How many of you guys are shooting a 55gr bullet in a 1/14 twist 22-250? Is this an "iffy" bullet weight for this twist rate? I'm just wondering if I should drop down to the 50's for the most stable and accurate groups.

Jethro, in 1/14" twist, I had no trouble shooting Sierra 55-grain or Hornady 60-grain flat based bullets, but the boattail varieties gave some keyholing trouble. I could shoot the Speer 70-grain semispitzers OK too, but they were shorter than some 55-grain BT bullets I tried.

You may want to try a 52 grain flat base bullets they are more accurate than boattail out to 300 yards. Custom bullets will give you the best accuracy if you are looking for very small groups and Fowler Bullets has give me better groups than some of the others, but there are a lot of others out there. Good Luck

I noticed in the Sierra manual that they don't recommend using the 50-55gr Blitz bullets (or Blitzkings) over 3600fps due to the bullet breaking apart. This really limits the full potential of the gun. Are the V-Max bullets better in this regard? Has anyone actually seen this with the Sierra bullets?

I never chronographed my .22/250 Sierra loads, but they didn't break up!!

I reload for 3 .22-250's, and each has its own bullet. My Winchester likes 55g Remington HPPL's, my freinds Remington shoots the 50g Vmax, and his Ruger #1 shoots the Speer 52g HPBT match best. Two of them use Varget and the Ruger uses IMR 4064.

Guys,

Has anyone tried the 60 gr. .224 Nosler Partition in the 22-250 (14 twist)? I remember that Ken Waters had great success with several 60 gr. projectiles, as well as the forementioned 70gr. Speer semispitzer.

Thnaks,
Hornet22

The Sierra 55 gr BlitzKing tips at 100 yds out of my (1-14) Swift. There is no point in trying them at 200 yds.

Is it just me or are .22-250's unduly persnickety about boattails? In my two, flatbases outshoot the boattails every time. The 53 Sierra, for instance shoots groups only 2/3 the size of the 52 Sierra's groups.

I'd REALLY like to see 1-9" or even 1-8" become standard with this round to take advantage of the newer, sleeker bullets.

Redial

Since the flat bases tend to outshoot the boattails, is there a bullet out there that fragments like the Blitzking or V-Max but has a flat base?

I really like the Hornady 50 grain spsx. I shoot them at 3850 fps and have never lost one in flight despite their speed warning in the box. They are the most destructive bullet I have found and shoot 1/4 inch or better in the 4 Rugers we have used them in. The plastic tip bullets sure look neat but these just flat work. Plenty of pink mist and bako bits for sure.

My 250 shot boats just as well as flattys.

jethro,
The .224 55gr Vmax is a flatbase.

Chris

A 55 VMax/Varget load I worked up so far is my 22-250's most accurate.

I tried the 60-grain Nosler Partitions, and they DID NOT shoot well in my 1/14" twist .22/250!!

In the midst of the cold weather we are having, I was able to make it to the range with my M70 Stealth 22-250 (1/14 twist). My groups previously with the 55gr Blitzkings were around 3" with slight oblong holes in the target, so I was getting a bit frustrated. I switched to some 50gr V-Max today just to see what would happen, and behold, a 0.9" group. Granted, not the best, but it's something to work with now. Was the gun not stabilizing the 55gr bullets? It sounds like a consensus on this forum that the 1/14's should handle a 55gr bullet with no problem. What else could affect this?

I have never had a problem with 55 grain bullets in a 1-14" twist, even as slow as a 222 Remington,
but some rifles seem to be more persnickety than others. The length of the bullet is really the question, and certain 55's are longer than others.
My 22-250 shoots boattails as well as flatbases, and shoots everything from 40 grainers up to 55's into tiny groups. [40X Remington] Regards, Eagleye.

Jethro,

Let me add to my post above that the Sierra tech told me that 55 Blitzkings might not stabilize. I do not have a new Sierra manual and if that fact is in there I would not have bought the bullets for a Swift.

"Slightly oblong" bullet holes are caused by marginal bullet stabilization. In other words, a too-slow rifling twist. It is interesting, but you can shoot the exact same load/bullet in a number of guns with the exact same rifling twist, which may be marginal for the bullet, and some guns will show no signs of bullet understabilization at all, while others will put their bullets through the target sideways, if at all!!