The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - The Nerve! Nosler 64gr Bonded Solid Base bullets

Wyosmith · July 28, 2014, 08:42 AM

Hello all.
I have been getting some calls to rebarrel 22-250s with 1-9 twist barrels and so far the results have been very good. At the higher velocities of the 22-250 over the 223s you can get bullets up to 80 grains (and maybe heavier) to stabilize very well and accuracy is excellent. Swift makes some heavy hunting bullets for the 224 bore size. To the best of my knowledge all the bullet of 65 grains and over are target bullets except for the Swift offering, and the 70 grain Speer.
Shooting the Swift from a 22-250 makes a very satisfactory deer and antelope rifle out to about 500-600 yards. The standard 5.56 with the same bullets are good out to probably 350 to maybe 400 if you are a high expert.

I know the accuracy is good enough to make hits on deer size vital areas out to 1000. You need only look at what is being done with AR-15s to prove that, but hitting is not the same as killing clean. The 223 is still pretty small no matter how accurate it is, and to my way of thinking, we owe a high degree of respect to any animal we are hunting, so a risk of a bad hit or a lingering death is to be avoided. Ethics should play a role in this scenario at all times. If you shoot bigger calibers it plays no less a role, but you will have better penetration and cavitation with a 100 to 150 grain bullet than you will with a 75 grain bullet if the 2 bullets are equal in their construction.

Anyway, back to the topic. Bullets and guns. If we want to shoot deer and antelope with a 223 or a 22-250 or a 220 Swift I believe it is a good idea to rebarrel with a 1-9 twist. The only down side to the faster twist is if you want to fire the Blitz” or SX type of bullets for varminting. Such bullets have very thin jackets and at 22-250 velocities they can come apart in mid air. If you go from a 1-14 twist to a 1-9 twist the problem get far worse. But the answer is simply to fire other bullets. “Standard’ 50-55 grain bullets break up very well at the speed of a 22-250 when they are turning fast. So there really is not much of a need to shoot SXs or Blitz bullets unless you are shooting among cattle or around buildings, which here in Wyoming is usually not a problem.

Both the 220 Swift and the 22-250s have fairly short bore life if you shoot them a lot, so if you need a new barrel in the future you may be well served to use a 1-9 twist barrel.

July 28, 2014, 08:42 AM	#35
Wyosmith Senior Member Join Date: December 29, 2010 Location: Shoshoni Wyoming Posts: 2,713	Hello all. I have been getting some calls to rebarrel 22-250s with 1-9 twist barrels and so far the results have been very good. At the higher velocities of the 22-250 over the 223s you can get bullets up to 80 grains (and maybe heavier) to stabilize very well and accuracy is excellent. Swift makes some heavy hunting bullets for the 224 bore size. To the best of my knowledge all the bullet of 65 grains and over are target bullets except for the Swift offering, and the 70 grain Speer. Shooting the Swift from a 22-250 makes a very satisfactory deer and antelope rifle out to about 500-600 yards. The standard 5.56 with the same bullets are good out to probably 350 to maybe 400 if you are a high expert. I know the accuracy is good enough to make hits on deer size vital areas out to 1000. You need only look at what is being done with AR-15s to prove that, but hitting is not the same as killing clean. The 223 is still pretty small no matter how accurate it is, and to my way of thinking, we owe a high degree of respect to any animal we are hunting, so a risk of a bad hit or a lingering death is to be avoided. Ethics should play a role in this scenario at all times. If you shoot bigger calibers it plays no less a role, but you will have better penetration and cavitation with a 100 to 150 grain bullet than you will with a 75 grain bullet if the 2 bullets are equal in their construction. Anyway, back to the topic. Bullets and guns. If we want to shoot deer and antelope with a 223 or a 22-250 or a 220 Swift I believe it is a good idea to rebarrel with a 1-9 twist. The only down side to the faster twist is if you want to fire the Blitz” or SX type of bullets for varminting. Such bullets have very thin jackets and at 22-250 velocities they can come apart in mid air. If you go from a 1-14 twist to a 1-9 twist the problem get far worse. But the answer is simply to fire other bullets. “Standard’ 50-55 grain bullets break up very well at the speed of a 22-250 when they are turning fast. So there really is not much of a need to shoot SXs or Blitz bullets unless you are shooting among cattle or around buildings, which here in Wyoming is usually not a problem. Both the 220 Swift and the 22-250s have fairly short bore life if you shoot them a lot, so if you need a new barrel in the future you may be well served to use a 1-9 twist barrel.