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Caliber recommendations again

A

Altoonabcm157

Sergeant of the Hide
Full Member
Minuteman
Oct 28, 2020
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New jersey
Picked up a new action since it was cheap on sale and need some recommendations for caliber as I didn’t plan ahead for a build. Want to keep it in the 308 bolt face family. I’m thinking 22 creed maybe. I have 6.5 creed, 24 inch 308, 300PRC, 223 rem. This won’t be dedicated for competition or hunting, just a fun gun maybe for some predator hunting and range days. Maybe it’ll get stretched to 1000 occasionally but all round fun is the goal. It will be hand loads so factory ammo availability is not a concern. Any thoughts on this.
 
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Altoonabcm157 said:
Picked up a new action since it was cheap on sale and need some recommendations for caliber as I didn’t plan ahead for a build. Want to keep it in the 308 bolt face family. I’m thinking 22 creed maybe. I have 6.5 creed, 24 inch 308, 300PRC, 223 rem. This won’t be dedicated for competition or hunting, just a fun gun maybe for some predator hunting and range days. Maybe it’ll get stretched to 1000 occasionally but all round fun is the goal. It will be hand loads so factory ammo availability is not a concern. Any thoughts on this.
Click to expand...

Your list has three different bolt face groups in it.
 
Altoonabcm157 said:
Picked up a new action since it was cheap on sale and need some recommendations for caliber as I didn’t plan ahead for a build. Want to keep it in the 308 bolt face family. I’m thinking 22 creed maybe. I have 6.5 creed, 24 inch 308, 300PRC, 223 rem. This won’t be dedicated for competition or hunting, just a fun gun maybe for some predator hunting and range days. Maybe it’ll get stretched to 1000 occasionally but all round fun is the goal. It will be hand loads so factory ammo availability is not a concern. Any thoughts on this.
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.25 Creedmoor with a 1:7 twist Proof CF barrel, finished at 20" would be sweet.
 
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Pharmseller said:
7mm-08
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What he said. Very capable at a 1000 yards and hunting. 160-165g bullets, 39-40g of powder, longer barrel life than the 22, 6 or 6.5s. Mild enough recoil with a good brake to shoot until you’re broke.

You could consider AI on that and many do, but lose some the benefits. Less barrel life, 5% increase in powder consumption, more recoil, etc etc.
 
Dave62677 said:
6 dasher -
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This.

22CM is going to be fun for about 800-1000 rounds of barrel life, so if you shoot it often you’re looking at $1/round almost in barrel life for what it costs to get one made unless you go with one of the econo routes.

Dasher is super easy to load for, has far better barrel life, and is super easy and fun to shoot. A Dasher in a rem varmintish contour would be a good setup for something that could be carried fairly easily for predators but still have enough weight to have super mild recoil and hold accuracy for 10 round strings at the range.
 
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Frank Green said:
Handload only? Box ammo to be shot thru it only? Or a combination of both?

You did say handloads only but are you willing to form brass... or are you going to use factory brass and do no fireforming?
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I rarely shoot factory ammo so not a concern there. Valid point made, even though I don’t care about factory ammo availability I do care about component availability. I generally avoid having to do things like fire forming.
 
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Altoonabcm157 said:
Picked up a new action since it was cheap on sale and need some recommendations for caliber as I didn’t plan ahead for a build. Want to keep it in the 308 bolt face family. I’m thinking 22 creed maybe. I have 6.5 creed, 24 inch 308, 300PRC, 223 rem. This won’t be dedicated for competition or hunting, just a fun gun maybe for some predator hunting and range days. Maybe it’ll get stretched to 1000 occasionally but all round fun is the goal. It will be hand loads so factory ammo availability is not a concern. Any thoughts on this.
Click to expand...
22-250. Faster twist.
 
Altoonabcm157 said:
I rarely shoot factory ammo so not a concern there. Valid point made, even though I don’t care about factory ammo availability I do care about component availability. I generally avoid having to do things like fire forming.
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What about 6GT as an option in the 6mm line up. Easy to load for and great to shoot. No fireforming etc...

Later, Frank
Bartlein Barrels
 
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22CM is an interesting design, low recoil, fun to shoot. As far as barrel life, it's a consideration but not enough of one to not do the 22CM. Rifle barrels in high performance calibers are like tires on a race car, high performance, short life go hand in hand when used in the capacity they were designed to be used.
 
OREGUN said:
I’d try a .25 something. It’s the new hotness, for a reason.
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No offense and my opinion.... I hate 25cal just like I hate 27cal. For one other calibers are ballistic wise better.

The other thing to think about is component quality and availability. There are not a lot of options out there for 25cal bullets (hunting bullet wise...yes but match type bullets...I'll say no) vs a 6mm or a 6.5mm or a 7mm etc...

I don't like building a gun just to shoot one specific bullet that is available. What happens and it's going on right now.... what happens when you can't get the component? Other calibers offer more options.
 
Oh, @Frank Green you mean like the 131 Blackjacks???

Plus .25 cal anything is 100% Brokeback Mountain goes shooting….
🤣🤣🤣



6 BR, 6 BRA (Alpha brass), or 6 Gay Tiger would be awesome for a lotta stuff.

I personally went 6 BR and will keep with it for a target gun.
Piles of fun, no hassles really.
Shoots in the .2s-.3s with this monkey slapping the trigger.
 
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Frank Green said:
No offense and my opinion.... I hate 25cal just like I hate 27cal. For one other calibers are ballistic wise better.

The other thing to think about is component quality and availability. There are not a lot of options out there for 25cal bullets (hunting bullet wise...yes but match type bullets...I'll say no) vs a 6mm or a 6.5mm or a 7mm etc...

I don't like building a gun just to shoot one specific bullet that is available. What happens and it's going on right now.... what happens when you can't get the component? Other calibers offer more options.
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All of that is true. It seems like the OP wants something different than every one else’s dasher or BRA (both of which I have and are awesome and I shoot 10 thousand of rounds out of a year). So, it doesn’t have the best bullets but the options are increasing. Not everyone has one. He doesn’t sound like this Is going to get a TON of use so a box of brass and 500 bullets will likely last several years. I dunno. Everything is Brokeback Mountain until it’s not. 6CM or 6GT for good factory options, 6 BRA or Dash for good non-factory….all are hard to get parts for (I heard Berger doesn’t even make 105 Hybrids anymore). Hell, whatever sets you free.
 
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2 of my good buddies are .25 cal guys.

One for a long time, way longer than any of the better bullets have been around, with the .257 Bob and .257 Bob AI.

I think .25 in general does a great job with the new bullets.


Does not stop me from busting balls.

I still call my own 6.5 creedmoor my manbun and ask where I should set my Bud Light while I shoot it. 🤣
 
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I'd go 6 or 6.5 x 47 Lapua or 6mm Creedmoor. The CM incase you dont have time to reload and want to buy factory ammo. The lapuas because they are just so darn easy to load for.
 
D̷e̷v̷i̷l̷D̷o̷c̷A̷Z̷ said:
22CM is great fun.

Barrels don’t last forever. Have some fun
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Satterlee said:
22CM is an interesting design, low recoil, fun to shoot. As far as barrel life, it's a consideration but not enough of one to not do the 22CM. Rifle barrels in high performance calibers are like tires on a race car, high performance, short life go hand in hand when used in the capacity they were designed to be used.
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Both are correct. 22CM is a helluva lot of fun but don't waste your money on carbon fiber barrels, just know that its the price of performance to change barrels.
 
22BR if your hand loading. We have a couple guys that use them at club matches using 88-90 grain bullets. They do well all the way to our max range of 1100.
 
22GT, 25 Creedmoor, 6x47 Lapua, 260 Rem

280ai or .30-06 if you want to single feed
 
Resurrecting this a bit, after recommendations I’m leaning towards the original thought of 22 creed. Great recommendations but the 22 really doesn’t have as much crossover abilities with some of my other calibers in my opinion plus I am heavily stocked in h4350 so makes powder availability easy to load for.

One other thought before I settle on this. I do have the option to swap my 6.5 into the lighter bravo stock I got for this build and then swap the bolt face to a magnum on my origin that’s the current 6.5 in a mdt acc weighing about 22 pounds. So bumping up to a beefier caliber would still be a joy to shoot. Origin is a short action so not sure if I would get full potential out a 7saum or similar.

Any final thoughts on this idea before I place a barrel order. By the way thanks for the hand holding during a caliber decision lol.
 
powdahound76 said:
Oh, @Frank Green you mean like the 131 Blackjacks???

Plus .25 cal anything is 100% Brokeback Mountain goes shooting….
🤣🤣🤣



6 BR, 6 BRA (Alpha brass), or 6 Gay Tiger would be awesome for a lotta stuff.

I personally went 6 BR and will keep with it for a target gun.
Piles of fun, no hassles really.
Shoots in the .2s-.3s with this monkey slapping the trigger.
Click to expand...
🖕🏼🖕🏼🖕🏼🖕🏼🖕🏼🖕🏼🖕🏼🖕🏼🖕🏼🖕🏼🖕🏼🖕🏼🖕🏼🖕🏼🖕🏼🖕🏼🖕🏼🖕🏼🖕🏼🖕🏼🖕🏼🖕🏼🖕🏼🖕🏼🖕🏼🖕🏼
 
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.22cm would be fun, a hell of a barrel burner though!

I would guess 800-1000 rounds would be your usable barrel life.

I've heard the fast .22's can be finicky, so I would do some research and see what barrels and projectile combos are working for people. I would avoid a tight bore with a fast .22.
 
22 GT on the small side and 7-08Ai on the larger side. Fairly different and should be fun to load for and develop.
 
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