A popular bolt-action load, hunters know they can trust 22-250 for most varmint and medium-sized North American game. But what you do you know about this round’s capabilities down range? Let’s explore what the caliber can do with an in-depth look at 22-250 ballistics.

Quick 22-250 Caliber Facts

• 22-250 Remington is its name, and speed is its game: This .22 caliber rifle cartridge boasts a muzzle velocity that can exceed 4,000 fps. That’s well over Mach 3!
• With its 55 grain or lighter bullet and laser-like trajectory, the 22-250 is a varmint round through and through. Some hunters make good use of it for deer hunting via pinpoint shot placement, though.
• While it is perfectly capable of finding very distant targets, the 22-250’s .224” bullet does its best work before its velocity tapers off to 1,600 fps. That’s approximately 550 yards for a 55 grain projectile. 
• Available with a selection of polymer tip, hollow point, and soft point bullets that complement its fast velocity with rapid terminal expansion.

22-250 Ballistics Chart

22-250 Origins

The 22-250 began as a wildcat round — namely the 250-3000 Savage, which was necked down to hold a .224 caliber projectile. First produced in 1937, the 22-250 essentially existed on the fringe of the shooting world until Browning began offering a rifle chambered solely for it in 1963. That was a bold move by Browning, considering that no major manufacturers were producing 22-250 ammo at the time. Remington followed suit a couple years later, thus cementing the 22-250 as a mainstream cartridge.

Your standard 22-250 ammo offers a 55 grain bullet and 3,680 fps muzzle velocity; a 50 grain bullet hits 4,000 fps, and a 36 grain bullet nearly hits Mach 4 at 4,250 fps. There’s even a Superformance load by Hornady that maxes out at 4,450 fps, making the 22-250 the fastest factory loaded cartridge on the market.

Varmint Hunting Specialty

The 22-250 sends varmints into low orbit. It’s especially good for social rodents that frantically chirp at one another when one of their clique senses a threat, as its high velocity permits 1,000 yard shots on small game. (In general, the 22-250 works best on coyote within 500 yards.) The 22-250 ballistic profile helped it earn its keep. It has proven especially useful on America’s plains, where crosswinds can quickly turn a slower bullet’s trajectory aside.

Low Recoil – High Popularity

The 22-250 is an appealing cartridge for younger and lighter framed shooters who want to avoid recoil — it offers substantially less kick than the 243 Win. Whether you can fire a 22-250 to take down a whitetail boils down to your skill level. A 55 grain V-MAX through the heart is going to take down a deer right where it stands, no questions asked. Anything aside from that is probably going to result in an aggravating chase.

Implications of Twist Rate

Many rifles chambered for 22-250 feature barrels with 1:12 rates of twist. While handloading a 22-250 round with a bullet heavier than 55 grains is possible, a barrel with so slow a twist rate is not going to give such a bullet the stability it needs to fly true. You would do better to stick with 223 Rem if you want to shoot 62 and 75 grain projectiles.

Other 22-250 Attributes

• Also known as the “22 Varminter” or “22 Wotkyns Original Swift.”
• Inferior ballistic performance to the 220 Swift that came out two years later, but far more commercially available and less costly as the result.
• The 22-250 feeds reliably from a box magazine thanks to its rimless case.
• British and Australian Special Air Service regiments have both used Tikka M55 sniper rifles chambered for 22-250 for counter-terrorism efforts.