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Why did Steyr make the SSG69 in .22 250?

Good question, they made it in 22-250, .243 and .308 - They also made a single shot solid base receiver version and I have no idea why :)

Why not!!

Why make a purpose built sniper rifle in a varmint calibre. Would love to know the reasoning.

wildrover77 wrote:Why did Steyr make the SSG69 in .22 250?

The Australian and British SAS used Tikka M55 in 22-250 for urban ops in the 80's, so perhaps Steyr saw a possible market for the SSG69 in the same role with the military or the police?

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/REL/16601.001

wildrover77 wrote:Why make a purpose built sniper rifle in a varmint calibre. Would love to know the reasoning.

.22-250 and .243win are popular sniping calibres used by police and also on occasions by some military units.

It certainly wasn't a great idea so far as the UK civilian sporting market is concerned. A gunshop I know had one in stock for over 10 years and couldn't find a buyer despite featuring it in the shop's Gun Mart adverts and offering a huge discount off the list price. They might still have it for all I know.

Too heavy for the average fox shooter and an unattractive cartridge for most target shooters as well as suffering issues over maximum allowed MVs on MoD ranges. I briefly considered it with a view to shooting the barrel out (which might have taken a while given Steyr's reputation for super-hard longlived barrels) and rebarrelling to 308 or suchlike, but research showed a) a limited range of scope mounts, also expensive and b) Steyr uses non screwfit barrels which makes rebarrelling problematic and expensive.

wildrover77 wrote:Why did Steyr make the SSG69 in .22 250?

this is just a guess but I would say that a flat shooting highly frangible bullet would reduce to risk to bystanders by over penetration in a police sniping scenario ?

Most western police forces and law enforcement agencies became worried about over-penetration and collateral damage from the 308 / 7.62 round during the 70s and 80s and there was a general shift to smaller higher velocity cartridges for a time. 243 Win was widely used in the UK at the back end of the last century, I believe it being the Home Office / ACPO recommended general purpose rifle cartridge. This came about largely as a result of the 'Irish troubles' in the 70s when the 7.62mm SLR was still the standard infantry rifle. Many people were shocked at how far the standard military 144gn 7.62 FMJBT would penetrate through building walls in short-range urban firefights putting innocent people at considerable risk from stray rounds. The Americans came to similar conclusions through other routes and no doubt that country's litigious culture and the predisposition of its courts to award vast sums in damages to innocent parties injured by state or other local bodies played a part too. So US LEAs moved to 223 for short-range urban use with 308 kept for the long shots and/or where building / glass / vehicle body penetration was needed. Overall, the late 19th century adoption of a much sharper health & safety culture with attendant risk assessments must have influenced a lot of such decisions.

Ironically, after some years, the focus shifted from bullet over to under penetration with many cases where apparently good shots at hostage takers and suchlike failed because of glass between target and muzzle. The 1991 Sacramento Good Guys electrical store siege where a 308 Win Federal GMM with the 168gn Sierra MK bullet failed had a big effect of American LEA choice of calibres and loadings.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991_Sacra ... age_crisis

The fashion for small HV calibres has largely gone now with 9mmP as the short-distance rapid fire tool and 308 as heavy artillery here and in Europe at least. I wonder how many H&K MP5s have been sold to police forces in recent years - must be a hell of a lot!

.22 centrefire rifles were in use for police marksmen in the UK at least as far back as 1970. My Father was a member of one of the first modern police tactical firearms teams outside "The Met" whose snipers used the .223 Rem round for urban tasking and .308 Win for longer range.