22-250's first deer

[jb22-250]

I filled my doe tag with my 22-250 yesterday.  Head shot at 70 yards with a 55 grain ballistic she dropped right where she stood.   Great rifle for the money, I can't wait to use it for what I bought it for Coyote's!!!  By the way great website alot of helpful info.

[knight0334]

looks like sammich time to me..   good job!

My Handi's will have their chance in 1 week and 1 day for our combined rifle season.

[safetysheriff]

if you'll handload 55 or 60 gr' Hornady spire points for the .22-250 you won't have to head-shoot the deer.   you can put it into the lungs, into the near-side brisket on a deer quartering toward you, or into the neck/shoulder and you'll see 250+ lb' deer drop quickly.

i think they're better bullets for whitetails than the ballistic tips were designed to be.   the 60 gr' spire points are loaded by Hornady for deer.....

ss'   

[jb22-250]

Thanks for the tip. I will load some and have them ready for late season. I use varget powder for my 55g v-max loads will this work well for the heavier bullets also?

[safetysheriff]

jb'

pardon me.   i got ahead of myself in that first post.    CONGRATULATIONS on making meat!

at  www.hodgdon.com you can go to the rifle reloading data to see some loads.   their Varget load max's out at 36.5 with the Speer 55 grain soft point with Win' brass and large rifle primers.   they did not show a 60 gr' bullet load.   but the Hornady 55 gr' spire point is an excellent deer bullet.

i'd work up a load starting with the 55 gr' Hornady at approx' 33.5 gr's of powder with Varget ......which has had some trouble with "lot to lot" variations in pressures and burning rate.   (you can read about that on www.long-range.com in their forums.   

if you want a less expensive alternative you can use either BL-C(2) or bulk WC-846 with the .22-250 to get excellent results.    i loaded some .22-250's for a friend with 60 gr' spire points and W-W brass, with CCI-250 primers, and 33.5 gr's of WC-846 for a very accurate load in a Model 700.  you can start your load at probably 31.7 gr's of WC-846 if you use it as a propellant.

good luck,

ss'   

[jb22-250]

How far off the rifling do you set your bullet? It seemed that my bullet is not in the case very far if I am just off the rifling, Is this normal with a break open rifle? I have only owned bolt action in the past?

[quickdtoo]

Long throats are normal for most H&R calibers, cept the .45-70, they're too dang short!!

Tim

[jb22-250]

I read that half of the bullet should be seated in the case, is this true,or how far is the minimum seating depth?

Thanks

[quickdtoo]

I don't know that there is a hard fast rule, sufficient bullet pull is important usually, but I've read that 1/3 to ½ the bullet diameter is sufficient. I've also read that some handloaders barely seat the bullet in the case. Boattail bullets complicate that issue tho!!   Maybe Fred will share his knowledge here.

Tim

[Dave Allen]

hello...i kept my 22-250 load pretty simple...c.o.l. @ 2.350 that's about 0.050 from the land's..using 34.6 of varget & a hornady 55 grain soft point #2265 i get consistant 1 1/4 area group's...i may @ some point try getting a wee bit closer to the land's...it's alway's fun to play around... so who know's ...congratulation's on your doe....

[safetysheriff]

i've actually loaded some of my .223's very short to get a good grip on the bullet since i don't crimp .22 cal's except for semi-auto's.   

with the .22-250's i can no longer find the info' for overall length that i first loaded my buddy's 60 gr' Hornady with.   but i can tell you that i usually give the .22 cal's a fair jump to the rifling....

my best group ever was with a Handi' .223 using a 50 gr' spire point (Hornady) that measured only 2.206 to 2.210 overall length......when the book allows a 2.260 max' length.   that group -- sighting-in at 50 yds' -- gave me a center-to-center measurement of .213 .    outside measurement was just under 7/16" top to bottom.    you'll note that you can't get a consistent overall length with a lot of hunting bullets because they aren't made to the same exact tolerances as match-grade projectiles are.......in many instances.    (but that's why they make bullet comparators for competition usage)

i wish i could tell you more; but your rifle may like the bullets seated differentlly anyway.   i seat mine deeply because i've seen good results repeatedly when doing so.   (i got the idea from an article i'd read years ago which stated that .22's seem to need a jump to the rifling).

ss'