.22 ARC with 88 gr ELDM and VV N550

P

PGW Steve

CGN Regular
Rating - 100%
46   0   0
Location
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Throughout the winter, I've only fired one of my rifles, and that is this .22 ARC. It's a 1-7 twist IBI, .985" straight 26" long on a CZ 527 in a B&C stock. In the late fall, I did some messing around with the 80gr SMK, Hornady brass and VV N550. I use QuickLoad for virtually all of my starting workups base on what's going to deliver top velocity, with what I have on hand.
setup.JPG

Previous post on 80gr SMK in the .22 ARC

The 80gr was fun, but playing with numbers showed that the 88/90's would pick up a lot more supersonic distance. I don't compete, I just like to shoot for fun now, and the farther, the better.

I scored some Alpha .22 ARC brass from Go-Big, and picked some 88's up locally. I started off with 27 gr of N550, and went up to 29.7 gr as seen on this Shotmarker plot at 365 yards. Bullets were seated at about .02" jump, and do not fit in the short CZ magazine.
ladder plus notes.jpg

I wasn't getting pressure at 29.7 gr so I went to 30.0 gr and tried a 5 shot group, at .02" jump. I don't recall what it was exactly, but I was searching for better. I typically do a .04" jump, then 'touching' and see what the trend is. In this case I went for .04", and loaded another 5. This gave me 1.31", with four of them in .74", Good enough!!
5 shots 4 shots.jpg

Speed was excellent, pressure wasn't an issue at all and the ES/SD was spectacular.
chronograph.PNG

The day after this test, a box of 500 90gr SMK's showed up, so with any luck this week, I can use the baseline 88 data to see how the 90's work. I'm interested in the heavy for calibre bullets as they will make 1200 yards with enough speed (1250fps) to register on the Shotmarker, and recoil is very mild. I think my next .22 ARC will have a 6.5 twist to play with the 95's.

Interestingly, the Alpha brass has the exact same fired water capacity (35.4gr) as the Hornady.
 
titch-- said:
Hey if your feelin frisky, you should try out the new 88 TMKs and see how they compare. :)
Click to expand...

I used to try every bullet under the sun in a particular rifle, but now I just pick a couple that do what I need to do, and find something that works.

Out of all of the heavies, the 88 TMK is the underdog. Probably a good candidate if it was to be used on 4 legged things.
G1/G7
88 ELDM .545/.274
88 TMK .525/.263
90 SMK .563/.278
90 ATIP .585/.295
95 SMK .600/.299
 
PGW Steve said:
The day after this test, a box of 500 90gr SMK's showed up, so with any luck this week, I can use the baseline 88 data to see how the 90's work. I'm interested in the heavy for calibre bullets as they will make 1200 yards with enough speed (1250fps) to register on the Shotmarker, and recoil is very mild. I think my next .22 ARC will have a 6.5 twist to play with the 95's.

Interestingly, the Alpha brass has the exact same fired water capacity (35.4gr) as the Hornady.
Click to expand...

any update with the 90gr SMK?

I also have measured identical h2O capacity between Alpha & Hornady 22 ARC brass in my rifle, 35.1grs
 
todbartell said:
any update with the 90gr SMK?

I also have measured identical h2O capacity between Alpha & Hornady 22 ARC brass in my rifle, 35.1grs
Click to expand...

I'm loving the 90's, I moly coated some and just replaced the 88 ELDM with them on the lands. I haven't done a proper seating test, .01" off the lands and they're shooting very well at 1061. I ran out of nice weather this year. This is with the CZ527, running them at 3050 fps.

I've complicated my 22 ARC shenanigans buy building a second. I got my hands on a Proof PXT 1-7 barrel, and then found a Coyote bolt blank with no face in it. I cut it to a .450" and spun the barrel onto an older Coyote. Break in was interesting, the amount of fouling in the first 30 rounds was unreal. It started to settle over the next 30, and the 30 after that. I ran some factory 62, 80 and 88's during break in, then another bunch of naked 88's. Once it broke in, I tried some of the moly 90's in it and it's shooting great, but I need to do some tuning. Proof claims it's like adding 2" of barrel, but so far the factory and handloads are 20-40 fps slower than the IBI. I do see less pressure with the handloads, so perhaps this is where the 2" bonus comes in, I can lean on it a bit harder. I'll likely not push it over 3100 if that's the case, that is some amazing performance at that speed.

I will most likely devote the Coyote to the heavy bullets, and the CZ will get tuned for either of the Hornady or Sierra 69 gr varmint bullets I got from Nechako. The 527 is light and quick handling compared to the Coyote, just what I need for coyotes in the yards stalking my eight cats LOL I love my 204, but like to cheat the wind when I can.

The exciting thing is, I picked up a 2nd hand Foundation stock for a SA 700. I'm going to inlet it for my Coyote action, and bed that into there. It will be a heavy, light recoiling package, I love the feel of the Foundation stock! The 90gr at 3050 is 1 mil flatter at 1K than the standard 6BR 105-107, and .1mil less wind.
 
right on! 22 ARC is pretty much as fun as it gets tinkering around and shooting, I just put a 26" IBI straight contour together, weighs 19lbs and right out of the gate, is shooting 88eld factory and n550 handloads very well. Taking it out to 1000M in a few days
 
A buddy of mine is impressed by my ARCs, but doesn't want to commit to a .450" bolt face. He's wanting a .22 BR, so I'm going to get a .22 BR reamer with the .22 ARC throat spec to bring that level of performance to the .480" BF. I may extend the freebore .01-.02", and just come out of the gate with the 90-95 gr bullets. I need to get some 95's and do some math.

I just can't give any love to my .223's with these things around. I'm also pretty confident I won't stray into the .22 Creed either. I think this is just such a sweet spot for the .224 calibre.
 
PGW Steve said:
A buddy of mine is impressed by my ARCs, but doesn't want to commit to a .450" bolt face. He's wanting a .22 BR, so I'm going to get a .22 BR reamer with the .22 ARC throat spec to bring that level of performance to the .480" BF. I may extend the freebore .01-.02", and just come out of the gate with the 90-95 gr bullets. I need to get some 95's and do some math.

I just can't give any love to my .223's with these things around. I'm also pretty confident I won't stray into the .22 Creed either. I think this is just such a sweet spot for the .224 calibre.
Click to expand...

Interesting.

I am sitting on a bunch of .224 calibre components (75gr & up) and my 223 barrel is showing signs of dying so the question for me is what do I do from here.

I did contemplate 22BR last time around but with a 500M max range and mostly 75gr / 77gr bullets I decided 223 was the better fit. Barrel life hasn't been as great on it as I had hoped but I did run it on the hot side (this is a practice rifle that sees high rounds).

What is typical for barrel life on the 22BR or 22 ARC (which I admit I know little of)? My understanding is that the 22BR is basically a necked down 6BR (which I already have and love shooting - easily the best cartridge I currently own) so more overbore than 6BR and as such barrel life would be less?
 
Barrel life won't be more than a 6mm, that's for sure. I'm going to guess that a 22 ARC will be shooting very well for 3000 rounds +/- , maybe way longer with a PXT
 
Sniffer said:
PXT? I am unfamiliar with that term.

Is 75gr heavy enough for either 22BR or 22 ARC?
Click to expand...

PXT is the new gain twist from Proof Research, the first third of the barrel is very slow rate of twist (starts at around 1:500) and this will reduce the throat wear that traditional barrels see

75gr is plenty heavy in the .224" especially if its the sleek ELD Match from Hornady. The least wind deflection will come from the 85.5+ grain bullets though
 
The .223 always will be a great round, it shines in the Wylde chamber when you shoot a proper VLD. I run 80 SMK's at a little over 2900 in a couple of rifles, and it has decent enough BC for 800ish yards. In a bolt gun, the 77 SMK or TMK isn't the greatest bullet. While it's heavy, its profile is meant to be close to the lands in a AR magazine, and so much of the shank ends up past the case neck. The 80's being a VLD, put the bullet out of the neck and more space for powder. If you're running a .223 AICS magazine, or single loading an 80, you can really get some decent performance.

Last fall I was out with some friends and we had targets from 300 to 1400 yards. One guy had a .223, and a selection of 55gr stuff from the local store. He shot one 20 round box off at an 8" plate at 400ish yards and I think got two impacts. I took his rifle after the session, and brought it home for some loading therapy. I tried my standard 55gr Blitzking recipe and some 75gr ELDM's. Loaded him up a bunch and we went out again the following weekend. He couldn't miss the short target, and was ringing the 10" gong at 800 yards with the 75's. He sure looked at his .223 differently after that.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom