Best 22cal for 95gr sierra out of a bolt gun

hoguer

The Dude
Minuteman
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Jan 26, 2009
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Central Valley, CA
I ordered my medium Palma 6.5x Bartlien Barrel for these new beauties, but wanted some input on a hypothetical best parent cartridge for this new bullet, specifically out of a mag fed bolt rifle.
Rifle purpose will be a trainer barrel that I swap out on my incoming Nucleus action with the barloc, already running a 308bf bolt.
I know this round is to heavy to run at the velocities it needs to shine, but I am still looking for exceptional barrel life.
I am considering the tried and true 22-250, per the Sierra data sheet I should be able to hit 3k FPS without difficulty, readily available and cheap brass, same bolt face as my 6xc, feeds well from mags.
Any other calibers im overlooking? Not wanting a AR optimized cartridge ie the 22 Valkyrie.
 
AI starts to get into questionable feeding from a mag, Creedmoor cuts barrel life down more than I’d like.
Hoping to have a “better” choice than my 223 trainer shooting 77gr pills, but filling the same role
 
22-250AI will feed better than standard 22-250. Standard 250 has too much case taper to feed from a aics mag reliably. I have a 250ai and it feeds flawlessly.

22 creed, 22-250ai or 22x47 is going to be a wash, take your pick. 95s at 3200 easily. My 22-250ai shoots 90gr berger just under 3200 but have had it up to 3383fps. If alpha comes out with 22 creed brass that with h1000 powder may help barrel life.

If you want barrel life and performance look at a 223ai and get an extra bolt face. 223ai is a whole another animal from standard 223. You will need a reamer throated for the 95s though or case capacity would be comprised tremendously.
 
Well I got a plan:

thatlldo.jpg


.223 WSSM. Enough capacity to run the heavies at lower pressure for barrel life, fits in a short action without any OAL restriction, no BS with donuts, throated to 2.6" OAL they work in Accurate or Alpha WSM magazines, dies are everywhere, and 6 mil to 1000 yards with barely any recoil. What's not to like?

Using a 22" barrel, Quickload says you can get 3150fps with 60,000 psi at 2.600" OAL (one diameter seating depth on the bullet shank; .350" including the boat tail) or 3140fps with a 24" barrel at 55,000psi.

With a 28" bbl and full pressure you can get 3400fps if you don't care about barrel life, though barrels should last a good bit longer at 55ksi. If you do smoke a barrel too fast then just re-barrel to 6.5 PRC/SAUM using the same action, mags and powder...

Winchester and Hornady are currently making WSSM brass and Federal does seasonal runs too. I have got more than 30 reloads on some WSSM brass wildcatted to 7mm before I got my first 2 case failures:

DSCN3722s.jpg

(The secret is to anneal the necks frequently)

If you want exceptional barrel life shoot .223 Rem.
 
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I have been looking for something similar and I am thinking of going with a cartridge designed by West Texas Ordance (wto) called the 22lrv. It supposed to have longer barrel life than 22-250 and speeds up to 3400 with 90 gn bergers. Also feeds out of 308 aics mags. Don’t have any first hand experience with it or know anyone who does but just throwing it out there as another option. If you are interested Clayton at WTO is very good to deal with, he is honest and up front with you . My only hesitation about the cartridge is you have to form it from 6xc brass, no fire forming but I kind of want to go with something you can form out of cheaper brass.
 
Waiting to hear back from Alpha on their 22CM brass.. think that’s the way I’m going. Factory brass, 308bf, I can pick up 6.5cm bushing dies now and just swap the bushing and seater to 22, and I can “load down” to 2950-3k FPS and increase barrel life.
 
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