I have tried a wide range of bullets in my 22-250 and they all seem to pop prairie dogs the same, most just roll over and dont really do the flying cartwheels. Im looking for a all around 50gr bullet that will handle up to 3900fps. I looked at the sierra blitz lead soft point and it said 3600fps or less, has anyone pushed them faster?
Explosive 22 cal 50gr.
- Thread starter Mtstalker
- Start date
I'm pushing the Hornady 52gr A-MAX and the 53gr V-MAX right at and just under 4000 fps with 39.9gr's of W-748 thru my 22-250 AI Rem 700 with a 27" heavy barrel.
They explode when you hit them.
They explode when you hit them.
jepp2
Gold $$ Contributor
I find the action of the dog is more a function of where the shot is placed. If you want the dogs to fly, hit them low. When I select my PD bullets, my criteria are: no ricochet, low cost, damage to the PD. I don't use a 22-250, but I do shoot a lot of 223 and 20 calibers. My favorite bullet for the 223 is the Speer 4708. This big mouth HP can be purchased for as low as $78 per thousand, and is very effective. I did find when shooting it in a 1-8T, that around 3400 FPS they would blow up in flight. For slower twist barrels they work fine.
I also shoot a lot of the the plastic tip bullets (Nosler BTV, and Hornady V-MAX). They do just fine and are very destructive on the dogs. I haven't had the best of luck with lead tip bullets as they seem to want to ricochet more than I like, YMMV.
I happen to be in MT currently on day 24 of a 30 day shoot.
I have not tried Blitz Kings at those speeds but I can tell you that the Hornady SX bullets disintegrated for me. Have you tried the Nosler "Varmageddon" bullets??? They are not expensive and blow up pretty good. I have found them to be at least as accurate and many times they are more accurate than other bullets costing more.
Edit: as posted above...if you want to see the animal jump up a foot or so and what's left of it do cart wheels you need to aim for the "waterline"...right where the body meets the ground. Learned that when I met the guy who made those videos.
Edit: as posted above...if you want to see the animal jump up a foot or so and what's left of it do cart wheels you need to aim for the "waterline"...right where the body meets the ground. Learned that when I met the guy who made those videos.
I have tried the noslers they shot pretty good. I was a hige nosler fan and then i got a batch of accubonds that were undersized. I called them and they guy at nosler fully admitted that they did it on purpose to help fouling. I dont buy it but that was the last noslers i bought. They were almost a full thousandth undersized. I havr been shooting the last of my dogtown from midway which are noslers thats why im looking for a switch.
Yes sir, it seems like it is harder than ever to get good bullets these days...if I want to see how accurate or what kind of groups my rifles will shoot I have to buy and load Bergers. Don't get me wrong, there are still some decent grouping bullets out there, but even some of them are spotty. I just seem to have better accuracy anytime I am using Berger bullets as opposed to other brands.
Keith Glasscock
Gold $$ Contributor
50 vmax will do the job. I get good aerials with a center of mass hit on sage rats.
I've had two parts of the same critter land about 25 feet apart.
I've had two parts of the same critter land about 25 feet apart.
AckleymanII
Gold $$ Contributor
Sometime ago, we loaded 250 each of the same bullet and load, 250 of the 50g Sierra Blitz king, 250 of the V max, and 250 of teh Nosler ballistic tips. We shot the entire 250 straight of each brand before we went to the next brand. Two of us switched off on the same gun to verify our opinion. The Sierra Blitz king bullets are the most explosive of all, they also have a "match" grade jackets.
In very smooth barrels, I have shot the lead tip blitz from Sierra at 3600. Vmax came in Second in our tests, and the Nosler Ballistic tips were third in exploding p. dogs.
My Rem 700 shoots the 55g Nosler varmegeddons into very tiny groups with a very warm load of Benchmark and the cci 450 was the key over other milder primers, seated on the lands of course.
In very smooth barrels, I have shot the lead tip blitz from Sierra at 3600. Vmax came in Second in our tests, and the Nosler Ballistic tips were third in exploding p. dogs.
My Rem 700 shoots the 55g Nosler varmegeddons into very tiny groups with a very warm load of Benchmark and the cci 450 was the key over other milder primers, seated on the lands of course.
A few days ago I shot a small groundhog with a 50 grain sbk @ about 3250 fps. It landed 17 ft from where he was sitting, if that tells you anything. I have never had a v-max do that.
The Sierra Blitz King is what your looking for! Extremely accurate and VERY explosive! As far as "acrobats", like jepp2 said, aim low on them. My 2 favorite shots are 1. Find a prairie dog laying flat on top of a mound sunning. Aim right where his belly and the ground meet and it sure does make for a good helicopter effect. 2. Find several dogs grouped up on top of a mound and shoot the ground right in front of them. It's like a long range shotgun! By the way, I was shooting the the 55gr at about 4000fps out of a 22-250AI. If you try them you'll love them!
+1 For the Vmax. My brother has a 22-250 and they will go as fast as he can run them. I can get 3 flips out of a dog with them out of a 223.
I scored a 1000 pack of the 22 cal 50 TNT dirt cheap from the Widener's recent clear the shelf sale, for fireforming 223AI, they are holding up good over 3500 fps on a dirty 10 twist barrel, and are stupid accurate over N133. Was never impressed with N133 but the 50TNT and this barrel likes it, can't find a bad load either fireforming or a full 223AI load. Ain't hit a critter yet, we'll see how they work.
I definitely had issues with the 6mm 70 TNT's coming apart over 3400 in an 8 twist. Will revisit these in the 6TCU 8 twist at a more moderate speed.
Between all the various varmint bullets I've used in 20, 22 and 6mm, they all work well with a solid hit. "Aim for the hips to see the flips".
One I was somewhat disappointed in was the 22 cal 40BK at 4000 fps out of the 10 twist 223AI, not near the splat it should have been, but its possible I never got a good solid center mass hit that trip, it was windy. Like 30+mph windy gusty switchy nasty.
I definitely had issues with the 6mm 70 TNT's coming apart over 3400 in an 8 twist. Will revisit these in the 6TCU 8 twist at a more moderate speed.
Between all the various varmint bullets I've used in 20, 22 and 6mm, they all work well with a solid hit. "Aim for the hips to see the flips".
One I was somewhat disappointed in was the 22 cal 40BK at 4000 fps out of the 10 twist 223AI, not near the splat it should have been, but its possible I never got a good solid center mass hit that trip, it was windy. Like 30+mph windy gusty switchy nasty.
JSH
Gold $$ Contributor
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