22-250 Powder Recommendations?

mmattockx said:
Gentlemen, thanks for all the info. I forgot to add that the rifle in question has a 24" barrel, so the slower powders may not work as well for me.

Mark
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Actually the slower powders may perform a tad better in your slightly longer barrel.

At the end of the day every rifle is unique and only you can find out which is the best powder for your rifle.
 
With 41.7 grains of Varget, a LR primer, and a COL of 2.269, a 35 grain V-max comes out of my Ruger at average 4202 fps with an SD of 17.

With your longer barrel, you might get a little more speed.
 
With 41.7 grains of Varget, a LR primer, and a COL of 2.269, a 35 grain V-max comes out of my Ruger at average 4202 fps with an SD of 17.

With your longer barrel, you might get a little more speed.
 
Nothing came close to H-380 in my brief experience with the 22-250.

In the late 80's I had a remington 700 varminter. I had the barrel floated, the action bedded and the trigger cleaned up at Guncraft in Calgary. I put a cheap redfield 15 or 16 power scope on it, and I'll be dammed if that setup didn't shoot 1/4" - 1/2" groups all day.

My recipe was 39.5 gr H-380 under a 50gr SP SX.
 
'Boo said:
Actually the slower powders may perform a tad better in your slightly longer barrel.
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Well, many factory 22-250's use 26" barrels and I was just mentioning the 24" barrel because it is shorter and will not work with slow powders as well as a 26" tube. If you are working with a 22" barrel, then it will definitely not like the slower powders.

Mark
 
mmattockx said:
Well, many factory 22-250's use 26" barrels and I was just mentioning the 24" barrel because it is shorter and will not work with slow powders as well as a 26" tube. If you are working with a 22" barrel, then it will definitely not like the slower powders.

Mark
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Most factory 22-250 barrels are 20" or 22"

Also, where do you get the idea that shorter barrels require faster powders? Even the slowest rifle powders in cartridges with the capacity of the 22-250 are totally burnt in the first 12"-14" of barrel length.
 
Initially I had hoped to use Varget with mine for 50 & 55 gr. Nosler BT's but couldn't find any. Tried H - 380 and was so pleased with the results that I've been using it ever since.
 
'Boo said:
Also, where do you get the idea that shorter barrels require faster powders? Even the slowest rifle powders in cartridges with the capacity of the 22-250 are totally burnt in the first 12"-14" of barrel length.
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Yup, and it's more like 3-4" according to the testing that has been done.

Slower powders that work well in longer barrels still give the best velocities in shorter barrels, relative to faster powders. You lose the least velocity in a shorter barrel when using slow powder with heavier bullets.
 
I go with Varget as my main powder for 55gn BlitzKings. It's been the most consistent for me all year long. I've also had good results with H380 but ran into issues with temperature changes effecting the loads. If I was just shooting during the summer I'd go with the H380 but since I shoot all year long I stay with Varget.

Good Shootin'
Tim
 
I should ad that I'm a big fan of the lighter 40 grain nosler BTs. When I had my XR100 over at Icehunters for a bedding job, he was nice enough to run up some test loads using a fistfull of supplied powder and bullets (my 40s and varget) and even his pet loads from his .22-250 using 55gr SPSX and IMR 4198 (i think) and 3031. All of them were sub 1" groups at 100 yards, with the 40s and one 38 grains of varget (2.490" OAL) netting the best accuracy.
They might not penetrate a coyote as well as a heavier bullet (haven't had a chance to test that theory yet) but the splat factor on gophers is definitely effective.
 
34-35 grains IMR 4895 works great in my rifle with 50-64 grain bullets. It is more consistent than 4064 in terms of accuracy and velocity in my particular gun. Varget works well too.
 
38 grains of H380 behind a 52 grain speer HP at 100 yards produced a 4 shot group i could cover completely with a dime with my savage model 10xp 22" bbl 1 in 12 twist and a bushnell 6500 4.5-30x50
 
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