Goofycat
Well-Known Member
I think you are right. It seems that I read an entire in-depth article a few years back in Precision Shooting. I thought I had saved the article on the iMac, but I apparently didn't.
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Best coyote bullet for .22-250
- Thread starter Goofycat
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Goofycat,
You might want to try the 52 grain Nosler Match they are making again in that 1-14. I have a couple boxes of the old match 52's and they shoot great in my Ruger #1. But if I'm hunting 'yotes I use the 55gr Nosler Bal-Tip pushed by IMR-4895 or IMR-4064 touching the lands at 3600 shoots 1/4" at 100.
I have a Swift in 1-12 and that is just awesome with the Sierra's 69's or the 55's. Interesting that Savage has seen the light on twist rates.
Why care about a big hole (which they do make) if your not after the pelts? I haven't had one get away yet hit by that bullet always DRT.
You might want to try the 52 grain Nosler Match they are making again in that 1-14. I have a couple boxes of the old match 52's and they shoot great in my Ruger #1. But if I'm hunting 'yotes I use the 55gr Nosler Bal-Tip pushed by IMR-4895 or IMR-4064 touching the lands at 3600 shoots 1/4" at 100.
I have a Swift in 1-12 and that is just awesome with the Sierra's 69's or the 55's. Interesting that Savage has seen the light on twist rates.
Why care about a big hole (which they do make) if your not after the pelts? I haven't had one get away yet hit by that bullet always DRT.
Trickymissfit
Well-Known Member
I think that has more to do with the bullet destabilizing when it crosses the sound barrier, not the weight.
Your right, but there's also more to it than speed. The shock wave from the slower speeding bullet is much smaller and further behind the bullet as it leaves the barrel. I did a lot of work a few years back with rimfire benchrest, and the results were interesting. We did shoot .187" groups at 50 yards. Not gonna win many contests, but quite a learning curve. I now think that harmonics and the barrel have much more to do with group disperstion than we ever dreamed of in the past. Somebody's got a handle on it as I saw a couple weeks ago that they were now shooting 22 rimfire groups smaller than .30" at 100 yards! (and I thought my .80" groups were great!!) I think centerfire benchrest is still in the dark ages compaired to rimfire benchrest!
gary
Trickymissfit
Well-Known Member
Goofycat,
You might want to try the 52 grain Nosler Match they are making again in that 1-14. I have a couple boxes of the old match 52's and they shoot great in my Ruger #1. But if I'm hunting 'yotes I use the 55gr Nosler Bal-Tip pushed by IMR-4895 or IMR-4064 touching the lands at 3600 shoots 1/4" at 100.
I have a Swift in 1-12 and that is just awesome with the Sierra's 69's or the 55's. Interesting that Savage has seen the light on twist rates.
Why care about a big hole (which they do make) if your not after the pelts? I haven't had one get away yet hit by that bullet always DRT.
Savages have always been 1:12 twist barrels with a 22-250 chambering. That's why they shoot most all 55 grain bullets so well. The factor number for a 55 BT Nosler is to high for a 1:14 twist barrel, but about perfect for the 1:12. The best I've ever seen for a 1:12 twist is the Sierra #1365.
gary
one of the meanest things that I have seen hit a coyote is a 52grain SMK out of my 220 swift. I am not pushing them at insane speeds either. My loads are doing right around 3800fps. If I hit a coyote broad side in the ribs, I will virtually have two coyotes when I go to investigate.
Trickymissfit
Well-Known Member
one of the meanest things that I have seen hit a coyote is a 52grain SMK out of my 220 swift. I am not pushing them at insane speeds either. My loads are doing right around 3800fps. If I hit a coyote broad side in the ribs, I will virtually have two coyotes when I go to investigate.
I shot a coyote Monday morning at about 175 yards. Used a 55 grain Nosler BT, and of course he was DOA (.223 Rem. / 55BT/ 26.5 gr. BLC2 / 3250 fps). The kill was no better than a 55 grain Vmax, and actually might not have been quite as good (the dog was a 30lb. and took about six or eight steps). But I can tell you that if I'd shot that same animal with an 80 grain Sierra in a 6mm, he would probably been shredded on the spot. This now leads me into thinking that maybe I might want to investigate some 60 grain bullets in a 22-250. My new 6/250AI barrel will be here around the 1st of the month, and it will probably end up being my goto long distance dog killer (I'm wanting an honest 550 yard clean kill). If this newer (slower twist and shorter barrel) barrel works as well as I think it will I'll turn right around and order one in 22-250AI with a 1:9 twist to shoot 70 grain bullets out of
gary
SC Shooter77
Member
Try seirra 55 grain BTHP Game Kings. Im tring them with imr 8208xbr tomorow but with imr 4064 35.2 gr shot thru my 700 vtr grouped extremely well.
Trickymissfit
Well-Known Member
Gary, it is very interesting what you say about barrel twist. My rifle was built by Darrell Holland, using a Hart barrel hooked up to a blueprinted Remington 40X action I purchased in 1996 from Walt Berger's brother. The stock is from McMillan in northern Phoenix. I had the parts shipped to Holland, who then put everything together. It was my original idea to use the rifle for both ground squirrels and coyotes. It became fairly readily apparent that the rifle was too much for ground squirrels, but fine for animals the size of badgers, rock chucks, coyotes, and such.
The rifle is a single-shot, but it has made me concentrate on getting my ranges correct, knowing what wind adjustments to make, and generally staying focussed on not missing shots, not being seen, smelled, and so forth. Having been brought up as a bench-rest shooter, I guess I just don't know any other way, although an AR-15 setup is intriguing. Unfortunately, those types of "assault rifles" are not legal in my home state of California.....or at least I don't know how to get around the law. I could purchase one in Arizona, but I am so used to using what I have now that it might be money wasted.
I'll check to see what the twist is. If it is 1:12, I could choose some of the bullets you have suggested. I had loaded 1,000 rounds, using 33 grains of H4895 to push the 55-grain Noslers. As I mentioned, I didn't know better, being a new reloader at the time. There has been minimal chamber erosion, and the accuracy is almost as good as when the gun was new. When using it for ground squirrels, I was always aware of excessive barrel heat and cleaned the barrel every 20 shots, so maybe that had something to do with accuracy retention. Of course, the Hart barrel had something to do with it in my opinion.
Barry
You might have better luck with the 55 grain Vmax in a 1:14 twist barrel. It's somewhat shorter, and seems to work just fine in the slower twist rate. Another that seems to work for some folks is the 60 grain partition from Nosler. I have a box, but have not tried them yet. But others folks I know use them in the slower twist barrels. In a 1:12 barrel it's hard to beat the Sierra #1365. The bullet seems to fall right in the middle of the sweet for that rate of twist. Try IMR 3031 with the Sierra 1365 with 35.5 grains of powder. My favorite load in a 22-250
gary
