22 Creedmoor ?
- Thread starter TKCattle
- Start date
Huckleberry75
Member
I shoot 80.5's for a 22" bbl and am near 3400. Why bother with burning down a barrel with the little bullets, when with a 24" tube and 75/77's, you can use Reloader 26 and be knocking on the door of 3500fs. Those heavy pulls hit like a freight train, even at distance. With a 200yd hunting zero, it's point and shoot to 300yds, no guessing or Kentucky windage.
With a 60gn, you should be all over the 4000fps mark, but your barrel is going to let you know about it in about 500rds.
With a 60gn, you should be all over the 4000fps mark, but your barrel is going to let you know about it in about 500rds.
You guys should have the Reamer and throat ground for the bullet you want to shoot, or Order a reamer with only .030 freebore, have the gunsmith throat it for the bullet that you like. Three things to take into account:
POWDER LEVEL-can you stuff the bullet back in the case further than what is normally accepted. If you do have a shortened freebore and shoot heavish bullet, then monitor doughnuts and do away with them using a K&M carbide cutter...easy and quick
If you can, HAVE AN EXTENDED MAGAZINE BOX INSTALLED in your action. These magazine boxes are longer than normal, allowing longer OAL's for long vld bullets. This will allow you to "chase" the lands longer. You can see the benefit of a shorter freebore to begin with which equates to longer barrel life.
Barrel life often is a function of how accurate the barrel is jumping the bullets. Some loads simply can not be "tuned" with long bullet jump, there are many factors.
For example, say you gunsmith has a reamer throated for the 75g A max(the intersection of the shank and boat tail is right at the shoulder neck junction). Now, you want to switch out to the 60g V max or 60g Berger. Now you find out that there is very little bullet in the case at the sweet spot in the accuracy node. You may have a few hundred rounds of accuracy, and the small amount of bullet in the case in addition to the slow burning powder creates it's own headaches.
So, plan ahead. When barrels are new, they often will shoot many weights of bullets accurately, but 700 rounds down the road, options maybe very limited as extended bullet jump has now caused the accuracy to deteriorate. "Accuracy" is of course a relative thing to each individual. Many people are into what maybe called "retrospective falsification", in that that they work up a load with a new barrel, and in their mind, that barrel shoots to that level of accuracy for the next 1500 rounds. Some calibers indeed do shoot like a new barrel for 1500 rounds and more, but these heavy for caliber bullets used with slow powders really increase the Heat/Time/Pressure so that the throat maybe GONE in 700 rounds and the barrel look like alligator hide for the first 12-17".
I had a newish Hart 24" 14T light varmint contour chambered in 223. I had a 22/243 AI reamer ground with a zero freebore, now shoot the 60g Sierra at 4000 fps, I expect 900-1200 rounds out of the barrel only due to the fact that it is a crow/coyote rifle and never gets the barrel hot. I also shoot win 760 which will extend the life over a stick powder such as H4350. The 60g Sierra is a pretty tough bullet, and I want to shoot some hogs with it to see how fast they flop or????
For a long time, we have read on the internet to put the fastest twist on a barrel and shoot all bullets. What is NOT talked about is how that long leade to accommodate the longest bullets is a detriment to accuracy on shorter bullets and how long those shorter bullets will remain accurate. You had better educate yourself on this issue or find your self in the same boat as the poster above where he had wanted to shoot the 75g A max, then had to go to the 69g T Sierra Match king (ogive is much friendlier to the longer jump than the 75g A max). We all end up learning the hard way on this bullet jump(OAL) issue and how it relates to supurb accuracy. I had a gunsmith chamber a new Douglas SS barrel with his 6mm Rem reamer, and the barrel was practically shot out from brand new because the leade was so long. The OAL on that reamer was so long that I could not touch the lands and still use the magazine box with the 85g Sierra BTHP....
POWDER LEVEL-can you stuff the bullet back in the case further than what is normally accepted. If you do have a shortened freebore and shoot heavish bullet, then monitor doughnuts and do away with them using a K&M carbide cutter...easy and quick
If you can, HAVE AN EXTENDED MAGAZINE BOX INSTALLED in your action. These magazine boxes are longer than normal, allowing longer OAL's for long vld bullets. This will allow you to "chase" the lands longer. You can see the benefit of a shorter freebore to begin with which equates to longer barrel life.
Barrel life often is a function of how accurate the barrel is jumping the bullets. Some loads simply can not be "tuned" with long bullet jump, there are many factors.
For example, say you gunsmith has a reamer throated for the 75g A max(the intersection of the shank and boat tail is right at the shoulder neck junction). Now, you want to switch out to the 60g V max or 60g Berger. Now you find out that there is very little bullet in the case at the sweet spot in the accuracy node. You may have a few hundred rounds of accuracy, and the small amount of bullet in the case in addition to the slow burning powder creates it's own headaches.
So, plan ahead. When barrels are new, they often will shoot many weights of bullets accurately, but 700 rounds down the road, options maybe very limited as extended bullet jump has now caused the accuracy to deteriorate. "Accuracy" is of course a relative thing to each individual. Many people are into what maybe called "retrospective falsification", in that that they work up a load with a new barrel, and in their mind, that barrel shoots to that level of accuracy for the next 1500 rounds. Some calibers indeed do shoot like a new barrel for 1500 rounds and more, but these heavy for caliber bullets used with slow powders really increase the Heat/Time/Pressure so that the throat maybe GONE in 700 rounds and the barrel look like alligator hide for the first 12-17".
I had a newish Hart 24" 14T light varmint contour chambered in 223. I had a 22/243 AI reamer ground with a zero freebore, now shoot the 60g Sierra at 4000 fps, I expect 900-1200 rounds out of the barrel only due to the fact that it is a crow/coyote rifle and never gets the barrel hot. I also shoot win 760 which will extend the life over a stick powder such as H4350. The 60g Sierra is a pretty tough bullet, and I want to shoot some hogs with it to see how fast they flop or????
For a long time, we have read on the internet to put the fastest twist on a barrel and shoot all bullets. What is NOT talked about is how that long leade to accommodate the longest bullets is a detriment to accuracy on shorter bullets and how long those shorter bullets will remain accurate. You had better educate yourself on this issue or find your self in the same boat as the poster above where he had wanted to shoot the 75g A max, then had to go to the 69g T Sierra Match king (ogive is much friendlier to the longer jump than the 75g A max). We all end up learning the hard way on this bullet jump(OAL) issue and how it relates to supurb accuracy. I had a gunsmith chamber a new Douglas SS barrel with his 6mm Rem reamer, and the barrel was practically shot out from brand new because the leade was so long. The OAL on that reamer was so long that I could not touch the lands and still use the magazine box with the 85g Sierra BTHP....
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