I’m new to the 22 BR so thanks to all who have posted on here with lots of great knowledge. I have 300 pieces of brand new Lapua 6 BR on the way and Redding 22 BR FL bushing die so I’m planning on doing exactly what you’ve suggested here @Birddog6424. I’ll follow up with a K&M mandrel as well after resizing. Are you doing any neck turning afterwards? Seeing any issues down the road with doughnuts forming?
Awesome, thanks! Stepping down in two sizes sounds like a good idea, definitely what an article on Accurate Shooter suggests. Guess I won’t know how much neck my chamber has until I produce a piece of fired brass. It’s a SJA 1:7 barrel with 0.050” freebore. Is that a bit short on freebore? I seem to recall some preferring all the way out to 0.130”.
I don’t know the reamer specs but I’m guessing you’re correct on it being an original 22 BR reamer. If my calculations are close, with 0.002” neck tension, I should be somewhere around 0.248” to 0.250” with Lapua brass which will hopefully be just under the 0.252” chamber neck. I’ve measured neck thickness on Lapua brass to consistently be 0.013” in 6.5 CM brass, but with sized down 22 BR, I imagine it’ll be thicker. (0.222” + 0.013” + 0.013” = 0.248”). Being new to a wildcat, does having that tight neck chamber necessitate neck turning? A looser chamber prevents that?
i had hundreds of old 6BRA brass that i had pulled. in one pass with the SAC die (.247 bushing) they became 22BR. i didn’t lose a piece of brass. I’m running 88eld’s in a bartlein 7.75-7.0 gain twist. as my practice rifle i’m running 33.0g or Staball at .020“ off. shoots very well.
I had good luck with my first barrel with a standard 22BR reamer, .050 fb and .252 neck. The next barrel I had chambered with the same reamer, I had stiff bolt close and open due to the tight neck. There is a local smith that has a .100 and .253 reamer. I am tempted to have him set back my original barrel that has 1800 rounds on it and see if .253 is big enough. If I were to order a new reamer, it would be .100 and .254 or .255.
@Deep South Tactical has mine, 0.255 neck and 0.130 FB. Reamer’s brand new, they’re gonna cut my chamber soon but happy to loan it out for a minor wear-and-tear fee.
What’s the turn around time at Deep South Tactical? I definitely like to take you up on on the reamer offer. Happy to pay a wear & tear fee, shouldn’t be too hard to open up an existing chamber a bit. Maybe I could get my barrel down there while they still have your reamer on hand.
It was a couple weeks awhile back, I'm waiting to hear from them on the lead time but don't worry about the reamer leaving their shop; I'm just gonna leave it with them, they cut all my barrels right now and I'm not getting another spun for awhile. I'll shoot you a PM about it, but they've got a very nice lady who always answers the phone, she might have info on lead time.
I’ve been shooting a 22BRA this year. You’ll be able to run a wider range of powders. I’m currently running 32.0 of H4350 with 90 A tips at about 3010fps. We have a .130 freebore and to tell the truth I wouldn’t be afraid to run .150 or more. It’ll make good use of your brass
A simple swap out of the bushing in my SAC die is all it will take. I'd just have to find a smith that has access to a reamer set up for 90gr A tipsHaha, I insist damnit!!
I think the 22BRA would be brilliant. I tried to build one a couple of years ago. Manson was going to cut me a reamer, but I couldn't find a 22BRA specific die. I didn't want to sink custom die money into it, so I kept the BR. But if dies are available and you have the brass, hell yeh. I insist.
I have a 7 twist Bartlein 5r blank that I was going to use for my next 223 barrel. This has me wanting to try a 22 Dasher.
Post 573 up above is what I’m running. I fireformed my brass from necked down 6br. A buddy of mine is using bra necked down. I did neck down one piece of alpha just experiment. It wasn’t an issue. Should be simple. Neck one down, shove a bullet in it and measure the neck do you know if you’ll need to turn or not
I’m sure there’s more to be had but I’m not trying to hot rod it. I’m wanting to keep my brass in good shape. It’s been cool out so I’m not sure how much more pressure it’ll get when it warms up. I’m about 500 rounds into it. I did shoot some 88’s and 90 smk with 4166 at 3050fps no issues also in cool weather
30.0 so not a lot gained if anything with that particular powder, but I think the gain is with some of the slower powders. Possibly maintain 22br barrel life with a little extra velocity. Too early to tell.
So far H4350 is it. I'm going to try some 6.5 Staball when I can get some, it should be as good as 4350 and be able to drop it from Lee powder measure pretty quickly. With today's powder situations if I needed to I'd probably try anything I had on hand within reason
