George, if wanting the ultimate long range 22 cal. and king of the hill for power and speed that would be the 22-284. Plus the added benefit of having lapua brass as the parent case. I had one of these fire breathers built in the mid 90's by Neil Jones with an 8 twist 30 inch lilja barrel and it was easy to drive 69 Sierra's at 4000 fps. I owned this rifle before I really knew a whole lot about reloading for accuracy (still don't today ;D) and never did get it to shoot 80 grainers well. Plus the brass prep is a whole lot of work. After playing with it on and off for about one year I sold the rifle which was a dumb mistake. Next on the list of firebreathers would probably be a 22-6MMAI or a .224TTH (same thing). High pressure cartridge and best bet would be to use 7X57 Norma brass necked down and fireformed, again a whole lot of work. The above 2 you must keep barrel heat down and don't take them to any GH matches. If shooting occasional varmints waaay out there or paper and not shooting strings one of these 2 may be the way to go.
Middle ground cartridges of the 22 cal class with alot of powder capacity would be a 22-6MM, 22-243, 22-243AI, .220 Weatherby Rocket, and the .220 Swift. All are barrel burners and create alot of heat. The advantage of the necked down .243 case is again Lapua brass. The Rocket and Swift (both of which I am fond of) will work good with Winchester brass, but I am using Norma brass in both of mine currently. In my mind the Rocket or Swift case is about an optimum match with a sleek 80 grain bullet seated in either case. A guy I shoot with is using a .220AI shooting 80 grain Sierra's with a mild load of powder(don't remember what brand) and is driving them 33-3400 depending on bullet. Definately a wind beater at 500 yards and longer.
Lower middle ground would be the 22-250, 22-250 AI, 22XC, and 22X47L. All barrel burners still but are starting to approach some semblance of sanity as far as amount of powder burnt and will usually use under 40 grains of powder. I have owned a couple of standard 22-250's, one AI version and a 22X47L last year that I could get an honest 3,298 FPS as per my Oehler shooting 90 grain Sierra's and and honest 3,495 fps shooting 75 A-Max's. This was in a barrel that had already gone south by the previous owner and I was just playing with speed numbers. The 22XC owned by my cousin mentioned above is a heavy hitter in its own right and very very accurate. I don't remember his speeds with 75 and 80 grain bullets but they were humming. For inherent accuracy and easy tuning any of the above 4 would do well for LR. Forum member "Drags" has a new 22X47L that he had built and i sold him the dies that i had. PM him and see how his progress is with it.
Then the last group would be the 22 dasher, 22 BR, 22 BRX. I have 0 experience with these 3 but I do know they may be very tough to beat in the accuracy department. I based this list on powder capacity and firebreathing ability top to bottom, not out and out accuracy. But in the right rifle/ barrel combo with the correct node having been found all of them will shoot little groups. Just some take more work than others.
If i were to build an 8 twist 22 cal for long distance, I would go with a case out of the middle 2 lists I made. And my choice would probably be a Rocket with a .255 tight neck set up for Norma brass and 80 Sierra's. Using the Rocket or Swift case you can run a milder load compared to some of the others where you almost have to bump up the powder charge to make them hum. And thats why I like the bigger case 22 cals that breathe fire. They are really cool! Nothing like pulling the trigger on something that is is coming out the other end at least 3500 fps or more
. Keep us posted on your decision!
Frank
