Fast, Fast twist, .22

[eLightfoot]

Im tossing around the idea of building a .22 centerfire for punching paper and long range ground squirrels/coyotes. At first I thought a 22creedmoor would fit the bill. After a bit more consideration it might be a little excessive. So then I thought 22BR would be awesome and might be what i choose. However I also see GAP has 22GT brass, and honestly I think that would be the ultimate 22 if brass continued to be available. Looking to shoot bullets from the 75-90grain range. Want it very accurate for 100yrd groups, easy to load, fast for minimal hold overs out to 600yrds.
I guess a fast twist 22-250 with proper throat would work too. looking for suggestions from guys with experience with such rifles.

 

[B23]

Defensive Edge built a 224 Terminator for me awhile back would it check all the boxes for you? It's their version of a 22-243 Improved. Purchase dies and formed Lapua brass from them so there is no fireforming unless you want to. It's pretty much one stop shopping with their Terminator builds.

 

[B23]

The 22CM and 22-250 are both good options as well. The 22CM will have a slight case capacity advantage so for pushing the heavies if I had to pick between those two I'd go 22CM. Both have premium Lapua or ADG brass available so that's a wash.

 

[rayporter]

at one time i built a 22-243. it was an accurate screamer but making brass ate up a bunch of barrel life. 70 and 75s carried well. the lonlgest kill it made was 740 yd but i never considered it a 600 rifle, it was falling apart by then.

i said back then if i ever built another hot rod 22 it would be a swift.

 

[83cj-7]

Just finished a 22-6mm build. Just neck down 6mm Remington brass and load. No fire forming. Hornady 75 ELD @ 3450. Shoots 1.5” at 400 yards. Built with an 8 twist mainly to shoot the 75s for groundhogs. Should be a good 500 yard or better varmint cartridge.

 

[rayporter]

Just finished a 22-6mm build. Just neck down 6mm Remington brass and load. No fire forming. Hornady 75 ELD @ 3450. Shoots 1.5” at 400 yards. Built with an 8 twist mainly to shoot the 75s for groundhogs. Should be a good 500 yard or better varmint cartridge.

biggest problem with this is 6mm rem can hard to find -even in good times.

 

[khuber84]

I suggest a 22gt, 22creed or 22-250imp. My smith is test firing my 22 creed he chambered tomorrow. I went with an 8tw to run 65-85gr bullets. The nice thing about the creed, the capacity is big enough, you can use H1000 a very cool burning magnum powder.

 

[CApighunter]

I just built a 7 twist 22 creed, it’ll push a 95gr smk at 3200 from a 22 inch tube.

 

[Ridge86]

22 creedmoor all the way, I shoot 80gr Berger’s at around 3400 fps and it hits hard lol. Coyotes don’t know what hit them

 

[B23]

Just finished a 22-6mm build. Just neck down 6mm Remington brass and load. No fire forming. Hornady 75 ELD @ 3450. Shoots 1.5” at 400 yards. Built with an 8 twist mainly to shoot the 75s for groundhogs. Should be a good 500 yard or better varmint cartridge.

biggest problem with this is 6mm rem can hard to find -even in good times.

My dad has had a 22-6mm for nearly 30 years. His is built on a SA Rem 700 with a Lilja barrel and I don't think he's ever shot anything but Berger 75gr VLD's.

rayporter is correct finding Rem 6mm brass isn't always the easiest thing and I think Hornady is about the only one that makes it anymore. Remington brass was never all that great the old white and blue bag Winchester brass was actually the best and this new Hornady stuff is just kinda ok-ish.

I've shot a shit ton of coyotes with my dad's 22-6mm and it has always shot extremely well but if you plan on shooting the long heavy for caliber bullets in a 22-6mm build a person really should consider using a mid length action because with the Rem 6mm case being so long when you start sticking these long high BC bullets in them the OAL doesn't work well in a SA or you have to seat them deeper and eat up case capacity which defeats the whole purpose of a hot rod build. If using a SA consider going to a 22-243 or one of the many different 22-243 Improved variants because they just fit better in a SA and you can seat the bullet out of the case without using up case capacity. Also, using necked down Lapua 243 brass made it an easy choice for me.

 

[83cj-7]

Before this most recent craziness, I could buy Winchester 6mm brass on Gunbroker any time I wanted. It was running $20 per 50. That was only 2 months ago and I doubt I could even find it now. I built mine on 30-06 action length so that I have plenty of room.

 

[eLightfoot]

A 22creed would be the biggest case I’d consider using. I’d go that route well before considering a 6mm rem or 243 variant. Simply because good brass is easy. I still prefer the idea of slightly less Capacity, less over bore, less recoil. I’ll keep looking at the GT or possibly 22dasher. But 22creed is likely the easiest to do

 

[rayporter]

the 22 creed might turn out to be the best to build. and maybe they will make brass for it.

 

[CApighunter]

There’s only a few options for brass with the 22 creed now, but you can easily neck down 6 creed in one pass. Hornady 6 creed brass is what I use.

 

[BluMtn]

Just finished a 22-6mm build. Just neck down 6mm Remington brass and load. No fire forming. Hornady 75 ELD @ 3450. Shoots 1.5” at 400 yards. Built with an 8 twist mainly to shoot the 75s for groundhogs. Should be a good 500 yard or better varmint cartridge.

Had one of those right after Rick Jamison of shooting times wrote about developing it. It was a fire breathing coyote killer. I also used Winchester PF 06 action with a Pac-Nor 26" barrel. I won't mention speeds because I ran them extremely hot and I don't really recommend those loads to any body anymore. I made the progression from 22-250 to 220 swift to 22-6mm then as always someone wanted the gun more than I did and it went down the road and I then started using a ruger 6mm from then on.

 

[wind gypsy]

the 22 creed might turn out to be the best to build. and maybe they will make brass for it.

There is already good head stamped 22 creed brass options out there.

Don’t think you can go wrong with 22br, 22gt, or 22 creed. Figure out how much juice you want.

 

[eLightfoot]

If I go with 22creed I’ll most likely neck down lapua 6creed SRP. Should be a simple process with a bushing die

 

[khuber84]

A 22creed would be the biggest case I’d consider using. I’d go that route well before considering a 6mm rem or 243 variant. Simply because good brass is easy. I still prefer the idea of slightly less Capacity, less over bore, less recoil. I’ll keep looking at the GT or possibly 22dasher. But 22creed is likely the easiest to do

Take a look intl the 22lrv. Its a west tex ordnance creation, but it's just a necked down 6xc to 22 cal. The XC is actually a great design. It has same length as creed, but the neck is quite a bit longer. Holds 2gr less powder. Peterson, aplha and norma make XC brass.
22creed brass is already available from Hdy alpha and Peterson. However I chose to neck down Lapua 6mm srp as it holds a few more grains of powder vs alpha and Peterson.
Peterson brass is extremely strong in the web and case head, that's why the lower cap and extra weight.
The peterson 6xc brass holds 48gr powder, 6gt is 43, 6 dasher is 40, their 22creed is 50. Hornady 6.5 creed is almost 54. So in essence if you run peterson creedmoor brass, there's less capacity there than you think. You can also look into a 22x47 lapua, their peterson 6x47 hold 47gr.

 

[B23]

Once you neck the 47 case down to 22 cal it has nearly the exact same case capacity as Lapua 22-250 brass.

 

[B23]

ADG makes 22 Creed brass and it's pretty good stuff. I believe it's also a tick on the thick-ish side so it may have a slight reduced case capacity over some of the others but I can live with that if the quality is there and it means less prep work and lasts longer.