Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles 22-250 and 88 Grain ELD-M Loads

Good stuff Alvaro. I didn't notice anything weird with the superformance loads I shot through my Tikka. It seemed to burn clean. Cleaner than StaBall anyway. I will say this, as I worked up, I noticed the groups began to get bigger. So, I myself like a lighter load than where you ended up, and I bet it is approaching 3,000 fps in my rifle. That will suffice and the accuracy is pretty dang good. I also did not want to approach book max for the 80gr Hornady ELD match bullets. Assuming I'd be way over max with the 88. I'll pull the chrono out again and test on a better day, just to confirm, but the other day I was messing with the same charge weight (as shown previously), but adjusted the oal back to .020" off the lands (that's always my go to on most hunting bullets) and shot a similar group size. The dispersion looked better though. No 3 in and 2 out sort of thing you see sometimes when the bullet is too close to the lands. That too will need a better look over, and in the end I may end up at .020" off the lands or keep the .010" off. We will see though, as the wind backs off and the days get better. Yesterday was a complete cluster fu ck around here for weather. it was windier than hell and spitting snow and hail. I changed the oil in my car and got more oil on me than I did in the car. Then my buddy from SWAT came over and I set up his rifle he's going to be using. I did the same regimen on that rifle as I would my own, but told him his life may depend on it and I wanted it right. Good stuff in this thread, hopefully the OP is able to get something out of it.

Thanks, BSA.

No problemo. Hopefully you don't go up too high on that charge weight, as you got some good info in the other thread you started about QL data. There's a reason I drew the line where I did:



I won't go into exact specifics on why, but sometimes you have to do like seafire mentioned in an earlier post and let the rifle tell you. A lot of guys rely on that chronograph, and they need it, but some of us here didn't grow up using one. We've done a lot of shooting too. Be sensible and safe in your handloading. Really not wise to push the envelope. Hopefully you understand what I'm saying.

I do understand and I agree with you, BSA.

I was quite happy with the speeds and accuracy I was getting, but the amount of powder residue in the barrel made me think that the load could be a bit soft for that particular powder to burn efficiently and completely in my gun. You know that all guns are not equal. f

If things doesn't work I will move on to IMR 4451.

Thank you.

Alvaro

I'd wonder if RL17 or Hunter wouldn't kick butt with that combo.

17 gives me right at 3200 out of a Lilja 22" 1-7 with 88's out of a 22-250 AI. Think it would work in a standard as well.

I could like that…

I’ve got a Hawk Hill 1-7 and a FN SA M70 action that’s destined to be a 22 CM so I’m following you Ackley fellas.

Keep us posted man. I'd like to hear the results. I drug the chrono out today and got the exact results I thought I would:




I'd say it's a pretty solid 2,950 fps AVG. ^^^

The reason the first group was not zeroed is because I was messing with the zero stop on the Zeiss V4 in the shop the other day and accidentally turned it. I still don't know about that scope. Just not a top quality scope IMHO. The only thing is does really well is track. The glass is sub par for what it is. My old Zeiss Conquest had better glass. Most of my Burris' have better glass for that matter. Now that I got that off my chest!!!


1 3/4-2" roughly at 400 yards. Didn't set up paper at 400 today, which is a shame, because a young guy was at the benches struggling to get his Daniel Defense AR with Nightforce 1-4 NXS zeroed in. I don't know if it was his Vortex QD cantilever mount that was moving around on him, or what? Something was really fu cked up though. His groups were all over the place. I let him use my spotting scope, and then he asked if I'd spot for him, so I was forced to just shoot steel at 400. I checked the Hornady ballistic app and it said 5.9 MOA come up and I set it at 5 3/4 moa and made those shots on the orange plate. That is a 4" steel plate, so that gives you an idea of how the 88 did. Not the best, but not too shabby either. I really wanted to shoot some paper at 400 today, but sometimes it's better to do a good deed instead..

I'd be dang happy with that performance at 400. Sporter shooting that well is pretty handy.

Thanks. That's what I kept thinking. It's a lightweight rifle, not a HB monster. I sure wish Tikka would get their act together and offer a heavy barrel fast twist 22-250. I won't kick this lightweight T3x out of bed though. I loaded up a couple hundy of this load to have on hand. I'll do more testing at 400 and get some on paper. Like I was telling one of my buddies on the phone today, the paper will tell me what I need to know. The smaller aim point will help to to put the bullets a little closer together. With the 77's, that rifle will lay them in there at less than 1 1/2" for 3 shots at 400. So I know the rifle is very capable for a fly weight. It runs 69's about the same as the 77's.. I was pretty happy with the results on steel yesterday, though.

I worked up the load to 3,063 fps and the powder residue came down to normal but accuracy deteriorated.

Instead of IMR 4451, like I had planned, I tried Vihtavuori N555 and 37,0 gr gave me 3,026 fps and two very similar 0.75" groups at 100 meters.

And that is what I have settled down to.

Thank you and others who contributed for your help.

Alvaro

You contributed a lot to this thread as well. Thanks for that. I'm sure the OP is getting some great info. Haven't seen or heard from him lately though. I hear you on accuracy deteriorating, the more powder you pour to it. I've seen that many times in a lot of cartridges. I relate that somewhat to a pressure sign warning. Not in terms of it's going to blow your gun up, but it does blow your groups up, so to speak. I used to load a lot of shotgun ammo for competitive trap shooting/money shoots, and I saw that all the time. The reason you load so your pattern is good, vs velocity with some powders, where your pattern is sparse with a lot of holes in it. A lot of similarities there with metallic cartridge reloading. That's why I save my targets and do a lot of comparing and measuring of group sizes. With most rifles, you'll se a definite node when you work up to find OCW. A lot of times it doesn't take many groups to prove which combination is the best either. Contrary to some beliefs.

It's becoming shooting weather. Any of you guys getting out and running any of these 88's in your 22-250's? I stepped away from my rifle for a bit. Messing with a new 308 winchester and had to whip a new 30-06 into shape and also playing with a new 30-30. I am going to have to get out and start messing with the 88's again though. Maybe slay a few of these critters with it at 5-600 yards:


400 yard shots are like taking candy from a baby..

Any updates on this thread? Anyone else running the 88's with some good info? Looking like this yesterday at my house, so it will be a little while longer before the whistle pigs start coming out again:

I will get back to it soon, been fishing a lot and in the process of moving house

Look at 22GT load data, has about the same case capacity as the 22-250! Just saying!

22-250, 22-250 AI, 22X47,22 GT, 22 BR and its improved models seem to be more alike than different. There is more to be found in velocity but they all seem to work pretty well.

Keeping this one close to the top, since the weather is getting slightly better:



This one is pretty much confirmed in my rifle.. I don't know how much more improvement one can get on a lightweight skinny barrel rifle?

This^^^^

John

👍🏻👍🏻. Velocity?

John