Considerations for a 500yd. 22 caliber groundhog rifle
- Thread starter ARW
- Start date
A great deal depends on how much money you are willing to spend on the rifle. Another question that needs to be anwsered is how specialized of a rifle you want? If you get a cartrige that has little to no components that are readily available it might be a bear to make it go bang. Another thing to consider is whether or not you might use it for larger game such as deer. That then brings us to the question of whether or not a 22 caliber is legal in your area. If you might want to use it other than ventlating paper and popping groundhogs and a 22 is not legal in you area you could use 243, 25-06, 257 Roberts, 25 weatherby magnum, 7mm's,........ Again asking yourself these questions will narrow down the extreanly wide field of options to the rifle that will serve you the best.
I have killed a few deer with 75 gr amax in a 223 and as I recall the velocity would have been between 2500- 2800 fps when it impacted the deer. I did get complete pass thru's with them but none of the deer went over 60 yds with a good blood trail. If you were to shoot them in a swift at say 3600 fps the velocity would be down to 2800 fps at right around 350 yds. so I would expect a pass thru on a ground hog as well at any distance beyond 350 yds.
When hitting a GH in the head @ around 250 yds there is no head left. When I have hit said GH @ 600 yds in the body there is just a hole thru it, hard to say where the bullet ended up. The 600 yd shots were with a 22-250 9 twist @ 3300 fps muzzle velocity. This is all with 75 gr amax.
The 75 amax is a good choice in open area's but I like my 20 cal in the more developed area's of the east coast.
When hitting a GH in the head @ around 250 yds there is no head left. When I have hit said GH @ 600 yds in the body there is just a hole thru it, hard to say where the bullet ended up. The 600 yd shots were with a 22-250 9 twist @ 3300 fps muzzle velocity. This is all with 75 gr amax.
The 75 amax is a good choice in open area's but I like my 20 cal in the more developed area's of the east coast.
Consider the 22 Creedmoor-
pros: 1. Available good brass- get 6mm Creedmoor brass from GA Precision and neck down in one pass
2. minimal body taper- magazine feeding compatible
3. 30* shoulder- efficient powder burn
4. longish neck- keeps throat torching at a doable level for barrel life
5. capacities are about perfect for slower powders to push heavies w/o "hot rod" pressure
6. reported good accurate barrel life in the 2500-3000 round area. Maybe more if you coat bullets or melonite barrel.(unsupported claim maybe, but some guys get more life doin' this(no 1st hand experience myself,just puttin' it out there))
7. As wildcats go, easy to source dies for reloading OR call Copper Creek Cartridge company and tell them what you want and they will get ammo made for you.(I LIKE THAT)
8. PTG already has a reamer for doing just this very thing. Others might as well and a call to your fav should confirm.
Cons: 1. You gotta reload or boutique shop cartridges from sources that do that sort of thing.
2. You're gonna have homework. Load data will require a search and asking questions. Suggest you look on the old Snipers Hide forums and maybe contact GA Precision directly for tips. Also, maybe Ammoguide will have some stuff.
3. Barrel life- most all wildcats(in 22 cal at least) get less life because the cartridge is now overbore by a %(enter whatever it is here). Not saying that's a bad thing just that it's something you'll have to consider when looking at return from performance.
So, with that out of the way, lets look at some other things....
Most guys i know varmint hunt with 55g class bullets. Vmax, Blitzkings and the like. Purpose made for this, and do what is made for. When getting out further with heavier bullets i see MOST use the 75 or 80 AMAX. It's not really a varmint bullet in the sense of ballistic tip or thin jacket "exploding" type, BUT performs very well for what its asked to do. Other bullets might as well, ie Berger or even the Barnes bullets; i'd say a test with home brewed targets is on order before trying to take game. Soak old phone books in water, make your own ballistic gel...whatever. That should get you some answers to your pass thru questions. Thats the tedious but fun part; you get to shoot, testing theory ,getting real world answers to scenario questions.
Much of this post is regurgitated info i got from research i've been doing about this very cartridge and has been verified from someone who built one and has real world experience. I reload other things and not rifle,yet, so thats a consideration i have to wrestle with; but if you already reload for metallic cartridges, no reason why this shouldn't pique your interest. Best of luck in you endevor, Alan.
pros: 1. Available good brass- get 6mm Creedmoor brass from GA Precision and neck down in one pass
2. minimal body taper- magazine feeding compatible
3. 30* shoulder- efficient powder burn
4. longish neck- keeps throat torching at a doable level for barrel life
5. capacities are about perfect for slower powders to push heavies w/o "hot rod" pressure
6. reported good accurate barrel life in the 2500-3000 round area. Maybe more if you coat bullets or melonite barrel.(unsupported claim maybe, but some guys get more life doin' this(no 1st hand experience myself,just puttin' it out there))
7. As wildcats go, easy to source dies for reloading OR call Copper Creek Cartridge company and tell them what you want and they will get ammo made for you.(I LIKE THAT)
8. PTG already has a reamer for doing just this very thing. Others might as well and a call to your fav should confirm.
Cons: 1. You gotta reload or boutique shop cartridges from sources that do that sort of thing.
2. You're gonna have homework. Load data will require a search and asking questions. Suggest you look on the old Snipers Hide forums and maybe contact GA Precision directly for tips. Also, maybe Ammoguide will have some stuff.
3. Barrel life- most all wildcats(in 22 cal at least) get less life because the cartridge is now overbore by a %(enter whatever it is here). Not saying that's a bad thing just that it's something you'll have to consider when looking at return from performance.
So, with that out of the way, lets look at some other things....
Most guys i know varmint hunt with 55g class bullets. Vmax, Blitzkings and the like. Purpose made for this, and do what is made for. When getting out further with heavier bullets i see MOST use the 75 or 80 AMAX. It's not really a varmint bullet in the sense of ballistic tip or thin jacket "exploding" type, BUT performs very well for what its asked to do. Other bullets might as well, ie Berger or even the Barnes bullets; i'd say a test with home brewed targets is on order before trying to take game. Soak old phone books in water, make your own ballistic gel...whatever. That should get you some answers to your pass thru questions. Thats the tedious but fun part; you get to shoot, testing theory ,getting real world answers to scenario questions.
Much of this post is regurgitated info i got from research i've been doing about this very cartridge and has been verified from someone who built one and has real world experience. I reload other things and not rifle,yet, so thats a consideration i have to wrestle with; but if you already reload for metallic cartridges, no reason why this shouldn't pique your interest. Best of luck in you endevor, Alan.
22DASHER, not to hijack this thread but how about some infor on your rifle. Barrel length,weight, twist etc and what velocity are you getting. You gotta love the way it shoots.
For 500 yards my .223AI pushing the 80 gr. A-Max at 3094 fps(26"/8tw) performs very well. I know you said .22 caliber but you may want to consider the .20 55 gr. Berger. I can push it to 3640 fps from my .20-.223AI with it's 28" tube. Does a great job at 500 yards and beyond!
CHeetah mk1 has 40 ° shoulderpotatoe said:
CHeetah mk2 has 28 ° shoulder
Both are based off necking down small primer pocket .308Palma brass.
I'd sooner take the easy way out & neck Lapua .243Win brass down in one step, and have the extra 'spark' of a LR primer to set off ~50gr of powder. CHeetah does get points for having the 'cool-er' name, though...
That .22Dasher looks like a little badazz!
PS, I've found the 75Amax to be one tough little boolit. Haven't found a g-hog that could stop one, yet. And they'll flat blow thru a coyote on broadsides. Chest on shots via 3600 launch speed sound like a home run ball connection...MEAT REPORT extraordinare!!!
My vote would be for a switch barrel setup 
220 Swift when you want to send a "Mist" signal to the G-Hog God's 8)!
6mmBR (Dasher not needed for 600) when you just don't want to miss....... ;D
This would save you the cost of custom dies, get Forster/Redding
220 Swift when you want to send a "Mist" signal to the G-Hog God's 8)!
6mmBR (Dasher not needed for 600) when you just don't want to miss....... ;D
This would save you the cost of custom dies, get Forster/Redding
Not to be too argumenative but the 22-250 is a pretty good cartridge. I took my first deer an eight pointer with one. I havent seen to many specs on either roud. I'll hane to look them up, but based on my experience with the 22-250 I wouldn't think twice about using it on appropiate game.
Been doing a lot of looking at different 22cal. cartridges and bullets that would be suited for what I'am wanting it to do. With so many choices and information it is not an easy decision to make and go with it, but like my son Potatoe said above, I have narrowed it down some.
As of right now the 22 Dasher looks like a real good choice but I could not find dies for it and I really don't want to spend several hundred dollars or more for them. Need help with figuring that one out.
I have not totally ruled out the 22-250, 22-250 AI and 220 Swift improved though, these are still also in the running.
For bullets I really only want to shoot the varmint type to reduce the possibility of ricochets because of some of the areas we groundhog hunt. This limits me I know but it sure make me feel better. They will be in the 50 to 60 grain weight so I'm thinking a 12 twist would work well for those.
Thanks again for everyones help and input.
Alan
As of right now the 22 Dasher looks like a real good choice but I could not find dies for it and I really don't want to spend several hundred dollars or more for them. Need help with figuring that one out.
I have not totally ruled out the 22-250, 22-250 AI and 220 Swift improved though, these are still also in the running.
For bullets I really only want to shoot the varmint type to reduce the possibility of ricochets because of some of the areas we groundhog hunt. This limits me I know but it sure make me feel better. They will be in the 50 to 60 grain weight so I'm thinking a 12 twist would work well for those.
Thanks again for everyones help and input.
Alan
nastynatesfish
A day which we will live in infamy
Do a 22/6mm. Mine runs about 2@ at 500 yards. I shoot 75gr amax with 51 gr retumbo for 3860fps in a 25" barrel
Not trying to take this forum off corse but, Nasty Nate, what twist barrel are you running? I have a 1-9" twist 30" barrel and am having no luck finding the right weight bullet or load. Any info would be greatly appreciated!! I have two other 22-6 mm's with 1-14" twist barrels for the 60 he. Speedsters at 4,300 fps.
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