Fast 22s: What are you shooting?

L

ligonierbill

New member
I got to do some shooting with my new project 220 Swift, and I am wondering what you folks are shooting in your hot 22 (Swift, 22-250, WSSM, etc). This one wears a long (27 1/2") heavy Shilen 1:12 twist. I have tried 50 Nosler Varmageddon and Speer TNT, but thus far my best results are with 55 Sierra HPBT (#1390).

All my load manuals and Ken Waters avoid loading the Swift to maximum to save barrels, and there really is no reason to run faster. With the long barrel, I can easily drive the 55s at 3,900 (or faster, but accuracy seems to suffer) and make a ragged hole at 150. By the way, these are also my go-to for my .223 bolt gun and my AR.

Still working the 50s. What are your favorites?
 
I have several 224 valks, 22-250, 22 nosler and a bunch of 5.56/.223/.223 Wylde. Most of these cartridges "wander around" the issue of projectile size vs adequate twist vs adequate COL IMO. Is there a clear-cut winner? Not in my collection, though I'm happy with the general utility of the .223 Wylde.
 
My fastest .22 is my .22-250. Box stock Winchester Model 70 Varmint, 24" heavy tube, 1-14" twist.

My rifle seems to shoot its smallest groups with Sierra/Hornady 52/53gr HP "match" bullets, and they are also devastating on varmints.
 
22-250. Is there anything else? 28" barrel on an old Sako action with a Green Mountain barrel. Shoots 1/4 MOA. Death on varmints.
 
.223 Rem plenty fast enough for anything I want to do. However, I've thought about a .22 Creedmoor more than once. I'll probably just stick to the .223 though.
 
I was actually asking about bullets, not initiating a caliber discussion. But since we're there, I think the dominance of the 22-250 is justified. I used to load it. My 1:14 Remington liked 40 gr bullets, which it would put into one ragged hole. It did OK with 50s, but not that good. I bought the Swift because I'm a sucker for orphans, and it was a chance to finish someone's project. And the 1:12 twist is the way to go. Now, the Swift has about 8% greater powder capacity than the 22-250, but real world velocities (unless you like replacing barrels) are essentially the same. And why they chose the Lee Navy case is beyond me. At the time of development, the 250-3000 was available. And yes, you can rimlock Swift rounds if you aren't careful in loading your magazine.

But I'm having fun with it. I might have to give those 52/53 grain match bullets a try.
 
I have two .22-250s.
A Remington 700 with a 1:14 twist barrel and a Savage with a 1:12 twist barrel.

+1 on trying match bullets in the 52/53 grain weight range.

Your barrel twist will pretty much limit the weight of bullets that shoot well.
My 1:14 Remington shoots Sierra 52 HPBT SMKs, 53 FB SMKs, and 52 Berger FBs best. 55 Berger FBs shoot poorly in comparison.

My 1:12 Savage shoots 55 Berger's better than anything else with 53 SMK FB a very close second, so twist allows the 55 gr bullet weight to stabilize. Both averaged under 0.4 inches at 100 yards. The Savage also shoots FB bullets better than HPBTs

I have a shooting buddy whose 1:14 Ruger .22-250, whose twist actually measures 1:13.7, shoots 55 Berger FB really well, although it also shoots 40 gr Nosler BTs well. Both were right around 0.4 inches for 5 round groups at 100 yards. That slightly faster twist seemed to make the difference.
Just for grins, he tried 60 grain V-Max bullets, and couldn't even shoot 8 inch 5-round groups at 100 yards with the heavier bullets. They clearly weren't stabilized.
 
Nosler 50 Ballistic Tips have been the best accuracy, fast .22 bullet for me for small furry things.

But I have some 52 grain Sierra Match Kings that are definitely crazy accurate. I've shot some of my best groups with them from a few different rifles.
 
Just for grins, he tried 60 grain V-Max bullets, and couldn't even shoot 8 inch 5-round groups at 100 yards with the heavier bullets. They clearly weren't stabilized.
Click to expand...

Many years ago, before the long heavy VLD type slugs existed I got a few boxes of Sierra 63gr "semi spitzers" as part of a package deal. I don't have a use for those slugs, but did load and shoot enough to be able to tell how well they shot in my rifle.

Out of my stock M70 they were 2"- 2.5" group shooters, where about anybody's 55gr slugs would go into an inch or often slightly less, and the match slugs shot about 3/4 inch or sometimes 1/2 inch when I was having a good day.

Considering that at the time, the Sierra 63gr was considered the "deer bullet" its performance was adequate for deer, but not good enough for precision varmint shooting, for me.

Today, there are a wide range of bullets available, including many long and heavy for caliber types which are unsuitable for the traditional "varmint" rifle twist rates.
 
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