New guy/reloading help

[jomp198q]

My first post so hopefully not breaking any rules or asking silly questions. I have been hunting my whole life but until recently never gotten into reloading. To be perfectly honest I grew up with the "paper plate at 100 yards" theory. I bought a model 700 .338 win mag this year and decided to bite the bullet and really start working on shooting for accuracy and that led me to buying anew rcbs kit. So far I have the kit, hornady and nosler manuals, a few small extras and a Lyman 1200 powder measurer (that I haven't used yet). I worked up a load that I'm really happy with for the .338 (nosler brass, win. Primers, 74 gr rl19, 225 accubond). Now it's time for the 22.250. I'm shooting a savage with a 1 in 12 twist. I would really like to be able to shoot the 53 gr vmax. Leaning towards varget to try for the first powder. Hoping I'm at least on the right track? I don't really know a lot of people that reload so I'm really learning as I go. Been doing countless hours of Internet research so I figured it was time to look dumb and start asking questions. First I was hoping for advice on a powder for the 53 gr vmax. Also wondering what tools and accessories are a necessity. I don't have a case trimmer, oal gauge, or tumbler. Been using new brass but when I can I'm thinking about a rotary tumbler with stainless media. What am I forgetting? I know seating depth can play a big role but do you typically start at standard c.o.a.l until you get close and then fine tune from there? I know I kinda rambled and I'm sure I'll have way more questions. I'm not gonna lie I get a bit overwhelmed lol. This is a great sought and thanks in advance for any help!

 

[robert6715]

For 22-250 with bullets in the 50 to 55 grn range I really like H380. Varget seems to work better for the heavier bullets, which you wont be shooting with a 1-12 twist.

Just my opinion, Rob

 

[Sargesniper]

My first post so hopefully not breaking any rules or asking silly questions. I have been hunting my whole life but until recently never gotten into reloading. To be perfectly honest I grew up with the "paper plate at 100 yards" theory. I bought a model 700 .338 win mag this year and decided to bite the bullet and really start working on shooting for accuracy and that led me to buying anew rcbs kit. So far I have the kit, hornady and nosler manuals, a few small extras and a Lyman 1200 powder measurer (that I haven't used yet). I worked up a load that I'm really happy with for the .338 (nosler brass, win. Primers, 74 gr rl19, 225 accubond). Now it's time for the 22.250. I'm shooting a savage with a 1 in 12 twist. I would really like to be able to shoot the 53 gr vmax. Leaning towards varget to try for the first powder. Hoping I'm at least on the right track? I don't really know a lot of people that reload so I'm really learning as I go. Been doing countless hours of Internet research so I figured it was time to look dumb and start asking questions. First I was hoping for advice on a powder for the 53 gr vmax. Also wondering what tools and accessories are a necessity. I don't have a case trimmer, oal gauge, or tumbler. Been using new brass but when I can I'm thinking about a rotary tumbler with stainless media. What am I forgetting? Iknow seating depth can pay abig role but do you typically start at standard c.o.a.l until you get close and then fine tune from there? I know I kinda rambled and I'm sure I'll have way more questions. I'm not gonna lie I get a bit overwhelmed lol. This is a great sought and thanks in advance for any help!

Two powders that have worked well in 22/250 are H-380 and IMR 4064 with bullets from 50 gr. and up. Look in your manual and start lower than Max for sure. Bruce Hodgdon named H-380 after his work with it in 22/250. That should tell you something. Good luck and practice safe methods when loading.

 

[dok7mm]

Welcome to the experience of "rolling your own". You have done well in that you have two manuals. They usually lay out a good basis for getting started along with load data. You can always get help on this site. As far as tools go, I would suggest the following : 1. a vibratory tumble ( cheaper and leaves a little carbon in case neck for consistent bullet release) 2. case neck trimmer, you don't want neck exceeding chamber length. 3. case neck brush to clean excessive carbon from necks. 4. primer pocket cleaner + inside & outside neck reamers, so you get easier bullet seating. 5. Some Hornady tools to measure headspace, base to ogive length and OAL to the lands. Some kits have a few of these tools so that helps. As you go forward, you will add on more advanced tools as you see the need. Keep your dies clean and use a good case lube. Welcome and feel free to PM me for specific recommendations or if you hit a snag.

 

[Bart B]

a vibratory tumble (cheaper and leaves a little carbon in case neck for consistent bullet release)

I've never heard of leaving some carbon in the case neck for a uniform bullet release..

How did you measure the bullet's release force (common term for how much in pounds is needed to push the bullet out of the case neck? (MIL SPEC data has specific amounts for different types of small arms ammo.) And with zero spread; that's what "consistent" means to me.

jomp198q, I don't think you need primer pocket cleaner + inside & outside neck reamers. Sierra Bullets does no case prep nor cleaning of primer pockets and they shoot their bullets more accurate than anyone else.

Use stick/extruded powders if best accuracy is one of your objectives; ball powders haven't proved all that accurate in the long run.

 

[gohring3006]

I use IMR 4064 for my 12 twist Savage. I use it with a 52 grain BTHP.
4064 is plentiful around here, i tried using powders that are not as popular in my area, and it left me searching.....
The 22-250 is a screamer, I don't shoot mine as much as I do my AR 5.56. 4000 fps is hard on barrels, it doesn't matter what you do.
Once the barrel is gone, mine is going to be a 6.5 Creed.

 

[jomp198q]

Thanks for the quick replies. Powder is a little hard to come by around here. Trying to stay away from the h380 just because I've read it's really temp sensitive. What's a good case lube? And do you clean brass again after resizing? I like the idea of wet/stainless combo just because of the pictures I've seen of the results. It probably doesn't make a difference but cleaner than new shiny brass would make me feel warm and fuzzy.

 

[Bart B]

Always clean brass before lubing and resizing. Then just wipe the lube off the cases with lighter fluid on a rag before reloading them.

 

[jomp198q]

I also had a question about sizing. Currently I'm full length sizing just because those are the dies I had. Is it worth just neck sizing?

 

[Bart B]

Proper full length sizing has always produced the most accurate ammo. Benchrest folks started doing that not too long ago after decades of neck only sizing. Their smallest groups stayed the same size but their largest ones shrank.

 

[dok7mm]

I've never heard of leaving some carbon in the case neck for a uniform bullet release..

How did you measure the bullet's release force (common term for how much in pounds is needed to push the bullet out of the case neck? (MIL SPEC data has specific amounts for different types of small arms ammo.) And with zero spread; that's what "consistent" means to me.

jomp198q, I don't think you need primer pocket cleaner + inside & outside neck reamers. Sierra Bullets does no case prep nor cleaning of primer pockets and they shoot their bullets more accurate than anyone else.

Use stick/extruded powders if best accuracy is one of your objectives; ball powders haven't proved all that accurate in the long run.

I bow to your superior knowledge on bullet release. I was only referring to the lubricity of the carbon sheen after brushing case necks vs ultra clean necks from wet steel pin cleaning or sonic cleaning. It is humbling to find I have been doing it all wrong for 45 years. To jomp198q, I meant to say inside and outside "chamfering tools". My bad.

 

[engineer40]

You can still get 1 hole accuracy @ 100 yards with neck sizing. Or else it would have never became as popular as it is.

I neck size for all of my ammo that are not for my semi-auto's. Semi-auto's I full length size.

Neck sizing seems to let most of us reload our brass more times. As long as my ammo is still chamber'ing easily, I still just neck size.

I'm sure others will respond with the benefits of full length resizing. And everything they say will most likely be true also. So it comes down to personal choice.

If you have the funds, I suggest some kind of Case Prep Center. I got the Frankfort Arsenal one (but I don't use the case trimmer feature on it, not accurate enough). There are other choices also. The cool thing about case prep centers is most of them accept the tool heads from any of the popular hand tools. The threads match up. I now have tons of things I just screw into my case prep center. Saves so much time.

My other suggestion is to stay organized and label everything. The dullest pencil is better than the sharpest memory. Don't trust your memory!

Hope this helps.

 

[Bart B]

You can still get 1 hole accuracy @ 100 yards with neck sizing. Or else it would have never became as popular as it is.

Of course, anybody can with any process; once in a great while.

1 hole accuracy to me is all test groups fired are no larger center to center of extreme holes than bullet diameter. That's .224" for 22 caliber rifles. .22 caliber benchrest rifles don't shoot that accurate. Of course, this is based on all fired shots, not a few lucky ones that just happen to cluster tighter than bullet diameter when all the variables tend to cancel each other out. Any reload will shoot a few shots into sub-bullet diameter once in a great while; what about all the other shots, don't they count, too?

Neck only sizing started out decades ago when someone thought such resized cases centered the bullet more perfectly in the chamber than full length sizing. Sierra Bullets disproved that old theory back in the 1950's; 'twas a misconceived myth based on incorrect assumptions as to how a rimless bottleneck case fits the chamber when fired. Once one understands how the case fits the chamber when it's fired, they'll understand why full length sizing produces best accuracy. Which is why the vast majority of the benchrest crow finally went to proper full length sizing not too long ago.

Neck sizing seems to let most of us reload our brass more times.

Very true. Typically because they set the full length die up based on makers instructions that ensure the resized case will fit virtually all chambers for it.

People setting up standard full length bushing style dies correctly get dozens of reloads per case that's been fired in standard SAAMI spec chambers. A sure way to short case life is to follow exactly most die's instructions to the letter. A recent benchrest record was set with cases that had been full length sized over 100 times.

 

[jomp198q]

Very true. Typically because they set the full length die up based on makers instructions that ensure the resized case will fit virtually all chambers for it.
What other method is there? All my dies are set up per the instructions with the die. Is there a better way?