Post by GLSHOOTER on Jun 19, 2017 16:17:49 GMT -8
I received my BHW 22 Nosler upper about three weeks ago. The upper build assembly was done by Ritch Johnson the other Administrator here. He builds FINE uppers. I made two trips to the desert to shoot this one and the wind was so horrendous I wasn’t going to was the components.
Just a quick description on this one to get started. The barrel is a standard weight 22Nolser 1:8 twist target crown. The upper is an AERO with a Young Manufacturing FF tube, Joe Bob’s adjustable gas block. The BCG is a PSA Premium. The lower is the one I use in F-Class with a Giselle High Sped Match trigger and some upgraded operating services from Magpul.
I took it out on a hot day, well not as hot as today, with an early temp of 92 ending up at 98 in about three hours. The wind started out mild and picked up to gusts up to about 20 MPH. It blew my target cardboard off once early on and blew the target stand over until I spiked it with some 10” steel. Eventually the wind blew my chronograph over about sixty shots into it popping one of the sky screens open and rendering it useless. That stopped the testing at not quite complete!! One thing of note is I shot only 40 grain Noslers on the first trip and I anticipated 4000+ on the clock. This exceeds the level of my LabRadar so I was using the CED Millennium I have used for years.
My standard testing is to take one bullet and three powders. I will shoot all these at one COL for consistency. This time I chose IMR 8208 XBR, Benchmark and H4895. All loaded to 2.260 using Winchester Small Rifle primers. Brass was brand new Nosler. I had contacted Hodgdon last month and they sent me seven pages of reloading data. I picked some go fast loads and went to. I had some experience shooting the 22 Nosler in a STONER barrel a few months ago so I knew that the loads were pretty safe as Hodgdon only listed around 53,000 on theirs and SAAMI is 55,000 so I had a cushion. The throat on this one is SAAMI to accommodate the 77/80’s so the 40’s had plenty of running room.
The barrel was swabbed for any dust and residual manufacturing junk and then on to the bench. First up were the 8208 loads. The first two were used to get on paper at 100. At 32.5 grains I got 3966 and a nice 0.804 group. Bumped to 32.8 got me 4029 yielding a 0.866 try. The final load on this one at book MAX was at 33.1 grains at 4070 and gave me a nice pair at 0.912 and 0.636. Considering this is a 1:8 twist I was not expecting overly much. I had decided anything under an inch would be GTG for a first outing without tuning.
Next I moved on to Benchmark. This one has usually performed well in the 6.8 sized cases that the Nosler mimics so it was a natural for the rotation. Starting at 31.8 I got 3919 and had one at 1.030. Sub-MOA but not sub enough. About this time the swirlies were moving in and the temp was up to 98.8 per my Kestrel. The 32.1 load was at 3961. Good speed but I blew those groups up like a circus balloon under the big top. I took a break and had some water looking for non-existent shade. After about ten minutes things seemed to straighten out and I got down on the gun again. At 32.4 grains of Benchmark I hit 4008 and laid down two back to back groups of 0.825 and 0.845. The 0.835 would have been a real smoker if I hadn’t leaned in on shot #5...LOL
The last powder for the day that I managed to get to was the H4895. I have had inconsistent results with this one but I do like it in general so it was given a day in the sun. This was when I got bit by the wind hard. I think that Old Man Winter from Minnesota just wanted to let me know that it can blow all the way to Arizona!! Not cold but hard. Thanks to wiping out my chronograph on shot #5 I was only able to shoot the 31.9 load and got enough readings to show at 3875. Definitely lower than the other two but I want to see how the rest of the loads read and print. I ended up with a 0.959 on this one. I’ve found historically on the Black Hole barrels that many times the faster you go the better you do. I can’t explain the physics abut I’ll just accept the results on target.
Now as mentioned earlier I had shot the STONER barrel that Midway USA sold the week that the cartridge was released at SHOT. Mine shoots nice patterns and copper fouls terribly. Side by side testing with it showed that I could equal and in some cases exceed the speeds of the Nosler with a top end NATO load at 556 pressures with the same bullet shooting 50’s. Not a good deal. I used Nosler loading data for the STONER loads.
With this as noted I did manage a comfortable 4000+ on the clock. I routinely shoot 40’s in my 223’s at 3800 out of Remington bolt guns so a gain of 200 was noted. I should also note that I used Hodgdon data for these loads. Their loadings are higher than what Nosler has posted. Difference in components/chambers etc. may well make the difference on the published data.
As noted I did actually use the Hodgdon data right down to using the Winchester Small Rifle primers. In these cases I usually use a CCI 450 or Remington 7 ½ but I felt I should try and see what the big boys turn out in relation to this barrel. My results were a consistent 40-50 FPS higher than the 24” tube from Hodgdon test labs. I will attribute this to the BHW rifling. I have NEVER been under a published factory velocity using a same same load in a BHW barrel so I think I have a pretty good grasp on that one having shot thousands of groups and chronograph sessions with them.
Now for some other observations. Previously the STONER barrel shot like a shotgun with buck shot. The BHW tube did not. The barrel fouled terribly on the first one and on this one it was the normal BHW amount of virtually nothing. The brass on the STONER tube was TRASHED at even mild loads. Heavy swipes, bent and ripped rims were the norm for that one. It is an 18” rifle gas. I have it kitted out with an adjustable gas block and even turned virtually off and the cases sized 0.002 below chamber size were still getting beat up.
This one is a rifle gas and, as noted, has an adjustable block. I loaded top levels on the Hodgdon data yet the cases came out pristine with no swipes or other damage. Mind you this was new brass and it has a shoulder that is 0.008 below SAAMI chamber size. The WSR primers were not overly flattened. When I look at these under a10X loupe I would almost say they were on the mild side. I will probably push some harder in the future but my next testing will be done with 50’s, 69, and 77’s. The last two should really make the groups perk up but I’d bet a small Social Security check that the 50’s will turn this one into a fast moving pin wheeler. It may well start loosening the primer pockets with the bigger bullets but I’ll just have to find out about that. I also happen to know that Nosler redid their original brass mix right as they released this one to the public. Could it be the new brass is harder than the first batch I got? I would think tin foil hat but I’m not one of those in most instances.
Some questions answered and some more contemplated. Lots of guys are talking about using the HAGAR brass reformed to the 22 Nosler size so they can us the bigger case head to distribute the bolt thrust across more area. It is kind of a money waster doing that, IMHO, as the 22X6.8 will run so close to this one as to be laughable but I’ll put in that order and give the 22 NOSGAR a shot too. I’d be out trying it out again but with the temperatures being 115-120 even I am not that motivated. 105 is about my MAX for temperature now as old age is making in-roads on my tolerance level...LOL
More later and we’ll see what happens.
Greg
Just a quick description on this one to get started. The barrel is a standard weight 22Nolser 1:8 twist target crown. The upper is an AERO with a Young Manufacturing FF tube, Joe Bob’s adjustable gas block. The BCG is a PSA Premium. The lower is the one I use in F-Class with a Giselle High Sped Match trigger and some upgraded operating services from Magpul.
I took it out on a hot day, well not as hot as today, with an early temp of 92 ending up at 98 in about three hours. The wind started out mild and picked up to gusts up to about 20 MPH. It blew my target cardboard off once early on and blew the target stand over until I spiked it with some 10” steel. Eventually the wind blew my chronograph over about sixty shots into it popping one of the sky screens open and rendering it useless. That stopped the testing at not quite complete!! One thing of note is I shot only 40 grain Noslers on the first trip and I anticipated 4000+ on the clock. This exceeds the level of my LabRadar so I was using the CED Millennium I have used for years.
My standard testing is to take one bullet and three powders. I will shoot all these at one COL for consistency. This time I chose IMR 8208 XBR, Benchmark and H4895. All loaded to 2.260 using Winchester Small Rifle primers. Brass was brand new Nosler. I had contacted Hodgdon last month and they sent me seven pages of reloading data. I picked some go fast loads and went to. I had some experience shooting the 22 Nosler in a STONER barrel a few months ago so I knew that the loads were pretty safe as Hodgdon only listed around 53,000 on theirs and SAAMI is 55,000 so I had a cushion. The throat on this one is SAAMI to accommodate the 77/80’s so the 40’s had plenty of running room.
The barrel was swabbed for any dust and residual manufacturing junk and then on to the bench. First up were the 8208 loads. The first two were used to get on paper at 100. At 32.5 grains I got 3966 and a nice 0.804 group. Bumped to 32.8 got me 4029 yielding a 0.866 try. The final load on this one at book MAX was at 33.1 grains at 4070 and gave me a nice pair at 0.912 and 0.636. Considering this is a 1:8 twist I was not expecting overly much. I had decided anything under an inch would be GTG for a first outing without tuning.
Next I moved on to Benchmark. This one has usually performed well in the 6.8 sized cases that the Nosler mimics so it was a natural for the rotation. Starting at 31.8 I got 3919 and had one at 1.030. Sub-MOA but not sub enough. About this time the swirlies were moving in and the temp was up to 98.8 per my Kestrel. The 32.1 load was at 3961. Good speed but I blew those groups up like a circus balloon under the big top. I took a break and had some water looking for non-existent shade. After about ten minutes things seemed to straighten out and I got down on the gun again. At 32.4 grains of Benchmark I hit 4008 and laid down two back to back groups of 0.825 and 0.845. The 0.835 would have been a real smoker if I hadn’t leaned in on shot #5...LOL
The last powder for the day that I managed to get to was the H4895. I have had inconsistent results with this one but I do like it in general so it was given a day in the sun. This was when I got bit by the wind hard. I think that Old Man Winter from Minnesota just wanted to let me know that it can blow all the way to Arizona!! Not cold but hard. Thanks to wiping out my chronograph on shot #5 I was only able to shoot the 31.9 load and got enough readings to show at 3875. Definitely lower than the other two but I want to see how the rest of the loads read and print. I ended up with a 0.959 on this one. I’ve found historically on the Black Hole barrels that many times the faster you go the better you do. I can’t explain the physics abut I’ll just accept the results on target.
Now as mentioned earlier I had shot the STONER barrel that Midway USA sold the week that the cartridge was released at SHOT. Mine shoots nice patterns and copper fouls terribly. Side by side testing with it showed that I could equal and in some cases exceed the speeds of the Nosler with a top end NATO load at 556 pressures with the same bullet shooting 50’s. Not a good deal. I used Nosler loading data for the STONER loads.
With this as noted I did manage a comfortable 4000+ on the clock. I routinely shoot 40’s in my 223’s at 3800 out of Remington bolt guns so a gain of 200 was noted. I should also note that I used Hodgdon data for these loads. Their loadings are higher than what Nosler has posted. Difference in components/chambers etc. may well make the difference on the published data.
As noted I did actually use the Hodgdon data right down to using the Winchester Small Rifle primers. In these cases I usually use a CCI 450 or Remington 7 ½ but I felt I should try and see what the big boys turn out in relation to this barrel. My results were a consistent 40-50 FPS higher than the 24” tube from Hodgdon test labs. I will attribute this to the BHW rifling. I have NEVER been under a published factory velocity using a same same load in a BHW barrel so I think I have a pretty good grasp on that one having shot thousands of groups and chronograph sessions with them.
Now for some other observations. Previously the STONER barrel shot like a shotgun with buck shot. The BHW tube did not. The barrel fouled terribly on the first one and on this one it was the normal BHW amount of virtually nothing. The brass on the STONER tube was TRASHED at even mild loads. Heavy swipes, bent and ripped rims were the norm for that one. It is an 18” rifle gas. I have it kitted out with an adjustable gas block and even turned virtually off and the cases sized 0.002 below chamber size were still getting beat up.
This one is a rifle gas and, as noted, has an adjustable block. I loaded top levels on the Hodgdon data yet the cases came out pristine with no swipes or other damage. Mind you this was new brass and it has a shoulder that is 0.008 below SAAMI chamber size. The WSR primers were not overly flattened. When I look at these under a10X loupe I would almost say they were on the mild side. I will probably push some harder in the future but my next testing will be done with 50’s, 69, and 77’s. The last two should really make the groups perk up but I’d bet a small Social Security check that the 50’s will turn this one into a fast moving pin wheeler. It may well start loosening the primer pockets with the bigger bullets but I’ll just have to find out about that. I also happen to know that Nosler redid their original brass mix right as they released this one to the public. Could it be the new brass is harder than the first batch I got? I would think tin foil hat but I’m not one of those in most instances.
Some questions answered and some more contemplated. Lots of guys are talking about using the HAGAR brass reformed to the 22 Nosler size so they can us the bigger case head to distribute the bolt thrust across more area. It is kind of a money waster doing that, IMHO, as the 22X6.8 will run so close to this one as to be laughable but I’ll put in that order and give the 22 NOSGAR a shot too. I’d be out trying it out again but with the temperatures being 115-120 even I am not that motivated. 105 is about my MAX for temperature now as old age is making in-roads on my tolerance level...LOL
More later and we’ll see what happens.
Greg
