Remington lists its 55-grain High Performance Rifle PSP as a small-game load. PSP stands for pointed soft point: a lead-core bullet in a copper jacket, with a pointed nose and lead exposed at the tip. It has a G1 BC of .197 and leaves the muzzle at 3,680 fps, which is where most 55-grain soft points in the .22-250 start.

Compared with Federal's 55-grain Power-Shok JSP, the Remington is close to the same load. The Federal starts 30 fps slower on a slightly higher G1 BC, and the two meet downrange: zeroed at 100 yards, both drop about 9 inches at 300 yards. At that distance, a steady 10 mph wind blowing across the range pushes the Remington about 13 inches sideways and the Federal about 12. Compared with Winchester's Super-X 64-grain Power-Point, the Remington starts 180 fps faster and kicks about 21 percent less in the same rifle. The heavier Winchester bullet still drops the same 9 inches at 300 yards and drifts only about 10 in that wind.

Buy the Remington if you want a conventional 55-grain soft point for small game with the lighter recoil of a 55-grain bullet. Pick the Federal Power-Shok if you want the same thing with a little less wind drift; at 300 yards the gap is about an inch. Pick the Winchester if you want a heavier bullet that handles wind better and don't mind the extra kick. For varmints, Federal's Varmint & Predator 55-grain V-Max is a polymer-tipped bullet of the same weight that Federal markets for predators and varmints, and the same wind pushes it about 9 inches at 300 yards.