Feb 4, 2011

Web Blast: Wildcatting

By J.D. Jones

From the March/April 2010 Handgun Hunting Column

Left to right: The .222 Rem., .223, .222 Rem Mag., .20 tactical, .204 Ruger and the
.222 Mag JDJ. The JDJ round chases the .22-250 in performance with some loads.

Selecting barrel length is often a major problem for the average shooter. The vast majority select middle of the road length barrels but the trend of questions about length often revolve around extremely long barrels for both pistols and rifles.

The expectation of what a long barrel will do versus a short barrel is often unrealistic in both velocity and accuracy. Having spent thousands of hours and hundreds of thousands of dollars with a large variety of calibers and chronographs, I’ve come to some general conclusions. The final assessment? The the more I know the more unanswered questions I have.

For example, in revolvers, single shot pistols and rifles the length of the barrel is of little or no consequence ballistically in hunting guns. The barrel length will not make any difference to anything you shoot. Excessively long barrels may be counterproductive to accuracy and velocity. Yes, there are “fast” and “slow” barrels and in some cases I can see the reason, but in most I can’t. Types of rifling, chamber dimension, throat and other factors all contribute.

WEB BLAST EXTRA RELOADING DATA

The SSK .22 JDJ Magnum

BULLET	POWER	GRS.	VEL.14″	VEL. 20″	VEL. 26″
40 Vmax	2460	29.9	3511	3938
40 Vmax (2.350 OAL ~ 40 Amax)	2460	31.0	3722	4112
40 Vmax	Reloader 10	28.5	3481	3758 (OAL 2.370)
40 Vmax	Reloader 10	28.5		3838 (OAL 2.330)
40 Vmax	H 335	30.1	28
FN 56 AP	150	2,514	3453	3722 (OAL 2.370) *
*Extremely uniform 8FPS ex spread
55 Speer HP	2460	25.4	2820	2043	3175
55 Speer HP	2460	27.2	3006	2,741
55 Speer HP	2460	28.2	3122
55 Speer HP	2460	29.2	3287	3508	3637
55 Speer HP	Varget	28.8	2923	2,453	124
55 Speer HP	Varget	30.1	3058		3525
55 Speer HP	Benchmark	25.6	2740
55 Speer HP	Benchmark	27.4	2967
55 Speer HP (O.A.L 2.370 ~ 55 Speer HP)	Benchmark	29.2	3221		3638
55 Speer HP	H 335	27.8	2980	3200
55 Speer HP	H 335	29.9		3400
68 Hornady	Benchmark	22.8	2453		2876
68 Hornady	Benchmark	24.3			2905
68 Hornady	Benchmark	25.4			3061
68 Hornady	Benchmark	26.2			3158
68 Hornady (O.A.L. 2.389 ~ 68 Hornady)	Benchmark	27.1	2930	3162	3250
75 Amax	Benchmark	24.6			2961
75 Amax	Benchmark	25.5			3060
75 Amax (O.A.L. 2.460 ~ 75 Amax)	Benchmark	25.8	2732	2982	3056
FIRE FORM
75 Horn HP	Varget	25.9	2507
75 Amax	Varget	25.9	2557
55 Speer HP	Varget	25.9	2473

Test Barrels: 24″ Sako Standard .222 Magnum

24″ & 14″ Contenders with .222 JDJ Magnum Chamber

	Remington 55 PSP	Remington 55 PSP
Sako	2977	3062
24” SSK	2892	3067
14” SSK	2471	2678
Sako	3204 27.5 Varget	55 Rem FMJ, fire form load
24” SSK	3197
14” SSK	2620
Sako	3244 28.3 Varget	55 FMJ
Sako	3332 29.2 Varget	55 FMJ, max powder capacity
Sako	3540 29.0 H 335	55 FMJ
24” SSK	3540 29.0 H 335	55 FMJ
14” SSK	3130 29.0 H 335	55 FMJ
Formed Case
24” SSK	3668 30.2 H 335	55 FMJ
14” SSK	3181 30.2 H 335	55 FMJ
Sako	3746 27.3 RE 10	40 Hornady
Sako	3894 28.3 RE 10	40 Hornady
Sako	4058 29.2 RE 10	40 Hornady, max case capacity
24” SSK	4016 29.2 RE 10	40 Hornady, fire form load
14” SSK	3482 29.2 RE 10	40 Hornady, formed case
14” SSK	3731 30.2 RE 10	40 Hornady, formed case