Originally Posted by
warbucks
Hi everyone.
So iv'e developed a optimal charge weight of 34.5 gn's of n140 for my Weatherby vanguard 22-250 24" barrel, using Hornady 55g v-max bullets, i started off with the standard over length of 2.350", this charge weight was stable, and gave the best groupings at 100 yds and this was around 1 1/4" or 32mm.
My question is this, if say in the above example id started off with a bullet seating depth of 2.400" and got a grouping of 1 1/2" or 40mm, and i then altered the bullet seating to 2.405" would the groupings progressively come better "IF" i am going the right way ie pushing the node to the mussel ------------or doesn't it work that way ?
Dave (warbucks)
Sorry, but I think a 40mm group is very poor. Can you imagine what that group becomes at 300 yards and beyond - which your 22-250 is very capable of doing?
I and most reloaders I know - plus some very clever and patient reloaders that once taught me - all develop rounds by length and then load.
Start with an average recommended load for a particular powder, load 50 rounds at 5 thou off the lands. Take rifle, rounds and press with seater die to the range / zeroing point, fire 5 rounds at 100 yards then squeeze the next 5 in to 10 thou off the lands and so on until you find a five shot group that you're happy with. It should easily be sub 1/2". If you don't get 1/2" out of the first 50 rounds, load another 50 and start the process again where you left off.
Once you have that 1/2" group at 100 yards then try it at 200 yards. If it is sub 2" at 200 yards then keep that length and start tweaking the load in .2 or .3 grain increments to get the 200 yards to 1" (or better).
One 22-250 I had (Ruger MKII VT) would shoot almost everything very well. Another (Sako 75, stainless varmint barrel) was a pita and took many hours to sort ending up at 137 thou off and 38.1gr Varget.
It will drive you mad, but it is worth it.
Last edited by Eyefor; 23-06-2020 at 07:40 AM.
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