Freebore advise on .22 Grendel shooting heavy bullets...

[Jordan]

Gentlemen:

Can anyone advise me on how much free bore I should specify on a .22 Grendel Improved shooting 80-90 grain VLD bullets. Greg Tannel is building one for me and I'm not sure on free bore. Normally I go with "zero" free bore on my rifles (.17s and .20s) , but this one will be shooting some pretty long bullets.

Any advise, especially from anyone with first hand experience, is appreciated.


TIA,


Jordan


P.S. Watch the classifieds in a year or two. Consistent with my policy of "buy high, sell low and do it often" the rifle will undoubtedly be for sale at some point at a substantial discount and unfired.

[SEM]

I would rather you chamber it in a 224 Valkyrie thinking set it up for 90gr VLDs with say ten thousands freebore just in case I may want to try 100gr stuff later, in two years when it comes up for sale I think I will be looking for cartridges I don't have to fuss with making brass for

just had to

Sunny

[Jordan]

Thank you SEM. Good suggestion but I'm already committed to the .22 Grendel Improved.

[flyrod]

From what I read in your post, I don't think we have quite enough info. Is this for a competition gun that needs to feed from a magazine? Would you ever want to shoot any lighter bullets? How tight is the chamber neck going to be? Do you plan on turning brass?

It's clear you're going to be hand loading ammo, so assuming that you never want to shoot a lighter bullet and mag length is not a concern: keep the base of the bullet shank above the neck-shoulder junction of the brass. This will maximize the case capacity and you should not have any problems with a donut pinching the bullet on reloads in a match type chamber.

Also, it's relatively easy to push the throat out. So one option would be to use a conservative free bore to start with, and ream it a bit further by hand based on testing. There are only a couple bullets in that class, so if you throat a barrel long for them and they don't work, every other option will be jumping a long way to the lands.

[Nor Cal Mikie]

With smaller calibers, best to go short from the start. If you must, you CAN go longer as needed.
Nothing worse than finding a load you love and it takes a dump in short order because the throat got longer.
If it was me, I'd be looking at ZERO freebore and lighter bullets. Go heavier as the throat wears and still reach the lands.

[Jordan]

It will be a coyote/rock chuck rifle. Magazine fed. It's built on a Rem Model 7 accurized by Greg Tannel.

[Bill K]

I would say the opinions expressed are well worth listening too. But I would also add, that as good a gunsmith the Greg is, I would discuss the matter with him and go with his opinion and advise, since he is doing the work and has a lot of great experience. Bill K

[Nor Cal Mikie]

What Bill says BUT, once you go long, you can't go back. (to go short again will end up costing more and may not be as good as the first run)

[Jordan]

Thanks guys. 'Preciate it.