224 Wby 7-22-26 Upaded 8-23-26

[RL338]

Earlier today I had a chance to try out my new barrel on the 224. This is a Shilen 8 twist 4 groove ratchet Alternut barrel. My fired brass from the old barrel will not chamber due to unforeseen issue. I have 40 pcs of new Norma let to use. I had to pull the old ammo (55gr Sierra) and loaded it into the new brass.

First up was the reloaded 55gr Sierras

Next up was the Barnes 62gr TTSX , these are promising.

Last one was Cutting Edge 65gr MTH , I’ll be honest a little disappointed.

These charge weights are on the lighter side to break the barrel in and fireform the brass. I have 100 pcs of brass coming and after they’re fired the barrel should be broke in. Then I can fine tune a few loads. I still have 50gr TTSX , 62gr Fusion , 64gr BSB , and 70gr VLD to try.
Overall I’m excited that this turned out well.

 

[sako2]

Looking good.

 

[JD338]

Sharp looking rifle that looks to be a shooter. The Barnes TTSX load looks pretty good.

JD338

 

[RL338]

That 30.5gr load of Sta-Ball Match does look good.

When I shot these groups I alternated between bullets to see how the barrel would react to them. I did not clean the barrel either between groups and in fact there is very little copper in the barrel afterwards.

 

[FOTIS]

Excellent. Mine is really digging IMR 4064....(Thank you again Jim)

 

[TackDriver284]

Good shooting, Barnes load looks promising. Seating depth adjustment should tighten those groups. You will get it running great in no time.
Is that a tunnel? Not sure what it is when I saw it.

 

[RL338]

Is that a tunnel? Not sure what it is when I saw it.

It’s tube to try to knock down the big boomers noise. It’s about 20’ long. It sure messes with Garmin with small calibers.

 

[boomer68]

Nice to see the .224 still being used. A very unique cartridge.

 

[RL338]

Today I took the opportunity to try out 4 bullets in 224.

Left to right 64gr BSB , 70gr AB , 62gr Fusion , and 55gr Sierra. All were loaded in new Norma brass with Sta-Ball Match.
64gr BSB

70gr AB

62gr Fusion

55gr Sierra

The 55gr Sierras were tested before with BL-C2 , this time the Sta-Ball Match has better results.
In both test all bullets in the 60gr weight class are all loaded to 30.5grs of Sta-Ball Match.
I haven’t cleaned the barrel yet and it speaks volume of Shilens ratchet barrel.