Testing .222 loads in the MH18

[Brithunter]

Hi All,



I have been trying to find a good load for this MH18 break barrel rifle in .222 Rem. You would know it as a Spartan from Remington but here in the UK they're known under the name Baikal. These are last Sunday's testing of a IMR 4198 18.0 Grain loading with the 55 grain Hornady V-Max bullet. The targets white centre spot measures 0.977" and the grid is 1" from outside edge of the black line to the outside edge of the next black line. Oh the testing is done at 75 metres (82 yards) which is the length of our clubs range.


The only thing I have changed is the seating depth. I loaded 5 Rounds with each depth:-

1st one has only 4 shots as it's the last 4 of the first loading session and has 18.5 grain of 4198 and is the one I thought a little on the warm side:-


COL 2.205"


18.0 grns -4198 COL 2.200" shot from clean cold barrel


Not to good I am afraid to say one escaped over the top of the target which was not the first shot BTW!


COL 2.195"


Hmmm I can only see 4 holes so can only assume #5 is in there somewhere .

COL 2.190"

Yep I know it says different on the target but it's an error by me. Luckily I wrote each groups position and COL on another target at the FP when it was shot .

COL 2.185"

Now that's the proper group for 2.185 and it shows promise .


One thing that has really surprised me it the different POI from such a small change of seating depth as it seems to move 2" or more just from a small change of seating depth. Has anyone else had such an experience? I would suspect the scope but it seems to track true. Perhaps further testing will show if it's OK or not or needs to be returned to Leupold for service and repair. If this is normal then I will have to be extremly careful in loading as this could mean a lost beast should I take the rifle after game.

In view of this and thinking that a little more magnification might help in this testing I have put a 6x40 scope onto the rifle using a collimeter. I had this scope on the rifle before but swopped it for the Leupold M8 Compact 4x scope used in these test groups as it's size suits the rifle more as you can see the 4x40 is a bit long:-



Now I have 20 of these Hornady V-Max bullets left so I will load them with 18.0 grains of IMR 4198 at a COL of 2.185" and re-test next time at the range which will probably be two Sundays from now on the 22nd November. Unless I can swing it to go at the weekend. We shall see .



PS.... the test with the 55 grain Hornady SP did not go well at all as it resulted in a pattern more than a group. I shall try dropping the powder charge to 17.5 grains with this bullet and try again. Of course I have almost a box of these.