Thread: Loading for a 22 Creedmoor

Aight folks.

I've gone and bought myself a Sako 22 Creedmoor that was on trade me for some time and need to start loading for it.
Thanks to a legend of a mate I have my hands on some Alpha Brass, primers and a set of dies.
Load data the previous owner was using was the 80gn ELDM and H4350 at 42.3gn.

So the question was to see what other loads any of the folks out there are running. Planning to stick with the ELDM ut stepping up to the 88gn simply as its readily available at the moment. What other powder options are people using with good results? I currently don't use any H4350 or 2209 in any of my other loading and it's not the easiest stuff to find these days lol.

Any advise is very much welcomed and interested to see what others are running . Main purpose will be for culling roos and deer.
Can't wait to get her up and running, herd good things about the 22 creed.

I had watchlisted that rifle repeatedly. Good buying! Glad to see it's gone to a forum member.

If I remember correctly, Peterson have a PDF on their website with some load data.

One of the guys at TrueFlite also has some experience with the cartridge as well. Maybe contact them.

Would have thought you'll get much better results with something slower like 2217 or even 2225 since the bore is so much smaller than the 6 and 6.5 Creedmoor. I use 2217 in a 22-250AI with the 88gr ELD.

Plenty of load data available on the internet these days.

the 88s shoot amazing in my 22x47lap 1100y

Originally Posted by WildBrad

Aight folks.

I've gone and bought myself a Sako 22 Creedmoor that was on trade me for some time and need to start loading for it.
Thanks to a legend of a mate I have my hands on some Alpha Brass, primers and a set of dies.
Load data the previous owner was using was the 80gn ELDM and H4350 at 42.3gn.

So the question was to see what other loads any of the folks out there are running. Planning to stick with the ELDM ut stepping up to the 88gn simply as its readily available at the moment. What other powder options are people using with good results? I currently don't use any H4350 or 2209 in any of my other loading and it's not the easiest stuff to find these days lol.

Any advise is very much welcomed and interested to see what others are running . Main purpose will be for culling roos and deer.
Can't wait to get her up and running, herd good things about the 22 creed.

4350/2209 seems is probably the most common powder used as basically anything that goes well in a 6.5CR goes well in a 22CR. Yanks tend to use likes of Varget/2208 for lighter end of spectrum loads 60s-75's to H1000 at the other end with heavier 95's fairly common. Staball, H4831SC you name, so many different powders seem to work. My pet load is 40.7gr RL16 behind the 88's.

Started out with RL26 and you get some hotrod performance and also accuracy but had problems with carbon ring build up shooting shorter barrel suppressed, longer unsuppressed would be ok . Super Performance seemed to look promising with the 95 SMK also but just didn't follow up on. 88's are good and bought a heap when were only 45c each and great all rounder, they seem to hit animals quite hard.

I watchlisted that a heap too.Awesome rifle

Seems to be getting a solid following in the States, hard to say if will end up coming out in a factory rifle? There are a few fast .22 wildcats with their own slightly different merits gaining popularity.

Have to watch US reloading data off internet, some of it is just ridiculously overpressure hot when run in quickload. That's what Peterson brass also found out and published it. Some of the rifles the build are just works of art with all the nice custom actions they have access to.

They seem to love their "truck axle" barrels, even on shorty's. They mustn't walk far with them, "truck guns" I guess?

Yep people work up and keep going until they get a heavy bolt lift or a flat primer or stamp. And then maybe back it off a fraction and call that their max charge. Which is probably too hot since it's all relative to the action and the toughness of the components and does nothing to actually tell you what the pressure is.

The yanks also have an obsession with H4350 (AR2209) and try to shoehorn it into everything. Whilst it's an ideal powder for 6.5 Creedmoor, case capacity to bore ratio says that slower powders will be better suited with the 22cal version.

I know I can get more speed safely using AR2217 in my 22-250AI with 88gr pills. Even AR2225 is a viable option. AR2209 tops out quite a bit sooner.

Originally Posted by Pommy

Yep people work up and keep going until they get a heavy bolt lift or a flat primer or stamp. And then maybe back it off a fraction and call that their max charge. Which is probably too hot since it's all relative to the action and the toughness of the components and does nothing to actually tell you what the pressure is.

The yanks also have an obsession with H4350 (AR2209) and try to shoehorn it into everything. Whilst it's an ideal powder for 6.5 Creedmoor, case capacity to bore ratio says that slower powders will be better suited with the 22cal version.

I know I can get more speed safely using AR2217 in my 22-250AI with 88gr pills. Even AR2225 is a viable option. AR2209 tops out quite a bit sooner.

Yes I believe you are correct with the heavier pills but remember they are shooting this calibre with a wide variety of pills down to even 52gr, but commonly 60's, 70's & the 75 ELDM seems very popular choice so its horses for courses regarding powder. Many still running 26 inch tubes at insane speeds, others down to 16 inch and in between.

2209/4350 can pressure spike quite quickly so need to be careful RL16 is fairly similar burn rate. RL26 was best performance, then RL16, 2209/4350 then 4831sc for me in 88's. So think there are a couple of key factors firstly your bullet weight but then what you barrel length is for what works in particular rifle.

H1000/2217 seems to be most popular choice for 95' SMKs wasn't much around so I haven't bothered trying, 88's go good and half price.

How are your loads going? I’m using rl 16 and 80g eldest for deer, and 80.5g for targets. Amazing caliber. Get more action than anything else in the rack

I have got the 22 Creedmoor bug as well, have all my parts at the gunsmith, I have gone for a 1-7 twist for 88 eldm and 90 smk
I am thinking 2213sc or 2217.
Has anyone had bullets come apart in flight?

Not yet. About 300 down the pipe so far. Probably a different story when it gets to 700

Originally Posted by Morepork

I have got the 22 Creedmoor bug as well, have all my parts at the gunsmith, I have gone for a 1-7 twist for 88 eldm and 90 smk
I am thinking 2213sc or 2217.
Has anyone had bullets come apart in flight?

I'm guessing 700+ down, no bullets come apart but just had to lengthen OAL by 10 thou as started opening up, good again now.

Came across some bad 88's that weren't in spec, wondered why my seating was all over place and could visibly see shape not quite same on closer inspection. Hornady are much cheaper than anything else, generally pretty good value so I'm not worried.

Originally Posted by Morepork

I have got the 22 Creedmoor bug as well, have all my parts at the gunsmith, I have gone for a 1-7 twist for 88 eldm and 90 smk
I am thinking 2213sc or 2217.
Has anyone had bullets come apart in flight?

Hi i have had 77 TMK coming apart at 3450 FPS in 1 in 7 twist on 22-250AI i dropped it to around 3350FPS and have had none come apart
good shooting
alan

Modelling it in GRT suggests that 2209/h4350 is actually the pick of the bunch when it comes to ADI powders, theres just not enough room in the creedmoor case to get enough 2217 or 2225 in there. If you could somehow shoehorn enough 2217 in the case & run it pretty compressed it would give slightly better velocity but would work best with a very long barrel. 2213sc looks like a good option as far as good velocity & max load would be ever so slightly compressed. 2209/h4350 does look to offer better velocity by around 30-40fps over 2213sc, a max charge its around 90% case fill. However something which may be of interest, a max charge of 2209/h4350 will offer a complete burn in as short as a 19 inch barrel, 2213sc & 2217 would both require a 30 inch barrel to do the same, So you would be burning a bit of powder post muzzle, if your running a supressor it could be pretty hard on it.

RL26 comes in as the clear winner by a country mile, Around 150fps gain over 2209/h4350, complete burn in as short as a 18 inch barrel & good case fill.

4350 was a good bet in the 300wsm and so was rl 17, no mention of that?