I could use some reference points for working up 22-250 accuracy loads. Plan to shoot 40, 50, & 55 gr. bullets. I currently have Varget and H380 but am open to any powder that works. Thanks, Jim

Mine shoots 38 Gr of H-380 very well. I started at about 36 grains and worked up to 40gr and 38gr was the most accurate. I have some Varget loads made up to test and haven't shot them yet. Many guys get great accuracy using Varget. I wll try them this week if the weather cooperates.
Don

I have yet to find a load for any of my rifles with Varget. Sure, they will shoot MOA with it but that is not as good as I want to see. Other people have great success with that powder though. My 250 really likes 39 grains of H380 and 52 grain Sierra Matchkings. It also shoots 37 grains of RL15 and 55 grain BT's well also. IMR 3031 is another powder that is showing a lot of promise in my 250 and Swift also.

50, 52/53, 55 grain bullets with IMR4064, Varget or R15, possible VV 140 or 540 and sometimes IMR 4320. Any accuracy below .35 MOA consistantly is a Godsend... enjoy

I shot my best group last week using a Hornady 50gr V-Max on top of 36.4 gr of Varget, it measured .253 c-c at 100 metres out of a Sako Stainless heavy barrel rifle. This load never opens up above .4 for me so i stick with it. COL is 62.5mm. Brass is remington, as is primer.

Forgot to mention, 40 gr V-max is nearly as good as 50 but gets caught more in the wind. I use 38.4gr of varget for that. I had trouble getting 55gr V-max to work until i stoked it up some, Im running 2gr over top load in the hornady manual with Vitavhouri 140, 36.5gr. My rifle shows no pressure signs whatsoever with these loads and im sure i could stoke the 40's and 50 up some more. WARNING, a friend with a Remy 700 fluted varmint gets badly craterd primers with these loads so as ever, use caution and work the loads up to your specific rifle.

Working up loads for my new 22-250 I found that it shot almost anything "good" and a few things really good... to me thats .5 moa @ 100yds. H-4831, IMR 4895 and best was 38.5gr H-380 with a 50 gr v-max. Funny thing is the V-max out shot the barnes bullets (that came so highly recommended) in all loads. Now to my point, I did find a powder my gun did not shoot worth a tinkers dam. Varget... Best groups I could get in loads from 35-37 gr Varget was about 1 1/2 groups, go figure. Anybody want to buy a slighly used can of varget...hahaha

H-380 and H-414 are hard to beet in a 22-250

Ricky

I'm with 308Sako & Chris Parkin on this one, my best efforts in the .22-250 have been with Speer 50 grain TNT's (Gee they just seem to shoot great in all my .224 cartridges) and VV N-140, specifically the 36.5 grain load Chris mentioned (also his words of warning.....)

And I'm still trying to find a good 55gr bullet load. Have taken H-380 from 36gr up to 40gr and haven't had anything under an inch. Same with Varget. May have to try 4064. Funny thing is that Hornady factory 55grainers will shoot 3/4" or better! Headaches, headaches

I don't care for Varget or H 380 in the 22.250. For accuracy I have had great luck with RL 7 and IMR 3031 and IMR 4198. For the 4198 load data, I have used what has been published for the 224 Weatherby Rocket.

RL 7 is the overall best and good load data is available in the Lyman 47th Edition Manual.

IMR 4895, IMR 4064, RL 15, H414, W 760, W748 all get honorable mention!

Cheers and Good shooting
seafire

quote:

Originally posted by prof242:
And I'm still trying to find a good 55gr bullet load.

I use Hornady 55gm soft points with 34 gns AR2208. This shoots 3/4 inch groups in mine and a friends rifle. Wouldn't be suprised if they shot .5 moa with better optics and shooters in both rifles.

my most accurate load in my m70 stealth are in this order h380, varget, imr 3031, with 52-55 grain sierra bullets. all .5 are less. just use the manuals and tweak the load and seating depths. i put mine .002 off the lands using a stoney gauge. i have found upto .005 variance in the lenght of the sierra bullets so i measure them and batch them to get the most accuracy. i have shot some high .3 5 shot groups using this method. i use several different brass headstamps none seem to be any better than the other. case prep and seating depth are the key.

arky65

arky65

Opinions are about a dime a dozen these days and everyone's rifle is different. I currently have a Remington Model 700 VLS (laminated stock). It wears a Leupold Vx-2 6x18 on leupold bases and rings. I have shot about 6-700 rounds out of it. It has been one picky rifle!!!!. You name it, i've probably tried it. I intially wanted to shoot a 55 gr bullet out of it so i was shooting IMR-4895 and a 55 gr BK and it would average about .5 MOA. I think i was shooting somewhere in the neighborhood of 35.3 grs of IMR-4895 a 55 gr Sierra Blitzking, Winchester brass that had been trimmed, primer pocket uniformed, and flash-hole deburred. The cases had been all neck turned (turned .06 down to uniform them) and the runnout on the necks was about .0015. The cases were fireformed and necksized. I was sizing the necks .002" below bullet diameter. I was using CCI-BR-2 primers. Out of my Remington's barrel, i was getting 3718 FPS as an average. Average runout on the loaded rounds loaded with Redding Competition Dies (comp seating die and comp bushing neck die) was about .015. The only way i could get these things to shoot was to seat them about .004 into the lands. I wasn't having any signs of pressure at all with this load.

For 40 gr bullets (which i started out shooting in it) i was using H380 at about 40.1 grs and a Remington 9 1/2 M primer. I was using 40 gr moly coated vmax's with the above brass. They were averaging 4038fps out of it. They shot pretty good. They would average .75-1 MOA no problem on a windless day. However as suggested earlier, i ditched them thanks to the winddrift on those little suckers.

After deciding that this thing was going to have to shoot better than .5-.6 MOA at 100, i began the search for a new load. I had tested some Varget previously but only with 55 gr bullets. With varied results, but nothing much less than .75 MOA. I had some Nosler 50 gr BT's laying around and I had some new winchester brass i needed to fireform. I decided i'd just throw 36.0 grs of Varget into these things with the BR-2 primer. Cases were trimmed, uniformed, and deburred as earlier but these WERE NOT neck turned. The necks on them were sized .004" under bullet diameter (.004" of neck tension on them). With brand new brass, took this out to the bench to make sure it'd hit the paper and shot a group of about .4 MOA. This sparked my interest so i took those fireformed cases back to the bench, loaded them back with the exact same thing (36.0grs of Varget, 50 Gr Nosler Ballistic tip, BR-2 primers, case necks sized .004 below bullet diameter, and seated about .001" off the lands). Average runout on these cases after neck sizing was .0015. Loaded rounds averaged .00175. I proceeded to fire two 3 shot groups at 100 yds, on a windless day. The first measured .146" and the next measured .139". Needless to say, i was satisfied. The load chronographs around 3763FPS. I haven't had the time to sit down and shoot it past 100 yards (these college classes have kept me busy) however i plan to try it in the near future. I shot 5 consecutive groups that all measured .250" or better at 100 yards the next day.

Until that day, i didn't care anything for varget but i'm gonna tell you what...man this stuff sure shoots in my rifle. From what i have found in my rifle, it likes slightly more neck tension than some higher-quality rifles. I was planning on playing around with the seating depth on it but after shooting those groups, i think i'll just leave it where it is.

I also have messed around with 50 gr vmax's now that i saw how well the BT's shot in it. They also shoot pretty daggone good. They average right at .230" and i've shot several groups in the mid .1's with high .1's very common. They however consistently clock about 23-25 FPS slower than the Nosler bullets with the same powder charge. In the future i may bump it up by .1-.2 grs and see how they do but for now, i'll be stickin with the Noslers.

I have messed with IMR-4064, H414, H380, IMR-3031, IMR-4350, IMR-4831, IMR-4320, W760, IMR-4198, and IMR-4895. I've tried 40 gr Vmax's, 52 gr Speer TNT HP's, 55 gr BT's, 60 gr Vmax's, 60 Gr Sierra HP's, 52 Gr Sierra MK's (which shoot well but are no hunting bullet), 55gr Sierra BK's, 50gr Sierra Blitz (low velocity spitzer), 50gr Vmax's, and the 50 gr nosler BT's. Out of all of these,the 52gr Sierra MK's, the Speer 52gr HP's and the 55 gr BK's shot well but overall, you couldn't beat the Varget and the 50 gr Nosler BT's

Instead of varying powders, why not try the opposite approach and vary bullets. Pick a middle-ground charge for 50 grain bullets and give several different 50 grainers a whirl. When one shows promise, flirt with the seating depth and later with the powder charge to find the sweet spot.

And as for accuracy (and I know you didn't mention these powders), you could take 34 grains of H4895 or 34.5 grains of IMR-4320 with virtually any 55 grain bullet and have a sub-MOA load -- or so it has worked for me over the years.

Also keep in mind that some guns simply despise anything with a boat-tail. I had a 788 that grouped poorly with any boat-tailed bullet but 0.5 to 0.6 MOA with almost any flat-based projectile.

Believe it or not I use H-414 as well as H-380 for the .22-250. The ball powders work so well in the progressive presses.

I've owned four of them over the years and all liked the TNT bullets and also the Nosler BT and the Hornady V-Max.

However in all honesty there's so much competition for sales of .224 bullets that almost no body makes a bad one. Berger is also a fine accuracy bullet!!

I have an older Savage 110 in .22-250 with a Hart 26" ss varmint barrel that really excels with the Nosler Bal.Tip bullets in 50 and 55grs. with IMR4064. For the lighter bullet I use 35.8gr. and for the 55gr. I use 35.2grs. I get .286" (5 at 100yds.) with the 50gr. and .266" with the 55gr. The former gives me 3700fps and the latter 3500fps. I rarely exceed these velocities since .22-250 barrels aren't all that difficult to shoot out. Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

My Savage 12VLP in .22-250 shoots 1/2" or better with 39.2 grns of H414 behind a 55 grn Hornady Moly V-max. About 3600 fps, but can actually be pushed a little faster if you like, but I'm trying to be conservative for the sake of the barrel. Rifle is bone-stock, though, and a tack-driver.

jbok,

For accuracy, try IMR 4350. Pain in the butt to load when your rifle likes 40 grains of it, but it has proven to me over many years, and many different rifles to be tops or equal to the others best.

Jim

I use IMR4064 and my groups at 200 yds are pretty small and I have put three in 1/2" at 200 yds 55 gr bullets.

I have an outstanding good accuracy with the 60grs. Sierra Varminter HP, in my Remington.
I load it with 34grs of VvN150.

What a wealth of information. I am just starting to try some of the suggestion today. Thanks for all the help guys!!!

My 22-250 tried and true out of a 26 inch barrel has always been the older Sierra 55 grain spitzer boat tails over 35.5 grains of IMR 4064. I always user Winchester primers, WLR, and Winchester brass.

38.7 gr. H380 under 52 gr. JLK LD's. velocity at a modest 3550 fps, accuracy at a far from modest 3/8" avg. 5 shot group at 100 yds from my Cooper.

jbok.I am a newbeginner and have the same questions like you do.I guess the 40 varmint grain bullets is perfect for small birds and other roachers,(mispelled).If i want to shoot aproxlimate about 500 yards ,can i do it with my Supervarmint.

I have just seen some very promising results from IMR 3031 with 55gr Ballistic Tips. I had a 5 shot group at .314" with 28.5gr. I am in the process of trying to duplicate these results. I will let you know what happens.