22.250 bullet seating.

[simon6ppc]

hi guys i got a new VSSF remy mark 2 and as some of you have probably seen its a love and hate relation ship i have with it as ime a 6ppc shooter at hart,what i was wondering in these remys what COL do you guys seat your bullets as ive tried all sorts of depths which one minute shoot good and then not as good,any help would be appreciated..i mainly use noslers and blitzkings..

 

[bheadboy]

.020 jump and work load up on 55gr Sierra bk to 3700-3750fps should work, try 4064, h414 and use 9 1/2a primers, size to set shoulder back .002-.003.

this has been my consistent go to combination on at lease 6 22-250s all rem 700 or 40x

Bob

 

[simon6ppc]

cheers pal,what COL did you seat at with them loads..

 

[CatShooter]

With my current 22-250 (Remington 700 VSF) I am seating BlitzKings to ~2.550"

 

[jonbearman]

Cat shooters COL has no bearing on your personal rifle as factory barrels vary all over the place.Some bullets like to be jumped such as a berger hybrid just for discussion.I find that if I seat long with little neck tension you can keep seating it in alittle at a time till the bolt close's,then ink up the bullet and close the bolt and see if you have actual land marks.This is trial and error.I stop when I am at zero,meaning just making a faint land mark.I then load 5 rounds of at jam ,then -.010,-.015 and so on.The one problem is getting them to fit the magazine,and by then you will have quite along jump by design.This may not be a bad deal as some of mine have miles and miles on them and at std COL they still shoot well at any range.Start at zero,then just start jumping and see what the barrel and bullet combo like.Keep us updated how she is shooting,the 22-250 is one of my favorite's.

 

[simon6ppc]

ye thanks for that pal,ime seating a 50 grain blitzking at 2.365 at the moment and it seems to be doing the trick,which is around three quarter inch at the moment at 140 yards with 40 grains of H380 which i think is ok,i do want better though if i can,can't do any thing with the 55 grain bullets.. do you think by making it smaller to 2.355 could make it better or as you say all barrels are different.cheers simon

 

[lpreddick]

when i started handloading 17 yrs ago i was told to seat bullets one caliber into the neck and adjust powder charge upward until a small enough group appeared. i often found a good combo. i then became aware of the "lands" and the bullets relationship. i found the lands and started the bullets just at the lands and backed them off .005, .010, .015, etc using the same charge in each and found a tight group fairly quickly. i was elated! i would load a number of rounds and wait for varmint season or a target shooting session. THEN, a problem! the tiney little group wasn't there anymore...it was tested at least 3 times to be sure it was real, not a fluke. what happened? i am convinced the neck tension was changing, not necessarily "cold fusion etc", but enough to require greater pressure to start the bullet. increased presssure=increased speed and the harmonics are screwed as was the group. i finally learned about seating well into the lands and adjusting the powder charge slowly up and again found that tiney group! NOW, what would these do after sitting for a few weeks-months??? group size almost never changes!!! i surmise these neck tensions change but the pressure to move the bullets into the lands is MUCH greater and slight variations in neck tension seems less significant. this process works for me and it's obvious one must know precisely where the lands are and to be sure the bullets engraves the lands suficiently WITHOUT being pushed into the neck. this latter occurance will cancel a tight group and controlling it is a challenge. testing a dummy round at all depths is crucial. enjoy the process.

 

[timeout]

Since you have posed this question in the Varmint & Hunting section, instead of Reloading, I would recommend that you not seat into the lands. You will likely not be able to eject an unfired round without dispensing powder into the chamber. I don't shoot 22 cal. much. If Berger makes a VLD style bullet in the weight you need, that may be a good option. Often times they shoot the best groups when seated well off of the lands. That gives you adequate magazine clearance and eliminates the powder into the chamber scenario.

 

[BoydAllen]

For .22 caliber varmint rifles (.222,.223.22-250) I have always seated bullets .006 to .010 longer than touching, and I have never had a problem pulling a bullet when unloading a live round. The key is to have a reasonable amount of neck tension (.002) and to have good control of the process for finding where bullets just touch the rifling.

 

[Witchhunter]

In my new Remington 22/250, I tried every powder and bullet I wanted to shoot, with no luck. I finally tried .050 short of the lands and it started shooting. This goes against everything I have learned in the last 45 years of reloading, but it works. Every rifle is different, you must find the sweet spot. I was real close to rebarreling a new rifle!

 

[simon6ppc]

In my new Remington 22/250, I tried every powder and bullet I wanted to shoot, with no luck. I finally tried .050 short of the lands and it started shooting. This goes against everything I have learned in the last 45 years of reloading, but it works. Every rifle is different, you must find the sweet spot. I was real close to rebarreling a new rifle!

ye cheers witchhunter,only today i tried a 0.40 jump to the lands and i achieved an half inch group at 100 yards with that seating depth with a 52 grain HPBT,

 

[missed]

In my new Remington 22/250, I tried every powder and bullet I wanted to shoot, with no luck. I finally tried .050 short of the lands and it started shooting. This goes against everything I have learned in the last 45 years of reloading, but it works. Every rifle is different, you must find the sweet spot. I was real close to rebarreling a new rifle!

In my experiences the Sierras like to jump. The 55 Grain Blitzking likes the .040" jump in my gun with IMR4064 under it and CCI 200 primers.

 

[simon6ppc]

thanks again for all the replys,i read and study them all trying to understand all your advice,i have hunted with rifles for around 25 years,but only done reloading in the easy'st way as possible as there is so much more to learn, cheers simon

 

[mnchopper]

You really need to measure the throat of your rifle to have an idea of where to start, my 22-250 1 in 14 likes .025 and my .223 1 in 12 likes .020 and they will shoot .350 at 100 yds But before I was able to get any kind of a group I had to replace the stocks, The plastic rem stocks in my opinion are crap they have pressure points under the barrel and when your barrel starts to warm up your POI changes I replaced my stocks with boyds stocks and the channel is cut deep to float the barrel. You also mention you use H380 its an ok powder but I found the powder is rather heat sensitive and was able to verify with my chronograph I use varget for my 22-250 and for my .223 but also have great results with H335 and 2230 in my .223 sometimes varget is hard to come by because alot of people like it. Dont randomly set your OAL without knowing what the max is for your rifle.

 

[boltgunluvr]

Food for thought.....I've never had a Sierra bullet that had to be touching or jammed. I have a 243 that is laser accurate jumping .065. I have several factory 700s and all are "slow shooting" factory barrels, but very accurate. And....try some flat base bullets. It's the best way to know you have a keeper. The magic is there. One just has to find it.

 

[simon6ppc]

you are right pal,it shoots soft points bang on and the new varmagedons brilliant,which are both flat base,i know it sounds daft but it does not like boat tails for some reason,

 

[boltgunluvr]

you are right pal,it shoots soft points bang on and the new varmagedons brilliant,which are both flat base,i know it sounds daft but it does not like boat tails for some reason,

With so many bullets on the market, I had no idea the Varmagedons were flat base. My bad. Glad to hear you are making objective observations. My 223 rifles (bolt, AR, etc) will not group a BT worth a darn. Many on these forums will argue about it, but it's a simple fact. Some rifles will, some won't. Whatever you do, don't let velocity, BC, etc dictate what you want to accomplish. Load what YOU know works for YOUR rifle and load for accuracy. BC doesn't mean jack when one's rifle won't group well. I have some buds that are completely missing the point by focusing on velocity and the BC. Just doesn't make sense. Have fun.

 

[chino1969]

Never be afraid to jump a bullet. Several years ago I was developing a .223 load the normal way; touching the lands, etc. I had some rounds loaded for a Mini-14 that were in my bag. These rounds were loaded to shoot from a magazine so they were much shorter than the rounds I was developing for the single shot rifle. I shot those in the single shot rifle just for the hell of it and could not believe my eyes or the target. I had a nice 5 shot hole that measured approx. 3/8" @100 yds. These bullets were a full .108 off the lands of the single shot and remain my load for that rifle to this day. The point I am trying to make is I would have never arrived at that .108 figure through normal load development. Bear in mind this was with a factory rifle and barrel but the lesson was not lost.

 

[bheadboy]

Simon, earlier comment about the bedding of Remmy's, I have never had Rem 600, 700, 40x that shot to its ability with the factory bedding!! never!

depending on the stock rigidity, over the years keeping the wood, dumping the light "plastic" with out bedding block, I have done this to every one I had, including the 40x, I have also don this with HS precision stks and High Tech stks.

open the bbl channel remove the pressure points near the front, rough the area under the action, in the recoil lug area lower the bottom of the slot and shave the rear.----

wax the outside of the stock up to the point of metal contact and in the area around the action and first 2-3 inches of the bbl channel

then wax the action, recoil lug, around the trigger, the screws threads, and the inside of the action bottom, then using .010' washers over the action screw holes - glass bed the action from tang to recoil lug and 1" in front under the bbl -- I use a paste wax coat by hand then rub with rag lightly to smooth be sure to fill all action holes that pin re in.

with the bedding compound, coat the stock area from tang forward, into the recoil lug area and 1 inch under the bbl - make sure all areas of the stk that the action will touch area coated

pull the action screws firm but not tight, let sit 12-14 hours then remove from the stock, may take a little tap under the bbl, clean the overflow carefully to the point bedding is only where action contact is and then reinstall and let sit 24 hrs.

the result is the stock now sits firmly bedded rifle that has no movement in the stock and the bbl is completely free of any external pressure.

this has taken at least 2 dozed 700s from 1/2 - 3/4 shooter to well under 1/2" and on some sub .300"

Bob

the

 

[simon6ppc]

thanks for that bob,i mite try it,but this remy does shoot soft point bullets under half inch,its just the ballistic tips or mostly boat tails that it doesn't get on with,one day it groups and the next it doesn't,ive gone back to my 6ppc at the moment as that remy i just can't get it how i want it,but gona give it another go next week,cheers simon..