Will we see a factory 22 Creedmoor?

[jelenko]

After shooting the 75 AMax/ELDM and 75 Berger for the last 5 years at about 3200 fps from a .22-.250 I would appreciate another 150-200 fps and the .22 CM would provide this. About like the .22-.250 AI that has been around for decades but no fireforming for the .22 CM.

Conventional thinking has hot .22's shooting 53-55 grain bullets from 12 &14 twist barrels - the .22 CM can do this but I think the niche is for 75 & heavier bullets.

"Pursuit of flatness" is not the object. Economy, light recoil and effectiveness for the task at hand are.

I can buy 100 75gr .224 ELDM bullets for about $23/100, somewhat less than 87 VMax's. Powder charges are 10 - 15 less than that 6mms producing similar velocities. An equivalent 6mm 105 grain match bullet would be about $35/100. My .22-.250 with 75 ELDM's, SD = .214, @ 3200 fps is somewhat inferior to my 6mm AI with 87 VMax's, SD = .210 @ 3400 fps. Another 200 fps would surpass the 6mm AI with 87 VMax's @ 3400 - with less recoil, blast and expense.

https://www.petersoncartridge.com/technical-articles/posts/2020/april/22-creedmoor-load-data/

What about barrel life? I'm thinking the 22-250 or the 22CM is going to have less accurate barrel life than even a 6MM

 

[fyrewall]

What about barrel life? I'm thinking the 22-250 or the 22CM is going to have less accurate barrel life than even a 6MM

The .22 CM sure won't last as long as a .223, our choice for volume shooting. My thinking is that .22 CM barrel life will be shorter than that of a .22-.250 but barrel life for a .243 W is not good. Comparing the .22CM with a 6mmCM I would think the .22 CM would be shot out faster. Seems like there is no free lunch. My .22-.250's seem to last longer than my .243 W's; possibly a 34.5 grain .22-250 load of RL16 (75 ELDM) is easier on barrels than a 43.5 grain .243 W load of RL16 (87 VMax). I guess I will need to get a .22 CM and find out. I have no experience with the 6MM CM

 

[Hohn]

What about barrel life? I'm thinking the 22-250 or the 22CM is going to have less accurate barrel life than even a 6MM

Almost certainly. Advocates of 22cm are claiming 2000 rounds and more but who knows how stringent their accuracy requirements are.

The bigger problem with 22cm is that if you’re sacrificing peak speed to keep the highest BC bullets from coming apart. You really need a 7 twist to run the highest bc bullets, but keeping a 90 vld together at the rpm given by 3400fps is problematic. An 8 twist on the other hand isn’t stable even at blazing speeds.

Dropping down to 80s and an 8 twist solves the problem but the BC penalty is substantial compared to a 108 ELD in 6mm.

Velocity is temporary but BC is forever. This fact is lost on the 22cm. Even at 3500 FPS, the 80 ELD will not shoot inside a 108 ELD at only 3050fps. The 22 is flatter but not as much as you’d think.

Compared to the 22-250, I’d expect notably worse barrel life because of shooting heavier bullets with slower powders.

Im intrigued by the idea of the 22cm but as posted earlier, it’s telling that very few seem to be ordering a 2nd or 3rd barrel in it.

I personally think a smaller case 22br to be a much better choice. Go up to a 7 twist in a shorter barrel (26”) and you can probably keep 88/90 bullets intact at 3100 or so. Eat the speed penalty but gain barrel life and windage.

 

[fyrewall]

I am shooting my various 7.7 twist .22-.250's more than my 6mm's. I shoot 75 ELDM's with 34.5 grains of RL16 at 3200 fps

Barrel life appears to be better than my .243 and 6mm AI.

Observed ballistic stuff like trajectory and wind appear to be slightly inferior to the 6mm AI with 87 Vmax's at 3400 fps; the 75 .224 ELDM has somewhat better ballistic properties than the 87 VMax.

I never had a .224 bullet blow up from my 7.7 twist .22-.250's, shooting lighter than 68 grain bullets like 53 VMax's, 55 VMax's, 60 Si TMK's, 60 VMax's, 60 H hpbt; velocities have approached 3,750 fps - spinning like crazy out of a 7.7 twist.

When I have an opportunity to engage targets over 1/2 mile distant I shoot relatively heavy for caliber pointy 6mm and 6.5mm bullets, like 6mm 105-107 and 6.5 140 bullets because they have better ballistic properties than either the 75 or 80 grain .224 bullets my 7.7 twist .22-.250's are capable of launching. I think that 88 - 90 grain plus .224 bullets are sort of specialized in an effort to match 105 plus 6mm bullets and I have no plans to get into shooting them. 105 grain 6mm bullets at modest 3,000 (+-) fps velocities dominate local 1,000 yard bench rest shoots.

The point of all this is that I regard the 22 CM as essentially like the popular .22-.250 AI, an improvement by some 100- 150 fps over the old and very popular .22-.250 for relatively long range (up to 600 and somewhat beyond) shooting of rodents and yotes using zippy, flat trajectory, acceptably good ballistic and frangible (no pencil hole) bullets in the 75-80 grain class - a specialized but common application.

Will barrel life be as bad as a .243 Win? My plans for the .22CM are to work up to 38 (+-) grains of RL 16 or about 40 (+-) grains of RL 23 for zippy .22CM 75 ELDM loads.

Little body taper and the sharper shoulders of the .22 CM should help with case stretching and no fire forming like the .22-.250 AI.

My barrel guys have a .22 CM reamer and it looks like the failing .243W will be a .22 CM. Will my other .22-.250's and the 6mm AI become obsolete?