Dirty Hippie
New member
Well since this 22 Nosler thing hasn't turned out like I had hoped, I decided to try using some different brass to see if I could pressure this cartridge up enough to get close to the advertised velocity. I ordered some 6mm Hagar brass and a 6.8 PRI bolt from Midway. I ran the Hagar brass through my RCBS Nosler dies. The brass formed very well but needs to be neck turned and trimmed to chamber properly. After my brass prep I loaded up some 50 Nosler Ballistic tips with H4198 and CCI 450's headed out to run them over the chronograph. Since the Stoner barrel is so wildly inaccurate I didn't even bother shooting them at paper. I fire formed all 50 brass over the chrono with 26.5 gr. H4198 my average speed for ten rounds was 3598 out of the 18" Stoner barrel. Nosler lists that as middle of the road and most accurate load tested on their updated load data page. My velocity came in a little higher than I expected, which was my first pleasant surprise since I started this adventure. The brass showed only mild pressure signs at this charge weight. I believe using this rediclously complicated(for a cartridge that should do this out of the box) brass work and bolt change, the cartridge could be made to work at velocities advertised. This work was done strictly as a test. I do not plan to continue making brass or loads for this barrel. The 22 Beast is a necked down Hagar and may be doable without neck turning. The 22x6.8 will also achieve this. Since I need a new barrel to get any kind of accuracy, I will have it chambered in a more practical cartridge, that is yet to be determined.
I'm not trying to dash anyone's hopes here, I just wanted to share my testing for those working on this new cartridge. It seems these little 22 calibers do hold promise for those looking to get near 22-250 velocity out of an AR-15 platform.
DH
I'm not trying to dash anyone's hopes here, I just wanted to share my testing for those working on this new cartridge. It seems these little 22 calibers do hold promise for those looking to get near 22-250 velocity out of an AR-15 platform.
DH