James B

I have been an avid handloader since 1970.

James B

For the money its also hard to beat the 223 for cheap ammo and rifles. I have an NEF synthetic stock 223 that cost well under 200.00 and shoots groups that rival rifles costing much more. Guns and ammo has tested two of them in recent comparison test to the Sako varmit, The ruger and Savage varmit rifles. Only the Savage shot tighter groups of the out of the box rifles and the group was only about a 1/8 smaller that the NEF going 5/16 inch to the NEF' s 1/2 inch group. Mine shoots the lighter bullets best. 40 and 45 grain although it shoots well with 50 grain hollow points as well. The cheap winchester ammo with the 45 grain ballistic tips gave the best group in mine. Just under 1/2 inch.

Judson

You know, if you would like a duel purpose gun you might look into the 6mm diameter or even the 25 cal. They shed velosity alot slower then the .224 cal. cartridges and work better on big varmits like coyotes. In most areas they will even handle deer with good shoy placement.

James B

Thats very tue. I have a 250-3000 and a 257 Roberts. I use both for deer quite often. I have a 243 as well but seldom use it for deer. I like it as a cyote gun. I once had a 788 Rem in a left hand bolt action in 6mm Rem and although I know they are supposed to be ballistic twins, I had a lot more faith in the 6MM than the 243. The twist however in the 6mm would not handle 100 grain SP very well and I used the nosler semi spitzer and the 100 grain Hornady round nose. A girl who had developed lazy eye had to switch to shooting lefty and I let her talk me out of the 6mm. I wish I had kept it but she was a happy camper and I quess that counts for something. I pretty much stick to 100 grain bullets in my 25' s I know there are some good lighter bullets as well but then they are ready for deer hunting as well. I used to use the 6.5 swede for varmits sometimes but for a while brass was a little hard to find and spendy so I keep it for deer now. Of course everyone makes the brass now. Good caliber.

dvdegeorge

I like to hunt chucks with my savage super striker in 7mm-08.Handgunning for chucks long range is a fun challange and good practice for deer

James B

I know what you mean. I had a Contender with three barrels for a long time. I had the 44 mag barrel and the 35 Remington and the 357 herret. I had a 357 maximum when I shot handgun steel silhouettes. I played that game for about three years and the rifle silhouettes for about ten years. That was all with a 308.

Judson

You said in your post you have been reloading since the 70s. I am not trying to pick on you but have you ever thought about trying Wildcats? I was scaired of getting into them, I like my head. A customer of mine got me into them and I have found it fasinating. If you want to get into them I will be glad to help out if I can, if you are give me a call some time.
By the way I am trying to help a customer work up a load for his .22/250, what is your load? His rifle is a Savage and we are using 38.5 grains of H380 powder and Faderal 215 Match primers. Tried this load today and it shot .375" center to center.

Your Friend
Jud

James B

I quess I just really never got the Wildcat bug. If I did I would be most interested in something in the 6.5 caliber for a bean field type rifle. I am a big fan of the 25' s and 6.5' s. It would also have to be a Left hand bolt or single shot. I lost my right eye in an accident many years ago and had to go lefty. Now my left shoulder is in bad shape and I can handle only about so much recoil while practicing. A few shots from a cannon does not bother me once in a while. Recoil is the biggest reason for my bad shoulder. Or so says the doctor. I did a lot of shooting with a 416 Rem Mag some years back and the shoulder never was the same. Collar bone too.
I am new to reloading the 22-250. For years I shot the 22 Hornet and 222 and 223. I just got the 22-250 about a year ago. I have a lot of 22 caliber bullets but I have really not loaded many except for the 60 grain Hornady which my rifle really likes. I loaded 34 grains of Varget with WW large Rifle primers. The OCL is 2.480. They were very consistant at about 3450 fps. I thought that was fast enough for the first thousands rounds or at least 500. I only grouped it once when it was pretty new that load shot about .425. I was short one sand bag to give it a real good test.
I got burned out on reloading for a while as I shot steel sihlouette rifle for about ten years and Pistol for four years. Then I got into combat shooting as did my son. I loaded a thousand rounds a week for that during the summer for several years. I got so I hated to even look at that loading bench. I wore out a turret press and a progressive loader. Fishing has got in the way of shooting for the summer but as fall comes aroud I will get with it again. Just sent in the Apps for deer prairie deer and Black Powder deer.

Judson

James, I will be gone for a week or so but you and I need to talk!!!! One of my customers has just the bean field cartridge for you!!!! How about the 8mm Mag necked to 6.5? you can cheat and get away with using .264 Win dies to load it if you do not want to full length resize. He got very good accuracy and man was it flat shooting. If you are interested ( it did not kick really bad, about like a 7mm Rem mag,) let me know I have the reamer and loading info, it might be what you want.

Your Friend
Jud

James B

Might be ok. I am going to be gone for a week or two also. We are going to Devils Lake fishing then down to South Dakotas Black Hills for some trout fishing and camping. Hope to eat a lot of fish. Catch you later.