Hey appreciate your input. I guess I am guilty of not doing the research on velocity comparisons between that 22br and similar vs comparable 'hunting' cartridges.
So there really isnt any magic case design or other that will make the same bullet go faster with less powder if pressure remains a constant!
I guess old Ackley was one of the first to seek improved 'factory' case dimensions and from what I have read his most notable accomplishment was to reduce case stretching by changing the body and shoulder angles. He was able to increase velocities but at the cost of higher pressures, which I believe he wasn't able to measure back then.
So the old 250 still rocks! and now you can get lapua brass for it. I will re-consider this cartridge option and even more if I can put together a 700 build with 2 rem/age barrels so I could take advantage of its performance with the small and large bullets. its a b***ch when your taste in optics usually cost as much as the rifle so the barrel switching option is appealing.
I bought my first 22-250 (a 40-XB single shot) in 1975. Bought 400 pieces of Winchester brass with it, and a bigassed 15x Unertl Ultra-Varmint.
It was (and still is) a very cool rifle.
I burned out the first barrel on PD towns in South Dakota, and had it rebarreled. The 400 cases would fit in the new barrel with some resistance, but after the first firing, they fit fine. Burned that one on doggie towns and rebarreled it again. Burned that one out in SoDak too
On the forth barrel, the cases would not fit, no matter how hard I tried, so I broke down and bought (gasp)... an FL die. Sized all the cases once, and put the FL die away.
Then, when I burned out the fifth barrel, I was plain dog tired of the 22-250. I mean EVERYBODY and their sister had a 22-250.
So, I had it rebarreled to a 244 Remington with a 10" Twist.
I had actually "Sworn off" of the 22-250 about six years ago, after the rebarrel to 244 Rem. So I packed up the 22-250 Redding competition dies and I threw away all that brass (which now had about 45 loadings on each, and they were 35-ish years old)
But... about 5 years ago, Lapua came out with abso-friiggin'-lutly beautiful 22-250 cases.
About 3 months after that, a Rem 700 VSF just happened to follow me home for $500. It was a brand new rifle with a "badd barrel". The rifle was reputed to shoot 3" groups at best.
I bought it for the action, which was one of the smoothest 700 actions I ever handled.
The "Badd" barrel turned out to be a bad epoxy bedding job, and the following weekend, it was shooting in the mid 3's.
This past winter, another 22-250 found it's way into my life - a 40-XB stainless singleshot in a thumbhole stock, with 47 rounds through it. This gun shoots in the low 2's at 100 yds.
So, now I have two 22-250's.
The reason I am telling you this is...
There is a reason that "EVERYBODY and their sister has a 22-250."
It is one of the all time, great, very bestest high velocity varmint cartridges out there. You can get great brass, right out of the box.
Top of the line competition/benchrest quality dies are available through ANY mail-order house, and it has super resale value (because EVERYBODY and their sister want's a 22-250).
If you want something different than everyone else has - then get a 219 Hickenlooper Belted Nitro Express, and everyone will say, "Oooo Aaaah cool".
But if you get a quality 22-250, with a 12" or faster twist, you will be a happy camper.
