I recently purchased a Handi Rifle 22-250 and so far I love shooting it, but Im having an issue picking the right kind of ammo for my application.
I started out trying to shoot 55 grain Hornady vmax ballistic tipped ammo, and it was key holing out of the barrel onto my paper targets for sighting purposes. I went and bought some cheap walmart ammo (remington jhp I think) and finished my sighting in. It worked just fine.
Then, I ordered 100 rounds of Corbon 53 gr. barnes DPX Tripple Shock X bullet ammo from a website online. Paid a very large chunk of change for this ammo. I wanted to hunt Coyote and Deer with this round, but Ive started getting Keyhole shots again at the range.
I need to find an ammo that will work for my applications in this weapon. I need it to be efficient enough to kill coyote's at 300 yards, deer at about 100 yards, and not key hole shoot out of the barrel when I am at the range or hunting.
Additional information. Barrel is 22 inches long with a 1:14 rate of twist. Single shot model number SB2-250. 3-9x-56E Bushnell banner series dusk and dawn scope mounted.
A .22-250 should be fine with those bullet weights. I've used up to 63gr. bullets in mine (not a Handi-Rifle). Have you checked the crown for damage? Is that an actual measurement of the twist rate, or just what the company literature states?
I have the same gun in the same caliber, and get pretty poor accuracy from it. Never checked the rifling, but I bet its slower than what is stated. I had to send mine back, it would break open after every shot. Took them six months to get it back to me, but its fixed. Ive had several handi rifles, from 22 hornet to .50 blackpowder, and all were top notch, except this one. Ive tried several bullet weights, styles, etc, and get pretty poor accuracy from it with everything Ive tried. I think its a too slow rifling twist, but thats just my guess.
Well, I got sub 1 inch accuracy from the wal mart ammo i used to sight in with at 100 yards,... just not with the 2 types of premium ammo i have used.
The bullets that are put in the shells are longer than they are heavy. Rifiling twist has something to do with how long the bullets are and not how heavy they are. The 53 grain barnes tsx bullets are like .850 of an inch long where as the wal mart bullets are only .7 of an inch long. So, even though its got a slow twist rate, there is some ammo out there that will shoot reliably from this gun.
My main question goes back to the actual ammo. Where can I get a quality hunting ammo for this rifle? Anyone have any sugestions? Im thinking I need to stick with soft points because they tend to be shorter than they are long, and keep the weight at 50 to 55 grains.
Angus6, I do love the rifle. I havent had any of the issues that people are talking about with case sticking or bad accuracy,.. Ive just got to find the right ammo for the gun to be sucessful with. The accuracy of mine was great with the right ammo, and piss poor with the wrong stuff.
Yeah, Angus, The gun is a very nice weapon. Ive never had a case stick, or a failure to fire. You know, even the key hole shots I was firing were im some sort of a discernable group. The accuracy was there, just not the 100% performance that Im gonna need.
Im not a fan of wal mart ammo for hunting. Its a shame that they were the only shells that would fire correctly in the rifle. The accuracy was superb. Sub 1 inch groups at 100 yards. The 22-250 is a smooth weapon to shoot. I just dont think those regular base remington 11 dollar special soft points will be good enough to kill a coyote at the distances I want to try and kill them at.
Thanks for the link. Ill start trying to find the 50 grain loads for the weapon. Midway USA was sold out or backordered on every one of those links you posted me. I have bought most of my ammo from midway and here recently they have been sold out on just about everything,.. even for my .17 HMR and my .243 win.
You state that the "cheap" Walmart Remington JHP bullet ammo worked just fine, ejects normally, shoots 1" or sub 1" groups and you are not happy with it. It sounds like you have found the ideal ammo for that rifle. What about low price is a problem? Why not shoot a dozen coyotes with that ammo and see how many complain that the bullet was not expensive enough or how many refuse to fall down. (Or you could just go to a "high priced" Sporting Goods Store or Gun Shop and pay a lot more for the same ammunition.) Some people actually think that Remington ammunition is "a quality hunting ammo". Remington ammunition has killed a lot of "stuff". Remington sells their bullets to a lot of reloaders to shoot at "something". I do not mean to sound mean, offensive or hateful, I just don't understand why you are not "real happy" (dancing in the street) that you have found such accurate, good performance ammunition at an economical price. Moderator: Please delete this post if it is considered inappropriate.
I got the same gun and sighted it in with wal-mart ammo, the winchester USA 45gr. at 4000fps. and have under 1/2 inchs groups at 100 yards. I do reload and getting ready to try 50 gr. V-MAX with winchester primers and IMR 4060. IMR told me not to go over 37gr of powder and with max load it should be 3866fps.
If you don't reload your at there mercy. 1 inch is pretty good. I just want better then 1/2 inch groups, if I can time will tell.
I'm sorry, but did you just state that you're not satisfied with 1/2 groups out of a single-shot, break-action gun that costs ~$250? (I call BS...) The longer you shoot, the more you will realize what a rare thing it is to get such good accuracy from an inexpensive gun and factory ammo. If you can do better with handloads, it will be by a VERY small margin.
Sounds like your rate of twist is slower than advertised...can't think of why else those longer bullets are key-holing. The answer to accuracy problems with slower twist 22's (ie 22 Hornet) is to shoot a lighter, shorter bullet. No, they won't have the BC, but for your stated purpose, it won't matter. I can see wanting to be as accurate as possible with your gun, given that varmints are small targets, sometimes at long range. However, Safeshot is right about questioning your obvious contempt for "cheap" ammo, especially when it shoots well in your gun.
Try buying/loading some smaller bullets...the 40 and 50 gr Nosler BT's comes to mind, along with the Sierra 45gr SPT. If one of these has the length/weight to shoot well from your rifle, problem solved!
I have been shooting 22-250 for 40 years, and reload. My rate of twist is 1-14" also, and I have found the 55 gr soft point is the best. If you plan to shoot deer you will need the 55 gr. I would not shoot one with anything smaller unless you limit shots to head or neck. At the speed the 55 gr goes you really don't need a premium bullet, all soft point bullets explode well. Go with the Walmart stuff. Wallacem in Ga.
I just bought the HR 22-250 been thru 10 boxes of shells (wichester supreme, remington, federal) and I still get bullet tumbeling dont know if that is actually the same as keyholing but the bullet leaves a perfect side shape in the paper and i can't get out past 50 yards. Not heard anyone have any luck with sendin one back any suggestions??
Dunno where you got the notion that sending it back to H&R was a problem, that's just not true, recent reports at GBO on repairs and accessory barrel orders have been excellent, follow the directions on the CS page and get it fixed, it's probably got a bad barrel if factory ammo keyholes, call and ask for a UPS return shipping label to cover shipping costs.
Farrier (and others) FYI: the Handi often will pop open unless the latch and shelf are bone dry. Do not oil this area and close the gun firmly and they will never pop open unless you get the very rare one that is not fitted correctly. Goatwhiskers the Elder
Key hole is sometimes a sign of the barrel being shot out? Barnes bullets are all longer because they a all copper this too may be a problem. I have shot 53 gr and 55 gr bullets in my target rifle and used both in my hunting rifle on white tail and wild boar with never a problem.
I also have the 22-250. So far with my experience (and each one of these particular guns have a personailty so may be different on someone elses) I started with 55 grain winchester, which seemed to perform OK but not great. I got frustrated one day when all the ammo I was used to were not available at our local store, so I ended up getting 40 (or 45gr) can't remember which and went out to the feild. SHOCKED they performed much better and tighter groups. I then researched that the twist rate 1:14 on a barrel such as mine GENERALLY liked the lighter bullets but heard a lot of people that had good results with 50 and 55gr, mine is OK but not like the lighter ones.
I then tried reloading for the gun with a neck size only die and found my new delema which was that the neck portion needs to be pushed back or else it does not lock up properly (you can tell by a sliver of light that shows between the barrel and breech when viewing the profile so watch for this if you try to reload, don't make a whole bunch then find out like I did), so I got a full length sizing die but haven't tried that yet so hopefully that works.
Sorry for the long post but I relived my testing (when reading this post) to find out what works for my H&R and the learning curve continues. Cool little rifle and it is teaching me more than my other bolt actions by a long shot, I thought at first that it was not worth the hassle but am learning to enjoy figuring this thing out as they are great guns and have an addictive trait.
Had the exact same rifle and it shot the 45 gr Winchester white box like a house afire! Shot 1/2" groups with boring regularity if there is such a thing. Mine also shot the 50gr Winchester supremes well too. Barrel break in is very important with these rifles sometimes. Supposedly some have rough bores and need a little copper polishing. Got one in 25-06 that didn't really settle down till around 100 rnds but now shoots around an inch with factory ammo. Prolly just not stabilizing them long bullets. Hope this helps.
I have a 22-250 custom with the 1-14" twist. It shoots 55 gr bullets great. It is a 24" bbl and that may be the difference. The 22" bbl is not turning up enough speed to stabailze the 55 gr bullet. You need more speed, might have to settle for a smaller weight bullet to work. Wallacem in Ga
Hi guys, I know this is an old thread, but i need to chime in here.... I just bought one of these with the 22" BBL, and went out and bought dies, and brass. (I had 50 gn. NBT already, and varget). So I made a dozen rounds up with 34 gn of varget under the 50 gn. Nosler ballistic tip. I have a coal of 2.350". I went out to sight it in, and to my dis-belief I shot a 10" group at 30 yards with every round keyhole'd.... WTF? Shouldnt this thing be able to stabilize 50 gn NBT's?
I dunno what to think of this, this is un- accepatable. Should I go out and buy a box of the Wal-Mart winchester white box stuff, and try that out? or is it no good? I've never seen anything like this before, except when i bought a new Marlin .17 that had a bad bbl.
That is certainly some awful groups! If you're getting keyholes at 30 yards, something is obviously very wrong. There is certainly nothing about the load recipe that should cause the problem you're seeing, and any 22-250 barrel that won't stabilize 50gr BT's is damaged or fault, in some way.
Any chance it has the wrong bore size...maybe 243? Do you see any sign of damage to the crown of the rifle? You can try some factory ammo, but the odds aren't good it will make any difference. If it groups pretty well, then maybe you made a serious mistake with the loads you made?
I'd be interested to hear if you figure out what the deal is. Also, if you respond and want to send your rifle in, please let me know and I'll help you with information to get that taken care of.
just bought a 22-250 H&R SINGLE SHOT and the best I can group is 2.5" and most of the time not that. I hand load and have tried 55,60 and 70 grains bullets. The 70 do the best. 2 bullets may be in same hole and the next 2 might be in same hole again but 2-4" away. Tried 4064,760,748,varget,8208 and h380. Have a 22-250 abolt and about anything will group under 1" and tried my son's savage 22-250 with some of these loads it grouped under 1/2". any suggestions have fired about 130 bullets through it
just bought a 22-250 H&R SINGLE SHOT and the best I can group is 2.5" and most of the time not that. I hand load and have tried 55,60 and 70 grains bullets. The 70 do the best. 2 bullets may be in same hole and the next 2 might be in same hole again but 2-4" away. Tried 4064,760,748,varget,8208 and h380. Have a 22-250 abolt and about anything will group under 1" and tried my son's savage 22-250 with some of these loads it grouped under 1/2". any suggestions have fired about 130 bullets through it
Yeah, I agree with smokinfz1, something is most likely loose there. I can't imagine the 70gr bullets being the best, I'm almost sure they have a 1:14 twist and the 55's technically should be the best. Crazier things have happened though ! Welcome to the forum !
I've had several H&R's over the years, some for myself and some I bought for kids, nephews, etc. The older ones I really liked, but the newer ones, are in my opinion, real pieces of ****, and the Rossi's are even worse. I guess they just have to build 'em so cheap to compete, that the quality is completely gone.
rivercanoe, most times I have seen where you get dual groups out of a load like what your describing results from a something loose like a scope/scope mount.
i just dropped back in to say i got things straightened out. I sent the rifle back under warranty, and H&R got back to me and stated it wasnt repairable, The said the headspace was GROSSLY out! (I measured it and found it to be approx 1/4" out!), and they would replace it. I got my replacement back this week, brand new. I mounted a sightmark 4-16x44 scope and took it out to sight it in, with factory 55 gn winchester ammo, it shot a nice group of about an inch at 100 yards after sighting it in (it took me 3 shots to get it basically in)! I then tried my first reloads, which consist of 34g of Varget, under a 50 gn NBT, with a stock COAL of 2.350"..... these rounds are shooting pretty **** good. I managed a 1.5" 4 shot group, and the BBL isnt even broken in yet. I also dont have any other powder than H335, Benchmark, and Varget here at this time. I will get some H380 next time i'm at the store.
So far this thing looks very promising! I really like it as a truck gun, its nice and light and short. I think ill get a boyds thumbhole stock for it and call it good! Now i need to work up a load for it! It'll be an excellent 'Yote gun! If your Hani Rifle 22-250's are keyholing, measure the headspace on it! H&R will replace it, if its bad..... at the end of the day though, i dont understand how they could let something so bad out the door?
Ginnz.
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