Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats Photos of a "my-built " .22 Cheetah - and how I form the cases

I imagine that thing is pretty cool to shoot. How much and what kind of powder are you using?

I yet retain a .250" neck 1-14" Shilen in CHeetah. A 1-8" 223AI smokes it downrange.

Tough to beat a fast twist 22-250AI,if a guy thinks he needs to play the Fast 22 Game. make it no turn.

I had the best results with H4350. It could take all the powder the case could hold when the Barnes bullets were moly-coated. Don't quote me on this - as I can't get to my records right now - but if memory serves me, I think the load I settled on was 52 grains.

I don't know if having a 1 in 16 twist helps with such high velocity rounds - but perhaps it does. I ordered that twist on a hunch.

Thanks for the kind comments everyone.

I had this combo made to explore the outer reaches of velocity with a small bore - and seeing how it would work on deer - once all-copper bullets came out.

It has exceeded every expectation I had.

It will be used by my three daughters as their deer rifle.

Very cool rifle.

Does it foul badly?

Do the bullets exit? If not,do they fragment?

Thanks for posting.

The rifle has a very smooth, almost totally non-fouling barrel.

These bullets never fragment. Most of them go totally though - regardless of the angle, or distance, and they create a lot of internal mayhem along the way. The very few bullets that I have recovered - looked just like the ones pictured in the Barnes adds.

It is the most interesting rifle I own - it seemly violates the rules of caliber - as related to killing power. Ultra-velocity coupled with the right bullet - can do amazing things!

I think it took non-fragmenting, homogenous, all-copper bullets to truly show the potential of the various ultra-velocity rounds. Even though P.O. Ackley found, and wrote about, nothing killing feral burros, as fast as a 220 Swift did - even with the bullets he had available back then.

But - until Barnes all-copper bullets came along - I wasn't comfortable trying to repeat his experiment. It seemed too hit-and-miss for me. I had heard too many horror stories of bullet failure when ultra-velocity rounds were shot into big-game. I respect big-game animals too much, to experiment too radically on them.

With these bullets - in this caliber - I'd be totally comfortable using them on any game that was under, say, about 300 to 400 lbs - based on having seen what I've seen. Burros are a lot bigger than most deer. The non-recoil of this round also allows most people (like my little girls) to achieve pin-point precision in placing the bullets where they should go.

I think this factor is more important than most people realize - and I think it's something a lot of other people don't give enough consideration to.

Sounds like P.O. is talking......
Never did say what case your running.The 308 BR or a 243?
dave

BCBrian,

What twist?


A pard has a 220 Wtby Rocket in the works with quarry like yours in mind, or speedgoats in certain states.

VERY NICE btw...

Oooppps, missed the twist. Thanks for the info, and nice update BTW.

I use the regular 243 case. I want healthy ignition.

My twist is 1 in 16.

I think that is, in part, responsible for the speed and accuracy I've been getting.

I shoot a 22-250 AI . I bet I can get real close to that MV if I was shooting the same bullet.Barrel life for me is mighty short but what about for that dragon on steroids ?

What is the BC of the Bullet your shooting? I shoot a 8"twist 22-250 AI I can comfortably launch 80gr Berger at 3350 FPS. My rifle is a flat shooter but I only blew up a Fox with it and that's it.

Ironworker,
Somewhere after 600 rounds velocity drops off some but the accuracy usually does not.After 800 or so I usually just add another grain of powder.Somewhere after 1000 the throat is just toast.Time to replace.
Any of the 22-250 AIs I ran against could usually get close in velocity but typically accuracy falls off pushing them that hard.
Any AI that i've seen running over 4100 just doesn't drill a hole like a CHeetah will.
I tried 53g X bullets out of my 1-16 twisted Cheetah and could not get the bullets to stabilize.At 50 yards I could get 1.5 inch groups.But the bullets were going through the paper sideways.I've often thought it would be alot of fun to try to dust a chuck with that load,just to see what a X bullet humping along at 4200 would do to a chuck,tumbling like that.
Im acutally kinda surprised a 1-16 twisted barrel is working with the X.Didnt in mine.
Out to about 600 or 700 yards there is very little that can beat Cheetah performance.And thats with 52g match bullets.Not 69g turds.
dave.

A 23" 22-250AI will make 4K with 50's and poke them in knots.

The only edge the CHeetah holds,is if one likes to piss up ropes. And that's being kind.

I used to shoot chucks with a guy who used a cheeta back in the late 90's. I still have maybe a hundred 308BR cases he left over here- thought I'd use the small primer as thats what everyone was using who built one, they were crazy popular for groundhogs around here. I was thinking of making one, but like so many projects...well...you know

Never used one did you.I understand.
dave

I have had a couple of both. The Cheetah is faster, the 22-250 AI is very, very close in my experience. When my 22-250AI rifling gets tired (this year if the sun ever comes out and I get to go vaporize some rodents......) it will easily become a 22-243 which is essentially an easier to load for Cheetah and then, when the throat gets rough there it will be easy enough to push everything a bit further out again and have a 22/6mm AI. This will be the fastest of the bunch, especially with the heavier bullets, but the throat on this one will be lucky to survive a single season. Then, on goes a new tube in 22-250 AI and away we go again!

All three of the above are used in and perform essentially the same fashion with minimal real world difference from one to the other.

Nawww...I didn't use one,I had two(yet retain only one as per prior mention).

I'm all ears if you think you can tell me something about the CHeetah I didn't know 15yrs ago and counting.

The differences are stark,in that 22-250AI hulls are easily realized via press of the trigger and it's svelte trim length affords many latitudes inherent the higher BC projectiles,as per mag/throat geometry.

The 22-6mm or 22-6mmAI is Junk +P. Someone who doesn't fret COAL latitude,doesn't do much shooting(obviously). Differences are stark,in a multitude of areas.



For conversation the 22-250AI dupes Swift case capacity,with a .300 COAL savings due the hull alone. SAAMI 22-250 far left,40 degree version farright,Swift betwixt with 75A-Max being a constant. The Swift at 2.815" typical confines swallows ogives in comparison.(hint)



The CHeetah is akin to bell bottoms,in that it is an answer to a question that doesn't exist.

Interesting. Why would you say a 22/6mm AI is Junk +P....any other 22 caliber round pushing 75 gr bullets in the 3900+ vicinity?