Reloading the .22-250

I tried CFE in my 22-250 and groups hovered around the 1" mark using 55 grain V-maxs. The old stand by if 38 grains of H380 with 55 grain V-maxs with magnum primers stays rite at .5" for 5 shot groups. I can still keep the groups sub 1" out to 200 yards. I like the idea of CFE but my rifle just wasn't very fond of it. I did grab a jug of H4166 to see if I can get it to shoot but haven't had a chance to play with it yet.

The 55 grain V-max has been a great coyote thumper for me. Solid chest, lung, shoulder shots under 200 yards normally gets me a coyote DRT and no exit hole. Longer shots the coyotes normally do a 50 yard death dash and about a .5" exit hole if I don't hit a solid bone. For squirrels I'd go lighter and faster for a better splat but the 55's are still plenty entertaining.

bme27 said:

That's kind of what I am gathering on the CFE. Its a great idea but it doesn't seem like .22-250's like it. Maybe I will go to the 55's. The Hornady 55 sp bulk pack shoots good out of the gun (constantly hit p-dogs at 250-300 yrds) so maybe ill stick to that weight.

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Start with 38 grains of H380. They named that powder H380 because of Bill Hodgdon noted how well it does 55 grain bullets in 22-250's. It's a combo that many shooters have used for several decades. It's where every 22-250 shooter should start and work out from there.

Likewise IMR4064 and IMR4320.
If Bambi is on the menu, IMR4350 and a 63grn Sierra works well.

However, I found that H380 works for all my .22-250 uses.

A former co-worker is fond of Varget.
A word of caution. You can burn out a barrel in short order. Keep barrel from over heating and you'll be ok.

A friend of mine and I worked up some loads for his Savage 22-250 using 55 grain bullets and Accurate 2520.

Worked great in his rifle.

Unfortunately, I have not seen Accurate 2520 in a couple years.

I am loading 55g Vmax and 34g of IMR4895 right now and doing well with it. Sort of playing with the powders available around here.

Do you want a good pdog recipe? I see you are looking at 50 vmax and I love those, but don't discount the 53 vmax it has good BC for it's weight. I use Varget, H380 and 4064 in mine. For coyotes I like the 52 Speer HP. Don't be afraid to try a 40 vmax either, they are vaporizers on pdogs, and shoot flat to 400.

Again, CAUTION!!!

A co-worker has shot out two barrels on his Savage M11 Varminter.

He was using ~40.0grn of Varget and 40grn Nosler B.T. About 4,000fps.
He got excited on Colorado pdog town . Ran about 350rds early one morning, noticed he wasn't connecting as regularly towards the end. Thought it was just a dirty barrel.
He "de-coppered " it that evening.
The next day, he couldn't hit anything with it. That afternoon, he tried it at 100yds from bench. No groups, some keyholes at 100yds. He tried cleaning it several times more. No joy! Sent it back to Savage. They rebarreled it (new gun!, only had ~500rds total!)
Return letter said they rebarreled it, under warranty, but wouldn't again.
He got about 2,000rds out of replacement before it soured. He had gunsmith rebarrel it with Shilen SS , he only takes AR in .223 to pdog town now.

I had good luck with H380 except for one minor flaw, it is very temp sensitive. I noticed in the fall the POI kept changing every month. Next was Varget and it works quite well.

The most accurate bullet out of my rifle is the 52 Gr Sierra.

I have developed super accurate loads with two different rifles in .22-250.

The first was a M70 push feed sporter varmint. When it was new, it loved a load that pushed a 55 gr. softpoint to 3850 fps using Win760. I think this load is now considered over max in some of the new manuals. It regularly went 3/8" for 5 shots using bulk Winchester soft points. Then the groups started opening up after 3K rounds, so I sold it to a coyote hunter who was thrilled with 1" groups.

My current rifle is a Savage 12FV in a Bell and Carlson stock. It keyholes with 55 grainers. So I shoot a 40 gr. Ballistic Tip at 4000 fps using IMR4064. This is a very accurate load, about 3/8" for 5 shots. I have tried lots of powders including 760, IMR4350, Varget and H380, and none are as good as 4064. When it hits ground squirrels, it is highly explosive.

When the factory barrel gives up the ghost, it will be simple to get another Savage barrel or an aftermarket one, screw it in to the correct headspace, and start again. Which is why I only buy Savage for rifles chambered in intense rounds like .22-250.

I've had great results with old Speer data using IMR-4350 for the last 30 yrs. with both 52 and 55 gr. bullets. But Varget is also great, and a few others too.

GS

I worked up a load for a Ruger MKII Target 15-20 years ago....36.0 gr of Varget and a 55 gr VMax...I never needed to look elsewhere.

My favorite load for the 22-250 was a compressed load of IMR 4350 under a 55gr. bullet.

4064 and 760 user here. I used a lot more 760 because it meters much better and I was loading in bulk for prairie dogs. I would set the barrels back at about 1500 rounds to get a fresh throat. I never did have a barrel lose accuracy due to throat erosion, but they would start to lose velocity around 1500 rounds.

bme27: My Son and I both shoot a HD barreled Savage in 22-250, with a 8-32x40 AO 4200 Bushnell Elite Scopes. Both of these rifles are scary accurate. The load we use in both of our rifles is 50gr V-Max bullets with 36.5grs of Varget at about 3795 fps we are told. We don`t have Crony. This load will shoot way under a 1/2 inch at a 100yds in our rifles, and that is outstanding for us. We have been shooting this load for several years now, and don`t load much else for our 22-250`s. We buy Varget in 8 lb containers and try to keep a good supply of 50gr V-Max bullets on hand at all times. This load shoots the same for us Winter and Summer.
ken

Right now I'm shooting Sierra 65 grain spitzer boat tails pushed by Varget to just under 3500fps in my Savage 12FV. It has the 12 inch twist barrel. Every coyote shot with this combo has been DRT... no exceptions. Great accuracy, and no problems stabilizing the 65gr bullet to 300+ yards with the 12 twist barrel even though Sierra recommends at least an 8 or 9 twist (I think they are thinking of 223 Rem Velocities...)

We have been struggling with my remington 700 vls for some time now.

I was shooting with 55 grain Blitzking and H380 38.6 grain but my gun did not seem te like that.

After trying and reading we got a lighter bullet that fits more to the twist in my remington. We started with the hornady v-max 1935 col and different H380 loads. Suddenly the gun preformed better. At 39.5 grain h380 I got the best group. Finally we got somewhere!!
After a long time trying, thinking and almost giving up on the gun. It was good and I got some foxes with it but still it could be better.

After that I determined the col for my gun ( minus 0.10 from the lands) and we started making loads from 2042 down to 2020 col. Everytime minus 0.010 with a steady 41 grain h380. Shots taken at 150 meter.

At 2020 I got I nice group of 0.394 inch. Al the others where spreading to much for my taste.

No I finally got a good feeling about it.

I am of for work on the north sea now but when I get back well make some more ammo and see if it stays this way. For now I am finally happy.

So the h380 works nice for me but I read alot about the varget being super also. So maybe we'll try it sometime.

That's it for now from my side. If anybody got some more tips. Would be apreciate it. Thanks

Sierra #1410

This 52 grain HPBT bullet shoots MOSTLY one hole groups in most all of my Remington 22-250's
If you load this projectile up to around 3550fps. with Hodgdon BL-C(2) you WILL get GREAT groups @ 100 yards+++, with little barrel wear...Bill.

PS: I see you are OVERTHINKING the overall length..Set this load to 2.350" OAL and don't look back..

FWIW:http://www.hodgdonreloading.com/data/rifle
^^^Has these loads..

I've have success using Varget powder in my .22-250 Remington. I use 34.5 grains of powder behind a 53 grain A-Max bullet for excellent groups. I also use CCI Large Rifle Match primers, turn my necks, uniform primer pockets, and de-burr flash holes. I think it's around 3600 fps, but I don't have my notes anymore.