Getting into 22 Nosler/Nosgar - any tips?

RZR800XC

New member
I'm down to waiting on the rifle length gas tube and ASC 6.8 mags to show up this week before my 22 Nosler build is all done. I picked up a 18" Rainier Ultra Match barrel and Rainier adjustable gas block. This will hopefully be my night coyote gun with the Super Hogster on it.

I also got a 6.8 bolt head and 500 pcs of the 6mm Hagar brass to neck down. I am hoping that will help pick up a bit more velocity over the regular 22N brass and maybe last a bit longer. Really though I'll be hunting in snow most of the time so the brass will probably be lost at that point anyways.

Hopefully I can get the 52gr. Berger Varmint Match HP to shoot, that's what I would prefer to run. Otherwise I have all different kinds of Vmax, SP and SPSX to try from 40gr to 60gr plus some 62gr Varmageddon that shoot really well in my regular .223.

For some break in loads I made up 5 each of 50gr. HDY SP with H4895 at 29, 29.5, 30 and 30.3. We'll see how those look and go from there. I don't have CFE223, but do have a few lb of 8208XBR and plenty of Varget and others to try too if needed.

Any other pointers from the folks that are running the 22 Nosler or Nosgar and reloading for it?

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That looks sweet, looking forward to a range report. I'd definitely use some kind of brass catcher. I think xbr will be your friend here.
 
I think you will find varget to be slow. I've never tried 8208 but h4895 shoots well with the 50 grainers. Cfe223 is so good with 53's and 55s's I quit experimenting. 33 to 33.2 grains has shot well in 5 different rifles. You should be around 3320 out of an 18" with CFE223 and 55's if I recall. Since you don't have any this should give you something to compare to speed wise.
 
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Got the last parts in yesterday and ran over to the range quick this morning to try a few loads out. The 52gr Berger Varmint Match HP's outshot the Hornady 50gr SP's by a good margin so far. These were all with new Nosler 'blem' brass with the only prep being a quick turn with the vld chamfer tool.


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The rifle functioned perfectly. The Rainier adjustable gas block was super easy to get tuned in. I used a Tubbs flat wire spring and H3 buffer, regular rifle length gas system. No pressure signs on the brass up to 30.3 gr H4895.

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Got out quick after work in the few minutes of light that was left. I've been able to shoot enough that I finally have some 1x Hagar brass that's been fire formed. Seating them longer did seem to help. The horizontal stringing is mostly me rushing I would imagine since the wind was only about 4mph. Should be running about 3,450 ft/s, but there wasn't enough light to verify with the chrono tonight.

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Tried out some 40gr. Vmax in the Hagar brass this morning. It seemed like they liked being pushed faster. Although I slightly question the chrono readings, it was sunny then cloudy then sunny again. One of these days I'll get a magnetospeed and quit worrying about the light.

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Always that one pesky flyer that ruins an otherwise good group.

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Yeah I would question that much jump in speeds for 1/2 grain. Honestly I'm guessing the 3700 speed would be closer to correct with 40's in an 18" barrel.
 
Originally Posted By: 204 ARYeah I would question that much jump in speeds for 1/2 grain. Honestly I'm guessing the 3700 speed would be closer to correct with 40's in an 18" barrel.

Agreed, the load data puts it in the 3800-3900 range with a 24" barrel so I was expecting somewhere around 3700ish towards the top end with the 18" barrel.
 
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