221 Fireball build?

[Piglet]

Not benchrest quality but I did a 17 m4 on a mini mauser. Feeds fine from a 223 magazine. 700 fireball magazine box are out there, ptg makes a follower and spring. 700 w sako extractor feeds good in a 700 20 VT.

Or find a fireball/blk out bolt like someone previously suggested

 

[kerjo]

50 years ago I bought an XP-100 in .221 Fireball with the plastic stock. 35 years ago I took it out of the plastic stock. Got a Shilen barrel for it, a Canjar trigger for it and put it in a Fajen walnut stock with a Leupold 2.5-8X LER AO OBJ scope. Killed a lot of sod poodles with it. I still shoot it today.

 

[Cutter1]

The Model 7 or XP100 work great as single shots.
A Remington Classic or a Kimber do well to
The big problem is stocks for the super short
Actions are essentially nonexistent, a flat top
McMillan is a possible solution but they won’t inlet them

 

[troupe]

I posted a action in the classifieds that would make a very nice build. Know you are making me reconsider my post. 221 sounds fun, but I never shoot my new builds.

 

[Gabe22BR]

I posted an action in the classifieds that would make a very nice build. Know you are making me reconsider my post. 221 sounds fun, but I never shoot my new builds.

For a converted single shot, it still won’t eject the round-
There’s a reason Sako, M16 ejector bolts are the choice for 221FB cartridges…

 

[DJD]

Not benchrest quality but I did a 17 m4 on a mini mauser. Feeds fine from a 223 magazine. 700 fireball magazine box are out there, ptg makes a follower and spring. 700 w sako extractor feeds good in a 700 20 VT.

A buddy also has a mach4 on a mini mauser and I've got one in 221 fireball. Bolts are a little sloppy but they shoot well.

I'm probably going to cut my CZ 527 Varmint .223 down 1/2" to rechamber to .221 since I love it so much

 

[Marksman]

I too am a fireball fan, so I built one in 2015. As noted, you'll want an action that pulls the case upwards, and not against the lug channel where it gets knocked off. In my case I went with a Predator action, but if I were to do it today I would go with the Mac Bros action. The biggest hurdle I had at the time was getting the correct magazine box/spring/follower combination. I ended up ordering from Remington directly when they still had parts from their relaunch of the 17 Fireball.

 

[Rick in Oregon]

For years I considered the 221FB just a 223 Short. But once I built/rechambered two Sako Vixen's to FB back in the early 80's, I "saw the light". More accurate than it should be, less blast, recoil, powder used, and just plain fun to shoot.

My Cooper M38 Phoenix in 221 'Furball' shoots less than 1/4" with the 40gr or Vamageddon with RL-7, and is used on the bench for sage rats, and in the lava rock for rock chucks here. The Phoenix stock is great when around the nasty lava rock too, in case a tragedy occurs in that stuff.

For work under 350 yards, this caliber is just about perfect.





I've also got a CZ 527 American in 221FB, and even with its sporter-weight barrel, it also shoots under 1/2" with the same load. Again, much more accurate than it "should be". Great little caliber, and much overlooked.