Tikka T# 22-250 wont shoot

[marksman]

Inside the necks dont look so good. Might be why you get a different feel when seating. I give mine a spin with some copper wool wrapped around a brush in the battery drill. For target shooting my wifes 6.5-284 I neck turn to get consistant wall thickness. Its surprising how out of round some cases are.

+1
although l use a pedestal drill to hold the brush smooth entry and release of the bullet

"If the brass is only taken off one side when you neck turn, would this indicate that the neck had runout, caused by expanding the neck with a mandrel?"
l dont get your question SCJ429
the neck when turned runs off a pilot so any runnout caused by the expander mandrel would not affect the neck as the mandrel straightens out the neck

[Stix]

Ok...so just for clarity... that brass in the pics is NOT the brass ive used in the rifle previously...

This is brass id intended to try...
Ive planned on inspecting & prepping a number of them, until i get 20 or so good ones, & try them...

Also, ive only given them a tumble to get the bulk of the crud off for prepping & inspection...
The ones i use will be tumbled again...

I agree new brass would be better, but not an option at the moment...

[marksman]

once prepped Stix what would be the difference in these and new

have a gander at this Stix https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdJeADnU4Uk

[SCJ429]

Is it possible to induce runout with the mandrel? If the neck is already bent, would the mandrel straighten it?

[marksman]

l'm pretty sure that we dont even have any tool to measure the small amount that we would be talking about, if we are talking about the actual neck having a bend in it
l do believe that an uneven neck thickness has to be bending because the thicker side would be stiffer than the thinner side
but l think after turning this should not be a problem and if you are getting run out from using a mandrel more lube is needed
its probably the reason l dont pay too much attention to my cases till they are match prepped and fireformed

[Wm.Traynor]

once prepped Stix what would be the difference in these and new

have a gander at this Stix https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdJeADnU4Uk

That bloke is very interesting thank you marksman.

[Stix]

Do u neck turn ? Could your necks be getting thicker

Sorry i missed this question BLR...

No i dont neck turn...yet...!!

I think the problem i had with the brass is different batches that are vastly different in mettalugy---that is what i suspect is at least part of my problem anyway...

[Bill]

Stop torturing yaself stix, go grab a box of tikka 55gr 22 250 ammo, cheap and accurate and none of this reloading crap

[Stix]

Stop torturing yaself stix, go grab a box of tikka 55gr 22 250 ammo, cheap and accurate and none of this reloading crap

It has a very short chamber to the shoulder...i tried several factory ammo in it, & the only ones that shot were the high priced stuff...

The bolt only just closes with a no go gauge...and so 40 % of factory ammo is tight to chamber...
The tight ones shoot bug holes...the loose ones (normal bolt close) all spray at random---& i mean spray--2-3 inches in any given direction from memory...

[straightshooter]

The bolt only just closes with a no go gauge...and so 40 % of factory ammo is tight to chamber...
The tight ones shoot bug holes...the loose ones (normal bolt close) all spray at random---& i mean spray--2-3 inches in any given direction from memory...

You have possibly provided a pointer to the root of your problem.
I would suggest you try dry firing at a grid target from a stable sandbag rest and see whether you are able to dry fire with zero movement of the crosshairs.
If there is movement then try dry firing over your tight fired cases and see if there is any difference.
If you can't dry fire without movement then no amount of handload manipulation will do any good. Yes you may sometimes shoot a tight group but mostly you won't.

[Blr243]

I only started turning necks because of my 243 shoulder angle brass was slowly flowing fwd and thickening up my necks and potentially increasing chamber pressures due to more neck tension .... it was quite amazing to see how out of round cases were. With the cutter taking a heap of brass off one side and nothing off the other. If u do start neck turning , go easy. It’s quite a fine precision process. Tiny amounts gradually I think. If you get carried away you can end up with necks too thin and then u start to get lots of split necks. Gods way of telling you that you over did it ..... perhaps the steeper angle of the 250 does not suffer as much from forward brass flow

[Stix]

You have possibly provided a pointer to the root of your problem.
I would suggest you try dry firing at a grid target from a stable sandbag rest and see whether you are able to dry fire with zero movement of the crosshairs.
If there is movement then try dry firing over your tight fired cases and see if there is any difference.
If you can't dry fire without movement then no amount of handload manipulation will do any good. Yes you may sometimes shoot a tight group but mostly you won't.

I appreciate the suggestion the short chamber may be a possible cause...however ive asked every self professed "expert" i know, including a relatively well credentialled gunsmith...& know one knows...
I dont see how a short chamber is the issue...as a gunsmith told me, some people pay him extra money for that...!

So...What does this movement indicate straightshooter...?

I can fire every rifle i have over a solid sandbag & get movement in the reticle when the firing pin slams the end of its run...thats basically how i shoot to be honest...

So whats the correlation...?

[marksman]

the movement would usually indicate the slop that would have the case laying on the bottom of the chamber and the bullet is not directly inline with the bore
sending the bullet off center to the bore causing a bigger group
the gunsmith is right some people pay money for a tight chamber but not a short chamber,
the problem should be rectified after fireforming but it doesn't seem to be
what l do know is that if a rifle shoots with something it can again

[Stix]

Maybe when i get some brass sorted for it, ill jam some nullets to form the brass & see what happens...

[Member-Deleted]

Stix I've set up quiet a few 22-250's mate what i'd do and someone on here has probably said it but here goes i'd get 12 new brass load them to min load and fire them in that rifle then neck them check their length but I doubt they'll need trimming don't worry about annealing them until you've got a load worked up start at min powder load of 31.6 of benchmark 2 from the ADI loading manual with 55gr flat base I found both rem and sako rifles of ours like flat base projectiles only making 1'' with boat tails both rifles like minimum jump ie I mark the dummy bullet projectile with black marker and chamber it keep marking and chambering until there is no mark on the projectile from the lands then measure the bullet from base to the Ogive and that is your length then start loading at that length I go up in 2gr increments till I get close to what I want then test it either side of the load if you change powder do likewise till you get what you want or the best of all then play with seating depth I found the Rem 91/2 primers best in all my 22-250's and b/m2 they like very little jump from 55gr projo down but go to heavier they like a little jump I run winchester , Rem brass and a few others I can't remember at the moment providing they are shot from the same rifle and trimmed right then they don't make any seeable difference with the low load I use I neck about 6 times then anneal and size if they need it if you think the stock is jumping around the barrel get some butchers twine cradle the barrel then slide it right up to the tang to lift the barrel from the stock bit like putting a finger between your toes if one strand is not enough then twist a couple of lengths together to make it tighter this is only a thing to do to test the load finding you'll have to float the barrel if the string makes a difference we used a strip of red hide under the 303-25 barrel to get it shooting anyway if any of this is clear to you then it will make sense to you with the low loads in my rifles and my sons we still get between 3414fps to 3506fps so not slow by any means unless you're chasing speed but I found I could speed them up for less accuracy and use more powder for bugga all extra speed