.22-250 and Varget Zero issues

[AM119]

Hi Guys, I have been hovering around your site for a while now, and now that I have a question I thought what better time to join. I am a new pro roo shooter from Australia so not exactly much info here on them. My 1st rifle of choice is a Tikka T3 Varmint in .222rem, this is not about that rifle however obviously as I have just purchased a Howa 1500 Varmint, I dropped it into a boyd's thumbhole and topped it with a 4.5-14 Bushnell. I have tried two loads I have worked up as a starting point but having some problems I cannot workout.

Load number 1 consists of 55gr Hornady soft points, Remington brass, CCI primers and 35.5gr of AR2208, same as your Varget. Load 2 is 55gr V-max's, Remington Brass, CCI primers and 35.5gr of 2208 again. So to the shooting part, I got the load both where I wanted at 100m, now I have always zeroed my rifles how I will shoot them, so out of my vehicle window, on my rest, as if I'm shooting in the bush at a Kangaroo.

So I placed poison drums on the ground at 100 and 200m, positioned vehicle and away I go. First 2 photos are 100m shots, second 2 photos are 200m. the 100m shots I am happy with obviously as I previously knew where it would shoot, these were simply for my records I keep. now the 200m shots I do not understand, how does something that shoots that well at 100m, shoot so far off at 200?

so scenario is, simulated environment of how I shoot, off vehicle rest, vehicle running as restarting 200 odd times a night cannot be good for starter motor. POA is the centre of the dot. Before it is brought up, and I hope I do not come off as arrogant, I am not a bad shot, I have fired 200 factory rounds I got cheap out of this gun before reloading so I got to know the rifle. This is how I zero my rifles as its how I use them. Also as ALL of our roo's have to be head shot that gives me about a 3" circle, which is why to check my rifles before every night of shooting I place an empty small coke bottle (plactic), an old orange or apple etc at 200m and consistently every time with my .222 knock them off. But I cannot for the life of me see tht happening with the way these have shot. Any input or anything I have missed out I'll be glad to fill in. Cheers

 

[MagnumManiac]

Welcome to the forum, fellow Australian!
This type of discrepency can be caused by many things in a rifle, bedding that's not snug, barrel not free floated, untuned load, loose scope ring bases or rings, or the forend is touching the barrel differently as the hold you are using changes and loose or, not torqued correctly, action screws.
There is more, but, these are the common one's.
Firstly, I would check if the barrel is touching the forend ANYWHERE, if it is, relieve it.
Second, I would check the action screws that they are torqued correctly, over torqued can be as bad as not torqued tight enough.
Thirdly, check the scope rings and bases for tightness.
Lastly, if all this checks out OK, get the rifle glass and pillar bedded. I have NEVER seen this making a gun worse.
I have one question.
Have you tuned this load by altering seating depth, and how did you come to that powder charge?

Cheers.
gun)

 

[AM119]

Hi MagnumManiac, Sorry I knew I would leave something out, scope rings and bases are tight, I always check, action screws are torqued, rifle is glass bedded, not pillar bedded, barrel channel has generous clearance as when I bought the rifle the "gunsmith" had taken some form of malicious device to it so I had to clean it up best I could therefore giving it much clearance.

Have not changed seating depths as of yet, I started that load which is the midpoint in the ADI book for 55gr, min is 34.5 max is 35.5, so basically went to the middle, had good success at 100m with the V-maxs shooting on average 7/8" - 1" 5 shot groups. Also very good success with the Soft Points shooting on average 1/2" 5 shot groups. But this is the first time I went to 200m. bullet length, was a guess really, an educated one, got the standard length of both hornady soft point and vmax. worked out the max length they can be compressing the lands and halved it. I did the same thing with my .222 and it is an outstanding rifle, 1" or less groups of 5 shots at 200m every day in the field in vehicle not on bench.

 

[AM119]

As it's not the rifle, as with factory rounds it shoots fine, I understand the vmax is a long bullet therefore not the best with the 1:14 twist, that's why I got the soft points to try as they are shorter. So my educated guess is possibly not fast enough, or too fast. I'm leaning more towards not fast enough, only because they are magic to 100m, then I'm guessing slowing down too much to destabilise. So maybe ill try load 5 up at 36gr of 2208 and see if that works.

 

[MudRunner2005]

This is off-topic of your original question, but I just have to ask...

Do Roo's taste like deer, or are they part of the giant varmint family like the Nutria? Because they look like T-Rex Whitetail Deer...Just always been curious how they taste? I mean, people in other countries eat worse...Some countries they eat dogs and cats... And we eat deer here in America, so just curious if they were part of the same genus, and if so, did people in Oz eat them?

 

[MagnumManiac]

Hey MudRunner,
Yes, we do eat roos, the flavour is unique, it can be quite strong and gamey depending on time of year. The does' taste milder than the bucks, just like deer.

AM119,
I have seen this type of thing on several factory rifles, as you are not using a proper rest, I suggest you work up your loads, not just pick one out of tge manual, then when you figure out a consistent load, then check impact point shooting from your truck.
If you touch the stock differently between shots, it can cause this, as the barrel harmonics change, even with it being free floated.
I wouls also suggest that you work out exactly where those pills touch the rifling, the easiest way is to cut 2 slits about 1mm wide, opposite each other in the neck, all the way to the neck/shoulder junction, clean up the burrs. Place a bullet just in the case mouth, chamber it by hand, close the bolt gently, then lift the bolt up and down a few times. Carefully extract it, then measure. Do this several times to make sure you're getting consistent results.
Once done for each bullet, try seating .020" off the rifling, most 22 cal bullets like this amount of jump. Give it a try, and let me know if the consistency improves.

Cheers.
gun)

 

[Wado]

It might be wise to go to the bench to at least prove your load and have confidence that it will hit it's mark when needed. Shooting the way you described the chance of compounded error surely falls into play no matter how good a shot you are. You may be more comfortable with your Tikka, new rig may take some getting used to. I actually shoot that same load (35.5 grains of Varget pushing a 55 grain V Max 2.400 OAL CCI Bench Rest Primer) in my Shilen barreled 1 in 14 Mauser. It shoots sub moa at 200 yards but from a bench. I shot a new CZ 527 in .223 this past week I bought used and with handloads I got two five shot 100 yard groups less than one inch. One was 55 grains V Max and one was 60 grain. Just for grins I backed up to three hundred yards and without touching the turrets I tried for a group. With no holdover my first shot went low and left ( we had a right to left wind about ten mph ). I held up two mildots and right one and fired three shots with the same hold. The group was pushing four inches at three hundred. I am pretty sure if I had made my adjustments with the turrets that group would be a lot smaller, I was wiggling around quite a bit shooting off of a little table set on the ground sitting in a swivel stool. Around here we call that minute of pig, a little bigger than your targets.

 

[petasucks]

Trash the cci primers and you will probably see your issue ,I personally quit using them at all because of the inconsistent results

 

[Sully2]

Trash the cci primers and you will probably see your issue ,I personally quit using them at all because of the inconsistent results

I dont believe that 1 iota. Ive used too many CCI's to ever think that

 

[just country]

morning, if u can get some 4320, Winchester brass and sierra 52grM bullets. I shoot

barnes 53gr FB. outstanding bullets. start with 35grs of 4320. W-760, RL-15 and

H414 r good powders for 22-250.lightbulb