Fast Twist 22’s

[mbsheppard]

I have been shooting a 220 swift since 1976. Recently moved to heavy bullets. What’s better and why, fast twist 22-250 or 22 Creedmoor?

 

[Lawnboi]

My next barrel is going to be a 16” 22 creed

 

[Split toe]

Depends if you reload or not. If you reload then the 22 creed. I have a AR10 22 creed and it is baaaad.

 

[ResearchinStuff]

you provided an in-depth answer in another post, why start another thread on it?

To simplify the 22CM/22-250 comparison you could boil it down to three facts; 1) to shoot longer (heavier) bullets you need a faster twist 2) more speed requires more powder. The 22CM has more capacity that the 222-250 and the 220 Swift. And you don’t have to fire-form brass. 3) to shoot the 22CM you should be a hand loader. You can buy loaded ammo but is hard to find and will likely need to be mail ordered.

I am a handloader and I have both. I prefer the 22CM for hunting most of the time. I shoot the Sierra 77gr Tipped Match King and have talked hogs out to 500 yards. I also shoot the 22-250 with 55gr Sierra Blitz Kings. It doesn’t miss. I would probably limit my shots with the 22-250 to about 300 yds For head and neck shots. I would never attempt a shoulder shot past 200 yards unless I was shooting a monolithic.

All that said… I also have a Tikka 22-250 with a 1:8 twist shooting the 77 gr TMK’s that I would shoot out to 500 yards because it is shooting a high bc bullet.

All my rifles will shoot under 0.4”. It is hard to do that with store bought ammo. I typically start .020” of the lands and test powders until I get a good group near the max load. Then I vary the seating length in .003” increments, reducing to CTBO until I find a node. I started doing that this year and every rifle so fare has become a one holler.

When you shot them in the head or neck the bullet’s penetration and terminal ballistics are not as important.

 

[sportsmans challenge]

I would say between those two rounds I would look at what components can get more easily.
I have had 22-250, 22-250ai and a couple 22 creeds, the last two are nearly identical in ballistics with 22-250 just slightly behind.

If you did a 1:8 you could rip em out, if you want to go real heavy you might look slightly faster twist.

Barrel length will depend on what bullet and what speed you want or how manuverable you want it.

 

[Skerhunter]

Personally if I wanted to shoot heavies I would jump up to the 6mm before I did it in .224. Minimal bullet drop to 300 is top of my list. Shooting pdogs I would consider a heavy .224, so I could lob em out there further. If I was forced to chose I would try the .22creed before I bought another 250.

 

[Yarak]

Another option for fast heavy 22’s is the .224 TTH with 1/8 twist
You can shoot 70-80 grain pills at good velocities and long ranges

 

[Blockcaver]

Got two 1 in 8" twist .22s......a .22 X 6mmAI (6mm Remington base case) and a .22 Benchrest. Both are very accurate with 75 gr Hornady AMAX bullets.

 

[amassi]

22cm if only for srp brass, especially alpha if you can get it.
Less case stretch the 22-250, less time wasted trimming etc.
No fire forming although forming loads in the 22-250ai are normally perfectly accurate for practice, varminting, hunting et el.

If lapua made their 22-250 brass with srp Pockets it'd be real tough not to roll thay way

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[CO_MTN_GUY]

Just my 2 cents for a factory option fast twist 22-250, about a year and a half ago I picked up a Bergara B-14 fast twist 22-250 and am really enjoying it so far. Its my 3rd 250 so I already had all the components which was a real plus. It has a 1:9 so it wont quite handle the 77-80 grain pills but have read on several forums and Facebook groups that guys are getting good stability out of the 75gr ELDs. I cant confirm that yet but am going to experiment one of these days. I have had great luck with 69 gr SMKs though. With a 37.3 grain charge of H4350 they're coming out at 3400fps and at or under .5 MOA. any day of the week. Its best 5 shot group was .36" at 100 yds. It also does great with the lighter bullets, shoots a 50 gr Nosler BT under 36 gains of Varget 0.4"-0.5". I have done a lot of reading on the 22 creed and I find it very intriguing. I don't think either one is going to be a bad choice for heavy 22 bullets you just have to wight the pros and cons for the intended use case. Good luck with either decision!

 

[amassi]

Just my 2 cents for a factory option fast twist 22-250, about a year and a half ago I picked up a Bergara B-14 fast twist 22-250 and am really enjoying it so far. Its my 3rd 250 so I already had all the components which was a real plus. It has a 1:9 so it wont quite handle the 77-80 grain pills but have read on several forums and Facebook groups that guys are getting good stability out of the 75gr ELDs. I cant confirm that yet but am going to experiment one of these days. I have had great luck with 69 gr SMKs though. With a 37.3 grain charge of H4350 they're coming out at 3400fps and at or under .5 MOA. any day of the week. Its best 5 shot group was .36" at 100 yds. It also does great with the lighter bullets, shoots a 50 gr Nosler BT under 36 gains of Varget 0.4"-0.5". I have done a lot of reading on the 22 creed and I find it very intriguing. I don't think either one is going to be a bad choice for heavy 22 bullets you just have to wight the pros and cons for the intended use case. Good luck with either decision!

You could always have your chamber cleaned up with a 22-250ai reamer too.

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[CO_MTN_GUY]

You could always have your chamber cleaned up with a 22-250ai reamer too.

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Yeah I've played around with that idea. I hadn't really looked into or thought about fast twist 22 cals until I impulse bought the rifle and the though having a 22-250 with a fast twist would be cool for reloading heavy bullets haha Then I went down the rabbit hole of fast twists 22-250s, 22-250ai's and 22 creed and their merits. I just wish I had more time to shoot

 

[Wrench]

I went 223ai and have not touched my 22-250 since. I have plenty of yotes in the 700's and brass life is almost forever.....food for thought.

 

[B23]

You could always have your chamber cleaned up with a 22-250ai reamer too.

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You'll want to unscrew the barrel, cut a couple threads off, then, have it reamed with a 22-250AI reamer. If you just run a reamer in without cutting a little off, first, you'll end up with excessive headspace and shortened brass life.

 

[Dan Carey]

I don't like the idea of "cleaning up a chamber" and won't normally do it. However, you could actually run the ai reamer in as deep as you like and fire form the case to fit the new chamber. I don't do that either.

 

[amassi]

You'll want to unscrew the barrel, cut a couple threads off, then, have it reamed with a 22-250AI reamer. If you just run a reamer in without cutting a little off, first, you'll end up with excessive headspace and shortened brass life.

I suppose that's what most gunsmiths probably do? I'm not a gunsmith , I hand my gunsmith a rifle and he gives a functional one back.

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[Wrench]

One rev is more than enough. If you don't need to line up flutes or roll marks it can be just a few thou.

On a non belted case you can just plunge the reamer...BUT you run the risk of unreliable ignition on parent cases. I shoot for a .004" crush at the shoulder on a parent case inserted in the ai chamber.