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22-250 Help

LR-WSM

Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
May 1, 2010
333
0
55
Florida
Have a .308 / 22-250 switch barrel coming in, and have 1K of NCC 77 HPBT on the shelf. I have a number of powders I think will be suitable, H-414, Varget, IMR-4064, RL-17, IMR-8208. Barrel is 24" and is 8 twist.

While I have reloaded for other calibers, I have never messed with this one. Looking for some real info on loads and performance. I have ran it through QL and the 414 seems to be the best choice from the program, but I am looking for real world field performance.

I plan on shooting steel and maybe a local competition or two with a zippy little round.

BTW, I tried the Google SH Search and nada
 
With the 77's you should be able to get a OAL that will be kissing the lands, on lighter bullets I go with a 2.400 OAL, say for 40 to
52 gr bullets.
Varget and IMR 4064 work very well and both of my 22-250's shoot sub .5 all day long if I am on it, just a fun round to shoot.
 
I load 77g Custom Comps with 4350 or Hodgdon Superformance, so not much help here.
Western Powders shows data for 80g SMK hpbt with 4064 starting 29.2 and max 32.5 with coal 2.610.
I can not seat at 2.610 my max is 2.50 so I back my starting loads off a little.
 
Thanks guys,
I have no idea how deep he cut the leed or what my OAL will be yet. FedEx estimates a Monday delivery and I will know more when I get my hands on it. Neither of you mentioned the speeds your are getting with the 77's

I am surprised I haven't read of more people running these. Seems like a nice little cheater round with the heavier pills and easy on the pocket.

Kinda like a mini SAUM
 
Speed will totally depend on the barrel's nodes, I have gotten up to 4200 fps and my accuracy went to hell, my rem 700 seems to like
3600 and 3800 fps as for my Howa likes 3700 and 3900 fps, a 22-250 is plenty fast enough so I load for accuracy.
 
Since you are doing work-up...if you go with the Ackley version you'll triple or more your brass life.

Too late for an Ackley version unless I set it back and re-chamber down the road. It actually was just dropped off by FedEx about two hours ago. I will dig into it tomorrow and take some seating depth measurements. Hopefully my smith was paying attention and gave me a little extra since going over mag length won't be a problem.
 
Well I couldn't stand it and went at it with my Stoney Point COAL gauge. I am at 2.50 to the lands. Oh well, a few hundred rounds should help advance that a little.
 
Out of my 22-250 Sako, I use Lapua brass, 50 grain Hornady V-Max (A-Max is the same except for a green tip instead of red, less expensive and can be bought in bulk) 27 grains of Hodgdon Varget with Remington 7-1/2 bench Rest primers. I started a few grains lower and have groups inside of a dime with all loads. I might have to say the V-Max might somewhat like the faster velocity. Another thing, Varget doesn't meter well using a Dillon 550 press. Even after tapping on the powder measure after each round, I still would be +/- 2/10 grain and sometime more which is never the case with a ball powder. With out the tapping, I also found at times the powder would not funnel properly and would stick. But, with as big of a pain as it was, I have to say it is an "extremely" accurate round. I think the our twist rates are not the same but gives you some starting points if you decide to use Varget. Good luck with your new effort...........
 
Here is a picture of my new toy, 22-250 barrel installed with the .308 next to it. Realized late last night that out of all the cleaning rods I have, none are .22 cal. Off to the store to try and find one on Super Bowl Sunday.

 
I love my 22-250 I'm running 80 grain bergers and amax on top of power pro 2000 and CCI br primers. 8" twist barrel and it is a shooter. I don't have any more of that powder and can't find it but I do have imr 4064 and imr4350 so I'm going to try some of that.

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk
 
My cousin is loading Varget for his 22-250 and it is a hammer with 69 SMKs he could not find 75's and now I don't think he is going to change it makes 1 little hole @ 100 and is deadly on song dogs.
 
I love my 22-250 I'm running 80 grain bergers and amax on top of power pro 2000 and CCI br primers. 8" twist barrel and it is a shooter. I don't have any more of that powder and can't find it but I do have imr 4064 and imr4350 so I'm going to try some of that.

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk

Quick Load showed H-414 very favorably with the 77's so I guess thats where I will start. I have a LB of Varget and IMR-3031 as well as 16 Lbs of IMR-8208. Hell, I might even try some RL-17
 
Some years back I had to sacrifice my 22-250 for a mortgage payment. Mine had a 1:12" twist and I used it exclusively with 52SMK's. I loved the gun but had to give it up; either it or the Garand, and the Garand was stayin'.

I found that Varget and IMR-4064 were my most reliable powders.

In the final balance, I gave up the 22-250 because of its barrel heating. I think it's an ideal chambering for hunting 'Chucks out to 400ys and beyond. But when it's used as a match cartridge, the faster match firing cadence simply heats the barrel too much to allow it to maintain match accuracy throughout the course of fire.

Greg
 
In the final balance, I gave up the 22-250 because of its barrel heating. I think it's an ideal chambering for hunting 'Chucks out to 400ys and beyond. But when it's used as a match cartridge, the faster match firing cadence simply heats the barrel too much to allow it to maintain match accuracy throughout the course of fire.

Greg

I hadn't thought of that, or even taken it into consideration. Hopefully a MTU barrel and a little slower powder will help to arbitrate the negative traits of this little screamer. I can't sent it back and it's nice to have the same bolt face for both rounds.
 
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A lot of folks, myself included, have considered the 22-250's ability to send a higher BC 22 caliber bullet far and accurate to be a high recommendation as a match cartridge. Except for the barrel heating aspect, it is. I believe it still could be, but I also think it would require a more sophisticated barrel heat dissipation method than simply a heavier contour. Something more like this could make the potential something more of a reality.

Greg
 
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Wow!! I had no idea that was available from Lothar. When this one finally lets go and starts dropping FPS I know who I am gonna call for a replacement.

Thanks Greg
 
What type of match shooting do you have in mind? You can't shoot anything faster than 3,100fps in precision bolt rifle matches (tactical) in my neck of the woods, you'll destroy the steel out to about 400yds shooting that blazing fast bullet.
 
What type of match shooting do you have in mind? You can't shoot anything faster than 3,100fps in precision bolt rifle matches (tactical) in my neck of the woods, you'll destroy the steel out to about 400yds shooting that blazing fast bullet.

Probably just some local(no name) matches. I am thinking of landing my speeds somewhere in the 3200+ fps range after a look through QL. The other barrel is a .308 if I enter anything with a speed limit. Had Dave Manson make a reamer off of one of my prepped Hornady dummy rounds with a 155 Lapua Scenar loaded at 2.925. Told him to set it up for a .020 jump. With a 26" barrel I should get in the 2950 fps range. That speed coupled with the BC of the Scenar puts me competitive with the .260's at extended ranges. A .308 doesn't have to be a disadvantage.