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Looking for a lower caliber rifle for longer range shooting 200 yards minimum

Timber71

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Not sure about everyone here, but we can all remember the time we got our hands on a bb or pellet gun as a kid.
Those were fun to shoot and sure was cheap.

Id love get back into shooting smaller caliber (less noise and easier on the wallet) rifles, and looking for suggestions. Im not sure accuracy/range of some .22's but if you think something with a bit more power is needed for reliable accuracy beyond 200 yards, id be open to adding a suppressor
(tinnitus is no joke guys, id rather use hearing protection+silencers when I can).

Can you recommend me any good rifles (maybe one that is easy to store/disassemble for transportation).
 
223 Rem seems like the best option.

Cheapest ammo out there for shooting compared to others, or you could try out the 17 WSM. Probably force you to buy online & you won't be able to reload or sell the brass to others to recoup your cost like you could with 223 Rem. A 24" barrel would keep the blast a little forward of you than a 16" & you could always install a forward blast diverter to help a little more if it's on a 20" barrel.

There's also the 22 Hornet, but given the times it'd be tough to find that.
 
Try a 17 Hornet. It's centerfire with 223-esque performance and 22 magnum recoil. Really nice to shoot, but it might be difficult to source ammo at some brick & mortar stores.
 
Depends on what your trying to do. Just target shoot, 223 sounds good. Out at serious distance, 25-06 comes to mind. You could hunt deer with good success with that. 243 would be another choice. The last two have much better ballistics
 
If you really just want to shoot more and get back to accuracy practice for fun/cheap shooting, I would strongly suggest going all the way back to a pellet rifle. Not good for long range hunting. No where near 200 yard shooting, but loads of fun and you can shoot all weekend for the price of a few rounds of .223 ammo. There are some amazing serious pellet rifles out there today.

Added bonus, 75 yards feels like 200 and you don't need a range. Can just use your yard.
 
200 yards is a distance I shoot a lot.
It's the maximum distance on my family's hunting land range.

.22LR will work from that far out if it's not windy snd you use premium ammo. Now I've been told that the best ammo is that which starts subsonic even from the muzzle-- that way it does not experience the instability of going transonic midway through flight.
But I have not shot enough premium sub sonic ammo under bench rest conditions to really tell any difference.I typically shoot ordinary high velocity .22lr ammo and it gives decent accuracy but not minute of angle.

.22 WMR gives me satisfactory practical accuracy, but then again I'm not shooting "bench rest". My most accurate type of shooting there is from a level wooden platform "floor" - in the prone position- with a bipod or a gear bag or rolled up towel under the fore-end. .22 WMR is one of those cartridges that is definitely super sonic at the muzzle and definitely subsonic by the time it gets to 200 yards so it has to go through that transition.

I've shot the .17 HMR at 200, and it gives noticeably tighter groups. Seems to be quieter, too. I think this is the ideal plinking and casual target practice round for shooting at 150-200 yards.

The .22 Hornet would be a good choice if you are a reloader; the factory ammunition is quite expensive.

Of course the .223 has the advantage of being affordable and usually (usually !?!) available, but it's overkill for the job if you really want a round optimized for 200 yard shooting. It stays supersonic to 600 yards even with 55 gr flat-base bullets. And it's louder than it needs to be for use at 200 yds.
 
assuming this is all for target shooting....

200 yds is pretty easy with a 22lr.
22lr gets a lot more fun in the 300-400 yd range
400+ and you better be able to call wind with great accuracy

If you want to go centerfire, 223 is a great choice, and would be my choice. Push high BC 77 grainers out there.

As far as what rifle, choose the cartridge first, and a budget, then we can help. If you go 22lr, there are a number of considerations to make on ammo. Nothing crazy, but some things you need to be cognizant about
 
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