For 22-250 and 223 any comments experiance welcome.Thanks

There are some loads listed here at the barnes site:
http://www.barnesbullets.com/i.../load-data/data-224/

In my 20" AR15 the 223 loads:

36 grain Barnes Varmint Grenades I've had good luck with 28.5 grains of BL-c(2) for 3286 fps

In my 22.250 (fast twist 1:9"):
36 grain VG, 40.4 grains of BL-c(2) gives me 1/2 MOA and >4,300 fps

The 50 grain VGs
37.7 grains of Reloader 15 gets me outstanding accuracy but I didn't Chrono them.

36.2 grains of H4895 gave me 4038 fps

38.6 grains of H380 gave me 3890 fps

The 50 grain VGs are too long for most 22.250s as the standard 1:14" twist barrels won't stabilize them. The 36 grain VGs hit like dynamite once you get them above 4,000 fps.

I had my 22.250 built with a 1:9" twist barrel to use the 50 grain VGs and 69 grain SMKs.

Little story, a few years ago I bought a .223 Remington for my wife to hunt deer with. The first year (wasn’t reloading at the time) I bought some nosler partitions. The accuracy wasn’t great on those, usually hovering around 1.5 inch groups. When I started to reload, I looked for something that would provide penetration but have some better accuracy, so I gave Barnes a whirl. Long story short, I have tried everything under the sun for those little bullets to group. First, I tried different bullet weights starting with the 53gr and going down to the 45gr TSX, each time they grouped like my shotgun. Then I tried different seating depth, still no dice. Finally I tried different powders, a lot of them. In total I tried Tac, BL-C(2), IMR 3031, Reloder 10x, CFE 223, Vhitavouri 135 and Varget with different bullets and seating depth. The absolute best I could get out of the gun, was 1.35 inches using a 50gr. TTSX (the only bullet that would group and not pattern) using Hornady brass, CCI BR4 primers, and 26.4gr of Varget.

CLL might be varmint hunting in the Condor area of California where he has to go lead free.

Your excactly right on the area Im hunting. Condor lead free zone. I normally would shoot 55 grn soft points out of my 22-250 and 52 grn HPs out of my 223 . both guns shoot great. I feel like its a dis-service to shoot a round that is less accurate than what I already am shooting,no matter what the bullets make up is. I actually hunt deer and pigs with a 257 Weatherby 100grn TSX with great accuracy. Thanks again for the input.

Well, I live in central California and had to go to no lead bullets as well.

I sold my 223 Remington before this all came about so I cannot help you there.

In my custom Remington model 700 chambered in 22-250 which wears a Hart barrel with a 1 in 14 inch twist I have had mixed results with the no lead bullets.

With the Nosler lead free Ballistic Tips I got purely lousy groups, with evidence of keyholing, I assume due to the twist.

With the Barnes 36 grain Varmint Grenade I got great groups and speeds up to 4400 fps with a case full of Varget. This bullet is pretty good but has a lousy Ballistic Coefficient. It also is slightly erratic on varmints. When shooting ground squirrels I get great expansion and dramatic results on most shots, but occsionally the Barnes does not seem to expand well.

Just yesterday I shot a bunch of ground squirrels with the Varmint Grenade with good reults. I also lucked into a coyote and shot him on the run at about 250 yards. The Varmint Grenade performed well.

However, for pure devastation on ground squirrels, jack rabbits, etc. I am really impressed with the Hornady 35 grain NTX.
Again using Varget, I get my best groups at 4300 fps. This bullet has a Ballistic Coefficient that is still lousy, but better than the Barnes Varmint Grenade.

What that Hornady NTX does to small varmints has to be seen to be believed. I blows them up EVERY time. I have not shot any coyotes with it as of yet. Accuracy is good, my dad was using them in his 22-250 yesterday and he made some impressive head shot on squirrels that were just peeking over granite rocks.

If I had my way, I would still be shooting Nosler Ballistic Tips, but this state is totally screwed up and we have to go with it, I guess.

I am leaning towards the NTX 35grns just seems light. Not sayin they cant work . One option, is not a choice. Im glad Im not the only one that thinks the law might be flawed. I guess my wish is a 50-55grn pill that has the profile of the soft points that shoot so well. The 35 just seem stubby.I do have some Varget sitting around.

eco friendly?
so i'm assuming lead cores,since it come from the earth, just like all the other "eco-freaks" medicine stuff does.

quote:

Originally posted by CLL:
I am leaning towards the NTX 35grns just seems light. Not sayin they cant work . One option, is not a choice. Im glad Im not the only one that thinks the law might be flawed. I guess my wish is a 50-55grn pill that has the profile of the soft points that shoot so well. The 35 just seem stubby.I do have some Varget sitting around.

Actually because of the density difference between the copper VGs and the conventional cup and core bullets, the 36 grain VGs are about the same size/shape as a 50 grain conventional bullet.

R Flowers, thanks for the tip on the Hornady NTX, I haven't tried them yet. My favorite varmint bullet is the Hornady V-Max and I miss shooting them here.

Basicly your bullets cant be made with lead. They are afraid if you shoot a critter and a Condor eats the carcase it might swallow some lead and die.... Even though Condors have electrocuted themselves they havent made the power companys take thier poles down.But that could happen,we like to make laws here...

Dont know if you still need any data but here goes. Since I got my buck this past monday I went and picked up some 36gr VG for the .223 to use for coyote hunting. Usually I use 50gr Ballistic tips but due to this tread I wanted to see the differences in performance between the two. Yesterday I loaded some up and headed to the range. Between Varget, TAC and Accurate 220, TAC was the winner in the accuracy department. 28.7gr of TAC using CCI BR4 primers and Remington Brass got me a median of 3798 fps with an ES of 12. Accuracy was fairly good, not the best from the gun I was using but .54in groups are nothing to sneeze at.

Anyway, took them out this morning and called in a yote. Took him at 75yds. He fell flat on this face, the bullet did its job, completely broke apart. Not that a single coyote is a large enough sample size to have my full confidence, but it seems that any relatively well placed shot with this bullet should put them down.

Hey thanks for the story as well as the data. I appriciate everyones input. Ive got some intrest in the Hornady GMX bullets as well as the Winchester XT not sure if they are avail as components yet from Win. They list only two loaded options in thier Razorback line of ammo.