.224" in a 22 Savage Hi-Power

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Have any of you loaded .224" bullets in your 22 Savage HP rifles? How is the accuracy? Any issues with neck tension, or lack thereof? I guess a good crimp would help - or maybe reforming .30-30 brass as the neck would be a bit thicker then.
 
Savage 22 HP

They may work, accuracy would be the question. As for brass you can use win25-35 and neck down, if you are short of brass. The extra thickness in the neck area ie using 30-30 brass is not required.
Bill
 
I've used 62gr 0.224 (bulk from Henry on the forum) to fireform resized .25-35 in my rifle. I was told by a local guru it wouldn't work, but for the most part it did. Less than 10 of the first 50 didn't obdurate enough to seal the chamber and blow out the brass. The second 50 I put a narrow sliver of post-it note around the bullet to get more neck tension.

I didn't really check for accuracy, but 10 rounds at 50m printed about 4" (with 0.227s in fireformed brass I get 2" or so at 100m, about the best I can do these days with a tang sight). All 10 made .22 holes, no key-holing evident. Offhand I went about 60% hits on a 12x18 gong at 100m. With my normal load I'm usually 80% +.

Definately worth exploring in future. At 150 for the price of 50 0.227s, I can probably live with it.

Was thinking it might be worth trying the expander from a .223 or .22-250 in the sizing die
 
I've used .224 dia bullets in my Savage M99 Hi-Power. The accuracy was actually not too bad. Not as good as .228 bullets but when "needs must"....
 
Why wouldn't you just use a cast bullet sized to .228" or .229", top speeds for the Hi-power aren't that fast.

Because I don't have any casting equipment and I am not keen on starting down that path.

The cheap and readily available .224 bullets would be great if a fellow could get 2.5" groups at 100.
 
The 22 Savage HP is one of the coolest, most nostalgic rounds out there - usually shot out of a Savage lever gun - also very cool. It deserves the right bullet.
 
Well Ken Waters in his pet loads book got very good accuracy with them in his gun.The Hornady 70gr SP bullet is too long for decent accuracy and the defunct Speer 70gr RN was perfect,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Harold
 
I've heard of people using the 60-grain .224" Nosler partition in the High-power with good results. I guess the theory is that the rear core "bumps up" and fills the bore to provide better accuracy. I've heard the same with the .308 partition out of a .303 Brit. Might be worth a try. Or get a proper boolit mould and loan it to a friend who casts so he can make you some properly-sized boolits.
 
Well Ken Waters in his pet loads book got very good accuracy with them in his gun.The Hornady 70gr SP bullet is too long for decent accuracy and the defunct Speer 70gr RN was perfect,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Harold

Damm...I was just going to recommend that one, I've had good luck with the Speer 70gn.
Wasn't that long ago Horn made .229 bullets for the HP.
 
I think they are extinct.....................send me a FAX # and I'll forward the pages for the .22 HP............Harold.........it's about a $75 book in and out of print ........ No-Sale Sports in Calgary is the only place I've seen them
 
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Tradex stocks loaded 22 Hp in 70 and 117 gr loadings from Sellier and Bellot and they appear to still have it in stock... They do sell bullets for loading, but do not list any in the proper diameter, but maybe they could order some in...
 
Decided to play around with my Savage 99 in 22 HP which have 1 - 12 twists. One of them has Stith mounts and bear cub (4x) scope, all have excellent bores. I have a die that can bump up a .224" diameter bullet to .228" diameter. Bullet stabilization calculations for a 1-12 twist, maximum bullet length is .750" for proper stabilization

The Hornady 70 gr (#2280) shot very erratic (actually terrible). Hornady #2280 are .850” long but when I shortened them to .750” (filed down the tip) they shot very well.

Found that bullets in the 60 - 62 gr shot the best of all bullets that I tried in either the .224" or .228" diameters, can get 1.5" groups at 100 yards. IMR 3031 worked best for me.

Did not got good results with 50 gr bullets.

Has anyone made up a jig to shorten bullets efficiently?
 
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