That 222 I Put Together a While Back

[AccelR8]

Some of you may remember early this year when I was going on and on about that Remington 788 I put together with a Boyd's stock and a Wilson barrel. My enthusiasm turned to disappointment when I was not able to achieve the kind of accuracy I had hoped for. Many folks here offered advice, some on the forum and some via private messaging.

I put the rifle away out of frustration in the early summer and spent my summer with a 700 in 223.

Lately I've been thinking of that 788 and what I might do with it. I was not happy with my decision to go with the .246” neck, given the extra work required prepping brass and considering the lack luster performance. I thought about reaming it for a no-turn neck, or even changing it to a 223. Maybe Ackley Improved.

But I thought I'd give it another try before making any changes. I remembered someone here told me crank up the velocity. So I looked up on Nosler's website the max load of H322, which I was loading for another rifle. I loaded 10 222's with the 40 grain tipped Varmageddon. Shooting at 200 yards that 788 gave me one .6 MOA group and one .5 MOA group. Hey now this is looking promising! ES and SD were quite large, though.

Yesterday I loaded a dozen more after figuring out how to solve a neck tension issue I was dealing with earlier in the year. Used 5 to sight in with and fired five for record. 100 yards this time. The result is the group pictured below. The first four made that perfect four-leafed clover that measures .199 inch (.19 MOA). I was like oh man, shot number five, the pressure's on I just knew it was going to open up the group. Maybe I tried too hard. Or maybe I'll call it a “flier.” It was probably me...but there was a variable wind coming from about 10 o'clock so...anyway number five makes it a .35 MOA 5 shot group. I'll take that.

Average velocity 3,532. ES 32, SD 11

 

[JSH]

Put a click left, then up or down 3-6”. You won’t tear up your POA, or tend to look at the group rather than your POA.

I picked up a 222 myself. I had to see if the hype was true. Well the darn thing shoots very well. Been feeding it 4198, hope I can get something else to shoot as good that measures easier.

 

[dexter]

Gotta love the triple deuce. Ain't it fun!

 

[jds holler]

Put a click left, then up or down 3-6”. You won’t tear up your POA, or tend to look at the group rather than your POA.

I picked up a 222 myself. I had to see if the hype was true. Well the darn thing shoots very well. Been feeding it 4198, hope I can get something else to shoot as good that measures easier.

I did the 4198 thing, and others as well, but got sick of weighing and trickling. Moved on to stuff like H335, BLC2, and never looked back. jd

 

[lb-ft]

H322 is my absolute favorite. TAC, 4198, 2015, 728 are all good too.

But I’d take H322 over them all.

 

[Cemetery21]

BLC2 and 50gr Hornady SX back in the 1970s in a 700 Varmint (when I could hold a decent group).

 

[AccelR8]

Probably will change to a different scope. This one is a cheap scope that came on a package deal rifle. It has fixed parallax and a big fat duplex reticle that completely covers those orange dots at 200 and nearly so at 100. You can barely see little bits of orange peeking around the cross hair intersection! I have a couple of old Tasco World Class Plus target scopes, probably use one of those. I had one on it before but took it off for another project.

 

[JSH]

Some of those old Tasco scopes have excellent glass in them.

Had to chuckle at myself, and I know others here are the same way.
Buy a new rifle or change up a barrel to a new cartridge. Shoots great, but then we want easier what ever, lol. I couldn’t find any 222 brass so I made some from 223, yet I want powder that measures easier.

FYI, I did t trickle or weigh each one of the 4198. My Belding&Mull does a fine job. I weigh every 5-7th one, old habit.

I was actually gifted a whole case of the stuff years ago and have been trying to get it used up. Down to about 3lbs.

Thing is it is outstanding in the 17HH. May not be fastest but it is the bestest for that one. Want to talk about PITA, bridges in the funnel if you don’t trickle it in, lol.

 

[jds holler]

4198 is a great powder for 222ish cartridges, and lot's of us have shot killer loads with it. When I'm loading for squirrel shooting though, I've found loads that work just as well straight from the measure.

With my Uniflow measure 4198 throws +/- probably .03 gr. That's definitely enough to make a difference in group size. I just don't care to trickle 2 or 3 hundred loads for a afternoon shoot. jd

 

[SBS]

H322 for the 50 gr. and IMR 8208 XBR for the 40 gr. Very accurate powders for these weights and measure well. The 40 grainers churn up enough velocity to make the .222 a great PD round inside 300 yds. -- look like they're hit with a .22-250.

 

[texasbilly]

I just shot my Sako Riihmaki w/varmint barrel in 222Rem. 80 degrees and very humid. Using a plain old Sierra 52gr SP, in front of different loads of H4198, I shot groups that never exceeded 1/2" at 100 yards. Not bad for an old man and an old rifle.

 

[AccelR8]

I just shot my Sako Riihmaki w/varmint barrel in 222Rem. 80 degrees and very humid. Using a plain old Sierra 52gr SP, in front of different loads of H4198, I shot groups that never exceeded 1/2" at 100 yards. Not bad for an old man and an old rifle.

I had to google Sako Riihmiki...those are nice looking rifles!

 

[texasbilly]

I didn't mention that I shot my CZ 527 222rem at the same time as the Sako Riihmaki mentioned earlier. I shot groups with the Nosler 40gr Ballistic Tip bullets, with H4198, at 100yards. Groups averaged around an inch. I don't think that rifle likes the Nosler 40gr Ballistic Tip bullets too much.

 

[Juppe12]

I reload my ammo usually with Vihtavuori N130 or N120. Both work well with my 222 Tikka T3. With Sierra 53gr HP I get nice 6-8mm 5 Shot groups on 100m range. With Lapua S569 3,6g FMJ bullet I have shot 10mm groups on 150m. That Lapua bullet is my 1st choice for hunting black grouse.

 

[Mark W]

@AccelR8 wasn’t this the barrel that you chambered on a Wilson blank or was that someone else I am thinking of?

 

[AccelR8]

@AccelR8 wasn’t this the barrel that you chambered on a Wilson blank or was that someone else I am thinking of?

Yes, Wilson blank from Barrel Brothers/Ragged Hole Barrels (hope I got that right). Don't recall the contour but at finished length it's like .680" or thereabouts at the muzzle.

OK just went and looked at their website. I guess it is a #4 sporter contour.

 

[gambleone]

Now I gotta buy a 222. Dang. Seems everyone that has them loves them.

 

[AccelR8]

Now I gotta buy a 222. Dang. Seems everyone that has them loves them.

Do it!

I am becoming quite obsessed with it

 

[lb-ft]

+2 do it!

222 is my favorite cartridge of all time

 

[Mark W]

Yes, Wilson blank from Barrel Brothers/Ragged Hole Barrels (hope I got that right). Don't recall the contour but at finished length it's like .680" or thereabouts at the muzzle.

OK just went and looked at their website. I guess it is a #4 sporter contour.

I thought that was you. I’m glad it’s coming around for you!

I’ve got a Wilson 1:8 blank from the same outfit chambered in 22 BRA that I struggled with all spring. I’m hoping to get it lined out when I get time to shoot again.