Howa Ranchland Compact 22-250????

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pyscodog

Active member
Well, I'm going to break one of my rules and reload 20 rounds for a good friend. He wants 55 grain V-Max. He gave me 20 once fired pieces of Hornady brass to use and I'm just wondering about the rest of the components. He ask me to try and duplicate Hornady's load. Ya right! I'm open to suggestions please.
 
Originally Posted By: midwestpredatorwhat do you have for powder options?

Way to many to list! I shoot a 22-250AI so I have several different powders. I'm thinking Varget, Rel. 15, maybe 4064, Benchmark,8208,H-380. I was hoping someone with the same rifle might chime in. I'm not needing "bughole accuracy", if I can get an inch, he'll be pleased.
 
Originally Posted By: pyscodogOriginally Posted By: midwestpredatorwhat do you have for powder options?

Way to many to list! I shoot a 22-250AI so I have several different powders. I'm thinking Varget, Rel. 15, maybe 4064, Benchmark,8208,H-380. I was hoping someone with the same rifle might chime in. I'm not needing "bughole accuracy", if I can get an inch, he'll be pleased.

Use 8208 and don't try to duplicate anything - you can't.


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I have a ranch land compact and I load 55 grain sprire point hornady's over 34.5 varget. They shoot about an 1" if I take my time and let it sit for a little between shots. Good luck.
 
Thats what I told him. Duplicating factory stuff is near impossible. I can get close to the FPS but thats about it. I really don't like reloading for people, its just a "shot" in the dark with out the rifle to shoot.
 
Can't help you with the 8208, but the first 3 powders listed are all close to the same in the 22-250 and all 3 work well. I'd not go with Benchmark. 38-39.5 gr H380 usually always works well with 55s. Not the cleanest powder though, IMO.

If he knows the velocity of his factory rounds, then you could look up your powder of choice and load to listed velocity. However, how close it actually ends up will be a crapshoot. Then tweak it from there.

Personally, I wouldn't worry about matching anything. If it shoots good he isn't gonna care which components you used or worry about a little more or less velocity......
 
I gave him 33.5 grains of 8208 and a 55gr. Z-max bullet. I set them at 2.360 which was just a fuzz over book OAL. Also used a CCI large rifle primer. Hope it works for him.
 
I could not get any of the ranchland compacts I have shot, to group at all. Maybe just bad luck, but the have a super thin barrel and flexy stock. I sold the one I owned after a few months having never got it to shoot sub three inch groups. I'm not saying Howa's are bad guns. I have seen others shoot as well as any other brand, but I had no luck with that model...
 
The compact would not have been my choice, but.... The barrel seems awfully thin, and the stock is a Hogue, not my choice either. I think his rifle is grouping in the 2 inch range at 100 and he just wanted to try handloads in it hoping it will do better. There's other factors that are causing poors groups also. Barrel heat! He never seems to give the little rifle a chance to cool down, IMO. Oh well, I'll just give him his bullets and keep my mouth shut.
 
I shoot a Howa 1500 22-250 and am reloading using IMR-3031 to find a 40 grain it likes right now. I found that adjusting the trigger from the factory 4#+ to 2.25# and reducing the creep made a world of difference in group sizes. There are a number of places on the web you can pick up the instructions for this easy to adjust trigger assembly.
I went from "shotgun" patterns to something very respectable with these 2 adjustments alone and now I'm working on the powder/bullet side of the equation.
YMMV but if you're still at factory trigger weight I'd address that first before anything else.
 
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