reloading

[Idaho]

Well, I've reloaded for my 44mag for 35 years and I'm about to take the plunge into reloading for long guns. I bought a Savage .223 last year that refuses to give good groups no matter what ammo I put through it. I've tried all kinds of bullet weights, from different manufacturers including "Match" ammo from two different companies and handloads from friends with no luck. The only one close to acceptable was 40 gr ballistic tips but it still only gave 1 inch groups at 100 yards. (I want to stack them) As a last resort to turning the rifle over to a gunsmith for some serious stock work I've decided to try reloading my own. That way I can control bullet seating depth, powder charge, primer, powder, etc. My first attempt will be with Barnes 69 gr Match Burners. This is going to be fun. (may as well, it's winter in Idaho and not many chances to ride)

[Silent Sam]

Sounds Interesting...keep us up-dated !

[duffy]

The only long gun I reload is .308 but you should be able to get decent results from that Savage. They make a decent gun.

[Top Cat]

1 inch groups at 100 yards is not good enough
What are you hunting, flies and spiders

[Silent Sam]

My Big Brother, Has Custom Built/Modified 22-250 w/scope/bi-pod..and more, he uses for coyotes and...other stuff !
He loads his own..and say's it's a lot more rifle than a 223..

[Idaho]

The 22-250 is an awesome gun and arguably more than the .223. I bought the .223 because ammo is plentiful. Little did I know it would not shoot worth a crap.

TC, I'm chasing coyotes and any error at 100 yards is 5 times at 500 yards so I want to stack holes at 100. I already missed two dogs with that gun at 100 and 160 yards and don't want to repeat that mistake.

BTW, my other rifle is a Ruger M77 25-06 and it is a blast to shoot. (no pun intended) After I get the .223 dialed in I'm going to turn to on the 06.

40gr pills give fair groups but they are more easily blown around by the wind and they don't match the bullet drop ballistics for my compensation knob. I still have one free one that I can order for the Burris scope but I'm waiting until I work up a good load to run the ballistics numbers and order the knob.

Supposedly the 1 in 9 twist in my barrel 'likes' heavier bullets that is why I'm starting with 69 gr match bullets. Fun huh?

[Yellow Jacket]

Back in the day (dang, almost 30 years ago!) when I was competing in NRA High Power Rifle Metallic Silhouette matches I built a custom rifle.

Remington 700 action, Douglas Air Gauge stainless bull barrel, Canjar Light Pull trigger, Remington 40X target rifle stock highly modified and glass bedded.

Chambered for 7mm X .308 which was still a wildcat cartridge back then.

Handloaded 7mm 162g Hornady boat-tail match bullets into government .308 match cartridges necked down to 7mm. Used IMR 4350 powder, don't remember how many grains but it pretty much filled the case.

Bushnell BDC 3x-9x scope. Sighted in for 200m, 300m, 385m and 500m.

Shooting off a bench over sandbags that baby would group 3/4" at 200m. Man, I loved shooting that gun!

Unfortunately, the matches were shot standing with no support. I wasn't bad but the doggone Army Marksmanship Unit out of Fort Benning, GA always won the matches! Heck, they got paid to do nothing but shoot. I finally gave up and switched to handgun metallic silhouette because the Army guys didn't shoot that discipline.

Shot the handguns for a bunch of years, had tons of fun and then the eyes started to go. Open sights only back then and I finally quit. I haven't reloaded for years now, but it was a whole lot of fun. Still have all the guns!

I'm sure you're going to have a good time working up a load for your Savage. Consider glass bedding the action and free floating the barrel.

Have fun!

[Idaho]

Hey Bob, if my experimenting with loads does not produce desired results I plan to have the action pillar and glass bedded. The barrel is free floating already. I'm researching everything about long gun accuracy including the best way to tighten the action screws, what order and how much. This is a puzzle that I'm going to solve.

[InkyDoggy]

Ive reloaded almost every cartridge there is and had good results with them all except one rifle I purchased new. A 22-250 Ruger Stainless heavy barrel item. It was all over the place and for a varmint rifle that was unacceptable. It turned out that the rifling in the barrel was off by 1/3 of a twist as to what it should have been. Ruger replaced the barrel free of charge and paid the shipping both ways too. It now stacks them at 250 yards in a 1/2 inch group every time. I do not load match bullets either. I use regular off the shelf sierra 40 grain slugs in full jacket. I purchased it at a Cabelas and they are the ones who sent it back for me and had it checked and repaired. Maybe you got hung with a bad barrel also.

My favorite rifle was a Pedersoli replica of the Sharps Quigley rifle from the movie with Tom Selleck. I purchased the one with a larger cartridge though. The one in the movie was a 45 - 110 cartridge and mine was a 45 - 120 cartridge the slugs I shot were 680 grain full lead. Accurate as the best match rifle I ever seen too. But it was very heavy with the 36" long octagon barrel it had on it. I dropped a Doe at 200 yards once and it left a hole on the opposite exit side about 6 inches in diameter. Little to say the doe dropped in her tracks.

[Silent Sam]

..The Quigley... Damn Nice !

[Idaho]

I sent a service request to Savage and they have offered to take the rifle back to test it but not until after the holidays. In the meantime I'm going to see if I can find the magic recipe to make this gun shoot.

[ponch]

I don't remember the exact data, but I was able to get a load in my dad's 222 to shoot about 3/8" for 5 shots at 100 yards. I remember I used hornady 55 grain boatail bullets and set the seating depth to right on the rifling. The rifle is a savage 340, which has a sporter weight barrel. I do this with my .30-06 too as it has an extraordinarily deep throat and with factory ammo it doesn't shoot so well. I can get it to a little over an inch if I seat the bullets out to the lands, but the cartridges are very long. My 444 Marlin shoots better than the .30-06 though. I usually get .75-1" 5 shot groups with it. Either works well at the intended game within their effective ranges.

[Old Bear]

Not enough info about the rifle to know if we should fuss along with you or if that is "as expected" from that model. Barrel length, rifling twist, trigger? If you are staying inside one inch at 100, that is one minute of angle, and most shooters can't shoot that good anyway. Not saying you can't, mind you! Savage should be able to tell you what that specific barrel likes best, save you a bunch of money!

[ponch]

It's not only bullet, but powder too. I don't recall the mixture on the 222, but I may have used IMR 4895 or 4198. Powders can make a difference, primers too. There are reloading resources on the internet that can give a clue. Here's one:

http://www.handloads.org/loaddata/de...ll&type=Rifle&..

[radco]

Bud do you also use a chronograph? If not I suggest you get one , You can see in a instant what your charge/bullet speed is doing! 1" group at 100 yards is pretty good, you trying out for the sniper squad :) Please post what you get and do. Thanks