22 PPC and 222 for 1000yd BR

[Evan]

Your 22 ppc rl 15.5 and h4350 loads, are they compressed a lot? Do you have velocities to share with those powders? Thanks. I appreciate you sharing your results.

The 15.5 loads are probably in the 2940 range based on previous data. The H4350 is very likely 2860-2870. Both are “full” with an 8” drop tube and slow pour, but no compression unless I pour too fast. There’s not really room to put more in there. RL15.5 is definitely warm and the bolt lift is heavier than with any of my other loads, so I would recommend an abundance of caution if someone wants to use my data here.

Everything I show velocities for was taken separately. I loaded 5 shots at each mark, shot all the 3 shot groups, and then finished the day with my magnetospeed shooting 2-shot groups on a different target and recording velocity. Im only doing this with “new” loads to see where I am, but it’s not part of my decision making process.

 

[Evan]

I suspect you’ll start eliminating some combos soon and concentrate on one or two. I like the H4350 or the Varget in the 22 ppc, I like the overlap at about 29.55 .
I’ve tested my tail off up here at 500 yards and actually over tested’ a couple days ago I watched my node / overlap move down a couple tenth’s from 31.0 to 30.7 so now I’m second guessing myself with a week and a half before I leave for DC, I have one last ladder set up with calm conditions in the forcast for late next week ( afternoon ) when I get the best sight picture.

That’s looking good! I’m mostly just exploring with the 22 PPC. Varget is my go-to load for Deep Creek and I will likely bring some H4350 to play with.

I am going to be working my butt off Thursday and Friday at Deep Creek to figure something out with the 222. Next weekend is the CRC 600yd match and I won’t have any time to do more development until I roll into Deep creek on the 8th. I need to stare at the results to date some and make a plan.

 

[JFrank]

That’s looking good! I’m mostly just exploring with the 22 PPC. Varget is my go-to load for Deep Creek and I will likely bring some H4350 to play with.

I am going to be working my butt off Thursday and Friday at Deep Creek to figure something out with the 222. Next weekend is the CRC 600yd match and I won’t have any time to do more development until I roll into Deep creek on the 8th. I need to stare at the results to date some and make a plan.

Are you planning on shooting them both at DC ?

Maybe I missed that in the thread.

 

[Evan]

Are you planning on shooting them both at DC ?

Maybe I missed that in the thread.

Yep. I’m bringing both and plan to shoot the PPC in LG and the 222 in HG. I figure the 222 won’t heat up and torture the barrel as much on a fast 10-shot group, haha.

 

[Shooter13]

Quick update and PSA: Borden drop ports with a standard boltface do NOT pull a PPC.

I found out that my glue in with devcon was quite robust. A hot iron on the picatinny rail and a wedge between the barrel and forearm popped it apart after an hour or so. It’s off to Jim Borden for a checkup and to have a new extractor fit. With about 7000 rounds through it, I’m kind of happy to have Jim look it over and make sure everything is ready to go.

Call Jim Borden, I have a BRMXD drop port and it does pull them, ended up sending the bolt back to Jim, not sure what he did (extractor maybe) but I think it cost me $125
EDIT: Duh, I didn't read where you were sending it back to Jim, if it is not nitrided you might get that done, my bolt is SLICK!

 

[JFrank]

Yep. I’m bringing both and plan to shoot the PPC in LG and the 222 in HG. I figure the 222 won’t heat up and torture the barrel as much on a fast 10-shot group, haha.

I guess I just don’t send rounds that fast, or maybe I’m just too cheap to campaign two guns. I can buy a lot of barrels for the cost of a NF comp and Bat action, geez the cost of a stock has gone through the roof. You’ll probably laugh when you see my out dated rifle and home made rest.
Btw; my plans have changed slightly so I’ll be pulling in Friday ready to roll.

See ya next week.
Jim

 

[Evan]

I guess I just don’t send rounds that fast, or maybe I’m just too cheap to campaign two guns. I can buy a lot of barrels for the cost of a NF comp and Bat action, geez the cost of a stock has gone through the roof. You’ll probably laugh when you see my out dated rifle and home made rest.
Btw; my plans have changed slightly so I’ll be pulling in Friday ready to roll.

See ya next week.
Jim

I’m in the privileged position of having 2 custom rifles, built ~5 years apart. Neither were cheap, but they aren’t exhibition pieces either. I hand carved the stocks from blocks of laminate myself and did the bedding work. The 22 PPC wears a Sightron and the 222 wears a Golden Eagle. I just recently got the 222 barrel, in part, so that I could bring a 2nd rifle to deep creek. Driving almost 1000 miles there, I would be pretty upset if something failed on my main rifle and I couldn’t shoot at all.

 

[Evan]

Call Jim Borden, I have a BRMXD drop port and it does pull them, ended up sending the bolt back to Jim, not sure what he did (extractor maybe) but I think it cost me $125
EDIT: Duh, I didn't read where you were sending it back to Jim, if it is not nitrided you might get that done, my bolt is SLICK!

My bolt and receiver have the DLC coating. Not as slick as nitride, I’m told, but it is very smooth and was a relatively new option at the time that I wanted to try out. When you first mentioned that your bolt lift was intolerable I knew something was wrong. Jim’s actions are really slick!

 

[JFrank]

Driving almost 1000 miles there, I would be pretty upset if something failed on my main rifle and I couldn’t shoot at all.

Yeah, that would be a bummer.

 

[TAJ45]

View attachment 1533970
"Hot" windy day today at 65 degrees. I needed to put up some shade. I also humped the target out a bit further in a different spot - 685 yards. I'm still rocking a Magnetospeed, so you'll see a bunch of unmarked shots below that were Magnetospeed shots. I then pulled it off to shoot the marked groups.
View attachment 1533971
Thought this picture was kind of cool and it showed what sort of mirage there was.
View attachment 1533972
I really like how often low-slow groups impact above faster ones on the target at distance. Really reinforces my belief that the chrono is not much use for determining good loads.
View attachment 1533973
Speeds are still all over the place and too low, but I'm not getting pressure and I have another 100 pieces of brass to fireform so I'm not worried. Group sizes look promising, particularly the seating depths of 9 and 12 show me the 22PPC and this barrel in particular has what it takes.

 

[TAJ45]

The reference to chrono readings and impacts being higher.......purely bbl harmonics in play.

 

[JFrank]

I ran my final ladder on Thursday, the 500 yard berm was so dry and wind so calm that after a few shots the dust cloud hung in the air for several minutes skewing my results a tad bit however the lower node is solid at 30.6 ( green ).
There doesn’t seem to be much chatter about the nats on the comp page but I’m certainly enthusiastic and look forward to sending each round and watching some great shooters put on a show.
See you on Friday .
Jim

 

[Evan]

I ran my final ladder on Thursday, the 500 yard berm was so dry and wind so calm that after a few shots the dust cloud hung in the air for several minutes skewing my results a tad bit however the lower node is solid at 30.6 ( green ).
There doesn’t seem to be much chatter about the nats on the comp page but I’m certainly enthusiastic and look forward to sending each round and watching some great shooters put on a show.
See you on Friday .
Jim

Me too. Started the pile of stuff to load up and a checklist I’m adding to as I think of things I might need.

 

[Evan]

Now that I've had a few days to organize and get everything put away after 1k nationals at Deep Creek, here are some pictures of the targets I shot. I have many excuses, but ultimately I just wasn't shooting very well. Practice on Thursday and Friday showed some significant promise, and I think there is a lot to like in what I see here. It took 37 MOA for the 222 to get on target at 1000. The 22 PPC only needed 28 MOA.

Starting with the PPC, I struggled a little on Thursday:

The nodes looked good, and I concluded my +7 seating depth was still good. Friday, I tested it again:

Wowzers! 1.166" and this Varget ladder looks suspiciously like one of my 500yd tests where 28gns of Varget went really small. I decided to load this for the match, and used my 22 PPC in LG:

I don't feel like this represents what this load and gun can do, so much as it represents where my skill level was at for Deep Creek.

 

[Evan]

Next up the 222 on Thursday proved tricky simply because I was shooting blind and didn't realize so many were popping off the top of the target:

That little dark green group is a phenomenal 1.62". It may have just been luck, but the dark red 23.2gn load measures 3.58". On Friday, I repeated my ladder and caught all the bullets this time:

Well, I didn't have time to do more and this was already getting crunchy full with a 12" drop tube and slow pour, so I decided to load 23.8gns at a .009" jump (-9 in my target notation), and took it to the match. It looked like, at the very least, the climb up the target was rapidly slowing down and even if this wasn't a great node, it would be more stable than a lower powder charge.

I'm pretty proud of that 9.56" group that scored 90. I also feel like I was calling the crosswind pretty well for how sensitive this 222 is to the wind. There was a good strong headwind that was quite variable, and during sighters I discovered that the difference between the full value headwind and when it "let up" was about half the whole target in vertical change. I used the angle of towels that were hung in front of the benches to block the morning sun as my headwind gauge and for the one good target, I did feel confident in how I had read the towels and chosen my shots.

 

[Evan]

A little new variety this weekend:

The 22 PPC likes 3031! This is the second outing where it shot small. Based on target speeds, I think this is in the 2770fps range.

I blew off the edge of the target with Benchmark. Based on target speeds, I think this is in the 2680fps ballpark. Looks ok; I'll try it again.

Conditions were deteriorating, but it just didn't seem to like IMR-4895. This was likely in the 2840fps range.

 

[Evan]

The 222 showed some interesting results too:

This is probably pretty slow. Maybe 2630fps at the high end. Still shot better than I would of expected - really felt predictable, but maybe I was just in a zen moment with my wind flags and the wind.

IMR-4320 packs in a little denser than Varget and is a skosh faster. The 222 seemed to like it! Top load was in the 2700fps range, again based on speed at target compared to readings in the past.

And IMR-4895 flopped again. It was surprisingly bulky and filled the case sooner than expected. 2680fps speeds at the top load.

 

[Evan]

A bit of a big dump here. September 8, which I got too busy to post up, was warm and breezy:


Had a bit of time off but got back out again on Saturday. It was a cold windy day. Fall is here! 40 degrees, high humidity. I loaded up some different bullets to try in the 22 PPC. Berger 90gn VLD:

And the Berger 85.5gn LRHT:

This won't be the first time the Berger 85.5 has toyed with my heart. I fully expect 4+ inch groups the next time I try them, if my history with the 22 BR is anything to go by!

I tried some 222 stuff with @nakneker generously gifted Lapua brass:


Oh boy! I want those to repeat! 0.52" and a 0.86" at 500 yards with a 222!

 

[Evan]

And one last one:

The light blue shot shown on the target above with the green "X"ed out lines belongs up here. Why did it drop 4"? Dunno. Otherwise, IMR4320 is looking really good. Packs into the case MUCH more densely so there's more room for more powder. My lot is also a little bit faster than Varget. All around seems pretty promising for the high node with a bit flat spot there across several tenths of a grain.

 

[Evan]

I also placed a backorder for some Alpha 6 PPC brass. Looking forward to seeing what it brings to the table when necked down to 22 PPC. I'll post up measurements, capacity, etc. when it arrives but feel free to put in requests!