Looking for comfirmation from reloaders that are "older than dirt"

m777

m777

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Sorry, had a great uncle who used to laugh like hell at that one.

I got a set of Hollywood Gunshop dies in 22 VAR. Have no idea on what that is. But did find "22 Varminter" listed in a 1970 Lyman book in quotes under the 22-250 data.

Same round?
Thanks
Clint
 
have same dies (22 varmint is the wildcat to the 22-250)

Received them when I bought a custom 22-250 from the original owner who ordered the 22 Varmint long before it became the 22-250 and the gunsmith built the chamber from the dimensions of the die.
My BRNO was built in about 1964.
 
m777 said:
Sorry, had a great uncle who used to laugh like hell at that one.

I got a set of Hollywood Gunshop dies in 22 VAR. Have no idea on what that is. But did find "22 Varminter" listed in a 1970 Lyman book in quotes under the 22-250 data.

Same round?
Thanks
Clint
Click to expand...



Same round in away it is suggested not to use 22 var or varminter dies in modern chamberings because of varying differences from then custom chamberings
 
I am quite sure you are on the right track here. The 22-250 was a wildcat cratridge made from necking down the 250 Savage case and they called it the 22 Varminter. I also think Remington was the first man. that standardised it as the 22-250

Graydog
 
I don't consider myself "Older than dirt" either, lol
But at 67, I have a few gray hairs.
Those dies are most likely the 22 Varminter or 22-250 in modern
nomenclature.
Eagleye.
 
It is probably a version of the .22 Varminter.

.22 Varminter is the wildcat cartridge that the .22-250 is based on. Dimensions on a factory cartridge more often than not differ from their wildcat version.

There were many variations of the .250 Savage case necked to .22. Personally, for the price of modern dies I would not use them for 22-250 Rem.
 
I don't think the VAR and the Varmint-R are the same thing. Parent case for the Varmint-R is a 303 British.
From P. O. Ackley's handbook
The .22 Varmint-R is a cartridge which was originally developed by the late G. B. Crandall
of Woodstock, Ontario, Canada. Mr Crandall was a famous Canadian gunsmith who
decided to develop a good .22 cartridge based on the .303 brass which is so easily
obtained in all the British Commonwealth countries. He necked the .303 British down and
shortened it to an overall length of 2.31 with a 29 degree shoulder angle. The idea was
to develop a rimmed cartridge based on the .303 British case very close to the 22/250.
Most loads recommended for the 22/250 except the heaviest can be used in the 22
Varmint-R for about the same velocity.
 
Lodi said:
It is probably a version of the .22 Varminter.

.22 Varminter is the wildcat cartridge that the .22-250 is based on. Dimensions on a factory cartridge more often than not differ from their wildcat version.

There were many variations of the .250 Savage case necked to .22. Personally, for the price of modern dies I would not use them for 22-250 Rem.
Click to expand...

More from the 1967 Hornady Handbook . . . "Almost 30 years after its initial development, the 22-250 became a Remington factory cartridge - one of very few wildcats to achieve factory production with its original design unchanged." I would at least try them.
 
Otto V said:
More from the 1967 Hornady Handbook . . . "Almost 30 years after its initial development, the 22-250 became a Remington factory cartridge - one of very few wildcats to achieve factory production with its original design unchanged." I would at least try them.
Click to expand...

A large part of what I speaking of is that the OP stated the dies are marked "22 VAR", instead of the ".22 Varminter". While "22 VAR" may be an abbreviation, there is a chance it is not. If it's not, brass may be unduly worked, and may have headspace or chambering issues.

Here is an excerpt followed by a link...

"Alas, Sharpe–and everyone else–had a long wait. Because the name “Varminter” had been copyrighted, gunsmiths building rifles for the cartridge almost universally called it simply the .22-250, which is how it is generally known today. And in the ensuing quarter-century, many rifles were built with tiny chamber variations. There were all sorts of so-called improvements and little or no standardization. Again, this was partly because of the copyrighted name and dimensions of Wotkyns’s .22 Varminter."

Rifle Shooter Mag.
 
I can't find any reference anywhere to either a VAR or a gunsmith with those initials.
It would be interesting to see how close the die dimensions are to todays 22/250.
 
I have a die set made by RCBS that are marked 22 VAR. they came with a cerrosafe chamber cast of the rifle that was for all purposes a 22-250 REM.
My understanding was that the 22 VAR was indeed as others have stated the pre-standard version of the 22-250. So depending on the rifles chamber it will be close to that. Gebby, and Wotkyns had similar cases along with various other people , all based on the 250-3000 necked down to 22 cal.
 
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