Having alittle trouble w/ a stubborn Model 70 22-250 that I'm doing custom loads for. It's a Model 70 Feather Weight (Stainless) w/ leupie LPS.

He couldn't get it to do anything w/ factory loads so I've been working w/ it for about a week now.

Just like most all model 70s the clip is far too short to get to the lands w/ reloads so the loads are going to have to have alittle jump.

So far most bullets from 50-55 grains are printing shotgun patterns at 100 yards in the 3" range. I tried 7 different loads Friday and the best by a large margin was 52 Sierra MKs over H4895 for around 1" groups. I don't think he wants anything lighter than a 50.

Trigger is great , Barrel free-floated, mounts in good shape, barrel cleaned, scope seems to function well, etc. It's going to be a picky one to say the least.

It's a 14 twist but, I'm thinking of going to 60s or possibly 65s. Sad to say but he may just be stuck w/ the 1-1.5 groups of the 52 MKs due to the slightly better accuracy but, he really wants a little stronger bullet for large vermin. This is a pretty nice rifle and I did expect alittle more out of it.

Any of you fellas have any recomendations? Which 60-65 grn pill would you try. In theory maybe they shouldn't stabilize, But it can't get much worse

Thanks,

Reloader

I was shooting 55 gr this weekend really tight with 38 gr of H380 which was made for the 22-250.

Heavier bullets will be very hard to stabilize with a 1 in 14 twist. With the 52 SMKs try 36gr of Varget seated to 2.4".

I've owned M-70 sporters in 225 Win, 22-250 Rem and 223 Rem and everyone was a superb prairie dog gun!!

You didn't say the action was glass bedded!

I also know a guy that installed a bipod and the screw from the bipod was hitting the barrel and once that was removed it shot well under 1" again.

Glass bed the action and then double check the barrel for floating and that thing should put 50 grain TNT bullets in little tiny circles.....unless the barrel is fried.....but even a fried barrel will almost always shoot under 3"!!!

I'm with 30378; my best load so far is 52gr MK's and 36.1gr Varget. I'm seating .03" off the lands so far; my VLSS has a long magazine box. Don't know how well they perform on critters yet, but I plan to find out.

You may also want to look at Barnes bullets - I've heard good things about the 52gr TSX; it's reputed to be hard and holds together well in antelope-sized game. I also got a box of 70gr Speer SP's; some say they will stabilize in a 1:14 twist if you don't push them too fast, so it's worth a try.

I have found these 1:14 twist rifles to LIKE heavy bullets, contrary to what some loading manuals say.

My friend's gun ( a Model 700 Mtn. Rifle, .22-250, but with special order Kevlar stock and 26" THIN barrel) LOVES the Speer 70 grain semi-spitzers.

The first load I tried with H-414 (a few grains under max. load) put five rounds into LESS THAN O.3" !!!!

I tried a few other loads, with other bullets and powders. All were good (under 1"), but none matched this load.

I have since tried it in a couple of other guns, and it works well in all tried so far.

I have a friend/co-worker that has a Ruger #1 chambered in 22/250 that he wouldn't shoot because it threw slugs all over the target. I gave him my load data that I use in my son's Savage 112 in 22/250 and he tried it and that Ruger is a tack driver. I am trying to buy it from him but he is a little harder to deal with now. The load is 35.6 grains of H4895 behind a 50 grain Remington Power-lokt bullet using a Winchester Large Standard Rifle primer. I don't use any crimp on this load! I don't have the COAL in front of me, but from what you said you can probably just seat them as far out as your mag will allow.

32 grains of Reloader 10x works great for me, under 3/4 MOA. Bullet depth is mirrored from factory rounds in my Mdl 700 22-250.

I agree with Vapodog. This may be a bedding issue since you've tried several loads. Before I'd pull the stock off though, I would try shimming the barrel at the end of the stock with a few business cards. Just use enough so that there is solid contact, this should dampen the barrel vibrations some. If that doesn't work, I'd say it's time to call Brownells for some acraglass. Good luck, let us know what works.

I'm with Kimber,

I think your rifle will shoot better with some fore end pressure between the barrel and stock. I've had VERY few lightweight barrels shoot good that were fully floated. Try the business cards under the barrel, a couple of inches back of the forend tip.

I believe I will.

May make a difference.

By the way, the rifle was free floated and bedded in the lug and front of the action area when I recieved it. I believe it's factory. I've seen several M70s done that way.

I agree, I may need to bed the action But, it should shoot better than 3" as is . i think I'll try the shims and see what happens. I'm loading some more of those loads that went an inch and I'm going to try w/ and w/o the shims to see what happens.

Thanks for all the comments

Reloader

one other thought - something weird I ran into this fall - the action was bedded, but the magazine box was taller than the stock, so when the screws were tighten up the action was actually bearing on the magazine box instead of the stock. (actually jim kobe found it) I've had good success with the 60 gr sierra in a 14" barrel

If possible I would seat the bullet .005 - .010 off of the lands. I know that this would probably not fit in the magazine but I would try it to see if there was a major improvement in the accuracy. The barrel may need a thread or two turned off & rechambered.

If you want a heavy hunting bullet, you might try a Speer 70 grain Semi Spitzer. I've gotten them to stabilize well in a 222 Rem., 223 Rem. and a 22-250 Rem. all with 1:12 twists.

I had a Win Featherweight in 7x57. Shot all over the place. I checked the bedding and it was of the type when Winchester put that little dab of epoxy in the barrel lug recess. Well mine was gummy, wasn't hard by any means. I glassbedded the action and I was shocked at how well it improves. In any case I'd check to see how the factory bedded it in addition to the one posters too long of a magazine problem. You've shot enought bullets and loads to tell me there's another issue besides the barrel, BUT I would slug the barrel for the hell of it to see what it does mike out too.

Helped a friend work on his M70 lightweight in 270. Same problem as you describe and like said above we removed the gummy piece of bedding stuff and free floated the barrel. Now it shoots sub inch groups with almost everting we try.. Steve

After more trips to the range w/ many more loads, I've found a couple loads that do ok. I also tried the shims w/ worse accuracy being the result so, I think we can eliminate adding a presure point from the list.

The owner may like the groups just fine as is but, I will mention a few more Options.

The rifle prefers the 70grn Speers despite having a 14 twist. The best load under the speers has been 31 grns H4895, win brass, WLR primer, just short of the lands for and average of 3100 fps at 10' w/ a low velocity spread of around 20'. That load will shoot around .75, some better and some around an 1". The thing I like about the speers is they are about the only bullet I've found that will still fit in the mag when seated just shy of the lands.

For light weights I keep coming back to 52 MKs w/ 34 H4895 w/ 3430 avg MV at 10' for groups around 1" regularly.

This short barreled rifle is no speed demon nor is it a great shooter but it feel it will be fine for mid range varmints as the owner intends to use it. I do feel it would be better suited w/ optics smaller than the LPS he equiped it w/ but, everyone has differing opinions.

I will give the owner the compiled data and let him decide which load he'd prefer. I'd personally go w/ the 70 Speers for the added bullet performance on game.

I'm going to mention rebedding and removing the ridiculous so called bedding Win did at the factory. He may not want to go that route as I only had the rifle for custom loading but, I'll mention the option.

Thanks for all the ideas.

Have a Good One

Reloader

My M 70 FW isn't stainless, but my experience with the short mag box is the same--drives me nuts!!!

At any rate, I worked up the best load without regard for magazine function, and can load one round in the chamber and one down-so I have a 2-shooter. Since it is my feral hog & coyote gun, that doesn't matter to me--accuracy counts.