Ruger American® Rifle Predator 22-250 Rem Part II

I think weird weather has been having an adverse effect on local wildlife. Five raccoons, obviously members of a local, rural gang, mugged the songbird feeder three nights in a row, turning it upside down and emptying its contents onto the lawn. I would have gone out and chased them away… but, in my defense, I am old, there were five of them, and I have been chased by raccoons in the past.

The two resident fawns showed up without mom, ate the Hostas that had just rebounded from their last all they could eat buffet, then went on to consume the best of what five rose bushes had to offer. Adding insult to injury, they dismissed me as routine pedestrian traffic and were completely undeterred by the “Real Guns” sign.

The hummingbirds were disappointing. OK, I did forget to change their sugar water feeders for two… three weeks. Still, that did not justify their gathering on the feeder perch, staring onto my office window, and making rude gestures with the coordinated motion of beaks and tail feathers.

Could handloading be what Sigmund Freud had in mind?

I may not be able to control raccoons, deer or hummingbirds… or property taxes, inflation, government corruption, war… the price of fuel, or… But I can absolutely control my handloads from case prep to shots fired. Probably why I handload almost immediately after opening the mail or watching the national news.

There is something very gratifying, satisfying and blood pressure stabilizing about processing individual examples of spent, dirty and pressure misshaped brass into a clean and uniform population of assembled ammunition.

The deer worthy five…

The bullets above, left to right, appear on the table below, top to bottom. All of the bullets pictured have been loaded in production ammunition recommended for deer size game, or recommended as a component bullet for the same application.

As noted on the table, the Barnes bullet (fourth from left), while listed for the 22-250 Rem cartridge, does not really have the proper form for use in this cartridge. Assembled per Barnes spec, the COL exceeds spec. That said, assembled ammunition did have proper magazine and rifling leade clearances and fed reliably.

Warning: Bullet selections are specific, and loads are not valid with substitutions of different bullets of the same weight. Variations in bullet length will alter net case capacity,  pressure and velocity. Primer selection is specific and primer types are not interchangeable. These are maximum loads in my firearms and may be excessive in others. All loads should be reduced by 5% as a starting point for development where cartridges have greater than 40 grains in capacity and 10% for cartridges with less than 40 grain capacity following safe handloading practices as represented in established mainstream reloading manuals. Presentation of these loads does not constitute a solicitation for their use, nor a recommendation.

Generally speaking, the 22-250 Remington reloading effort was straight forward. I did try Alliant Varmint powder, as it produced good results with another overbore, small bore rounds, but not here.

Pressure came up well ahead of velocity and velocity at max fell 200 fps short of other powder selections. Why did this occur? Technically speaking? I have no idea. Some of my best notions die at the hands of a chronograph.

CFE223 made the best showing in performance since I began using that powder. It did a pretty good imitation of Superformance but, unlike Superformance, the pressure rise increased disproportionately to charge increase as maximum load were approached.

The Ruger American Predator

The Predator is a tough little rifle. It handled well, shot accurately and functioned without a hiccup.  Magazine cartridge length accommodation was generous and freebore was enough to provide some latitude in determining overall cartridge length.

Barrel length? The American Predator has a 22″ barrel, compared to the Hawkeye Predator’s 24″ barrel. There is nothing in the chronograph readings that would suggest a deer would be able to discern the difference. The downrange hold over between the two is insignificant. These are two different type of rifles.

The Hawkeye version has a heavier profile, longer barrel, with a 1:14″ twist. Clearly optimize for  55 grain and lighter varmint bullets. The American Predator has a 1:10″ twist which will shoot even 70 grain bullets with a good accuracy. The Hawkeye, a hardwood laminated stock and stainless steel beauty, is twice the MSRP of the American. Both are American made.

Overall, this is a terrific deer season, varmint hunting season combination. Light weight, easy on the wallet, barely perceptible recoil, offering reliable kills on deer size game.