22-250 Ackley

[DustyC]

I finally wore the barrel out on my 22-250 and I'm getting ready to send it in and have a bunch of cool stuff done to it. For starters I want to Ackley it and need to know what load, barrel twist, length of barrel and any other pertinent info.
I would also like everyones honest opinion on the round. Is it worth it? How big of a hole are you blowing in your coyotes? a
Any and all info would be greatly appreciated.

[lyonch]

I shoot a .22-250 as well and just had a custom barrel on it, and i did not turn it into an ackley. If i were to ackley my gun though, i would definitely go with a faster twist, like 1:9 so i can shoot heavier bullets at slightly higher velocities than a standard .22-250 round. I'm sure some of the guys who shoot them on here will have a lot better insight. Let us know what you do and how it turns out though

[rorycoyote]

go with a 1:9 or 1:10 twist with a 24" barrel would be my first thoughts . you can shoot the heavier bullets that way. and for the barrel a 26 may be a little better but its getting awful long to get the quick shot out of the feed truck window this winter!

[Jeff Rheborg]

I too just wore out my 250 barrel and put an ackley on. It is a 1:9 twist 26" barrel. I have tested the 65gr Sierra Spitzer and am in the process of trying the 75gr Amax.

Do you need and ackley... probably not. But, there are allot of things we don't need... The 22-250 alone, with out changing anything is almost perfect, that's just my opinion. I do agree a fast twist barrel is about all you would need to better it. But... let me tell you, i am getting some great speed out of that little 65gr now, that I couldn't before. Is that good or bad...???? Speed isn't always your friend. But it sure didn't take it long to reach 500 yards... with accuracy.

Right now I am loading 43.2grs of IMR 4831 with the bullet (65gr Sierra) touching the lands... again it's fast so be careful, work up to this load if you decide to use this info.

I also have RL 17 and RL 22 loaded for the 75gr amax but not yet tested, will let you know how it goes...

Good luck.

Jeff.

[Optimax90]

I went AI last year and love it!! I went a douglas XX premium barrel 25" with a 1:8 twist.... The 75gr A-max load I had last year was balls on 41gr. IMR4831 running 3400 on the speed.

My fire form loads were and are 55 grain v-max with IMR 4064 and those two were really good, i still use them for hunting when I run out of the good stuff.

Where I had the problem was naked bullets that were 50's or 55's with the AI cases. This summer I switched over to moly coated bullets and the 50's came to life BIG TIME!!!! I running 38.5gr of R-15 in a fire formed case @3550 and shooting through the same hole on a 5 shot group 90% of the time the other 10% is just me

But my 75's don't like moly they are ok , but the main reason im running 75's is for long range stuff, and they don't hold the group like the 50's do I have been tring a few differnet loads as of lately, but i'm up in that 2400-2600 rounds on that barrel and think maybe I will just swap it out in the spring and start fresh with new loads..... So then why the hell waist all the time and money in load development on a barrel that is on its way out.......

I love the fact that your case prep time with AI is less and there is no trimming to speak of speads are higher on the bigger bullets And to be completly honest they are a bad ass looking case when loaded with 75's

[Tim Anderson]

My ackley is set up to shoot 52 gr. A=max's, not sure of twist... For me the 52 gr. seems to be a happy medium. 50 gr. or less really get knocked around with the wind and the heavier bullets are too slow and drop to fast compared the the 52 gr...
The 52 gr. A-max will do a better job in the wind and at longer distances than a 52 gr. Sierra and is good out to 800 yds....

[Optimax90]

Hey Tim you must have a slower twist and not pushing the speed trap on those 52's ..... I tried the 52's with that exact mindset you have and the problem was they never made the paper at 100 yards Anything over 3400 and they would explode between 25 and 40 yards, nothing but dust I slowed them down and the groups were not there, tghe groups were decent at the border line on them holding together.......

[Prairie Ghost]

Coyotehunter has one for his backup work gun and it impresses me i would certainly consider the caliber in the future when the money is there. . I don't think it is a real good fur gun but haven't seen any hides that were shot with it, just the speed and bullet weight i would imagine is going to be a bit messy.

[Optimax90]

Coyotehunter has one for his backup work gun and it impresses me i would certainly consider the caliber in the future when the money is there. . I don't think it is a real good fur gun but haven't seen any hides that were shot with it, just the speed and bullet weight i would imagine is going to be a bit messy.

Completely not the case that I have seen!!! The 50's have been outstanding in the devastation without tearing much of any thing. Last year my buddy (.22-250AI) was slinging them and I don't remember a coyote that had a hole any bigger than a quater... And he is running his 50's right at 4000fps every one of the yotes I shot this year with my 50's have no hole at all, im very happy with that aspect of that bullet

[Tim Anderson]

Optimax90 ; I'm not sure what the twist is and just takeing a stab at it, it maybe a 1-12". When I had my gun built I just told the smith I want to shoot 52 gr. bullets. Max load with a 52 gr. A-max is around 4000 fps, but I backed off on the load for accuracy and getting 3900-3950 fps.

[Optimax90]

Tim; Its got to be the twist rate than that makes my 52's turn to dust. I like the bullet and wish I could shoot it but it just don't like me...
I had one load that was just on the border line of where good and bad came thogether. it was the first time that I figured out somthing was wrong... I went to the range and was shooting, let two fly and the holes were touching ( i'm thinking cool this is a good group) then I shot again, the hole dont get bigger, and again and again and again!!! At this point I think I have found the huckelberry, I walk down and look and there is no way that six shots went through that hole, im a slow learner but by the time I got back to the bench, somthing told me these bullets were not getting there, it was kinda funny

[Tim Anderson]

Yep. I had the same problem with VLD bullets in the 17 rem. and also with my 20x47. You can only shoot them so fast with a fast twist barrel or they go poof!

[Optimax90]

I think if I molly them up I might have a differnet outcome, but I think I'm done load development for this barrel. I got to many rounds down the tube to be spending time and money trying to get something to work that will be scratched in the spring with a new barrel.... Maybe next year.

[Jeff Rheborg]

An update on my load development. I didn't have very good luck with RL 22, very inconsistent for me... no one hole groups. I did have some luck with RL 17 however...

Shooting the 75gr Amax with 38.3grs RL 17 got me a nice group at 250yds, five shot group measured .787", bullet touching the lands. Averaged 3,427 fps... so not to bad.

Just thought I would share.

Jeff.

[Optimax90]

Jeff; Thanks for the data man, there aint much out there for the R-17 that I can find..

Was that on the upper end of pressure or did you have room to grow...