225 Winchester and Hodgdon Benchmark

[Pawnee Bill]

Any 225 Win guys tried Hodgdon Benchmark with heavy bullets? Quickload is showing me 2976 fps with 27.0 gr Benchmark pushing a Berger 70 gr VLD.

 

[bloc]

What's your rifle's twist?

 

[Pawnee Bill]

What's your rifle's twist?

1-8

 

[bloc]

Okay, then the barrel will stabilize the bullet. Now it's anyone's guess as to whether or not the powder, primer, case and bullet combination will shoot in your rifle to your satisfaction.

Sorry I can't be of more help, but even if I had a .225 with a 1:8 twist (mine has 1:14), what might be a winning combination in my rifle wouldn't necessarily shoot well in yours.

I know that's not very helpful, but the twist rate of your barrel does not rule out success.

I wish you well, and I'd love to hear how you do!

 

[1911nut]

I load for a few 22 cartridges smaller and larger than the 225. Seems to me Benchmark is too fast for 70g bullets.
Powder in the burn range of H4350 might be a better choice??

Check out the Hodgdon site.

http://www.hodgdonreloading.com/data/rifle

 

[bloc]

I load for a few 22 cartridges smaller and larger than the 225. Seems to me Benchmark is too fast for 70g bullets.
Powder in the burn range of H4350 might be a better choice??

Check out the Hodgdon site.

http://www.hodgdonreloading.com/data/rifle

Agree. It's burn rate is like IMR 3031. It would not be the optimal powder for 70 grain bullets.

 

[bloc]

Pwanee Bill: There isn't a lot of loading data available for the .225, period. Less still for heavy bullets (I believe most of the Winchester 70s had 1:14 twists).

What I did, and it works for me, was to determine what the percentage volume of a .225 case is to that of a .22-250. The .225 case turns out to have about 95% the volume of a .22-250 case. So I use .22-250 data times 0.95.

For example, from Hodgdon's site, a starting load for the .22-250 using Varget with a 70 grain bullet would be 29.5 grains. So for the .225, I'd use (29.5 x 0.95)= 28 grains for a starting load for the .225.

 

[Pawnee Bill]

Thanks for all the info!!

 

[Tommie]

I’m just glad some folks are keeping the great .225 alive!

 

[snert]

Bloc's method is pretty sensible. In my mind the 225 is a 22-250 light.

 

[Rdlningcltchdmpr]

My best in 22-250 with 69 grain tipped matchkings = Superformance powder. You might want to try it in the 225 win. !

 

[Rdlningcltchdmpr]

My 22-250 , 8 twist with 69 grain tipped matchkings = Superformance powder. Hogdon load data is very good source ! My load is just below max at 40.5 ! = 3550 fps.
.

 

[Rdlningcltchdmpr]

There is only about two grains powder capacity difference between 225 win. And 22-250 cases.

 

[expiper]

Benchmark will go boom but best results will be found with max loads of Rx-15 or Rx-16,,,,Roger

 

[bloc]

There is only about two grains powder capacity difference between 225 win. And 22-250 cases.

That's right. 41 grains for .225 and 43 grains for .22-250.

41÷43 = .95348837%. I round that down to 95%.

So I take any given load for a .22-250 and multiply it times .95 to adjust for the difference in case volumes.

I would begin with 95% of a beginning load for the .22-250 and work up . . . carefully.

 

[Rdlningcltchdmpr]

Why R15-R16 ? Best ? Superformance gives groups in the high zeros- low ones ! Plus top speed !

 

[bloc]

Why R15-R16 ? Best ? Superformance gives groups in the high zeros- low ones ! Plus top speed !

I agree. You have a fast twist and are shooting heavy-for-caliber bullets. I've had really good luck with Superformance in my .243, and I'd bet my bippy (if I had a bippy) that Superformance would work really well with your 70 VLDs.