I'll be useing this for smaller deer sized game. I'm debating between hammer hunters or the 80 grain ELD-X. I'll be handloading my own ammo

Other recommendations are welcome. Thanks for your input and personal experiences, it's much appreciated

You can't go wrong with a 75, 80, or 88 eldm

I use the 75s and they kill just fine for deer. I'd take the combo moose hunting for smaller SE AK moose without a second thought.

I am running mine at 3250 out of a 20' Tikka, and I have buddies pushing 75s faster.

I've become a fan of Hornady eld's for deer sized game in the larger calibers. I have no experience with them in a 22 cal so thank you for the info

88 ELD-Ms are simply deadly from my 22-250 near and far. Punched my bull and buck tag with them two seasons ago with no drama.

Dave

I'm wondering why with this explosion to heavy 22 cal bullet's some of what I'd think might be best are never mentioned. Right off the bad would be the 220 Swift! Then the 5.56x57, never read about that one. Think I read it was designed for deer hunting in Europe. And didn't Carmichael come up with a 22 on the 308 case? I suspect that these larger cases might be about perfect for heavy 22 cal bullets. Instead guys with AR type rifles stick to cartridge's of lesser capacity. Come to think of it, I haven't even read about anyone using the heavy bullet's in the 22-250! Might be a perfect place for those that really like the monolithic bullets. Maybe it's the action, 22 cal rifles mostly seem to have short actions. Imagine a med length action opened up a bit so a 70 gr bullet could be seated out flush with the base of the case neck. Then again maybe the thing stopping this is actions length. I think the biggest advantage to my 6.5x06 over either my 260 or my 6.5x55 is the ability to seat heavy bullet's out farther! Then again even with the 6.5, I think most American rifles are twisted for mid range bullet's.

Those monolithic bullet's all seem to be best with lighter bullet's which I kind of doubt must be seated deep to fit the magazines. Had a problem with my 7mm mag years ago, 145gr bullets shot great in it with the bullet seated to the base of the neck but wanted 160's and they didn't shoot near as well. Also they had to be seated below the base of the nect. Thr rifle was an L61R Sako. Took it to a gunsmith with a dummy round loaded up with the 160 gr bullet at the base of the neck. Got it back and then those 160's really came to life. Groups sank to right at 1/2" and amazing thing was max powder charge went up two grains!

Be cool to see what a 22 could do with a fast twist on a rifle long enough to seat those bullets out! Not that I think it's needed. I want heavier bullet's to say 80grs I just load up my 243!

“Needed” is a relative term of course.

Look at the BC of an 88 ELDM versus an 80 grain bullet in .243 win and you’ll see some of the inherent advantages of heavies in a .22 cal.

I went with a 7.5 twist 22-250 cause I had 22-250
Brass and dies in gross. If starting from scratch, a 22 Creed is the easy pick.

I “built” it for LR coyotes rock-chucks, and banging steel. The fact that the 88s worked so well on deer and elk was an unexpected bonus discovered via an unplanned scope malfunction on my son’s primary hunting rifle during a remote hunt.

Dave

My 2 1:8 22-250's w/75gn A-max bullets reach the lands @ 2.635". That leaves me all kinds of room in a 2.8" mag box. Buddy has a 1:8 22-250 NULA that he shoots 75gn Swift Scirocco II bullets out of and their COAL is a bit shorter, again, plenty of room in a 2.8" box (though his NULA is a bit over 3").

I'm waiting on a bbl then will have a 1:7 22 Creed finished @ 22" on a Kimber Montana platform. The 22Creed 4gn less powder capacity vs. the 308-based 22CHeetah (50 vs. 54 gn H2O) but offers more room in a 2.8" magazine for long projectiles. By comparison, the 220 Swift case has a water capacity of 47gn.

I just ordered a 22 Creed barrel to play with.
The 22 Creed gurus at Horizon Firearms say to go with 1:8 for the 22 Creed.
They say to keep bullet RPM under 300,000 or you could tear up bullets.

MV x 720 ÷ Twist = Bullet RPM

I’m shooting Hornady 75 grain amax in my Horizon.22 Creedmoor. I still have a thousand or so left so just using them up. They have worked great on coyotes and whitetails.

88 grain ELD-M

Derrick at Horizon has more experience with the cartridge than anyone as swears by the ELD-X. I didn't get any ELD-X bullets until the last week of deer season so I didn't get to try them out on meat. My son shot a doe with the 80gr. ELD-M and her onside lung more or less vanished...

I want to try both the ELD-X as well as some monolithics out on hogs.

For years my .224 deer bullet has been the 65 grain SGK, but I realize that's way too plebeian for any of the cool kids to be caught using. It shoots well in all my .223's, however. Most deer I've shot with it (including 3 this past season) are DRT. I did have one run a few years ago, hit through the lungs at 275 yards and ran about 75 or 100 yards before going down. I'm down to 500 or 600 of them. Maybe when they're gone I'll try some of these others everyone's talking about.

My Tikka .223 shoots the 75 gr ELDM very well. The buck I killed last season at 475 yards had very little to say about it.




P