Reloading 22-250
- Thread starter Snipe
- Start date
Hi. You might want to think about another bullet for fox. An A-Max, for example, won't make a great big hole in the hide. It's a winter hide hunting thing. Applies to Wiley(coyotes) too.
You really don't need or particularly want a controlled expansion bullet like a ELD-X for varmints. No .22 calibre ELD-X's anyway. An ELD-Match is a different thing.
Otherwise, you need to work up the load for your rifle. A load that works well in one won't necessarily in another. Varget and the 52 grain bullets will no nicely for ground hogs and other beasties you don't care about the hides.
You really don't need or particularly want a controlled expansion bullet like a ELD-X for varmints. No .22 calibre ELD-X's anyway. An ELD-Match is a different thing.
Otherwise, you need to work up the load for your rifle. A load that works well in one won't necessarily in another. Varget and the 52 grain bullets will no nicely for ground hogs and other beasties you don't care about the hides.
Kevin Rohrer
New member
This is a very popular round, and using the Search function will answer this question 100s of times.
603Country
New member
You might want to try a bullet I use a lot. The 40 gr Nosler Ballistic Tip works great on coyotes, and it seems to transfer all of the energy to the coyote and not leave a big hole on exiting. I start using it because I wanted a small fast bullet that would fragment easily and not ricochet. My second choice was going to be the Varmint Grenade, but I haven't tried it yet.
mikejonestkd
New member
I am curious - what manual says that a 22-250 with 1 in 14 twist will not stabilize a 53 grain bullet?
I have been loading for two different 22-250s for a while and they both have 1 in 14 twist. both handle 52-55 grain bullets just fine, regardless of the manufacturer or type of bullet
I have been loading for two different 22-250s for a while and they both have 1 in 14 twist. both handle 52-55 grain bullets just fine, regardless of the manufacturer or type of bullet
My .222 Rem with 14" twist shows marked group widening moving from a 50 grain flat base Hornady SP to a 52 grain Sierra MatchKing boattail. The reason is the difference in bullet length. Length matters much more to stability than weight does. Indeed, if you can hold length and velocity constant, increasing weight improves stability. It is only the fact increasing weight is generally associated with increasing length, and to a much lesser extent, with decreasing velocity, that it causes folks to think you need more twist for greater bullet weight. Weight is not the reason. If you melted out the lead core from a bullet jacket and poured if full of gold, which is more dense than lead, you'd find you needed much less twist at any given velocity, not more.
If the manufacturer says his bullet won't stabilize in a 14" twist, then you can probably believe they've tried it or had unhappy feedback from customer's who did. They'd have no reason to discourage you from buying their bullet otherwise. It is also a fact that many rifles don't have very accurate twist pitch. It would not be terribly unusual to find a 14" twist that was actually closer to 13.5" or to 14.5". This accounts for why some guns shoot bullets well that others with the same nominal twist do not. So the exact bullet size that your gun can deal with is going to be somewhat individual.
If the manufacturer says his bullet won't stabilize in a 14" twist, then you can probably believe they've tried it or had unhappy feedback from customer's who did. They'd have no reason to discourage you from buying their bullet otherwise. It is also a fact that many rifles don't have very accurate twist pitch. It would not be terribly unusual to find a 14" twist that was actually closer to 13.5" or to 14.5". This accounts for why some guns shoot bullets well that others with the same nominal twist do not. So the exact bullet size that your gun can deal with is going to be somewhat individual.
My 24 inch Remington BDL heavy barrel with 1 in 14 twist stabilized 64 grain PP bullets with no problem. It was actually the best load I ever found for that rifle, loaded with 38 grains of 4350, killed a lot of coyotes and a few deer and javelina with it.
I do have to admit that my 20 inch Browning Micro medallion did not like them at all.
I do have to admit that my 20 inch Browning Micro medallion did not like them at all.
Every rifle has its own preference. I get 3/4" groups from a completely stock Win M70 varmint using 52/53gr boattail match bullets (hornady or sierra) and a slightly less than max charge of WW 748. 55gr flatbase SP groups about an inch.
Same rifle will only group 63gr Sierra semi spitzers at about 1.5"
Best advice is try every combination you can, until you find one that makes you smile. Then stick with it!
Same rifle will only group 63gr Sierra semi spitzers at about 1.5"
Best advice is try every combination you can, until you find one that makes you smile. Then stick with it!