Building a 22 creedmoor to optimize 88eld

[willfrye027]

I'm planning my next build, it'll be my 4th 22 creedmoor build. This is a long range deer rifle and I will build it around the 88eld which has performed well on deer sized game for me. I'd really like to see velocity in the 3200-3300fps range.

Previously I have been underwhelmed with top end velocity with these pills. 22-26" barrels and all the major brass manufactures with a variety of powders have failed to produce safe velocity over 3100ish FPS. Not really interested in other projectiles; I need the BC and terminal performance of the 88 for what this rifle will do.

Barrel will be 26", probably 1:8 twist which I have found to stabilize the 88s just fine
—any recommendations for a quality blank, .219 grooves and interested to hear results with various types of rifling

Brass—interested in necking down 6mm lapua. Have not been overly impressed with Peterson or alpha. This could have been falsely attributed to the brass, but curious what your guys experience is here

Chamber dimensions: previously had fairly short freebore with SAAMI reamers..curious what guys are using for the heavier/longer pills and if there is an ideal reamer spec out there.

Powders: h4350 seems too fast burning, n555 pretty close to ideal, never got the velocity with h4831sc or h1000. I do have a couple pounds of rl26 that I could try.

Any other thoughts or recommendations are appreciated.

 

[stazmania]

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[Justice1327]

At least a .120 freebore. I just got a medium palma, 7.5 twist ftom ACE for my next 22 Creedmoor. Taylor at Stratton custom rifles, will be doing the build.

My .080 freebore does well the the 60-75gr bullets.

I get 3296 with my 77gr TMK, N555/N560, 24"

 

[Berrnard]

I'm planning my next build, it'll be my 4th 22 creedmoor build. This is a long range deer rifle and I will build it around the 88eld which has performed well on deer sized game for me. I'd really like to see velocity in the 3200-3300fps range.

Previously I have been underwhelmed with top end velocity with these pills. 22-26" barrels and all the major brass manufactures with a variety of powders have failed to produce safe velocity over 3100ish FPS. Not really interested in other projectiles; I need the BC and terminal performance of the 88 for what this rifle will do.

Barrel will be 26", probably 1:8 twist which I have found to stabilize the 88s just fine
—any recommendations for a quality blank, .219 grooves and interested to hear results with various types of rifling

Brass—interested in necking down 6mm lapua. Have not been overly impressed with Peterson or alpha. This could have been falsely attributed to the brass, but curious what your guys experience is here

Chamber dimensions: previously had fairly short freebore with SAAMI reamers..curious what guys are using for the heavier/longer pills and if there is an ideal reamer spec out there.

Powders: h4350 seems too fast burning, n555 pretty close to ideal, never got the velocity with h4831sc or h1000. I do have a couple pounds of rl26 that I could try.

Any other thoughts or recommendations are appreciated.

what didnt you like about peterson or alpha?
those are both top tier brass

 

[Dmagna]

I use alpha brass with rl26, shooting Berger 85.5s at 3350 out of a 26" barrel. 88s seem to be not able to handle too much speed. I know many people who seem to be blowing these up above 3200 fps in a 1-7 twist. So a 1-8 will probably be better at keeping them together.

 

[willfrye027]

what didnt you like about peterson or alpha?
those are both top tier brass

Nothing wrong per se. In other cartridges they have pressured out significantly earlier than lapua for me, so I wonder if that is contributing here.

 

[willfrye027]

I use alpha brass with rl26, shooting Berger 85.5s at 3350 out of a 26" barrel. 88s seem to be not able to handle too much speed. I know many people who seem to be blowing these up above 3200 fps in a 1-7 twist. So a 1-8 will probably be better at keeping them together.

Yeah I blew the 88s up at 3050-3100 in my last barrel, a 7 tw. Currently barrel is an 8tw, rechambered tikka at 22". If I could have the same barrel at 26" I'd be pretty happy..

What are your barrel specs?

Did you try other powders? Curious how much additional fps you are getting with with rl26

 

[dirtytough]

Everything I've read about the 80+ grain bullets is you should have 0.120 freebore. I have 0.080 freebore. I've mainly shot 80's around 3200-3250 with a 22" barrel.

 

[Dmagna]

Yeah I blew the 88s up at 3050-3100 in my last barrel, a 7 tw. Currently barrel is an 8tw, rechambered tikka at 22". If I could have the same barrel at 26" I'd be pretty happy..

What are your barrel specs?

Did you try other powders? Curious how much additional fps you are getting with with rl26

Mine is a carbon six tikka prefit in 7 twist. The bergers seem to be holding up so far, I havnt lost 1 yet

 

[willfrye027]

Mine is a carbon six tikka prefit in 7 twist. The bergers seem to be holding up so far, I havnt lost 1 yet

Good to know..Berger's seem to handle the higher rpm's better but I prefer the immediate expansion of hornady eldm on thin skinned game

 

[nealm66]

Im shooting the 88's in a criterion 7 twist @ 3140 with 6.5 staball comfortably with extremely good accuracy. Switched from 90 bergers because of lack of availability but they shot extremely good as well and shot out to 1000 pretty good. About to try some A tips and staball hd just for curiosity sake. Too hard to find rl26.

 

[TheSouthpaw]

Watching this, I'll be doing the exact same. Currently have a 20" from PBB 1:7.5 with the .080fb and shoots the 88s well at 3k fps with H1000. It killed a muley at 551yds last fall, I was impressed with the terminal performance of the 88.

I'd also like to bump the speed for the upcoming fall season and want a longer barrel, thinking a 24-25" .219 1:8 barrel with .130fb or so might be the ticket.

 

[willfrye027]

Im shooting the 88's in a criterion 7 twist @ 3140 with 6.5 staball comfortably with extremely good accuracy. Switched from 90 bergers because of lack of availability but they shot extremely good as well and shot out to 1000 pretty good. About to try some A tips and staball hd just for curiosity sake. Too hard to find rl26.

Barrel length? Round count?

 

[nealm66]

26 inches, 4 to 500 rounds through it. ADG for the bergers, alpha for the 88's. I tried a few other powders