221 Fireball

[41rem]

Who has one?

Had the pleasure of shooting my 1st one last weekend. It's a reworked Remington M700 Light Varmint with the 22" stainless fluted barrel this one is in a Manners style stock with a Jewel trigger installed. Has a Leupold VX2 6-18×40 up top with the fine duplex, shooting off a bi pod and my rear bag put 9 of 10 into 1 ragged hole pulled shot #2 about .5" out.

Interesting rifle & round

41

 

[Gabe22BR]

Stock or modified?
Mines is a modified one.
It has a .246” right neck.Kreiger-1-12” twist, 24” barrel
Remington LVSF action,single shot converted, been rebarreled, and restocked to a McMillian edge, B&A trigger
Likes 16.5gr H4198, Rem7-1/2 primers pushing Sierra 50gr BK.

 

[matthias]

Ruger m77mk2 target , shilen 1-12 #5 contour 22"
Ptg standard reamer 15gr lilgun , 40gr vmax , lapua brass, fed small rifle match primer .

Great little cartridge. Easy on barrels and pocketbooks.

 

[tominboise]

Mine is a standard Remmy 700 VLS, with a Rifle Basix trigger and PTG striker assembly. I use 40gr vmax or ballistic tips. Shoots great and the ground squirrels don't like it.

 

[Bangs OH]

I have two rifles chambered in .221 Fireball: A Cooper M38 Phoenix, and a Remington LVSF. Have occasionally considered rebarreling one to .20 VarTarg, or maybe the Remington to a .222, but so far haven’t found a good enough reason to change. Running 40-grain tipped bullets, that little round is surprisingly lethal on groundhogs out to 300 yards.

 

[NorCalMikie]

Built one on a Savage action. Nothing but problems trying to get it to extract without dropping the case off the bolt head half way out of the chamber.
Went single shot and cured/solved that problem. Still deadly accurate and no chasing brass either.
THEN, went one better. Converted my Remington XP 100 bolt action pistol in .221 Fireball into a rifle. DEADLY ACCURATE!!!
Looking for another XP to build another rifle for my "20 TCM" Wildcat round.
The .221 Fireball Savage rifle got switched to a 20 VT then into a 20 VT "short" then into the "20 TCM". No telling what it will be next. It's been just about everything.

 

[Bronco302]

Box stock CZ 527 that mostly shoot 50 grainers in. Did thread the barrel so it's suppressor friendly. Fun little rifle that performs above it's weight class.

 

[1raggedhole]

I’ve only had the XP100 handgun in this chambering. It is great on prairie dog towns, and doesn’t heat up so fast. I’ve always been a bit stumped why it didn’t gain a larger following. Probably because there has not been many rifles chambered in it. I moved to the 20VT in rifle and really enjoy it. Would not hesitate to buy a 221FB rifle if I came across a nice REM LV or Cooper 38, or maybe even a CZ 527.

 

[JSH]

I found more “magic” in the 222 than the fireball.

 

[stacy]

I HAVE A REM 700 CLASSIC 221 FIREBALL THAT I BEDDED THE ACTION TUNED THE TRIGGER TO 2LBS IMR 4227 IS MY GO TO POWDER WITH 40GR BERGER HP AND FED 205'S MAKE A SHOOTING LITTLE MACHINE

 

[rcol317]

We all have our favorites. I felt the 221 FB performed comparable to my 222 when you consider all around performance. My little fireball seemed to do everything the 222 did with less recoil, less powder and amazing results. I’ve always been surprised the 221 doesn’t seem to have a stronger following as well. I have three of them. Shot my XP 100 the other day at dusk and learned why it’s called the fireball. Was blown away by the flames coming out the end of tHat 10” barrel. Fun caliber in my opinion.

 

[VaRandy]

Who has one?

Had the pleasure of shooting my 1st one last weekend. It's a reworked Remington M700 Light Varmint with the 22" stainless fluted barrel this one is in a Manners style stock with a Jewel trigger installed. Has a Leupold VX2 6-18×40 up top with the fine duplex, shooting off a bi pod and my rear bag put 9 of 10 into 1 ragged hole pulled shot #2 about .5" out.

Interesting rifle & round

41

you are halfway there to a great rifle, I love my .17 Mk IV which is my only carry varmint rifle.

 

[DogBuster]

mine is heavily modified

called a 20 Vartarg

Salvage s/shot

 

[oldcars]

I love that little cartridge! I have an AR upper in .221FB built by a hobbyist gunsmith in Arizona somewhere, and purchased out of an estate. It shoots great, 26" stainless fluted barrel, and magazines blocked down to fit. The Upper receiver is carry handle, that was milled flat and a scope mount added, which tells me it was built long ago!

My other one is a Sako A1 action, with a sporter weight Remington 222 barrel that had the chamber end cut down 2"& re-chambered for 221FB, then threaded for the Sako, and the muzzle cut down 1.5" and re-crowned to get rid of some damage to the bore. Makes a real handy little rifle with a factory wood Sako stock, and that 20.5" barrel. It feeds fantastic with no modification.

I sure wish they still made A1 actions !!!!

 

[geralton4]

I had one in the XP-100, but promptly re-barreled it to .223. Looking back, I kinda wished I had left it alone. First stock I ever did was for that pistol. A Fajen thumbhole laminate. I sold it somewhere in the late 80's. Another I wished I hadn't let get away.

 

[FJVance]

221FB is a wonderful cartridge and was a big craze back in the 90's.
I've had many of them, and still a couple today.
Single shot would be XP100 Pistol, or XP100 converted to rifle.
With a magazine, feeding can be a problem, results will vary.
The Rem 700 SA is almost too big for the cartridge, and Remington did chamber the 700 Classic in 221 FB.
Smaller, shorter receivers will feed smaller, shorter cartridges easier.
I would say, find a gun that is original factory chambered for 221, then feeding and re-barreling is easier.

 

[NorCalMikie]

Shot my XP 100 the other day at dusk and learned why it’s called the fireball.

And deadly accurate too.
Seems like LOTS of folks have problems with Remington .221 Fireball brass not holding up? Me? No issues. Mid range loads where a 5 short group can be covered with a dime. PRICELESS!!

 

[457ciSBC]

I’ve always been surprised the 221 doesn’t seem to have a stronger following as well.

Well, you can thank good old Remington for that. They had the poorest Marketing department in the industry.

 

[linebaugh]

Have 2 now, both ackeyized. One shoots 40s single shot and the other shoots heavies out of a DBM Origin action. Both are an absolute joy to shoot and I was just looking around yesterday at possibly doing a 20-221 AI.

I wish Lapua hadn't discontinued the brass.

 

[birdog]

40-XBR.
click on pic to see full length rifle