22br

[fox]

Well after a long time wondering about it, I have decided to have my now worn out Sako 75 Varmint, 22-250 re-barrelled to a 22BR. I have a couple of questions.

I shoot mainly foxes and rabbits at ranges out to about 250 yards and all of theis is done on foot so no ultra heavy barrels, just a light varmint profile. I Mainly want to use 55gr Hornady V-maxes so I was thinking a 12" twist would be about right for this, am I right? The loading data says that i can expect maybe 3700fps with the combo.

I fairly regularly like to shoot paper targets out to around 600yards, will this cartridge do it and if i wanted to use something like a 69gr matchking, would i need a 9" twist and if i went for a 9" twist, could i still push the lighter 55's to a decent speed?

I always used moly in my 22-250, should i continue in my BR, I mainly uesd it for cleaning ease and i got the feeling that the barrel heated up slightly slower than with naked bullets. Any comments or thoughts will be well appreciated.

Do I need a 26" barrel or will a 24" be about optimum for this cartridge?

Cheers Guys
Chris

 

[Ackman]

If you do something with the BR case, make it a 6BR. The 22BR is a terrific cartridge and I have a couple, but the 6BR is just flatout great. With light bullets it's awesome. Fastest accuracy loads with 55's in my rifle are 3850 to 3900+ which is better than a 22BR will shoot 55's, and also faster than a 22-250 will shoot that weight bullet. It's nearly as fast as top 22BR accuracy loads with a 50gr bullet. The 6mm/55Ballistic tip has a very high BC for that weight bullet. Doing the same speed, a .243 diameter bullet will hit harder than a .224. If you're wanting those rabbits to come apart, they will.

A 24" barrel is plenty for the 6BR. For your distances and targets, light bullets are the thing. I'd go with a 14" twist and nothing faster than 12" twist.

 

[fox]

Thanks for the reply Ackman. The reason for the 22br rather than the 6mm is that here in the uk we have legal problems and to cut a long story short, for various reasons, the 22br is a lot simpler to get put on my Firearm Licence than a 6mm for the types of quarry i want to use it on, the 6mm i cant shoot reabbits, the 22 I can, daft but thats the way it is here.

Im erring on the 12" twist now as I like the look of the 55's to be honest, my 22-250 would never shoot them well and it always irked me because it should have really. It loved 50's.