22-250

[WalleyeGod]

I started prairie doggin' several years ago using one of the first Remington 700's produced with a bull barrel in .223 and had lots of fun with it for quite a few years.

Wishing to stretch out some shooting distances on the rats a 22-250 started talking to me at Mhd skeels approx. 8 years ago. Funny how those guns have a way to communicate like they do. So with the layby plan a deposit was made and 3 months later a Tikka Continental in 22-250 topped with a Simmons 44 mag scope with 6.5x20 power made its way home with me.

I did barrel break in with some factory ammo and also began working on some recipes for her. I checked the OA chamber length to see how far out I could seat bullets if needed and started prepping some new Win brass.

Loading a couple different bullets and powder combinations for starters along with seating the bullets to just short of the lands by 15 thou.

I finished loading up all the recipes and headed to the range on a nice spring day and began paper punching. It didn't take long and I new the Tikka was going to be a shooter. It liked alot of the combinations. That usually tells me that the barrel is a good one. It particularily liked Sierra's Blitzkings in 50 gr. along with a pretty stout load of Hodgdon's Benchmark.

Having come up with a very good recipe I was set and loaded up 500 rounds for the annual PD hunt.

The extended range in the PD town was noticeable immediately over the .223. Boy, why did it take so long to get this caliber I thought to myself? The Tikka has been along on many hunts now and I can say it is the first gun I reach for amongst many now in the arsenal to hold off the invading prairie rat. The longest confirmed eradication of the formidable critters with the Tikka is 634 yards with many confirms in the 4-500 yard range. It makes the 2-300 yard shots much easier and is not quite as affected by those Dakota winds as much the .223. Something speed can do.

A couple things to note on the differences between the two cartridges out in the PD town other than the obvious speed race is that the recoil on the 250 will take you off the target more often (seeing the carnage), will heat up a barrel quicker, brass is more expensive, uses more powder, pdog not any more dead. So it comes at somewhat of a price over the .223 but she sure reaches out to touch critters.

A side note- The Tikka was wearing a Leupold 8.5x25 VXlll at the time of the long range kill but that scope went on my 6BR since then and now wears the Simmons again. Also a 40 gr. Blitzking is awesome out of a 250 and I will save that for a later story possibly.

Coyotes look out too. I am a comin to get ya!

Straight shootin',

WG

[reddog]

I like your style.... and your story.

[Cooter]

Sounds like a 'blast'!! What rate of twist do you have in the Tikka barrel?

[Gordie]

I like it and now I want one thanks

[WalleyeGod]

reddog: Thanks, people say 3 things about meself.

1. One of a kind, unique.

2. Thank God there is not another like him.

3. Make sure that mold gets broken into many pieces.

Cooter:

1-14"

Elwood:

Sorry! I know. But, Christmas is coming.....

On a serious note. There are many good 250's out there and I have personally shot quite a few of them. Tough to go wrong nowadays with any of them. Pick one you like and reload for her and most likely you will have one sweet rig. The Tikka for me at the time had a couple attributes that I found appealing. I liked the wood look, bull barrel, butter smooth action, price, had heard good things about them, and none of my shooting buddies had a Tikka. So I thought I would give it a try.

Anyone notice in the PD postcard pics that also shows part of my snowmobile license - which is due? I saw that and will have to eventually get that purchased b4 sledding. It is on the bulletin board with the postcards. I had forgotten about that. Normally I would forget or be reminded once out on the trails. Dog gone CRS disease.

Thanks,

WG

[Gordie]

walleyegod I dont think I was that good to get one

[WalleyeGod]

Elwood:

You devil you!

Maybe the Easter Bunny would be more foregiving.

WG

[waskawood]

reddog: Thanks, people say 3 things about meself.

1. One of a kind, unique.

2. Thank God there is not another like him.

3. Make sure that mold gets broken into many pieces.

Thanks,

WG

But they never say "STYLE"

Nice writeup WG

I broke the golf cart!!!

[reddog]

I retired a Model 70 after many, many fox lost their life to it. Like you, I worked the loads till I really got it to sing. Traded it in for a Rem 700 in 17 Rem when it became apparent that if I was going to put up the hides, I would like to do a little less damage. Cant beat that 17 Rem for fur harvesting.

When the fox population fell by the wayside in the late 90s and the coyotes took up residence, I made the decision to get another 250.

I have 2, 22-250s. One NIB Rem 700 thats Ive never opened. I assume its in there. Bought it on a Cabelas sale 3 years ago for $425. Couldnt pass that up. I also have

a older Rem 788 that isnt pretty, but man can it sing. The only problem is, is if I load it to where the bullets like to be seated, I cant get them in the clip. Would like to fix this, but dont know what the best approach is. I could "mill" out the clip a little, so the first round that goes down into the clip would clear. That would give me one in the chamber, one that naturally isnt captured in the clip and one in the clip, for a three shot hole puncher. Any ideas or suggestions?

17 Rem putting the hurt on a couple:

My daughter with her first fox with the .17 Rem. She was 9 then, 22 now, time flies, doesnt it?

Anybody remember these days?

We did alot of sewing back in those days.

[bonefish]

All this talk of .22-250's has me flip-flopping between a .223 and .22-250 for my next gun. I was originally set on a .22-250, until I shot a heavy barreled Rock River Rifle the other day. My mind was switched to .223 instantly! Now all this talk about long range prairie dogs, and dropping coytes has me flipping back again. Geez, now I'm starting to act like my kids the day the Fleet Farm toy catalog came in the mail. I've been good this year, and I want them all!

[WalleyeGod]

Waska:

Sounds like you took golf cart driving lessons from Tiger?

Red:

Nice!

You can try that on your 722. The other and easier fix would be to just shorten the length up in order to fit in the clip. Check accuracy to see if that is tolerable. I have to do that with mine to fit the clip from shooting singles in the dog town and then for other hunting have to shorten up a bit to fit the clip. Need only to do on 30 rounds or so depending on how many you need. Accuracy went down a little but still was plenty good for the larger critters.

bonefish:

That Rock River sounds nice. Does it come in .204 Ruger?

WG

[bonefish]

WG,

I'm pretty sure the Rock River Predator is only availble in .223, and maybe .308. I know that DPMS makes a Bull Model that is available in .204.

[waskawood]

WG,

How do you go about working up a laod for a new rifle or if you change a reloading component? Do you ever use a ladder test or just shoot for smallest group? Thanks for any help. I am jsut getting back into shooting and relaoding after a 35+ year layoff.

[WalleyeGod]

Waska:

I heard it was mechanical on the range cart and not your driving inability. You can understand the confusion.

For a new rifle I take the cartridge COAL tool and usually measure several different bullets for max length and with some experience or learned from friends or shooting websites and depending on cartridge, decide on a starting point for bullet seating depth. Questions also depending on gun application for shooting singles or a need to be of length to fit a magazine will dictate also the potential length we can go with. Then I use different powder or bullet manufacturers load information and work up loads. I always start 5% below max and work up from there. Depending on caliber I may put together upwards of 9-10 combinations for that first trip to the range - after barrel break in on a new gun of course. Hopefully I see something from that first batch of recipes that looks good then I will tweak that and make up a second batch. Usually at that point and sometimes before that I will be chronographing the loads just to get an idea of where things are at velocity and ES wise. Being also diligent looking for pressure signs, etc. in this whole process.

I have not tried the ladder test method although it does look like an interesting way of working up loads. So I do not have any personal experience with ladder testing loads. I did print out the directions for it though awhile back and have them in my reloading room. So who knows I might try it sometime.

I have had one or two guns that took more than that first batch before getting a real good feel for a load. A friends Kimber 22-250 was real finicky. It only liked one bullet and one powder. That one did require a few more trips to the range than it should have and still never shot as good as I thought it should for the cost of the rifle. One other that comes to mind was a Savage of a buddies in .204 Ruger. Not the guns fault necessarily as I was trying to force feed it the 32 gr pills and it just did not like them at all no matter what combination. Finally went to the heavier 40 gr pills and it ate them up and shot like a world afire. Let the barrel tell you what she likes. Otherwise, I have had very good success doing it the way described above for many years now.

22-250

Changing a reloading component on an existing round/rifle kinda depends on which component is changed. Same weight bullets, primers, different weight bullets, different constructed bullets, powder, different brass manufacturer. I probably will start over on most of those circumstances. My most recent reloading component change was with the above gun and will save that for a story at another time.

Straight shooting,

WG

[reddog]

Waska:

I heard it was mechanical on the range cart and not your driving inability. You can understand the confusion.

For a new rifle I take the cartridge COAL tool and usually measure several different bullets for max length and with some experience or learned from friends or shooting websites and depending on cartridge, decide on a starting point for bullet seating depth. Questions also depending on gun application for shooting singles or a need to be of length to fit a magazine will dictate also the potential length we can go with. Then I use different powder or bullet manufacturers load information and work up loads. I always start 5% below max and work up from there. Depending on caliber I may put together upwards of 9-10 combinations for that first trip to the range - after barrel break in on a new gun of course. Hopefully I see something from that first batch of recipes that looks good then I will tweak that and make up a second batch. Usually at that point and sometimes before that I will be chronographing the loads just to get an idea of where things are at velocity and ES wise. Being also diligent looking for pressure signs, etc. in this whole process.

I have not tried the ladder test method although it does look like an interesting way of working up loads. So I do not have any personal experience with ladder testing loads. I did print out the directions for it though awhile back and have them in my reloading room. So who knows I might try it sometime.

I have had one or two guns that took more than that first batch before getting a real good feel for a load. A friends Kimber 22-250 was real finicky. It only liked one bullet and one powder. That one did require a few more trips to the range than it should have and still never shot as good as I thought it should for the cost of the rifle. One other that comes to mind was a Savage of a buddies in .204 Ruger. Not the guns fault necessarily as I was trying to force feed it the 32 gr pills and it just did not like them at all no matter what combination. Finally went to the heavier 40 gr pills and it ate them up and shot like a world afire. Let the barrel tell you what she likes. Otherwise, I have had very good success doing it the way described above for many years now.

22-250

Changing a reloading component on an existing round/rifle kinda depends on which component is changed. Same weight bullets, primers, different weight bullets, different constructed bullets, powder, different brass manufacturer. I probably will start over on most of those circumstances. My most recent reloading component change was with the above gun and will save that for a story at another time.

Straight shooting,

WG

If thats at 100, thats saweeet.

I tried my 788 with them tucked into the clip, and it widens the group about 1moa. from .875 to 1.875 or so.

You think I could have a gunsmith take it apart, and turn the bbl in several thousandths.In effect, wouldnt that do the same thing as stretching them out when reloading?

[WalleyeGod]

reddog:

Really opened up your group. Gunsmith is your best bet at that point. Take the barrel off and cut the chamber off and re-chamber I think is the answer.

Yes that is a 100 yard group. Friends factory 22-250 rifle. Usually I don't get friends stuff shooting that good. So that was by accident. Don't want to get beat at the range ya know.

Oh, and there may have been a fourth thing said about meself too (that I know about anyway). 4. Picky.

WG

[sparkydm]

Bonefish: Get them both!!!!!

[bonefish]

Bonefish: Get them both!!!!!

Geez, thanks for the advice. Only way that can happen is if the gun shop has a special that offers "Buy 2 guns, get a divorce lawyer for free!"

[sparkydm]

Free divorce lawyer? No such thing.

[Jmnhunter]

bonefish, I was in your boat also, and was talked into the 22-250 for the flatter shooting and consistency; although ammunition is not that cheap for them. Long range shooting though is hard to beat with the 250 --check out the ballistic charts of the 2 calibers. I'm shooting only factory ammo too, started with the winchester 45gr JHP 40rounds for $27 and I was impressed with the groups with the "value" rounds

[waskawood]

WG,

I notice in your picture that you are using mostly bullets with the plastic tips. Do you find any better accuracy than with spitzers? I am in the process of trying to make an old 788 Remmy chambered in .223 shoot but not having much luck. I have been using spitzers until now. Just bought a box of 50gr. V-max and BlitzKings to try next. One problem may be that I am expecting it to shoot like my Savage BR!!! Thanks for any help.

[WalleyeGod]

Like the plastic tips because of the resulting carnage it passes along to the intended target. Shoot some spitzers in larger calibers and they shoot good. But for the varmint cartridge I like the Ballistic Tip, Vmax, and Blitzkings.

They do shoot nice groups as a bonus. You should find that the new bullets you bought should shoot better than the spitzers.

Couldn't get the offer raised on the BR I take it?

WG