# 22-250 free bore



## johngfoster (Oct 21, 2007)

How much free bore is too much?

Just got a factory new Remington 22-250. Took it out to the range and was lucky to get one 3-shot group under 1". The others were about 1.5". Needless to say, I was a bit disappointed. I was shooting Hornady factory 55gr VMAX ammo, which I'm told is good stuff.

Well, today I decided to load up some of my own, but before doing this I wanted to check how far out I would need to seat the bullets. I got an OAL gauge by Hornady with the "modified" 22-250 shell that attaches to the gauge. I was very surprised to find that for my chamber, max COL was 2.505 (touching lands)    This doesn't leave much neck to hold the bullet. I checked with some 50gr VMAX and I think it would be a stretch to use them. Forget about 40gr VMAX. :******:

Tonight I loaded up some 55gr VMAX with COL of 2.485 (0.020" off the lands). We'll see if this makes much improvement to the accuracy. Overall, I'm pretty disappointed in Remington. This really is shoddy QC. I have a mind to send the rifle back, but I don't want to be without it for another 6-8 weeks.


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## neb_bo (Feb 3, 2007)

ive never had a remington, but ive always ended up having to seat the bullets deeper than needed to fit the magazine anyways. ive also never loaded 22-250 before, but if you almost cant seat 50gr v-max's, that sounds very excessive.


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## Savage260 (Oct 21, 2007)

My Rem 700 VLSS in 22-250 has been getting pretty good results seating mine at 2.350 OAL with 50gr blitzkings and 36gr Varget, and 55gr Nosler BTs with 35gr varget at 2.492 OAL. It also shoots very nice groups with 36gr Varmint Grenades and 39gr Varget, seated at 2.402 OAL.


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## People (Jan 17, 2005)

johngfoster I have a rem 700 VS in 308. It seems that Remington is afraid of being sued. I have so much free bore that a 168 is the smallest I can shoot. I have a repeating single shot. Granted I can get .75" groups with the 175 loaded to fit the mag but that is not good enough for me. So I load then long and single shot them. I do get very good accuracy with almost anything I can get out to the riffling.

For now I am just using this for paper and the occasional Coyote. When I get 2,000 threw it I will put on a new tube and have it cut so I can use mag length ammo.

If you are going to shoot Parie Dogs then single loading is not such a big deal as it helps save brass. If you are going after coyotes then having that second, third... shot is nice.


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## 25-06rem. (Jul 6, 2007)

I have a friend that has rem 700 in 7ultra mag. and had had so much free
bore that it was calapsing over have of his case with every thing he tried.

I held a 4inch group at 100yrds.( some people say that is good enough :lol: ) he sent it in and they said there was nothing wrong, they told him that his waranty was done because he ran relodes thru it, but all the rounds where factory, he put 200 rounds thru it and 95 percent where
calapsed. He called them and they said to sent the gun and cases back to them, in the end they sent him a new riffle and 200 rounds of ammo.
he ahd to fight them and he won. but they told him they were scared to get sued, it would give them bad rap. I have only heard that one time until recantly, i have a couple friends that had that problem with there 
700 sps/vls. kinda crapy deal but they both got new riffles and no troubles now. send it in, and happy hunting


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## johngfoster (Oct 21, 2007)

laite319 said:


> My Rem 700 VLSS in 22-250 has been getting pretty good results seating mine at 2.350 OAL with 50gr blitzkings and 36gr Varget, and 55gr Nosler BTs with 35gr varget at 2.492 OAL. It also shoots very nice groups with 36gr Varmint Grenades and 39gr Varget, seated at 2.402 OAL.


Does your rifle have a lot of free bore? How do these loads work with a lot of free bore? I tried some of the Hornady factory loads with the 55gr VMAX loaded at COL of 2.350 and these were all over the place--3-shot groups of 1.5".


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## Savage260 (Oct 21, 2007)

john, using a bullet comparator, the oal gauge, and modified case I got ogive max lengths of 3.105 with 55gr Nos BT's, 3.080 with the 36gr Varmint Grenades, and 3.105 with the 50gr blitzkings. I didn't measure OAL on these, I just set the seating depth back to the loads I mentioned before, and started there. The 55gr Nos BT is loaded at an ogive of 3.075 and the 36gr are 3.074. I am not sure if I am doing this right, but those loads seem to work very well as far as my standards go.


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## NDTerminator (Aug 20, 2003)

For what it's worth, my 250 loads with a 50 grain Ballistic Tip or VMax are 2.350 OAL. I shoot them through a LH Remington 700 BDL and if the 100 yard group opens up beyond .5MOA, it's my fault, not the rifle's.

This rifle is better than 20 years old, and that may be a factor in tighter tolerances.

Two years ago I bought a LH 700 CDL 7MM Mag new, that I couldn't get it to group no matter what I tried. The dealer replaced it with another which shoots as I expect a Remington to, MOA or better with the right load. Haven't had any problems with the replacement.

Neither the dealer or I could see or find any obvious reason for this problem. It was the first and only issue I've had with a NIB Remington 700 in many years of using them...


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## Jaybic (Sep 8, 2005)

Hey all,

This is just my 2 cents but here goes. I have a LH Rem 700 Sendero heavy barrel and when I got it, it didnt impress me either with about 1.5 in groups or so. I also wont claim to be the best shot in the world but now after about 1000-1500 rds thru it and a good trigger job, it will put 5 under a dime with alarming regularity as long as I dont screw it up.

Here is my theory on this. Maybe 1500 rds smoothed out any barrel imperfections and in the process of shooting all those rounds, I just got to be a better shooter. Just a theory.

About the long throat. It also has what seems to be a very long throat and when I load 40 gr Vmax bullets, I just load them long enough to stay in the case and they shoot absolutely stellar. I have always read, heard or been told "closer to the lands the better but those 40s are way off(I dont remember the number)and still shoot like a house afire. My pet coyote bullet is a 55 gr Nosler Bt and it will often shoot equal or better that the 40s and they are about 15 thousands off the lands. I have one group that is 10 shots at 200yds and I can hide all but one under a quarter and the edge of the quarter cuts the 10th hole in half.

I know its supposed to matter but my gun has just gotten better with age and I have no idea why I can load way off with 40 gr Vmax or right close with 55 NBTs and still get that accuracy.

It has been my experience( have 5 different coyote rifles) that some of my guns wanted to shoot great from the first shot and others didnt seem to come around until they had lots of rounds thru them and then they just get better with age. My 700 is this way and so was my abolt 22-250.

I dont know why that is but maybe its just a case of a few more rounds down the tube. Just my best guess anyway but good luck to you. :beer:

Jaybic


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## iwantabuggy (Feb 15, 2005)

Jaybic,

A friend of mine has a book that says the barrel of a modern rifle isn't even broken in to its prime until about 1000 rds. Can't wait to see what my 250 will do after another 700 rds. :sniper:


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## Jaybic (Sep 8, 2005)

Iwantabuggy,

I am with you on that. I have a buddy that will buy a rifle and sell it after one box of rounds thru it and I just dont think it ever gets a fair shake. He bought a CZ 527 in .204 and he is getting about 1-1.5 in groups and just hates it. No hand loads, no different brand ammo. If it dont touch the first 3 shots out of the barrel, to him its junk which is stupid to me. I do have to say the guy is a damn good shot and I have seen him use his M77 heavy barrel in 6mm and print 5 shots in one raggedy hole at 100 yds with his own handloads.

Problem is he bought the ruger action for 100.00 used from a guy and built it up from there. I tell him to shoot the new gun more and he says....it still dont shoot like my Ruger. He has no idea how many rounds have been put thru that Ruger before he got it but he just does not see any logic in what I am saying. Oh well.

I know some rifles shoot well out of the box. My DPMS did from the first shot but I also have and T/C encore in .223, an abolt in .22-250, a swedish kimber mauser in .243 and my 700HB and almost all of them have gotten better with more rounds thru them.

I am sure your 700 will only get better.

Jaybic


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## iwantabuggy (Feb 15, 2005)

Yeah, I really like my 22-250 which will easily shoot sub .5MOA in the right hands. I can't even tell you what it did in the first 50 rounds as they were fired down range without any sights or scope. I was just breaking in the bore. It is the first time I have ever done that. All other guns I just started shooting for groups right off. I hope that the ones I bought new will improve over time as they break in. All the new rifles I have bought still have less than 200 rounds through them.

I need to shoot more often.


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## johngfoster (Oct 21, 2007)

Well, I took my 22-250 to a gunsmith that specialises in Remington actions. He took the action off the stock and found that the barrel was rubbing on the fore-end just a bit. Also some wear marks on the bottom of the action in the bed. And the trigger pull was 6.5 lbs.

So, after a little attention to the above (properly free-floated, action bedded, and trigger adjusted to 2.5 lbs), it now is able to shoot 0.5 inch @ 100yd with the same factory ammo, same free bore, same shooter. I have some handloads that I put together with the bullet seated 20 thousands off the lands, so I'm really looking forward to a day with no wind that I can go test these out.

The smith also noted a little bright spot on one of the bolt lugs, so I may take it back and get this fixed as well. Might be able to squeeze even a bit more out of it.


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## cjb41 (Feb 14, 2008)

I bought a new Winchester 1885/22-250. When working up loads for this rifle and checking the cartridge overall length for my new reloads I used a dummy cartridge. (a resized case with no powder or primer) Using a Sierra 52 gr. HPBT matchking, starting the bullet in the case, putting the dummy cartridge in the rifle and using the rifle action to push the bullet the remaining distance into the case I ended up with the overall length of a cartridge, with the bullet touching the lands. The cartridge overall length was 2.500" about the same as yours. I loaded my reloads to and over all length of 2.4950" (.005 off the lands). Using the boat tail bullets this leaves about .125" of the bullet in contact with the case neck. They shot well with no problems. The best group being .3125", average was approximately .5" with the best load with very few flyers maybe 1 in 12 opening the group up to 1".

Never able to leave well enough alone I loaded some cartridge with the load that had shoot the best but changed the over all length to 2.375" (.125" off the lands) so they would also fit my Remington. They shot about the same with 1 in 5 being a flyer opening the group up to about 1". I was unable to shoot a 5 shot group with out at least one flyer.


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