I have searched and am unable to find any suggestions for reduced 22-250 loads. Can you give me some ideas? Any loads would be helpful as long as the case is more than half full.

Give us an idea of how fast you want them....most of my shooting has been with cast bullets at .22mag. speeds, so I won't be a giant help with jacketed bullets or mid-range loads.

Perhaps 2400 to 3000 FPS. Every load I can find on the web from powder manufacturers is typically the max. Where do I find information on how to load reduced loads? Simply reducing the amount of powder less than the max from the manufacturers data often results in inaccurate loads where the case is fairly empty.

Is there a decent book that covers this subject?

The Lyman manual is one of the better sources for reduced loads. The current edition is #48 I believe.

Oh and check with Hodgdon. I believe they have a blanket recommendation about one of their powders and how it can be reduced a certain percentage without undue problems.

http://www.hodgdon.com/data/youth/index.php

Lyman has lots of cast bullet loads...but in their #48 manual, they also list a coupole with a 55gr. Jacketed bullet (actully, it's the 55gr. V-max, but results with any 55gr. bullet would be close). The two favored reduced load powders are XMP5744 (18.5gr. for 2406fps...24.5gr. as a MAX at 3034fps) and SR4759 (16gr. at 2472fps and 20gr. MAX at 2933).

Personally, I use home-cast, but tend to faster powders that won't occupy 1/2 the case as you specify. A favorite is 7gr. or Red Dot for 1750fps. with 55gr. of lead....if you were to try that with a jacketed bullet, expect vel. to be about 50-75 FPS LESS.

LEts try this....what p[owders do you have one hand, and I'll see if any are listed for what you want to do.

Speer lists reduced loads for almost all their bullets, including those for the .22-250. The current manual lists them. Sometimes you have to spend a little $$$ to get tested, safe load data.... :eek:

I have Blue Dot, IMR 4895 and Hodgdon h-335

OF those three, haven't seen any H-335 specific reduced loads or H-335 cast bullet loads, so I think that one we'll leave alone. Have read on ohter boards of peopole useing Blue Dot for reduced .223 loads...but i don't have any data for that powder either, and suspect it may not be at it's best in larger cases.

There may be Blue Dot data out there I don't have..it's not a powder I use.

Little 4895 data, but there is at least one listing with a cast 55gr. bullet from an RCBS cast manual..they limited their data to just a bit more than 2000fps in all the small bore loads listed. For a cast bullet, they started at 17gr. (1867fps) and stopped at 19gr. (2083fps).

Lyman lists the starting load for a jacketed bullet at 32gr. (3152fps) and the max. at 35.5gr. (3576fps). Have nosticed Hornady's data for the same weigfht stops at 34.6gr. rather than Lymans 35.5gr.

SO...we have one sourse that seems to think 4895 is suitable for reducing to the 17-19gr. level. with lead....none I can find for H-335....and a rumor of Blue Dot being used.

Personally, would prevfer to buy as powder specific to that type of loading (4759 is a traditional choice) level.

Thanks for all of the help.

I do use the BlueDot in 223.
http://www.jamescalhoon.com/tobee2.html
The load works incredibly well. I can shoot 3/8" groups at 100 yds with a 35 gr bullet. There is zero kick.

I was trying to find something similar for the 22-250. The 223 does get a bit hot when varminting, so swapping to the second rifle.

I will purchase the Lyman book

I've used some light loads with Blue Dot in my .30-06, forgot about that, and it worked very well. So I'd say it's entirely possible that it will work in your .22-250.

However, I'd start with the published load data first.

No problem with blue dot...it just doesn't measure well for me.

IF you've got a blue dot load that works for the .223, can probably get on that works in the 22/250. IF it were me, wouls scale the blue dot load up proportionally and have a go....something on the order of 20-25% higher (than the .223's) charge in the 22/250 may be worth a try. New grond here...it's not listed in the Lyman #48 or other books at my disposal...but that doesn't mean it won;t work for you.