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THE
.22-250 ***Some results I have had with powders for 22-250 as of 8-21-98*** |
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Here
Mr.
Groundhog..... (whistle, whistle) |
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SOME TYPICAL NOTES FROM THE BEGINNING....
"I made a new load this weekend for my Ruger VT 22-250. 35 gr. IMR 4895, .010" off the lands, 55 gr. moly Blitzking. Avg. velocity 3576 fps., 23 fps extreme spread, shot .9" at 200 yards (5 shots). Three shots were one ragged hole. It's a killer, absolutely dissected the first hog I shot with it (200 yards). I was impressed, because I have been working with the slower powders, which have very impressive velocity, but are inconsistent for accuracy and spread. I have one load of 40.5 gr. of Win 760, 55 gr. Blitzking (3800 fps) that shot a ½" group at 200 yds with one flyer, but the next group was about 2" with the same load. That can be very frustrating."
I
threw this
in to show
that I
have had
more than
one try at
this thing...
I
didn't
come by this
info easy…
In fact I could go on for days about all the good loads that I thought I had but did not prove out in the long haul. What saved me with the the Win 760 load was backing the bullet off of the lands. I was previously convinced that all good accuracy would be found at less than .015" from the lands. This is just not true! Both VT's used in testing loads liked the bullet at almost exactly .025". With two different bullets! This was also suggested to me by a Sierra ballistic technician. In fact, two different tech's said the same thing. .22's like a little jump. This is not gospel, but was certainly more than coincidence.
After we backed off the bullet from the lands (incrementally of course) BOOM!!! good consistency. Spreads came down, flyers went away, accuracy went up. I would go back and try IMR4895 and Accurate Arms 2520 with these new ideas on seating depth, but I like the new velocities I am getting with Winchester 760 too much!Frankly, this load creation thing is hard work. Especially, when you are really honest with yourself about what is good, and what is not. Right now, I would just be happy to see a groundhog in my sights.
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35
gr.
of
IMR4895
has
shot
well
for
me
off-and-on.
Velocity
was
3575
fps,
and
accuracy
was
as
good
as
.9"
at
200
yards.
I
was
kind
of
shocked
to
see
that
it
seemed
to
be
very
temperature
sensitive.
Fast
shot
strings
showed
velocity
increases
through
the
string
as
the
chamber
heated
up.
This
was
confirmed
on
two
different
Ruger
VT’s.
This
would
not
be
good
for
p-dogs,
but
would
not
hurt
too
much
for
g-hogs,
etc.
Upon
confirmation
with
my
p-dog
hunting
chum
who is a self proclaimed expert on IMR 4895. He says he has literally shot hundreds of pounds of the stuff in recent years. He said the temperature sensitivity could be function of lot #. Some lots are as much as 300 fps different than others. He has had to watch the code for the origin of manufacture very closely to get good lots. A guy from Sierra said that lot consistency has gone away since Dupont gave up production. An alternative may be to go to Accurate Arms XMR-2495. This is basically the same powder and is probably manufactured in Checkloslovokia. Accurate Arms powders seem to be pretty consistent. I know I have had incredible results with XMR-2015BR. Another alternative would be H4895. These are all military powders. |
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In the beginning, it did not look good for Accurate Arms 2520. It had very good velocities (about 3850 fps max, and I mean max, starting to show real pressure signs) but accuracy was not spectacular (about ¾ MOA). I will tell you what worried me about AA2520. It shot very badly until it hit the sweet spot of the gun, which was at the max load. A ½ gr. difference made a 1 MOA accuracy difference. (At its worst, AA2520 shot something like 4 MOA). This shows me that the pressure curve for this powder is very spiky. To give this powder credit, I did not try magnum primers or switch brands of primers. I always figured this would have little, if no, effect on accuracy. The effects would be strictly related to keeping velocities more consistent. BOY WAS I WRONG!!! 10-30-98-UPDATE I recently retested Accurate Arms 2520 with the Fed 215 magnum primer and it is very impressive. The primer really tucked the group down. The groups are consistently good at 36 grs. (3/8 to ½-good conditions). I would give this ball powder a go. |
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Winchester
760
is
currently
the
most
impressive
powder
I
have
used
in
22-250
(to
date). |
