Heavier bullets and loads for 22-.250

[Dave Armento]

Thanks to the advice of the forum, I have finally started to get the hang of reloading for my Cooper 22-.250. I have been staying strictly within the load limits recommended in my Lyman manual, and I have been getting pretty good results.

Now I would like to advance my progress... So I have two questions....

For bullets ranging around 50 grains, can the forum suggest their recommendation for most accurate load, shooting at 100 Yards and 200 Yards at my local gun club. I have a bunch of Sierra 50 grain boat tail bullets, and I plan to use those. I want to find out the best primer and powder (Brand and grains).

Second question is this..... I am curious about the heavier bullets (70 - 80 grains). I have never used them. I would like to try them out and see how they do. My barrel is a 26 inch barrel with a 1:12 twist, so my first question is this - can I use heavier bullets in this barrel? I read an article that said you have to have 1:9 twist or better in order to us the heavier bullets. Is that true? Assuming that I can use heavier bullets in my barrel, can the forum recommend bullets/primers/powders (Brand and grains)?

As always - thanks for the advice. I am glad that I got on track with reloading. I am having fun with it and want to get better.....thanks

 

[YEW PLUCKER]

I would look into a barrel with a 1:9, 1:8.5 or 1:8 twist. A 12 twist is not going to be enough to stabilize those long bullets. Perhaps if your bullets are going fast enough it might work. I spoze you'll just have to try it.

 

[jmatters]

Thanks to the advice of the forum, I have finally started to get the hang of reloading for my Cooper 22-.250. I have been staying strictly within the load limits recommended in my Lyman manual, and I have been getting pretty good results.

Now I would like to advance my progress... So I have two questions....

For bullets ranging around 50 grains, can the forum suggest their recommendation for most accurate load, shooting at 100 Yards and 200 Yards at my local gun club. I have a bunch of Sierra 50 grain boat tail bullets, and I plan to use those. I want to find out the best primer and powder (Brand and grains).

Second question is this..... I am curious about the heavier bullets (70 - 80 grains). I have never used them. I would like to try them out and see how they do. My barrel is a 26 inch barrel with a 1:12 twist, so my first question is this - can I use heavier bullets in this barrel? I read an article that said you have to have 1:9 twist or better in order to us the heavier bullets. Is that true? Assuming that I can use heavier bullets in my barrel, can the forum recommend bullets/primers/powders (Brand and grains)?

As always - thanks for the advice. I am glad that I got on track with reloading. I am having fun with it and want to get better.....thanks

Yes you need a much faster twist for heavier bullets. I put a 28" 9 twist Hart on my Model 70, and with RL17, it sends 62 grainers down so fast that I need only hold 6" high at 500 yards compared to my 200 yard zero. No chrono data,but I suspect its running at about 3700 fps. The 77 grainer did not please me so much, but I did not give it a fair test... Heavier than that and you need an 8 or 7 twist.
With a 12 twist, I would keep it down to the 60 grainers, and mostly flat based bullets at that. (My original 14 twist tube would not shoot the 60 grain Hornady worth a nickel.

 

[fourpower]

Thanks to the advice of the forum, I have finally started to get the hang of reloading for my Cooper 22-.250. I have been staying strictly within the load limits recommended in my Lyman manual, and I have been getting pretty good results.

Now I would like to advance my progress... So I have two questions....

For bullets ranging around 50 grains, can the forum suggest their recommendation for most accurate load, shooting at 100 Yards and 200 Yards at my local gun club. I have a bunch of Sierra 50 grain boat tail bullets, and I plan to use those. I want to find out the best primer and powder (Brand and grains).

Second question is this..... I am curious about the heavier bullets (70 - 80 grains). I have never used them. I would like to try them out and see how they do. My barrel is a 26 inch barrel with a 1:12 twist, so my first question is this - can I use heavier bullets in this barrel? I read an article that said you have to have 1:9 twist or better in order to us the heavier bullets. Is that true? Assuming that I can use heavier bullets in my barrel, can the forum recommend bullets/primers/powders (Brand and grains)?

As always - thanks for the advice. I am glad that I got on track with reloading. I am having fun with it and want to get better.....thanks

I have been loading for a buddy with remington 700 22-250 with 53gr bullets and it is a real shooter! as we have a .223 Remington that holds my range record with 70gr bergers he wanted to try in his 22-250. what a joke! we missed the 18in plate @ 100yds and when we finally hit it the bullets were hitting sideways. we thought the barrel was a 1in 12 twist but check and it was 1 in 14. end of story!!

 

[joshb]

I have some suggestions and a word of advice about the 22-250.. A few years ago I happened upon an old Varmint gun in 22-250. Shortly there after, I found a Tikka Master Sporter in 22-250. (I had been shooting a lot of 308 and 300 Win Mag and my shoulder said enough) I was having a ball until I researched barrel life. It's fairly short for the cartridge, compared to some others, so I slowed down shooting them and looked for a good alternative. I landed on the 6br and the "lowly" 223. I say lowly cause I have a couple ARs for fun blasting and that was my mindset on the cartridge. Research and this forum convinced me that it can be a very good performer with an expected barrel life of 6-8 thousand rounds. Call me cheap(I am) cause the smaller powder charge and cheap bullets were also attractive. So, fast forward. Today I have 2 6br rifles and 3 accurate 223s, soon to be 3 and 4. I still shoot the 22-250s but only on the 2nd Sunday of every month.
My good loads for the 22-250 is RL-15 using 34.4 grains behind a 52 Hornady BTHP in a Remington case and a Federal 210 primer.
Same case and primer using 34.5 grains 4064 and a 53 Sierra MK.
Start low, work up, watch for pressure, your gun is not my gun, blah, blah.
Good luck and think about a 1/8 or 1/7.5 223 for accurate "volume" shooting. Josh

 

[STOMP442]

I have a Savage Varmint barrel 26" with a 1:12 twist that shoots the 69gr Sierra match kings and Tipped match kings very well. 37grains of Reloader 17 and a CCI LR primer are giving me 3440fps and five shot groups in the .2-.3's very consistently and easily holds half moa or better at 600 yards. I am at 3000 feet elevation so your milage may vary but I love the 69's in my Savage.

 

[justinp61]

I have a Savage Varmint barrel 26" with a 1:12 twist that shoots the 69gr Sierra match kings and Tipped match kings very well. 37grains of Reloader 17 and a CCI LR primer are giving me 3440fps and five shot groups in the .2-.3's very consistently and easily holds half moa or better at 600 yards. I am at 3000 feet elevation so your milage may vary but I love the 69's in my Savage.

I'd like to try the 69gr Match Kings in my mdl 12FVSS. It shoots 55gr Game kings over 36.0gr of Varget and CCI 200s very well but the wind wreaks havoc on them past 350 yards.

 

[STOMP442]

That's where I was at as well. My 14 year old nephew uses this rifle to shoot in our local monthly prairie dog match and we were running the 53 Vmax in it to start with, with excellent accuracy but at 400 meters and beyond he really struggled in the wind. I had a box of 69gr Match Kings on the shelf and had a wild hair to try them and they shot really well right out of the gate. A little fine tuning on the load and his scores increased dramatically. When the tipped Match King came out we jumped all over it to get a little better BC to help wind drift even more. Scores again increased and he consistently finishes towards the top in score. Switching to the tipped match kings gave us about an extra 2" of wind drift at 500 meters.

 

[4xforfun]

Yes you need a much faster twist for heavier bullets. I put a 28" 9 twist Hart on my Model 70, and with RL17, it sends 62 grainers down so fast that I need only hold 6" high at 500 yards compared to my 200 yard zero. No chrono data,but I suspect its running at about 3700 fps. The 77 grainer did not please me so much, but I did not give it a fair test... Heavier than that and you need an 8 or 7 twist.
With a 12 twist, I would keep it down to the 60 grainers, and mostly flat based bullets at that. (My original 14 twist tube would not shoot the 60 grain Hornady worth a nickel.

My BS detector is going nuts. 6 inches low at 500 with a 200 yard zero. So, your saying that your MV is around 15,000 FPS, or are you shooting at 200,000 feet elevation?

 

[tenring]

I have a factory Rem 700V 22-250 with 14 twist. I tried heavier and longer bullets in an attempt to touch the lands. Neither Sierra nor Hornady 75 grainers would do it. And they keyholed at 100 yds,.

 

[civil82]

My BS detector is going nuts. 6 inches low at 500 with a 200 yard zero. So, your saying that your MV is around 15,000 FPS, or are you shooting at 200,000 feet elevation?

I think he meant 6 MOA. I caught that also.

 

[jmatters]

My BS detector is going nuts. 6 inches low at 500 with a 200 yard zero. So, your saying that your MV is around 15,000 FPS, or are you shooting at 200,000 feet elevation?

You're right! I don't know what I was thinking!
I remember not having to adjust the scope turrets, but I was probably 10 inches high at 200, and 12 inches low at 500... It was a fairly big gong at 500... Sorry for the faulty memory. Another good reason to use the chronograph!

And it was SUPERFORMANCE, not RL17! At my young age the memory is really failing...

 

[missed]

26" barrel 35 grains IMR4451 under 80 grain Berger's 3200 fps tons of fun!