Finally….coyotes beware

Well today, finally on my third trip to the range and after too much ammo, got my .22-250 where I want it.

Savage Axis-standard model
.22-250
Topped with Barska 3-9×50 (Colorado)
50+55grain hornady v-max

1st picture and second picture are hornady 50 grains at 100. The 55’s shot same groups just a touch lower.

3rd picture is two shots with Remington 55 and Winchester 55 grain soft points. It does not like them.

4th picture is 50 grain hornadys at 200yds

Attachments:

1. 

   IMG_20151030_123528196_HDR1.jpg
   

2. 

   IMG_20151030_123533465_HDR1.jpg
   

3. 

   IMG_20151030_1236164251.jpg
   

4. 

   IMG_20151030_125624386_HDR1.jpg
   

5. 

   IMG_20151030_125624386_HDR.jpg
   

6. 

   IMG_20151030_123616425.jpg
   

7. 

   IMG_20151030_123533465_HDR.jpg
   

8. 

   IMG_20151030_123528196_HDR.jpg
   

Sorry for double pics, I have tech issues sometimes, (and I’m a young guy)

Yep, call ‘er good on the 50g Honradays.

Nice work. It takes a little bit of work to dial her in, but it’s worth it. Coyotes should be very afraid.

Grouse

Nice to see the consistency with my own Axis 22-250. Loves Hornady. Hates everything else. With the exception of Winchester’s 45gr HPs that I use as my prairie dog rounds. I haven’t shot the Vmax 50gr. though and your results are making me curious to know if they’d group slightly tighter as well. I think I’ll have to pick up a box and see what I find!

I shoot Hornady with my .223. Love them. Can’t wait for that first big snow fall to take down some dogs!

stillakid2 wrote:

Nice to see the consistency with my own Axis 22-250. Loves Hornady. Hates everything else. With the exception of Winchester’s 45gr HPs that I use as my prairie dog rounds. I haven’t shot the Vmax 50gr. though and your results are making me curious to know if they’d group slightly tighter as well. I think I’ll have to pick up a box and see what I find!

.

Ya its kinda interesting the way it was such a drastic difference,I may have to pick up the 45grain winshesters to try out, its always better to have a couple rounds it shoots well with

Between the Vmax 55gr and Winchester rounds, at 200yds there is a drop difference so be aware that the 45 grainers aren’t exactly interchangeable. Also be sure to note any left/right tendencies. The grouping should be good but Winchesters, for some reason, are always “off” from the other brands and require a little scope adjusting.

we set up a couple more Savage Axis 250’s for a couple friends. Both were the Axis II. We found similar results with what it likes. I’ll be reloading for these, but its always good to know what it likes in factory rounds as a back-up.

Hornady 55gr Vmax – average .85 group (selected base round)
Hornady 50gr Vmax – Average 1.150 group – POI was about 2″ higher and 3 inches left on both rifles when zero’d with the 55gr

Throat depth to the ogive was deeper than my Howa by about .040 (.037 & .048)on both rifles.

We used the cheap Winchester 45gr HP’s for break-in procedure. After each rifle had about 40 rounds through it, the groups began to tighten up as expected. Both rifles shot about 1.850″ groups with the Winchester 45 HPs

I ran a quick test with my 22-250- pet load of Fed Gold Match primer, 35.1 Varget, and 55gr Nosler HPs. Ran in .010 groups from .020 to .060 off the lands. One really liked the .030 and the other is between .040 and .050 (needs more testing) the one with the .030 shot 4 round .500 group at 100yrds – need to get back out and re-verify this load. We did not shoot these over the Chrony, so I don’t know exact speeds. A educated guess is in the 36XX to 3700. Through my Howa 1500 I’m reaching out 600 yrds with no problem with this load. I could jack up the load and and tweak the seating depth for more speed/flatter trajectory. But with the results I’m seeing with a slightly lower charge, I don’t see any significant reason to be in a hurry to burn things up. I’m approaching 10K rounds through one of my Howas. A good break-in procedure and not running Max load charges I think are doing me justice and i think that would carry over to the Savage barrels as well.

Cool to see your results and your satisfaction. I also think that is great with that 3×9 scope. Our results are probably enhanced some with running higher end scopes with 5-25X magnification.

Ya exactly what I was thinking Randy,

Randy Wieland wrote:

Cool to see your results and your satisfaction. I also think that is great with that 3×9 scope. Our results are probably enhanced some with running higher end scopes with 5-25X magnification.

Ill be upgrading the glass eventually, to something in the 4-12,or maybe 5-25range. It’s just hard to find glass that’s quality thats not buying a third of what the gun cost.

In most cases, my rifles are the cheaper of the two.

New company on the horizon for optics, and I would take a serious and hard look at these as they become available. Athlon Optics. They had major players at Bushnell that departed from the company and started their own. These guys are all about quality first and have huge levels of financial backing. Binocs are in inventory and rifle scopes will be available after Dec 15th and into Jan. I’ve seen the entry level and I was amazed at the clarity. They use the same light optical glass as Night force, vortex, and other high end scopes and it looks like the price point will be less. Definitely one to keep an eye on

Randy Wieland wrote:

In most cases, my rifles are the cheaper of the two.

X2 on that sentiment. Our old saying when I worked at Scheels in college was “you can’t hit what you can’t see.”

Glad to see you got good results, it’s always fun when you get things dialed in after you put in the work.

Thanks for the Athlon heads up too, Randy. I’m looking for a value set of 8x binocs and will definitely check them out.