Just completed a 1 month project with 20 trips to the range to find a load that would shoot good in my Fierce CT Carbon Rage and my buddies Mark V Varmintmaster for a September Praire Dog Shoot. After a lot of research I ended up testing 2 factory loads the Superformance 35 NXT and the Superformance 50gr VMAX. Of the 2 factory loads the 50gr VMAX shot better in both rifles.
Powders I used CFE223, H380, Superformance, 8208 XBR and Benchmark with 50gr Nosler BT, Nosler 53gr Armageddon, and 50gr Harnady VMAX. The Armageddon developed pressure easily and the 2 50grains shot very accurate and similar.
All cases were Lapua annealed in AMP annealer, trimmed and chamffered in Giraud case trimmer, and neck tension set at 2 thousandths with 21st Century Mandrels. Powder was drop weighed by Hornady and the reweighed to exact no variation on a Denver Instruments 5 oz scale certified to sell diamonds by carat weight. Bullets set in a LE Wilson top inline seater with AMP press
Best Powders in Order
Benchmark consistently shot .5MOA groups or less in both rifles with single digit ES, Mid 30s powder charge and velocities just north of 4000.
8208 XBR consistently shot .75MOA or better with similar powder charges and velocity that was close to Benchmark but groups weren't quite as good.
CFE223 takes 10-12% more powder and is difficult to get the weights accurate. Groups slightly larger but good
Superformance takes 20% more powder and performance is still 300fps slower than either of the 3 above. Even in ladder test could not get a decent group.
H380 takes 10% more powder than Benchmark or 8208 XBR and is 300 FPS slower, groups weren't bad but nowhere near as good as the powders listed above.
Hope this is helpful to some in picking a powder or bullets for their 22-250
Powders I used CFE223, H380, Superformance, 8208 XBR and Benchmark with 50gr Nosler BT, Nosler 53gr Armageddon, and 50gr Harnady VMAX. The Armageddon developed pressure easily and the 2 50grains shot very accurate and similar.
All cases were Lapua annealed in AMP annealer, trimmed and chamffered in Giraud case trimmer, and neck tension set at 2 thousandths with 21st Century Mandrels. Powder was drop weighed by Hornady and the reweighed to exact no variation on a Denver Instruments 5 oz scale certified to sell diamonds by carat weight. Bullets set in a LE Wilson top inline seater with AMP press
Best Powders in Order
Benchmark consistently shot .5MOA groups or less in both rifles with single digit ES, Mid 30s powder charge and velocities just north of 4000.
8208 XBR consistently shot .75MOA or better with similar powder charges and velocity that was close to Benchmark but groups weren't quite as good.
CFE223 takes 10-12% more powder and is difficult to get the weights accurate. Groups slightly larger but good
Superformance takes 20% more powder and performance is still 300fps slower than either of the 3 above. Even in ladder test could not get a decent group.
H380 takes 10% more powder than Benchmark or 8208 XBR and is 300 FPS slower, groups weren't bad but nowhere near as good as the powders listed above.
Hope this is helpful to some in picking a powder or bullets for their 22-250
