.22-250 Long Range Shooting...

[Red_Ram3500]

Interested in hearing some opinions on .22-250 long range accuracy up to 1000 yards. I'm sure it can be done with a fair amount of consistency (I'm talking about minimal wind conditions), but I wanna hear any yays and nays about the whole idea. I'll be building up my charts soon enough now that the weather is decent and I finally mounted a decent scope on the rifle...

-Rem 700 SPS Varmint, 26" 1-14 twist factory barrel
-Bedded action and stock with arrow shafts bedded for slightly more rigidity
-Trigger set at approx 2lbs

Vortex Viper PST 6-24x FFP with EBR-1MOA sitting on a 20MOA rail

55gr VMAX in front of 34.9gr Varget (measurement off the top of my head, have to double check charge) seated .010 off the lands --- this load has averaged .3 MOA before mounting the PST using a cheaper scope.

Let's hear what ya think!!



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[Smokinyotes]

Ya need a faster twist barrel and heavier bullets.

[Red_Ram3500]

Originally Posted by Smokinyotes

Ya need a faster twist barrel and heavier bullets.

1000 would be a stretch and mostly won't be happening much. But within 1000 yrds the ballistics don't seem too terrible given ideal conditions... subsonic at 850-900 yards, and 18-19 MOA elevation adjustment at 800 yards.


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[Smokinyotes]

With a 5mph crosswind travelling at 3500fps thats 19 moa of drift and 33 moa of drop. I hope your wind reading ability is alot better than mine.

[Red_Ram3500]

Originally Posted by Smokinyotes

With a 5mph crosswind travelling at 3500fps thats 19 moa of drift and 33 moa of drop. I hope your wind reading ability is alot better than mine.

3900 MV. Let's say no wind (obviously that's almost impossible). How'd you work out the 33 MOA drop? I'm using a ballistic calculator so it's not perfect to my rifle, but it's only giving me 18 MOA drop at 800yrds.


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[Smokinyotes]

Originally Posted by Red_Ram3500

3900 MV. Let's say no wind (obviously that's almost impossible). How'd you work out the 33 MOA drop? I'm using a ballistic calculator so it's not perfect to my rifle, but it's only giving me 18 MOA drop at 800yrds.


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Ok at 1000 yds @3900 25 moa of drop and 17 moa windage. No matter how you do it those light little bullets are going to be significantly affected by wind.

[Red_Ram3500]

Originally Posted by Smokinyotes

Ok at 1000 yds @3900 25 moa of drop and 17 moa windage. No matter how you do it those light little bullets are going to be significantly affected by wind.

Fair enough. We had about generally calme day this winter and we decided to fire off some rounds at 500yrds , 10" gong. I had a 12x duplex reticle scope, and figured out about a 3' drop at that range. Just by guestimating the hold over we figured out a spot to focus on and hit the gong. After finding the right spot, I had 4/5 in 4" on target. Fifth I pulled.
I put the PST on so that I could improve on that , and hopefully have some fun with gophers at the 500yrd + mark. Obviously it won't be as fun on a windy day.
I'm just interested to see what that round with the factory twist can do. I don't think i can make any rounds for heavier bullets with that twist.
You'd have more knowledge than me on this stuff smokinyotes, I've followed your posts on 250s for a while now. I've just played around with longer range stuff cause I've never had the right optics, but now I'm hoping to have some fun with it now that I have a decent scope (IMO).



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[Red_Ram3500]

Oh and just got home and checked. Charge was 33.9 gr Varget , 3650 fps. The 3900 fps was for my 40gr varmageddons.


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[J0HN_R1]

For good 800-1000 yd results, that are repeatable, you would probably require;

- High-quality barrel, any profile larger than "heavy sporter", ~ 24-26" w/1:8" twist

- High-BC heavy projectiles traveling as fast as you can push them, think 70/75/80 grain @ 3300+ fps. ELD-X, VLD's, etc...


You've already got (most of) the rifle & scope you need, just load different bullets and look into a new barrel*.


* I hear Bob Jury is one of the best, and is within a couple hours of Calgary.

[Red_Ram3500]

Originally Posted by J0HN_R1

For good 800-1000 yd results, that are repeatable, you would probably require;



- High-quality barrel, any profile larger than "heavy sporter", ~ 24-26" w/1:8" twist



- High-BC heavy projectiles traveling as fast as you can push them, think 70/75/80 grain @ 3300+ fps. ELD-X, VLD's, etc...





You've already got (most of) the rifle & scope you need, just load different bullets and look into a new barrel*.





* I hear Bob Jury is one of the best, and is within a couple hours of Calgary.

Thanks for info. I won't be changing out the barrel till this one burns out. I prob should have had the title as ".22-250 accuracy at 500+ yrds"


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[spoiledsaskhunter]

.....I've got a t3/leupold 6.5-20, and have spent some time with it. best accuracy I've found is with 52 gr a-max. dogs better keep their heads down @ 500/600 yds, but after that it gets REALLY iffy. i'd had visions of 7/8/900 yd dogs but between my ability and that of the gun/scope, its just not happened.

should say my shooting is done with a rangefinder and the scope has target turrets, so takes a bunch of guess work out of it.

[wwbirds]

I have had a "stable" of 22-250 when the boys still lived on the farm but with 12 or 14 twist designed for varmint bullets I feel it is the wrong choice for long range (600 -1000 yards). Killed a couple coyotes at 600 with hope shots but probably missed a lot more than I have hit. All kinds of choices in the 6 to 6.5 mm bullets for long range and even a fast twist .223 with 80 grains has had a lot of long range success for those who wanted to back off the tried and proven 308. 22-250 although I am a big fan I don't feel it has that distance built in.

[Red_Ram3500]

Originally Posted by spoiledsaskhunter

.....I've got a t3/leupold 6.5-20, and have spent some time with it. best accuracy I've found is with 52 gr a-max. dogs better keep their heads down @ 500/600 yds, but after that it gets REALLY iffy. i'd had visions of 7/8/900 yd dogs but between my ability and that of the gun/scope, its just not happened.



should say my shooting is done with a rangefinder and the scope has target turrets, so takes a bunch of guess work out of it.

That's why I put the new scope on. I'm hoping the optics can help stretch it out way beyond 500. We'll see I'll be having some fun with it this afternoon. Used to just guessing holdover, gonna be a learning experience with the turrets.


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[spoiledsaskhunter]

.....target turrets will help big time. guessing hold over way out there WILL NOT WORK.

you also need a good rangefinder because guessing ranges WILL NOT WORK.

no matter how good your gear is.

hope you get it worked out.

[Red_Ram3500]

Originally Posted by spoiledsaskhunter

.....target turrets will help big time. guessing hold over way out there WILL NOT WORK.



you also need a good rangefinder because guessing ranges WILL NOT WORK.



no matter how good your gear is.



hope you get it worked out.

I do have a good range finder, however in FFP just with the little bit I've used it already today I've noticed that the reticle can be very accurate for estimating range. Range finder said 495yrd distance to my 10" plate. Formula using the reticle gave me 488yrds. Not exact, but pretty darn close.


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[J0HN_R1]

Originally Posted by Red_Ram3500

I do have a good range finder, however in FFP just with the little bit I've used it already today I've noticed that the reticle can be very accurate for estimating range. Range finder said 495yrd distance to my 10" plate. Formula using the reticle gave me 488yrds. Not exact, but pretty darn close.


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When you're hunting coyotes, they won't wait for you to measure them with your reticle and do math equations... Use the rangefinder.

Congrats on figuring out how to estimate distance using hash-marks though ! And you don't need FFP to accomplish that.

[Red_Ram3500]

Originally Posted by J0HN_R1

When you're hunting coyotes, they won't wait for you to measure them with your reticle and do math equations... Use the rangefinder.



Congrats on figuring out how to estimate distance using hash-marks though !

It's actually super easy, and after a few days of shooting I should have some basic charts where the math is already done, just keep the sheet in my cheek rest pocket and it's ready to go. When hunting the rangefinder in always around my neck anyway as you said. I'm mostly gonna be trying for longer shots on gophers though, which are hard to hit with the rangefinder if I can't find a hard object nearby to range off of. That's where using the reticle can be handy. After a while you can start remembering common numbers and it can be second nature. Had it at 495 today. Under half MOA with the new scope. I think I'll keep that load. Don't have pictures but I was impressed.


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[gitrdun]

[wwbirds]

I also have the Leupold Varmint Extreme 6.5 -20 scope on one of my 22-250 and with the hash marks calculated for prairie dog (larger than gophers) I have been able to do some quick ranging with the hash marks using a coyote leg from ground to chest as the same height as a prairie dog (12-14 inches).
My search of long range shooting today revealed a couple 861 and 1000 yard hit claims on prairie dogs in the US on predator hunter. Other target shooters who shoot a ton of shells can consistently hit a metal gong at 750 yards, Interesting enough the bullet drop at 750 yards is 110 inches.

[wwbirds]

Your Input Variables
Ballistic Coefficient 0.284 Velocity (ft/s) 3620 Weight (grains) 55
Maximum Range (yds) 1000 Interval (yds) 100 Drag Function G1
Sight Height (inches) 1.5 Shooting Angle (degrees) 0 Zero Range (yds) 250
Wind Speed (mph) 0 Wind Angle (degrees) 90 Altitude (ft) 2400
Pressure (hg) 29.53 Temperature (F) 59 Humidity (%) 0.6
Ballistics Results - 22-250
Range (yards) Velocity (fps) Energy (ft.-lb.) Trajectory (in) Come UP in MOA Come UP in Mils Wind Drift (in) Wind Drift in MOA Wind Drift in Mils
Muzzle 3620 1600 -1.5 0 0 0 0 0
100 3271 1307 1.6 -1.6 -0.5 0 0 0
200 2950 1063 1.5 -0.7 -0.2 0 0 0
300 2651 858 -2.6 0.8 0.2 0 0 0
400 2372 687 -11.7 2.8 0.8 0 0 0
500 2109 543 -27.1 5.2 1.5 0 0 0
600 1864 424 -50.3 8 2.3 0 0 0
700 1639 328 -83.5 11.4 3.3 0 0 0
800 1438 253 -129.8 15.5 4.5 0 0 0
900 1267 196 -193 20.5 6 0 0 0
1000 1134 157 -277.8 26.5 7.7 0 0

In this case the BC is actually higher than any varmint bullet I currently use at .285. Most of mine actually would be closer to .235 resulting in an even larger drop than the chart indicates. Interesting challenge though!

[Red_Ram3500]

Originally Posted by wwbirds

I also have the Leupold Varmint Extreme 6.5 -20 scope on one of my 22-250 and with the hash marks calculated for prairie dog (larger than gophers) I have been able to do some quick ranging with the hash marks using a coyote leg from ground to chest as the same height as a prairie dog (12-14 inches).

My search of long range shooting today revealed a couple 861 and 1000 yard hit claims on prairie dogs in the US on predator hunter. Other target shooters who shoot a ton of shells can consistently hit a metal gong at 750 yards, Interesting enough the bullet drop at 750 yards is 110 inches.

I'm going to do some cards up and then move out a couple hundred more yards. We had a very light wind today and at close to 500 yards, my adjustment was 1.75MOA(8.75"). Im not counting on hitting a gopher at 750 consistently. But I'd like to be able to hit them at 500 consistently. I have the grouping to do it, now just the practice.


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[spoiledsaskhunter]

....will you come back with your results, please? I think you're gonna be able to scare hell out of them on a still day, but consistently hitting them at 500 will be a test (I think)

[Red_Ram3500]

Originally Posted by spoiledsaskhunter

....will you come back with your results, please? I think you're gonna be able to scare hell out of them on a still day, but consistently hitting them at 500 will be a test (I think)

I'll keep it updated with some results if I can. I'll try on some windier days. 65MOA of adjustment has to be worth something right??


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[spoiledsaskhunter]

well yeh, but wind consistency will be a challenge too....but your adjustments should certainly help you get closer.

[Jordan Smith]

That bullet drifts like a fart in the wind, with even the slightest puff of a breeze. In a no-wind condition you'll do alright, but as soon as the wind blows the difference between a 55 VMax and a 75 AMax becomes dramatic.

[Red_Ram3500]

Originally Posted by Jordan Smith

That bullet drifts like a fart in the wind, with even the slightest puff of a breeze. In a no-wind condition you'll do alright, but as soon as the wind blows the difference between a 55 VMax and a 75 AMax becomes dramatic.

With flags and mirage we guessed 5MPH today, not even 2 MOA adjustment. Like sask says, it's the wind consistency that's the issue. I couldn't care less how much wind there is as long as I can adjust for it. It's the gusting and settling that is hard to work with. I agree heavier would be better, but this is what I have to work with till the barrel is worn out, so I'll try and see how well it'll work for me.


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[Redrider]

I think if your spotter was better at calling the wind shift, you would have better luck. Lol.

[Jordan Smith]

Originally Posted by Red_Ram3500

With flags and mirage we guessed 5MPH today, not even 2 MOA adjustment. Like sask says, it's the wind consistency that's the issue. I couldn't care less how much wind there is as long as I can adjust for it. It's the gusting and settling that is hard to work with. I agree heavier would be better, but this is what I have to work with till the barrel is worn out, so I'll try and see how well it'll work for me.


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Well, yeah. That's why wind is tricky. Highly aerodynamic bullets are more impervious to wind variability, and more forgiving of incorrect wind calls/corrections.