bullet weight for .22-250?

[MATT .45-70]

Anybody have a bullet weight that they like for .22-250? I am reloading for a savage 12 with a 26'' barrel and a 1 in 12'' twist rate. I would like to stick to Hornady but I am open to other brands.

Also any recipies or other tips and information are welcome.

Thanks for your time

 

[rcmodel]

For a 1/12 barrel I would think 55 grain Hornady V-Max or Nosler Ballistic-Tips would be hard to beat for varmint hunting.

It probably will not stabilize bullets much heavier then 60 grain. Especially the longer plastic tip ones.

rc

 

[ranger335v]

I use and like weights from 36 gr. to 60 gr. in my 1970 1:14 twist Browning/Sako Safari.

 

[lightman]

Bullets from 45-55 grain are perfect for the 22-250,unless you have a custom barrel with a fast twist.I also like the V-max and Nosler BT. Lightman

 

[NCsmitty]

My bullet du jour for my 22-250 is the 52gr Hornady A-Max and it's superb for target and works on game, or so I'm told. I have some 52gr Nosler Custom Competition that I would like to try, as I have always had good results with Nosler bullets.

My rifle is a 24" Remington barreled, Mauser action that I put together a while ago and it has a 1in14" twist.



NCsmitty

 

[mrbro]

My son's really likes Sierra 52g MKs over 4064

 

[spoogie]

I'm partial to 50 gr. Hornady VMAX in a Rem 700. Barrel length is the same, but twist is 1:14.

But, I've only shot 60 gr. Hornady SP, and 55 gr. VMAX's.

Play with the Greenhill equation. or http://kwk.us/twist.html

Pretty outdated, but it's a starting point.

-S

 

[ricehombre]

I use Hornady 60gr SP over RL 15 in Icon with 1-12. Works great.

 

[jb27]

I have a Ruger Mark II .22-250 with 1:14 twist. I couldn't get a 55 grain bullet to pattern well. Switched to Nosler 40gr Ballistic Tips and it'll shoot 1/4" at 100 yds. I'm also working up a load using 52gr Nosler Custom Competition bullets. I'm still tweaking but i've seen a few groups under 3/4" at 100 yds. I'm using Varget for all loads btw.

 

[Cemetery21]

I used 50 and 55 gr Hornady SP for years, before the advent of poly tipped bullets. Excellent prairie dog medicine with WW760 powder. 4064 is great, too, but 760 meters better when drop charging.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

I use a Ruger MK II Target. 55 gr V-Max bullets over 36.0 gr. of Varget give me 100 yard groups with all the shots touching.

 

[hey_poolboy]

I have a sporty Mauser with a Kimber barrel in .22-250 with a 1:14 twist. To date the load that has given me the best accuracy has been 50gr V-max on top of 36.8gr of Varget. I usually seat to about .004 short of the lands.

Lighter bullets have proven to be accurate as well. I have used Hornady's factory 40gr. loads with great success. Maybe it's just been my barrels, but I've never had any luck over 55gr with a 1:14.

 

[MATT .45-70]

been doing a little shooting with factory ammo that was on sale, so i bought a couple boxes just to see if i could find a bullet weight my rifle likes.

It seems to hate 55 grain bullets lol almost a 6" group at 100 yards with bench and rest, however 45 grain bullets pattern at about 2 1/2" group under same conditions. I am going to start with reloading some 40 grain and some 45 grain bullets and go from there

 

[hey_poolboy]

Do a ladder test and check the accuracy of each load.
I load mine up in 1/2 grain increments and never test at less than 200yards. They seem to stabilize better after the 100 yard mark. After I fire the loads in the 1/2 grain increments and find the best group I then go up and down from the winning charge in .1grain increments till I find the best one. My current recipe in .22-250 gets me a .8" group at 235yards. (so long as I can keep up my end of the shooting)

 

[28lx]

+ 1 on the 52 grain Match Kings

 

[Ala Dan]

I use to use Hornady 55 grain SX (super xplosive) back when I loaded for a
Remington 700 BDL~!

 

[LOLBELL]

Matt 45-70
I did the same thing you are doing with a Tikka with 24" heavy barrel. With premimum ammo I could not get anything under 4 or 5 inches. But I was using 55 grain bullets in all factory loads. I happened on some Winchester 40 round white box ammo in 45 grn HP's. That brought my groups down to about 3/4 inches. And it was cheap. $27 for 40 rounds. I now load 50 VMax and
H414 to get one small ragged hole at 100 and 5/8" at 200. Mine has a 1 in 14 twist and hates anything heavier than 50 grns. I can get equally good groups with anything from 36 grns to 50 grns

 

[murf]

matt 45-70, what are you going to do with your savage? paper shoot? prarie dogs? white tail? anyway, your rifle will tell you what bullet weight it likes. choose a common powder and start experimenting with different bullet weights and bullet shapes. this is what is so durn fun (and expensive) about handloading and shooting. it is rather addicting.

murf

p.s. welcome to thr!

 

[joed]

I have been fooling with the .22-250 for about a year now. This cartridge is different than anything I've ever loaded before. Unless I seat the bullet to the max length in the manual or shorter the groups just fall apart.

So far I've tried Sierra 55 Blitz Kings, 52 gr Sierra match, 55 gr Hornady Vmax, 55 gr Nosler BT and 50 gr Nosler BT.

The only bullets that shot decent for me are the Sierra, the best being the 52 gr.

Look at what everyone else is shooting out of their 250 or Swift and you'll probably find most are using the 52 gr bullet, there is a reason for this.

I'm still looking at powders. H380 was a good one but way to temperature sensitive for my liking. Every month over the course of a year I've watched the POI change with the temperature. Over the past year the POI has changed by over 3".

I'm now using Varget and notice no difference with temps. One thing I've noticed with Varget is I can't get anywhere near the velocity shown in the manuals. My first decent shooting group was 36.5 gr of Varget with the 52 gr Sierra. However, when I ran it over a chrono I found the velocity to be 3520 fps. When I got to 38.0 gr it shot as good as the 36.5 gr load and velocity was slightly over 3700 fps. No one else seems to have noticed this problem with Varget, maybe they aren't shooting over a chrono, but I do.

 

[BoilerUP]

+1 on the 52gr A-Max.

Work well out of both my 14-twist 22-250 and 9-twist 223.

 

[spoogie]

joed: I've kind of noticed the same as far as loading to max length, but I've only tried 2.350" and .030" off my rifling. Which is 2.410+/-?. I've shot Varget and H380, but only a few loads of each, so far. Had such good luck with my first 2 loads that I haven't played with it much (that, and it's been winter). My gun seems to like light loads seated at 2.35.

33 gr. Varget, CCI primer, Win Brass, 50 gr. Hornady Vmax is a 5 shot group, an inch at 100 yds. Which isn't that impressive, but, considering it was the first load I tried, I was happy.

35 gr. H380, CCI, Win Brass, 60 gr. Hornady Soft Pt. ... shot my first cloverleaf with this one, but the other 2 shots were 1" and 1.5" away. But, I seated this one longer, and I don't have my notebook in front of me and can't recall what length I used.

I just need to go do some more shooting. I'll be buyin' the big jug of Varget.

-s

 

[Kevin Rohrer]

I was using 55gr Speer SP and 35gr of 4064. Groups were 1/2MOA.

I am now experimenting w/ 55gr Vmax and 36.0gr of Varget. I will also be trying 8208.

 

[ole farmerbuck]

I use 35.0 grains of 8208 and 52gr A-Max. Excellent!! Savage lightweight barrel.

 

[MATT .45-70]

I was actually shooting the white box winchesters to get my tightest group

This rifle is primarily for coyotes and occasional bobcat, and also target shooting

I was originaly planning on using IMR 4064, because I already use it for .270
but I im thinking about using varget maybe, I think I will first try the 4064 though.

I still need to play with bullet weights though, Im going to start loading and testing soon.

 

[murf]

matt 45-70,

i like reloader 15 in my 22-250 and 220 swift. a 55 grain bullet may be better for thumpin coyotes at 3 or 400 yards. but, a 50 grain is most accurate in my 22-250. have fun with it.

murf