Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting question from a dummy

i know practically nothing about reloading. i have always bought factory ammo or ordered anything special from Nosler. my question is this: i have a stock remington 22-250 bull barrel that i am having tuned up, braked,lapped, and a new H.S. stock bedded and fit. the guy says he can work up a custom load for me for a price, but he needs brass and powder and bullets. like about enough for a hundred loads. i will use this thing for mostly a long range coyote gun, but would also use it occasionally for chucks and such. what brands of powder, brass, and bullets should i look for and what bullet weight etc. would be the starting point for this undertaking?? is this worth it if i don't shoot competition?

How are you going to duplicate the load once you run out of ammo he loads for you? As for powder you can not go wrong with H380. My coyote hunting buddy swears by Lil gun in his 22-250s. As for the bullet that is up to you. I like a the 52gr match hornadays out of my 223s and 22-250 because they are easy on pelts. If you are not as worried abour pelts the 55 Vmaxs maybe something to look at. I used 50gr Vmaxs in my 223 and 9 out of 10 times they made a huge mess but they sure knocked down fast. Probably worse in a 250. I hear good things about the 55gr Ballistic tips also.

Jeff,

Just bite the bullet and go out and get a basic Lee or RCBS kit reloading set up plus a set of 22-250 dies and a caliper to measure with.
Handloading ammo is really simple once you have these things in hand -looking at them in a picture makes you feel a little intimidated because you don't know what dies and such do.
Spend the couple of hundred bucks -you'll be happy you did -if you have any questions feel free to ask here we'll help you get rolling your own ammo.

That price he'll charge, you can buy most or all of a cheaper loading kit and start on your own!!! YOu'll never regret it. Unless you simply have more money than time.

I'm going to dissent and say: "don't get a starter kit!"

By all means start reloading, but "starter kits" invariably include things you don't need or will outgrow and end up selling or allowing to become covered with dust. Here's what I would do if I were in your position, and wanted to put together precision handloads. Buy the following:

1. Redding T7 turret press
2. Redding Competition die set in required caliber
3. RCBS, Redding or Hornady powder measure
4. Any quality electronic powder scale
5. Redding powder trickler
6. Any quality case trimmer, I have both a Lyman and a Redding and both are excellent; it all depends on the calibers you intend to load, I own the Lyman solely for my 450/400 Nitro Express 3" reloading.
7. Case lube and case trays; I like Hornady's "One Shot" aerosol lube and whatever case tray is on sale.
8. Mitutoyo electronic calipers

Buy the best and you only buy once. This is the gear I've arrived at after buying and selling off an entire "beginner's" kit.

The most important gear to buy for reloading is a good reloading manual. Or two. Or Three. In fact, you can never have too many. All will be filled with useful techniques and how-to's in addition to the load data.

Although I don't agree whole hog with Oregon 45, about 90% of what he says is good experience to pass on...

I think the best valeu is a Rock Chucker kit from RCBS.. that is what I started up with...

I'd never ever pay someone to develop load data for me.. there is too much available on the net and on forums like this anyway...

as far as what Oregon45 said, I can add that investing in good reloading stuff, is a cheap investment in the long run...

a set of dies run about $25 to $35.00 per set for most common calibers...compare that to the price of a box of bullets nowadays...

there are a lot of other specialty dies that I have learned to NOT live without on my reload bench... like Redding's excellent Body Dies, in most of my major calibers...

and Hornady's Neck Sizing Dies in a lot of my calibers...

I also recommend to buy at least two sets of dies from different manufacturers on the calibers you most commonly will load...
that always will give you a back up if something screws up instead of having to wait for the problem to be corrected...

you will find also that this brand of dies are more convenient in this scenario than that brand of dies..

in all calibers I shoot, I invest in RCBS or Redding Dies for them... then I also invest in the Lee Deluxe die set ( under $30.00) that includes a full length die, plus the seater die ( which I like better than RCBS's) and then it has their excellent Neck collet sizing die...

thirdly I have often purchased Lee's RGB ( Really Great Buy) dies... I bought them when they were $10.00 for a set.... for Ten Bucks, that is real cheap back up insurance and they do a good job...

Reloading equipment can be accumulated over time, but based on their cost and their return on investment, they are about the cheapest part of shooting that you can spend your money on....

Sure I may spend a total of $100.00 on deluxing myself out with all sorts of convenience dies for a caliber.. but they will never wear out...yet with bullets running $20.00 to $25.00 per box, and powder at $20 to $22.00 per pound, and primers at $30.00m per thousand when you can find them....even casual shooting, I'll burn up a whole heck of a lot more than $100.00 on any of those other components in way less than a 1000 rounds thru that barrel...

If you ever need a part from RCBS they have great service. I broke a part on my 20 year old RCII and had new part in a few days no questions asked.

And load development is FUN!

appreciate all the helpful advice. time and space are a consideration for me. i already have my garage full up with ATV's, tools and archery setup. don't have anywhere to setup reloading equipment or the extra time to reload. i guess maybe i should have asked what the best factory loads are. when i get free time (very little) i want to spend my time getting out and going after critters, whether with a gun or a bow. i get just enough time in the summer months in the evening to shoot 20 arrows at my targets, and on the weekends i like to get up at O dark thirty and head for the hills to look for yotes or deer or bobcats etc. the rest of my time is spent on honey do's or truck maintenance or kids functions. one goes to college this fall. if, and i do mean if, i am ever able to retire and have some free time to head to the range and expand my space (build a shop)i would really like to take up reloading. if you can still buy the components. right now it just isn't practical. so, i apologize, i guess i really need to get some advice about custom loads or factory ammo that is not 100 dollars a box, but about 50 or less. i thought if i had some loading specs from experienced shooters then i could shop around and get some pricing form some custom reloading outfits. Nosler offers this service also i think.

lee hand press kits can be used in the bathroom... or den or bedroom etc....

The reason I stick with a starter kit as a suggestion, first you don't know if its for you or not. Second you won't tie up near as much money. Third if you aren't shooting BR matches even cheap stuff can load good ammo if used correctly. Fourth, when you end up buying better stuff, you have a backup system for when the better stuff breaks etc....

Best factory ammo.. no such thing really, only way to know is buy a box of each(thats more than what the reloading kit could cost) and shoot a test. What works with this gun may or may not with the next.... its that real.

Of course your bottom line seems to be plenty of money, but no time, and that could mean custom ammo.