Hornady supplied the brass used to develop my first .22 Creedmoor loads. Other companies like Alpha Munitions, and the Peterson Cartridge brass highlighted here, have begun to fill the gaps. More germane to our discussion here, is that Peterson Cartridge offers both large and small rifle primer brass, which I’ll get into in more detail shortly.

The .22 Creedmoor is nothing more than the 6.5mm or 6mm Creedmoor necked down to accept .224 bullets without any further changes (necks may require turning or reaming to ensure proper chamber fit/bullet release). The trim-to length is 1.91 inches, like the 6mm Creedmoor. The .22 Creedmoor makes the most sense paired with a fast-rifling twist, firing 77- to 90-grain bullets with exceptional ballistic coefficients (BC) for long-range or windy-day varmint shooting. Paired with a heavy-for-caliber monolithic copper or bonded-core bullet, like those from Hammer Bullets, Barnes, Badlands Bullets or Swift, the .22 Creedmoor serves well for light big game such as hogs, deer or pronghorn.

The test rifle holds a heavy-contour, stainless steel PROOF Research barrel with a 1:7 rifling twist. Little Crow Gunworks’ Dale Hegstrom installed this barrel on a trued Remington Model 700 .308 short action and finished it at 26 inches and threaded it for a suppressor. The Timney Trigger was tuned to break at 1.25 pounds. The barreled action was skim bedded into a Stocky’s Accublock EuroMatch stock with aluminum bedding block. A Magpul Magazine Well Kit with a PMag 5-round detachable magazine and a short section of forearm-mounted Picatinny rail for the purpose of holding a bipod, completed the build. I added Precision Hardcore Gear’s 20 MOA Tru Level Picatinny rail and 34mm Ranger rings. Trijicon’s superb AccuPower 4.5-30x 56mm turreted scope made an ideal pairing. With a FAB Defense Spike Tactical Bipod and a Rebel Silencers SOS Hunter suppressor attached, the rifle weighed 16 pounds.

My original load development, contained in Handloader No. 330 (February-March 2021), included six bullet weights from 77 to 90 grains fueled by 15 different powders. QuickLoads software was used to determine safe start loads. That project, approached conservatively, produced some tight-shooting combinations and zero overpressure signs. Hodgdon’s Reloading and Peterson Cartridge’s websites now include .22 Creedmoor data, with my initial loads lining up well within that pressure-tested work.

Here, the goal was to work with Peterson Cartridge’s Small Rifle primer brass, while also auditioning new powder and bullet combinations. This curiosity stems from my work with the 6mm Creedmoor and eventual adoption of Lapua brass with small rifle primer pockets. The Finnish engineers who exhaustively test Lapua products have determined that small rifle primers provide an accuracy edge in the 6mm Creedmoor. The Lapua brass did shrink groups ever so slightly, though, it would have to be acknowledged that Lapua’s exceptional quality could have as much to do with this as primer-pocket dimensions.

Peterson Cartridge has also earned a rock-solid reputation for exceptional quality. Carefully weighing 10 new, unprepped Hornady Large Rifle primer and 10 Peterson Small Rifle brass, the Hornady averaged 148.84 grains with a 1.5-grain weight deviance, Peterson averaged 165.28 grains with a .7-grain weight deviance. Water-filled Hornady cases with a spent primer in place held 51.8 grains of water on average, Peterson cases held 49.1 grains. I reduced all loads by one half (69- and 77-grain bullets) to full grain (80- to 90-grain bullets) to account for volume discrepancies and the pressure increases certain to result. CCI BR-4 Small Rifle Match primers and Hornady Custom Grade Dies were used.

Regarding bullets, new introductions included Rocky Mountain Reloading’s 69-grain 3-Gun Hunter and Berger’s 80-grain VLD Target. The 3GH was added to see what kind of velocity would result, the Berger to see if the boat-tail/hollowpoint design would match the performance of Hornady’s poly-tipped 80-grain ELD Match bullet. Repeats included Sierra’s 77-grain Tipped MatchKing, and Berger’s 85.5-grain Long Range Hybrid Target and 90-grain VLD Target.

The Rocky Mountain Reloading 3-Gun Hunter mirrors Sierra MatchKing’s profile, while providing an estimated .335 G1 BC and promising more reliable expansion on game. I’ve taken average-sized hogs with these bullets from my .223 Remington AR-15, as well as many small varmints. The 80-grain Berger included an impressive .445 G1 BC and proven terminal performance on burrowing rodents. The .420 G1 BC of Sierra’s 77-grain Tipped MatchKing is created by a green polymer tip and sleek boat-tail, the plastic tip initiating more reliable expansion on small varmints than original MatchKings. Berger’s 85.5-grain Long Range Hybrid Target includes a mega .524 G1 BC and has become my #1 bullet for this rifle while targeting distant rockchucks. Expansion is explosive, even to 400-500 yards. Finally, the Berger 90-grain includes a 6mm-class .512 G1 BC, and will expand on varmints.

During initial .22 Creedmoor testing, the tightest groups came from Alliant Reloder 23 and 26, Vihtavuori N560, Shooters World Long Rifle, Winchester StaBALL 6.5, IMR-4955, Norma MRP and Vihtavuori N565; these produced groups near or less than a half inch. The best powders were retained here to allow comparisons. I also introduced some new options, including Hodgdon Superformance, H-1000 and H-4831sc; Shooters World SW-4350 in place of Long Rifle, Accurate Hunter and slower-burning IMR-7977. H-4350 was given another chance, as was Ramshot Magnum.

Paired with Hodgdon Superformance, Shooters World SW-4350 and IMR-4955, all 69-grain 3GH groups averaged .63 inch, with all powders producing sub or near .50-inch accuracy. Superformance proved most accurate (.54-inch average), 41.5 and 42.5 grains producing the tightest groups with this bullet – .35 inch and .37 inch at 3,495 and 3,583 feet per second (fps), respectively. SW-4350 produced a .67-inch group average, with the best measuring .56 inch at 3,328 fps with a maximum load of 40 grains. Finally, IMR-4955 produced an overall group average of .68 inch – 41 grains of powder a .59-inch group at 3,385 fps and a maximum load of 43 grains .43 inch at 3,562 fps. Superformance also produced the highest velocity, so it was the clear winner here.

Sierra’s 77-grain Tipped MatchKing, paired with Alliant Reloder 26, Hodgdon H-1000 and Ramshot Hunter, posted an overall group average of .77 inch, heavily skewed by poor Ramshot Hunter groups. Hunter did produce a .51-inch group at 3,186 fps using 38.5 grains of powder, but the others printed 1.19 and 1.38 inch. H-1000 grouped into .56 inch at 3,254 fps with 42.5 grains of powder, it’s best showing. Unsurprisingly, Reloder 26 posted the best groups with this powder, .49 inch at 3,485 fps with 44 grains, and a phenomenal .16 inch at 3,591 fps using a maximum load of 45 grains. That .52-inch group average easily bettered the .68-inch average (including a .29 inch best) assembled with the same bullet and powder during my last test while using Hornady brass. Overall, Reloder 26 is pretty difficult to beat from the .22 Creedmoor.

IMR-7977, Hodgdon H-4831sc and Vihtavuori N560 served the 80-grain Berger, all groups averaging .65 inch. IMR-7977 started things off well, a maximum load of 44 grains producing a .40-inch group at 3,260 fps. Reaching H-4831sc and N560 loads is when I discovered the lower volume of the Peterson cases required even further powder-charge reduction beyond the half grain already subtracted to this point. With that settled, H-48341sc produced a .54-inch group at 3,240 fps using 42 grains of powder, and a .37-inch group at 3,378 using a maximum load of 43 grains. Surprisingly, Vihtavuori N560 produced a lackluster (for this rifle) .71-inch group average, compared to the .50-inch average of the last test.

As hinted, my rifle favors Berger’s 85.5-grain Long Range Hybrid Target bullets. H-4350 was given another chance, Reloder 26 constituted the “control group,” and Vihtavuori N565 was added to see how the newest Finnish powder behaves in this cartridge. All groups averaged .56 inch. Reloder 26 proved uncharacteristically disappointing, averaging only .68 inch compared to .56 inch of the last test. Vihtavuori N565 did better, printing a .38-inch group at 3,229 fps with a maximum load of 45 grains. Hodgdon H-4350 proved the big surprise, assembling a .33-inch group at 3,125 fps using 37 grains of powder, and a .13-inch group at 3,091 fps with 36 grains of powder – its best showing just .52-inch last time around. The .13-inch group is the tightest this rifle has ever shot.

The Berger 90-grain VLD Target was paired with Reloder 23 as the control group, Ramshot Magnum and Hodgdon Superformance after seeing how well it did with the lightest bullet. These combinations produced a .57-inch group average. Of note, the 90-grain bullet became unreliable at velocities of more than about 3,200 fps, spinning apart and not reaching the target. These bullets were likely designed for .223 Remington to .224 Valkyrie velocities, or at least that is my theory. All powders produced some good groups after loads were adjusted to produce slower velocities. The very best included .46 and .49 inch with Ramshot Magnum (42 grains at 3,145, and 44 grains at 3,185 fps) and .58 inch with 35 grains at 3,053, and .26 inch with 36 grains at 3,103 fps with Superformance. The best group with this bullet measured a tiny .155 inch using 40 grains of Reloder 23 at 3,190 fps, bettering the .25-inch group (40.5 grains at 3,114 fps) produced while using large rifle primer brass.

Overall, I would say the Peterson Small Rifle primer brass did relinquish smaller overall group averages, plus a touch more velocity with smaller charges of powder. Three of these are the smallest groups this rifle has ever shot.