221 Fireball powder for Remington 700 rifle

[dan2116]

Hello all. I just acquired a Remington 700 BDL in .221 Fireball w/ 24' barrel, roughly measured). I have read threads that lean towards Reloader 7 but it is extremely expensive. I have H335 which is listed in Hodgdens reloading data. Has anyone worked with H335 powder in a .221 rifle? Any other suggestions are welcomed.I am also in the need for a set of reloading dies for .221 Fireball as well, RCBS preferred or?) . Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[alf]

Accurate 1680 works extremely well in mine, mostly all with 40 gr. Ballistic Tips. It'll do 3500 in a 23' barrel.

 

[NorCalMikie]

dan: Check your email. Mike.

 

[JerryMay]

Hi, I've settled with Vhit N130, about 19-1/2 grains behind a Hornady 40g V Max. I did try Vhit N120 but the N130 was more accurate.
Jerry.,UK)

 

[tenring]

Mine is a custom Sako with 20'barrel and birds-eye maple stock. It performs best with a 50 gr. Speer TNT over 17.5 gr. H322.

 

[MTETM]

Mine likes Lil'gun and 50 grain TNT's. Great job on P-dogs and anything else. Very accurate.

 

[Preacher]

All mine enjoy RL-7... never noticed it cost any more than any other powder would..

 

[jwv2001]

I've had luck with 1680 & lil gun but H4227 works the best for me. I use 15.5 gr. with either a 40 gr. Vmax,3200 fps) or a 36 gr. Varmint Grenade,3500 fps.).
My rifle has a 14' twist 22' barrel.

 

[CT10ring]

I have 2 .221's. Both Rem 700's -- One a classic & the other a trued 700 action & Pac-nor 24' Rem sporter weight barrel, built by Greg Tannel. Both shoot the same load into 1/2' or less @ 100- 14.6g Lil Gun & 40 g V maxes, BR-4 primer. There is a very extensive .221 fb reloading article about 3 issues ago in Varmint Hunter Magazine, super informative. Enjoy your rifle! Great to read the loads posted by others, too...

 

[bheadboy]

i have built 4 221 rifles, and had one 700 classic, my current 40x, 22' hart bbl. shoots 50 sierra blitz at 2950 with 19.2gr 2015, and 17.5gr H4198

great cal for PD out to 300, they explode

bheadboy

 

[m59/80]

Hi, I've settled with Vhit N130, about 19-1/2 grains behind a Hornady 40g V Max. I did try Vhit N120 but the N130 was more accurate.
Jerry.,UK)

Hi, same observations with 55gr Lapua S569 FMJ and 69gr Sierra MK, N130 is go... Best accuracy with VV N130 and hot loads, my barrel is 360mm/ 1:8 cut rifled just for 69MK and a bit anemic velocities to stabilize it. A bit strange that the last version of Lapua 55gr FMJ with hot load is clearly under MOA/100m/5rnds. The older version didn't group as well.

 

[sqrlgtr]

Hodgdon CFE black is worth a look and was one of the easier powders to find around these parts anyway.

 

[LHSmith]

Old thread, but Re-7 with 50 gr BT worked best in a R-700 LVSF after trying Lil-Gun and AA1680.

 

[stacy]

H-4227 and 40 gr Berger hp prints nice bugs for me

 

[WayneShaw]

H4198 in mine.

 

[grovey]

I've loaded for 2 700's in 221. One with Reloader 7, and the other with H4198. Both shot sub 1/4" groups with cheap 50gr ZMAX bullets. I should of bought a truck load of those ZMAX's @12 cents each. My buddy won a local 1,2,300 yd factory gun match with my RL7 load against a field of Tikka's shoot 77gr mk's.

 

[nakneker]

Old thread, but Re-7 with 50 gr BT worked best in a R-700 LVSF after trying Lil-Gun and AA1680.

One of my favorite rifles, I regret selling mine. H4198 with a Nosler BT was the first load I tried and never had a reason to switch.

 

[T 700]

I recently bought a Rem 700 LVSF in 221 fireball and been testing CFE black, it will shoot but for the life of me I can't get the ES below 50 to 60. Has anyone else experienced that? Think I will try VV N-130 next

 

[sbranden]

My Rem 700 LVSF likes 15.0 of LilGun under a 40NBT lit with CCI BR4's. And I think I shortened the OAL a touch to get it to really drill (1.825"?). Great little gun. Because of its light weight, this is the one I put a Super Hogster on for night time calling where I really don't need a separate hand-held scanner then.

 

[LHSmith]

I recently bought a Rem 700 LVSF in 221 fireball and been testing CFE black, it will shoot but for the life of me I can't get the ES below 50 to 60. Has anyone else experienced that? Think I will try VV N-130 next

FWIW- I don't know of anyone shooting SR BR Registered Competition that concerns themselves with ES. The target results dictate when your load is optimum.