First of all I have a Savage 12 VLP in 22-250, 1:12 twist, 26" barrel. Up until this year I have just shot Hornady V-max factory ammo from it, but my friend has a reloading setup now, so all I had to do was buy the dies and stuff for the 22-250. I made 10 rounds of each with the following: 55gr V-max, 38.0gr H380, 38.5gr H380, 39.0gr H380, 39.5gr H380. I also loaded up some 40gr V-max bullets with 38.0gr H380, 39.0gr, 40.0gr. All using CCI250 primers. Brass is the Hornady/Frontier that came from the factory V-max 55gr ammo I had been using. I only neck sized the brass.

I took it to the range yesterday to try it out. The 38.0gr and 38.5gr loads with the 55gr v-max sucked, 1.25-1.5" groups. The 39.0gr was a little better at ~1", and the 39.5gr load was the most accurate with two 0.675" groups and one just under 1". The factory 55gr v-max stuff usually shoots right around 1" for me, so this is an improvement but I was hoping for more. With the 40gr bullets, the 38.0 and 39.0 loads were a little under an inch, and the 40.0 load was 0.675"

So after firing the 55gr v-max 39.5gr H380 loads, extraction was pretty tight. It seems like it's just starting to get more accurate at this point, so I wanted to try a few more loads between 39.5gr and 40.5gr, but am worried about the tight extraction. Is it normal for fire formed brass that has only been neck sized to be more difficult to extract, or am I really already at the upper limit with this powder in my rifle? Different reloading manuals say between 41.0 and 42.0gr H380 is max load for a 55gr bullet. Thanks for the help!