22-250 Loads

[ARROW EM]

Any recommendations on loads for a 22-250 that are not going to destroy the pelts? I am looking into the 52 grain A-maxes, but would like to see what other options I have for this caliber. I do re-load, so let that come into play.

[Tim Anderson]

In the 22-250 I like to use the 52 gr. sierra H.P., in my ackley I use the 52 gr. A-max.
The A-max has a better B.C. but the bullet is also a little longer than the sierra and may require a top end load to get it to stablize...

[barebackjack]

Ive had great luck with the 50 grain Nosler ballistic tips. A close second would be the 52 grain Sierra HP's.

Ive never had good luck, nor cared for the 50 ish grain V-maxs. They work good for vaporizing p-dogs, but not so great in my experiences on coyotes.

The nosler ballistic tip is a bit more substantial of a design than the V-max and acts more like a hollow point than a "ballistic" tip.

[ARROW EM]

Thanks for the input fellas.

[DustyC]

52 gr Berger Varmint Match, add some Varget and there you go.

[Jeck]

Dusty,

How much Varget are you using? Have you crono'd it to see how fast they are flying?

[Dcoy]

Mine is:50 gr Nosler BT;Fed 210 primer;37 grs of IMR 4320.
Start lower.

[Jerry Hunsley]

The ole pet load of H-380 with 38 grains of powder has been a good one with 55grain Sierra soft point. I never tried Varget but I'm sure you can work up a load with that. My .243 shoots excellent with Varget powder. Great for temperature changes.

[barebackjack]

I run H380 in the 250, it pours so nicely and shoots well.

Varget is a popular powder for a lot of calibers, and rightly so. I just don't like dropping it in smaller case mouths.

[lyonch]

I have tried a lot of the bullets in the 45 to 55 grain range for my .22-250 and have come to using only one now. The sierra 55 grain spitzer boattail is a performer hands down above the rest of them. I am currently shooting this 55 grian pill at 3,800 fps with 37.5 grain of varget (this load is over max). I rarely have to sew a pelt on a coyote and if i do it is small. Now don't get me wrong, if you hit one in the spine your going to have a mess on your hands. This bullet penterates where the other desinigrate. a frontal shot at 100 yards will enter the briskit and the bullet will end up by the back hams. A broadside shot is a .224 hole in and indeax finger out. I know Tbush and Bucksnbears also shoot this bullet and they really like it as well. Tbush turned me onto them thanks buddy!!

[DustyC]

I haven't chronoed yet because my barrel quit on me but I was using straight 35 gr. It worked great.

[bucksnbears]

i've settled on 36 grains of R-15 with sierra 55 btsp. same a Lyonch and Tbush. flat out pounds coyotes with minimal pelt damage.
plastic tips is for varmints and a coyote ai'nt no varmint

[Jeck]

I had my father-in-law chrono a few of my reloads a few years back. The inlaws were in town visiting. I dont have a chrono, so I asked him to take them back and see how they are shooting. Now, I know there can be some variation from 2 different guns... but my reloads were shooting at 3400 ft/sec which I thought was kind of slow. I also sent a couple factory loads, and they were right around 3500 ft/sec.

The inlaws will be back in 2 weeks, and I asked him to bring his chrono with so I can check with my gun.

Am I wrong in thinking that a 52 gr hp with 36 gr of Varget pushing it should be faster than 3400 ft/sec? According to things I am reading on it, it looks like it should be a little faster load. Maybe his chrono is off too... I dont know.

But, my gun groups well, so I dont think I need to do much with the load. I might try to go up to 36.5 gr and see where that puts me at. How much does a 0.5-1.0 gr of powder speed a bullet up? Thanks for any info.

[Tim Anderson]

Here is some load info from Sierra reloading manual

52 gr. Sierra

Varget; 33.8/3500 fps.

35.2/3600 fps.

36.6/3700 fps

38.0/3800 fps. Max load


Here is what I'm getting with a 52 gr. Sierra H.P. in my Rem. 788/ 22-250

Varget; 36.5/3740

37.0/3802

37.3/3858

37.3/3877 getting stiff in my rifle so backed off to 37.1

You need to keep in mind that some of your best accuracy loads will be well below max. loads with some rifles. When I have a powder that gives good accuracy at beginning of load work up I may switch to a different powder or burn rate so I can get good accuracy as well as higher vel., some powders won't give you both....

[ARROW EM]

Well,

After some thinking, I settled on the 52 grain A-Max, with H414 powder. Going to try some superformance as well.