Advice for 22 250

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snazz93

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Feb 22, 2018
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Hi all. I just recently purchased a rugar american in 22-250. 22 inch barrel. 1:10 twist. My local gun shop was running a sale on them. Brand new with a burris fullfeild E1 4.5×14 scope, mounted and bore sighted for $550 out the door. I couldnt pass it up.

Ill start by saying i don't expect this rifle to be a tack driver. I dont beleive rugar made the americans to be so. I have a browning x bolt in 22 250 that IS a tack driver. I bought the rugar because my buddy and i have recently gotten into predator hunting heavily. The x bolt was given to me when a very close friend passed by his father. I wouldnt be able to live with myself if something ever happened to it while hunting.

Back on track, the most accurate load i found in the browning was 55 gr nosler varmageddons, behind 38.7 gr H380, in winchester brass with cci primers. Itl hold 1/2 MOA out to 350 yards. then 1 MOA out to 450. Ive never gone past that on a paper target, but dropped a fox at about 500 yards last year with it. My rugar does not like that load, and gets worse as i drop powder. Pushing pressure limits i can get 3.5 inch groups at 200 yards. Factory ammo wont even hold 4 inch at 200.

I dont currently have any other bullet weights on hand because the noslers always worked out of my other rifle. I have an array of powders.

Im just asking if theres anyone who owns one of these rifles in 22 250 who could give me a starting point? Or if theres anything simple i could maybe do to the rifle to tighten things up just a bit? I generally hunt no further than 500 yards. Most scenarios are within 250. Like i said before, i dont expect this thing to shoot anywhere near my browning, however i feel it should he tighter than it is now.
 
A new rifle barrel will have break in period. I built a AR for my brother and the barrel copper fouled real bad on the first test fires. You could see the cu on the rifling at the muzzle. I cleaned the copper out and did some barrel lapping and the last time I shot it did not cu foul. Groups started to improve after 30 rounds. So you may just need to run some rounds through it for it to settle down, checking for fouling as you go.
 
Some guns are real picky. Others aren't.

Testing with one single bullet isn't going to tell you much about the accuracy potential of the rifle.

Order some 40's, 50's and 55's of various manufacturor's bullets and get to work.
 
Remove the scope. Check the bases and remount the scope. Check action screw tension. Then decopper and retest.
If you struggle with 55s after doing that, try 53 grain VMAX about .020 off the lands.
Your rifle may prefer a longer bullet. The 53 has the highest bc of light 22 bullets and is a grenade.
 
Thanks for the replies so soon. I did my usual break in with the gun and was impressed at 100 yards. A shot, the the bore brush, shot then bore brush. Then space it out through a box or two of shells. Ive got probably 60 shells through it between hunting and playing with loads.

I have no problem playing around with weights, i just wanted some insight before i started buying differents grains. I dont wanna end up with 5 boxes of bullets ill never use because they dont work lol.

Dont get me wrong, for the money i really like the gun. Ive taken one coyote and 3 foxes with it since i got it. (Not very fur friendly on the foxes..... Lol but when im hunting coyotes im not gunna pass a fox up while theyre in season.) Im just nervous at shots past 200 yards with it. I hate the thought of taking a shot im not confident in. Doesnt matter what what the animal is, i dont want to cause more suffering that necessary
 
Kudos on the ethics! I don’t have the Ruger, but my 700 BDL really likes the 55gr bullets. It doesn’t seem to matter what brand since Speer, Nosler, Hornady all perform well. I ended up with 34.5gr of IMR 4895 as the preferred load.
You may get some favorite loads out of the answers, but I’ve always found I need to do the workup on each gun. That’s a ladder or OCW or whatever test you find that yields a sweet spot in the loading and then a lands test to optimize length. Good luck!
 
Thanks for the replies so soon. I did my usual break in with the gun and was impressed at 100 yards. A shot, the the bore brush, shot then bore brush. Then space it out through a box or two of shells. Ive got probably 60 shells through it between hunting and playing with loads.

I have no problem playing around with weights, i just wanted some insight before i started buying differents grains. I dont wanna end up with 5 boxes of bullets ill never use because they dont work lol.

Dont get me wrong, for the money i really like the gun. Ive taken one coyote and 3 foxes with it since i got it. (Not very fur friendly on the foxes..... Lol but when im hunting coyotes im not gunna pass a fox up while theyre in season.) Im just nervous at shots past 200 yards with it. I hate the thought of taking a shot im not confident in. Doesnt matter what what the animal is, i dont want to cause more suffering that necessary
What twist is the Ruger barrel?
 
So stability is not the issue, is it possible you're not seating properly (too long or short)? With that twist and your intended use, try upping to a 53 vmax or geddon, and h380 is a powder I have on hand, but not what I'd call my go to, I'd experiment with other powders, I've gotten some seriously cheap guns to shoot the lights out, looking like you just need some fine tuning.
 
Well my buddy and i signed up for a local coyote/fox tournement this weekend. I usually hunt with winchester silver tip 55 gr when i carry this gun. It was the most accurate i could find. I only had 4 left so i went to get more and nobody had any. Both local gun shops said apperently winchester is going stop making them? I find that hard to beleive. I ended up buying a box of hornady 55 gr v-max. I cleanded the bore before i went out to test them, fired 3 shots with some core locts i had for plinkers just to re foul it, and put 3 of the hornadys in a silver dollar group at 200 yards.


Im not sure if just cleaning the bore helped, or if the hornadys were just a better match for my gun, but im 100% more comfortable hunting with it right now. After next weekend when the tournement is over i plan to play with it more, but for now im comfortable. So im not going to change anything haha
 
I think you'll find that with the right load the rifle will be more accurate than you thought it could be. Ruger Americans are pretty accurate rifles. I would definitely change one variable though, be it bullet or powder. I'd start with a different bullet.

I just bought a 22-250 also but haven't had a chance to load for it or shoot it.
 
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