Pet load for 22-250 Remington

[DaveT]

This load is for anyone that shoots varmints with the ole king of the varmint calibers 22-250 Remington. I know you swift fans don't like to hear that but get over it, the 22-250 is the king. The load is, 37.0 grains of Varget, behind a Speer 50 grain TNT, with a federal match primer. dave22250 have you tried this load? If my remarks about the 22-250 vs 220 Swift ruffled some feathers, then good, we need a good spirited debate in here, it makes things interesting.

Dave T

With the indictments hanging over Rep. Tom DeLay, we may have lost one of our most powerful allies this past week. I didn't much care for Mr. DeLays politics but he is a staunch gun right supporter and a powerful ally in Congress, I hope he can be replaced with someone on our side.

[dave22250]

Davet,
I Shot a 22-250 ack.imp,the need for speed.But the good old 22-250 is a great shooting cart.
If you like like to see a lot of red mist try 39.5 grains of vargot with 40 grn, hornady's v-max.I got a buddy to shot that load and he fell in love,under 5 shot 1/2 in group and it really explodes in the ground hogs.I crony,ed his load over 4100 fps flat as hell,out to 500 yds.
I'm thinking of trying them in 22-250 ai just to see how fast I could push the litte buggers

[Oldbushman]

Heresy !!!!!!! I scream !!!!! Yes there is one lover of the Swift here ! But the sad fact of the matter is that for years over here we had spirited arguements over the merits of the swift & the (dare I say it in the same post; ) 22/250 & after sitting down with simlar rifles loads & scopes in the 2 differant cals we had to admit there was'nt a great deal to pick between the 2! It really came down to personal preferance! It really rattled us for a while ! But we got over it ! Yep !.......Anyone will tell you the 6mm Rem is by far the better round when compared with the .243!!!!!!!! (& so it began again!!!!) I tell you the day a group of shooters can sit down & agree on one cal being as good as another I'm going to take up Golf!!!!!

Dave

[versifier]

Here goes:
Sierra 52gr HPBT MatchKing 31.8gr 3031 @3400mv
Sierra 55gr HPBT or SBT GameKing 32.5gr 3031 @ 3500mv
My old Rem788 shoots both these loads to .5MOA, sometimes even better, though I have to let the skinny barrel cool off. I can live with that.

Personal experience with the .220 Swift has shown me severe throat erosion after several thousand rounds, but that can and does happen with the .22-250, too, if you are a velocity vulture. Both rounds in my testing have achieved their best accuracy (as do most rifle rounds) with moderate velocities, and neither round exhibits excessive erosion when loaded conservatively. Yes, there is obviously greater bullet drop at lower velocities, but with a good scope and a known range, any competent rifleman can either compensate or adjust the scope and get hits out to 500 yards or so. (That's what those little dials on the tube are for, right?)
I think the only practical differences between the two are that the .22-250 uses slightly less powder for the same velocity, making it more economical in the long run if you shoot it a lot, and the shorter case of the .22-250 means that it can be chambered in a shorter and lighter action. As I don't think this is an issue that has any practical advantage in a varmint rifle, (except if you are hunting coyotes up in the mountains and carrying it all day), and for bench and target work, it can be a distinct disadvantage. It's not legal to use a bore that small for deer here in NH, so it's even less of an issue here than elsewhere.
I have found that it has, in general, been easier and faster for me to work up accurate loads for the .22-250, and that of the rifles I have worked with, the .22-250 seems to shoot a greater range of bullet weights more accurately. This, in all fairness, may simply be that chance has favored one round over the other as far as the rifles I've owned and/or loaded for, and, truth to tell, one Swift I have known has been able to shoot a .33MOA with a 52gr match bullet consistently. (It was, however the only bullet out of more than 20 we tried that ever did any better than MOA average in that rifle.)
My current .22-250 will do that just often enough to tease me, but still shoots .5MOA with anything between 50-55gr that I've tried in it over the last 20 years. I would note also that it has had over 5000 rounds through it since I've owned it (I got it used), with no detectable throat problems nor any degradation of accuracy over time.

[C1PNR]

My Brother has a 220 Swift, as does my hunting buddy in PDRK. What is really interesting, in a way, is Both of them are named Robert, and Both go by Rob! It can get really confusing for me!

Neither of them have taken the time or effort yet to put together "the" load for their rifle. It is my plan to see this happens this year, at least with my Brother!

I have always wanted a 220 Swift myself, but since I got my .243 the quest for a Swift is not nearly as "front burner" as it used to be. So I'll see how it goes with my Brother's rifle and think about if I really need one myself.

Not to denigrate anyone, or their choice in caliber, but I guess the point of all this is in the old saying, 'You can always load a 220 Swift DOWN to 22-250 performance, if you want too.'

And, as the Cops say, "Speed Kills!"

[versifier]

C1PNR,
If you look up both rounds in any of your loading manuals and compare them and the various powders and bullet weights they use, you will see that their velocity ranges are pretty much identical. If you are pushing either oneto its maximum speed/pressure, you're going to have throat erosion and noticeable loss of accuracy after a few thousand rounds. It's not a question of "loading down" the Swift to ".22-250 velocities", it's where in that velocity range does your choice of powder/bullet shoot most accurately in your rifle.
With 55gr bullets we're talking 3300-3700fps vs. 3400-3800fps. There is no practical difference in those ranges and both roundswill generally shoot their best at 3500-3600fps out of most bolt action rifles, and do it for many more thousands of rounds with no loss of accuracy from throat erosion at the lower pressure levels. You might well be able to squeeze a small amount more speed out of it, but will it still then group well enough to hit anything smaller that a Volkswagon at long range? Maybe, or maybe not, every rifle is different.
To be able to make a meaningful comparison, you need to measure your group sizes in both chamberings at the same distance with the same bullets and measure their actual velocities with a chronograph. If you don't know how fast they're really traveling, then not only are the ballistic tables are useless to you for trying to figure bullet drop and wind deflection to enable you to shoot at longer ranges, but trying to compare them without the data is only an exercise of your debating skills and not of their actual relative performance in the real world.
The woodchuck you hit out at 400+ yards is going to be dead regardless of whether the bullet that hits it is moving at 100 or 200fps faster or slower. If you can't figure the range and know the drop to be able to compensate for it, you are not going to hit it. Accurate long distance shooting is only possible knowing the facts of your load so that you can apply them to changing distances and variable winds.

[tylero125]

I purchased a 220 swift then shortly there after my grandfather died and i recieved a 22-250 from him and i love both rifles there both fun to shoot and i cant really tell much difference between the two. my son just turned 8 and he will most likely recieve the 22-250 as his first varmint rifle. in my opinion there both fantastic in performance and i would recomend either rifles to someone searching for a good varminter.

[Tom W.]

My 22-250 is a 15 inch Encore pistol, and while working up some loads I started with 35 gr of Varget and some 55 gr. Hornady soft points. Accuracy off the bench was phenomenal, and when I recuperate enough from my surgery to get out to the range again, I have some more loads, one 36 grains and the other 36.5 grains of Varget with the same bullet to try. I'm sure that one of those loads will be good to pop a random crow or coyote @ 100 yards or so...