Any Rem .22 BR Shooters Around Here?

[jdscholer]

Hi guys. I've been kinda scarce around here for awhile - no excuses - but I find myself in possession of a rifle that I may need some help with.
She's a Remington 40 XBR in the 22 BR cartridge.




The scope is in great shape, mounts are unknown to me, but seem fine.

I bought this rifle with no accessories (except for the Leupold 24xbr scope), no history, no brass, and know previous knowledge.

The barrel is twisted 1 in 14, twenty inches long. Rifle is in very good condition, fired very little, and completely stock except for that ugly recoil pad.

The chamber is cut on the small side, and I've had to work at getting cases sized to fit. My new Redding dies are a full length sizer set, and beyond that I had to get a 308 small base sizer to further reduce the case body.

I haven't tried a great many different loads with this rig yet, and the best I've done with it is barely sub MOA which isn't good enough.
I'd love to have a dialogue with anyone who is more knowledgeable than me about this cartridge. jd

 

[jdscholer]

Here's a few more pics of this rifle. I had a little trouble getting the OP to come up with them.




The brass are made by taking 6mm BR, necking the down, and turning the necks.


This bolt slides in the receiver like an oily glass rod.


This rifle is the "Light Varmint" class of bench rest rifle.


Anyone familiar with these scope mounts?


jd

 

[Scorch]

I am in the process of building a 22BR and a 7mmBR. There are a few things to look for:
* Neck diameter- you may have to make a chamber casting to measure the neck so you can be sure you have enough room to release the bullet. A lot of benchresters make minimum sized necks and then turn the necks to have .002" space to release the bullet when fired. This is to reduce brass working.

* Barrel twist- many shooters are using faster twists to be able to use heavier bullets, but there are still plenty of old-school shooters using 52 gr match hollow points.

 

[jdscholer]

Hey Scorch! I was beginning to think that I was gonna have to tie a pork chop around my neck to get anyone to play. I knew that this cartridge was kinda rare, but I figured someone around here might have some experience with it. I'm happy to hear that you do.

I have indeed made a cast of the chamber, and it measures .248" at the neck. I think I've got a pretty good handle on my neck turning, and have some done at .011 to try my next loads with.

This entire chamber is cut on the small end of the specs., and I'm hoping I'll be able to deal with it. The throat also seems very short, and I need to seat the bullet with the ogive nearly down at the neck.

Perhaps as your build progresses, we can compare notes from time to time. I'm interested, and know almost nothing about bushing dies, and maybe should. Any enlightenment would be welcome. jd

 

[old roper]

I'm shooting 22 BR with .244 neck,1/14 twist barrel. At one time Rem chambered the 40x in 22BR and 6BR both tight neck and 1/14 twist barrels.

Back before Norma brass the Rem 6BR brass was just OK and best brass at that time was 7BR and that's what my reamers cut for. I do have lifetime supply of that brass.

There was big push for the 22/6BR when supply of the old Sako 220 Russian (6ppc) brass dried up and this is maybe 3 yrs before Lapua 220 brass. What the BR guys figured out it was too over case capacity and if case was shorten .085 to .100 or shorter you get accuracy almost equal to the 6ppc. Most were called Talldogs mine was Shorten Talldog and shorten 22ppc was called Walldog. Dick Wright from PS magazine shot the 22BR Talldog did pretty good with it.

Since I had 7BR brass I build 7BR also 6.5BR and some even build 25BR.

Lot changed for the BR with Norma brass and the VLD bullets, it developed in a great LR case. Soon as Lapua brass showed up it kind of kiss of death for BR case and short range. Dick Wright was pretty stubborn and kept on shooting his, lot figure he just needed something to write about.

My 22BR's have always been used as a varmint rifle and always used 1/14 twist barrels. If I needed more range got a rifle for that.

My sizing dies for 22BR/6BR/Shorten Talldog/7BBR/6.5BR Redding made them for me and one of the BR shooters made my form dies. Wilson sell die blank for neck sizer/seater when I had something chamber gunsmith use that reamer chamber those dies.

I don't get too hung up on what I build is the best and 22BR is just one of my varmint rifles.

 

[jdscholer]

Thanks old roper. I just shot a couple groups with .244" neck diameter, and did pretty good. My previous groups with tighter necks were giving horrible vertical stringing.

So far, I'm trying out 40 gr. V-Max, just because I know them to shoot well in other .22's I've got. After I'm getting a good degree of consistency with this rifle, I've got several other bullets to try. For now I'm just trying to learn good brass prep and loading technique for fitting this chamber.

I've been loading for a long time, but mostly for all "off the rack" stuff. This rifle has been a hard nut to crack for me. jd