The 22 Creedmoor

BIbjcuu.jpg

Nice shooting tb. This thread is seriously tempting me to push a 22CM build higher on the build list. :)
 
Stumbled on a good load this morning in the Model 70. 69gr Sierra Tipped Matchking over 48.3grs RL26, 3726 fps average. Maybe the smallest group I have ever shot

XAFsaUq.jpg


KjrTZ90.jpg
 
I straddled the predicted sweet spot and fired a couple good groups with the M70 , 80gr Amax & 37.6 & 38.4grs RL16, 3210 & 3269 fps. Mild load, approx 54,000psi

dSyuxGg.jpg


I'll try 38.0grs next time, should be the load

Now onto the moose loads...
 
Now onto the moose loads...


deSdJKm.jpg



Initial test loads for 26" Tikka 22 Creed

Nosler 70gr Accubond @ 2.595" OAL (.038" off lands)
42.7grs RL23
Hornady brass
F210M primer
~
3619 fps, 0.84moa 3 shot 309y

Swifft 75gr Scirocco @ 2.575" OAL (.025" off lands)
44.5grs H4831sc
Hornady brass
F210M primer
~
3442 fps, 1.3moa 3 shot 309y

Barnes 77gr LRX @ 2.646" OAL (.046" off lands)
43.0grs RL26
Hornady brass
F210M primer
~
3439 fps, 0.96moa 3 shot 309y


And in the Model 70 26" barrel

Barnes 77gr LRX @ 2.658" OAL (.045" off lands)
37.3grs RL16
Hornady brass
CCI BR2 primer
~
3258 fps, 1.4moa 3 shot 309y

Barnes 77gr LRX @ 2.658" OAL (.045" off lands)
43.3grs RL26
Hornady brass
CCI BR2 primer
~
3417 fps, 1.1moa 3 shot 309y


Will tweak and retry shortly
 
The magic continued this morning with the Model 70 22cm

Finalized the pair of loads for this rifle

80gr Hornady Amax @ 2.691" OAL (.063" jump)
Alpha brass
CCI BR2 primer
38.0grs RL16
3241 fps avg

77gr Barnes LRX @ 2.658" OAL (.045" jump)
Hornady brass
CCI BR2 primer
36.6grs RL16
3203 fps avg

OTh91Nx.jpg


The LRX landed 0.25moa below the Amax @ 411 yards. Feels good to close out loading for this rifle on a high note. Moderate loads, approx 52,000PSI

The BC on the LRX is working out to .420G1, it will carry 1000 ft lbs to 370 yards (2430 fps)
+1" @ 100y, 200y zero, -5.6" @ 300y, -16.5" @ 400y

The 80 Amax @ 3240 fps stays above transonic speed to 1140 yards. Coyote smashing 500 ft-lbs energy to 900 yards. Great plinking/soft target load

giphy.gif
 
Load development done for the moose loads in the Tikka

70gr Nosler Accubond @ 3460 fps with RL23, 0.85moa @ 100y, 1.1moa @ 405y

75gr Swift Scirocco @ 3390 fps with H4831sc, 1moa 5 shot @ 100y

77gr Barnes LRX @ 3430 fps with RL26, 0.5moa 100y, 0.9moa @ 357y


I'll hunt with the Barnes load
 
Last edited:
Before I could make my 22 Creedmoor barrel I had to fix the back gear on my old South Bend 9A lathe. Last time I cut a chamber it was at 300 rpm direct drive and it didn't turn out too great. Cut a new 24t gear and did some dentistry on the 76t bull gear.

Ae9A7qm.jpg

Gear cutting with a Chinese involute cutter and shop-built mandrel.

i6JPllI.jpg

Broken teeth cut out and brass soldered in.

72YFbMc.jpg

Cutting the bull gear teeth.

ntEOUuN.jpg

Gears installed and working! 50 rpm at the lowest speed...perfect.

I made my own reamers from O-1 tool steel - body, neck, throat all separate. Plus a 15* taper cutter to chamfer the transition from the shoulder to the neck. It's a SS Green Mountain barrel blank with 1:7 twist. I left it at 25" long and used the side with a loose bore for the chamber end. I threaded the muzzle 5/8-24 but haven't gotten around to putting a muzzle brake on it. The recoil is very minimal but my goal is to watch bullet impacts at 600 yards with a scope set at 9x. I'm using a Bushnell Elite 3500 3-9x40 which is made in Japan and has pretty nice turrets for dialing up to one revolution (12 MOA). The 88gr ELD-M needed 8.5 MOA at 600 yards.

Overall I absolutely love this cartridge! I intend to use Peterson 6mm Creedmoor brass but I haven't had time to neck turn them (I cut a .255" neck and the loaded Peterson brass is .256" neck diameter). So I've just been fireforming Winchester 22-250 brass that I bought used on CGN. The fired brass was a very slight crush fit in my chamber so new brass would probably stretch as much as in a SAAMI 22-250 chamber. I did make my headspace gauge about 10 thou UNDER SAAMI spec for for headspace distance on the Creedmoor case. All the Creedmoor brass/ammo I've checked is well under max cartridge size so no worries there. I haven't yet tried to fire virgin 22-250 brass or ammo.

Wo7Orn9.jpg


JdfAlnk.jpg

Cutting the chamber.

3lkUfgK.jpg

Reamers before heat treat. I used boric acid as an anti-scale, BTW. It worked well. Heat treated with oxy-propane and tempered in a toaster oven.

wQfWyuE.jpg

My various homemade headspace gauges. 308, 308 30* Improved (future project), Creedmoor.

FpMyS3G.jpg

Chamber before polishing - it only took a minute with 400 grit to get it to shine. Not bad for a homemade reamer.

9O8XvyE.jpg

77gr LRX, 88gr ELD-M, 77gr Nosler CC, 65gr SGK, 62gr Gold Dot, 62gr Hornady FMJ, 50gr Speer #1029.

GqBuljA.jpg

88gr ELD at 100y. 38gr H4350 in Win 22-250 brass. 2.715 COL and 3230 fps. I'd say it's a .367" group - it turns out I had some big variations in case weight and capacity from differing lots of brass. Once I weight sorted I found a twin peaked distribution so I split it into heavy and light brass and the flyers stopped.

FeWcgSw.jpg

50gr Speer with about 70% case fill of Canada Ammo's D4198 powder. 27.5gr and 2.40 COL gives 3350 fps. 0.836" 5-shot group. Not bad for a huge jump to the lands and low case fill. QuickLoad claims 37,236 psi and the brass condition bears that out; the shoulders are still a bit rounded after fireforming. I don't think I can push it much faster in the 7 twist without bullet blowups. I'm already over 340,000 rpm. But, man is the recoil low! Should be decent for popping gophers without much barrel wear. I made a similar load with the 62gr FMJ with slightly worse groups - about 1.25".

kOr8xOc.jpg

12" gong at 200y. Red is 5 shots with the 88gr ELD-M and orange is the 50gr Speer shot by someone other than me :).

LVv6zou.jpg

It was slightly gusty on the day that I got to the 600 yard range. The circle is 8" and the 3 shots to the left are 88gr ELD-M at 8.5 MOA elevation. Hole on top is from my 300 WM 200gr ELD-X (which has a very similar trajectory to the 22 CM).
 
Back
Top Bottom