with a 55gr. Hornady V-Max Bullet from a 26" barrel? I am using both H380 and H4895 and am getting a little better than 3700 FPS with both before seeing definite signs of pressure (e.g. a slightly heavy bolt). I am loading the bullets til they just kiss the rifling and am getting excellent accuracy. If I seat the bullets a little deeper will pressures decrease and velocities increase because of more bullet jump?
Thirty-seven hundred sounds pretty good. Although I always warn people that each rifle is different, my old standby load is identical to that of many, many others, so it's become a kind of common denominator: 35.5 grains of 4895 with a 55 grain bullet. This would give me 3550 out of a 22" barrel I used to have, so 3700 from a 26 sounds reasonable.
For some reason, I've never had any luck with H-380, so I can't comment there.
Posts: 13263 | Location: Henly, TX, USA | Registered: 04 April 2001
Thanks StoneCreek. At what OAL did you find your best accuracy in the .22-250? I am getting 1/2 inch groups at 100 yards just touching the rifling. Will backing off some (.005", .010", .020") provide even more accuracy? Thanks Again!
If your rifle is giving you good groups with the bullet just kissing the lands, that is where your rifle likes the bullet seated with that powder charge. Why do you think you need to load rounds that show you signs of pressure? You know they have maximum loads listed in all reloading manuals for a reason. Do you know what that reason is? Your highest pressures will be with the bullet seated against the lands. I am getting mixed messages from your post. Are you trying to see how fast you can drive that 55 grain bullet, or blow the rifle apart with hot loads. Listen and understand if you feed any rifle a steady diet of hot loads it will blow up in your face sooner or later. The key is accuracy not how fast can I drive the bullet down range. Your a classic example of a guy who does not have his head screwed on straight when it comes to relaoding your own ammo. Velocity means nothing without accuracy in any cartridge you shoot. The best load you can choose is the one that gives you the best accuracy with the least powder consumed per round as long as it is within the reloading manuals specs. Also never ever go below the reloading manuals starting load. Any under charged case is called a squibb load and will blow the rifle up worse than an overcharged case. Every time you fire a hot load you are weaking the action on your rifle by sujecting it to excessive pressure it was not designed to handle. Your rifles action is designed to withstand a certain amount of stress. Going beyond that point is asking for a catastrophic failure for certain.
Shark Bait; Sometimes it's just best to ignore the babbling of some who want to "assert" their minute grasp of matters! LOL Your velocities are not far off what you should get with this chambering. I have a 40X in 22-250, with a 27" tube. It will kick the 55's out around 3800 or so. Paul Dustin mentions a 55 grain load at 3865 in a 24" barrel. I suspect one of two possibilities: He has a "fast" barrel, or his loads are a little on the warm side.However, the load he listed is below the max listed with W760 in a couple of manuals I have. You could try seating the bullets just off the lands and see what happens...pressures will almost certainly decrease slightly. You may not sacrifice any accuracy, either. You will have to experiment a little to establish that. Regards, Eagleye.
quote:Originally posted by Shark Bait: 1. Thanks StoneCreek. At what OAL did you find your best accuracy in the .22-250?
2. I am getting 1/2 inch groups at 100 yards just touching the rifling.
3. Will backing off some (.005", .010", .020") provide even more accuracy?
Hey Shark Bait, Looks like you have gotten started the same way I go about finding the SAFE MAX. Good to see you are watching the Pressure Indicators.
1. (Not to answer for Stonecreek, cause his experience may be different than mine in this area.) I've found that quite often you can "fine tune" the Harmonic by making slight changes to the Seating Depth. Seating the bullet slightly deeper in "Bottle Neck" style cartridges does not normally increase the Pressure with Loads shown in the Component Manufacturers Manuals.
However, the same is not necessarily true with "Straight Wall" style cases; 444Mar, 45-70, 357Mag, 44Mag, etc. Here the Percentage change in the combustion chamber is significantly different.
Try 3-shot groups at 0.010", 0.015", etc out to about 0.035" Off-the-Lands and you will usually find the groups tighten around one of those Seating Depths. (One of mine shoots a specific short for caliber bullet with excellent accuracy when it is Seated 0.268" Off-the-Lands.)
If at all possible try to shoot the groups at 200-300yds in a no wind condition. Best times for me to do this are right at sunrise and right at sunset when the winds calm. You have to have all your stuff ready to go because the calm period is pretty short. And don't overheat the barrel which can skew the results. It might take a couple of days to get these very important Test Shots completed.
2. It might not be possible to improve on those fine 0.5" groups. But you are on the right track by trying.
3. Maybe, varying the Seating Depth has the potential to tighten the groups. But you just don't know until you try them in your own rifle.
Best of luck to you.
Posts: 9920 | Location: Carolinas, USA | Registered: 22 April 2001
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