New 22BR Mystery Barrel...

[Vertigo]

Hey everyone,

I'm new here on the forum. I've been finding a ton of great info on a wildcat I'm getting ready to start into, the 22BR.

This will be my first venture with a wildcat cartridge. I am also trying to learn more about rifle building as well so I'm using this as my first "custom" build. I just stumbled upon this barrel and figured it would be a good candidate to learn on.

The barrel is honestly of unknown manufacture. The Smith that pulled it said the customer "claimed" it was a Schneider chambered in 22BR, 50rds on it and that's all he knew about it. I got it for the cost of shipping basically so I figured it's worth a shot. I got the barrel in hand yesterday and here's what I know about it so far:

- S.S. 6 groove 24" with standard 700 threads.
- 22BR Norma Chamber, 1.580"
- 1:14 Twist

So I ordered a stick of Cerrosafe from Brownells and I'm now waiting on it to arrive to cast the chamber so I can determine the neck diameter. I'm hoping it's the larger .254" no turn neck diameter but I'll have to wait and see. Being a 14 twist I know I'm restricted to a max bullet weight of 55gr. The barrel is very, very nicely machined. The rifling is beautiful, looks like a brand new blank and the throat is still perfect, which coincides with the "50rds fired" claim.

So I'm now in the process of figuring out what components and dies to go with. I want to use this barrel to get myself set up to shoot the 22BR. I will replace this barrel eventually with a fast, 1:7 twist barrel throated for heavies, most likely the 95SMK. So I'll set aside 50 pieces of Lapua brass set up for shooting this chamber and save the rest for my fast twist barrel.

I've got some Sierra #1400 to try out in this barrel, 50gr Vmax and some other lighter, FB 224 bullets I'll have to look. I still need to figure out what dies I'm going to use to neck down the 6BR brass. I'll get some pics of the build put up at its current stage. It's just a 700 action I blueprinted myself with a PTG Gen II reamer. Im excited to see how this barrel does. Visually it looks like any other high quality barrel, but looks can be deceiving. I've heard the 22BR is an excellent shooting little round so I'm excited to try it out anyways.

 

[Evan]

Welcome aboard! If you haven't found my threads about the 22BR yet, they might be helpful: http://forum.accurateshooter.com/threads/my-new-22br.3981971/
I would encourage you not to get a 7 twist in the future and instead try to find something between 7.5 and 8 twist.

Despite the common belief that it doesn't work, my 14 twist 22-250 would shoot the 52-53gn boattail match bullets very well and your 22BR might too! 50gn vmaxes also gave exceptionally good accuracy in my 22-250, so if it doesn't like the heavier stuff, you can't really go wrong with the 50s.

Check out Bart's bullets if you want to step up to custom bullets: http://bartsbullets.weebly.com/22-cailiber.html

EDIT: I wouldn't be surprised to find that you have a 250 neck. Seems like a popular choice for fast twist 22BR reamers.

 

[Vertigo]

Thanks Evan, that was a great read sir. A lot of excellent, detailed info that has helped me get a better understanding of the cartridge.

I have quite a few 95SMKs left over from my 224 Valkyrie. It just didn't take to the 95s, it loves the 88ELDs though. It's a 1:6.5 twist but it's a gas gun and not exactly capable of the level of precision I'm after with the 22BR.

I have had jacket failure happen to me before on a 7mmMag. So after reading your write up I would probably be more comfortable at an 8 twist. Maybe even a 7.7 Kreiger, I am a big Kreiger fan. That way if my particular chamber doesn't like the long 95s I can still run other 80-90gr bullets and get out to 1K which is what I want this rifle to do.

 

[Evan]

Thanks Evan, that was a great read sir. A lot of excellent, detailed info that has helped me get a better understanding of the cartridge.

I have quite a few 95SMKs left over from my 224 Valkyrie. It just didn't take to the 95s, it loves the 88ELDs though. It's a 1:6.5 twist but it's a gas gun and not exactly capable of the level of precision I'm after with the 22BR.

I have had jacket failure happen to me before on a 7mmMag. So after reading your write up I would probably be more comfortable at an 8 twist. Maybe even a 7.7 Kreiger, I am a big Kreiger fan. That way if my particular chamber doesn't like the long 95s I can still run other 80-90gr bullets and get out to 1K which is what I want this rifle to do.

I think a 7.7 would be the sweet spot - safer while giving you a shot at the 90s still. I don't know what elevation you shoot at, but I think a 7.7 would stabilize the 90s at the speeds a 22BR can sling them, especially if you're at 5000ft or more like I am.

Just this weekend I shot two 6inch 1000 yard groups at the CRC 1k IBS benchrest match for second place in Light Gun. 95SMK and IMR4350!

 

[Lance21]

Why the suggestion to not do a 7 twist? I'm running a 7 twist 22 br. Hawk Hill 26 in. Pushing the 95s at 2890 with of all things..Reloder 26. Had it up to 2940 but the accuracy wasn't there at that speed. At 2890 it shot groups in the 1s and 2s out of a prs rig.

 

[Evan]

It's a combination that is known to blow up bullets. You can get lucky and have a barrel that doesn't, but many aren't so lucky.

 

[Vertigo]

The more I research the 22BR the more I like it. It's a very efficient little round and I like the fact that you can load for it on the cheaper side. Im building this rifle for my wife to learn on, plus I get to get some time in on it as well.

We unfortunately live in a lower elevation, on average I shoot at 800'-1200' above sea level. So I need every advantage I can get ballistically. I'm interested in trying this 1:14 barrel out with some 50-52gr match bullets. I have loads of IMR4350 to try out, I would be stoked if that powder works out. If this barrel shoots, I'll build it into a 100-300yd benchrest rig. At least it will make a good starter rig. When I build the fast twist rig it will built for PRS.

My wife and I want to shoot competitively. But we don't quite know what type yet. I enjoy reloading and building rifles so I figured why not build one of each and see what we like. Either way we are going with the 22BR for now at least. It seems to me to be a perfect little round to cut our teeth on.

Thanks for all the advice and input guys. I'm excited to start load development. But still have some work to go, gotta finish up the rifle and get some dies. Here she is at the moment:

 

[Ned Ludd]

If you're worried about jacket failures with heavy long bullets, get yourself a 0.219"/0.224" 5R barrel with a twist rate that is as slow as you can get away with and still obtain reliable performance/stability.

 

[Evan]

If you aren't aware, Berger has a pretty nice calculator for stability:
https://bergerbullets.com/twist-rate-calculator/
It will read marginally stable for a lot of combinations that are known to work well. I've had combos with a predicted Sg of 1.2 that performed wonderfully. Maybe I was giving up some BC, but it was never a noticeable problem. Blowing up bullets, however, is no fun even if you're just plinking.

For lighter bullets, if IMR4350 doesn't work (I'd wager you'll run out of room for more powder well before you hit pressure), IMR4064 is exceptional too!

 

[Mark W]

Approximately 300 rounds, 3 powders, and 4 bullets and I’ve not found the magic load with my 22 BR Improved. It’s a 1:8 twist throated to barely fit a 75 grain Amax bullet because I’m not interested in lobbing anything heavier, although I did try some 77 Gr SMKs that looked promising.

So far it’s made me really made appreciate my 22-250. I’m in the process of moving right now, so my shooting season is probably done for this year. I’m going to completely revamp my loading bench and setup before I get going again.

I see that @Evan mentioned IMR 4064 which happens to be one powder that just seems to work for me in everything. Maybe I’ll find happiness with it in the 22 BR Improved.

 

[Vertigo]

I'm going to stock up on some light .224 bullets to try out. I'm gathering that about 0.750" bullet length is going to be my limit in the 14 twist? I'm a big Berger bullet fan, I'm going to give their 52gr FB Target a try, it will hopefully do well with a length of 0.714". I'm going to pick up 100 of the 55gr FB Target to try out too. It's length is 0.749" so it's really pushing it, stability factor of 1.03.

Mark W, hopefully you find a load for your Improved. What you built is my eventual goal with the 22BR, to shoot heavier bullets. I wanted to go with the 95smk simply because I have them. But the more I research, the more I'm leaning toward the 80-90gr bullets. Berger has the 85.5 Hybrid and the 90VLD that would probably be good to try out.

 

[Ackman]

Schneider barrels are very good, the gun should be quite accurate. Don't worry about the 14twist, just have a lot of fun shooting 50's and 55's into tiny groups. I've shot many of the old 50gr. Blitz, and later the Blitzking after it came out, into my smallest groups ever. Reloder 15 is awesome with that combination, VV133 works well, and 748 is very good and accurate up to a bit over 4000fps. Enjoy that rig. **** The 55Blitzking is .820" long and very accurate in my 14twist .223's.

 

[Vertigo]

Thanks for the reply Ackman. I'm excited to see how it shoots, I need to figure out this chamber first. I measured the length of the chamber and it appears to be a Norma spec chamber. But I'll have to cast it to figure out everything else, curious aboit the neck diameter.

Worst case, I may just get a reamer and ream it to a spec I want, i.e. 0.253"/0.254" no turn neck is one thing I would like to have if the current chamber isn't. I am pretty new to figuring out "jump" and if I want any or not. I have never delved this deep into chamber design as this is my first wildcat. But I'm eager to learn and this sight has been a wealth of knowledge.

 

[Corjack]

Why the suggestion to not do a 7 twist? I'm running a 7 twist 22 br. Hawk Hill 26 in. Pushing the 95s at 2890 with of all things..Reloder 26. Had it up to 2940 but the accuracy wasn't there at that speed. At 2890 it shot groups in the 1s and 2s out of a prs rig.

Yep, I have seen Lance it shoot 1350 yards in a bit if a dicey wind. I was so impressed. I am considering one myself.

 

[1mil]

Was concerned my Green Mtn 1:12 barrel would not stabilize 60 vmax very well...but it is my go -to p dog load. With varget @ 3340fps it shoots in the 4's. Next I will try Sierra 69 match just to see how it shoots on paper.
After I burn the barrel, I will prob replace it with more twist. Hope Sierra starts selling their new 69gr blitzking bullet as a component. Love the 22BR!