222 Magnum

[markr]

Hello everyone, my first post here.
I have a trued Rem 700 with a Walker Bros.,Walker Machine and Tool) that was built for me some time ago and shortly befor Dave Walkers death. It is a tight nect chamber with dies that he made as well. I have a large supply of the Walker Bullets in 22cal. 52 and 53 grain as well as 17 cal 25 grain bullets.
I have just got around to stocking this barreled action and just wanted to see if there were many people here interested in this cartridge. My preliminary shooting has been done with SMK 53 gr and 4895, BLC 2 and N201. Most of brass that I'm using right now is Sako that is fully prepped.
I realize that ther are plenty of far more consistant cartridges around but this one was done by my old friend Dave Walker and I learned much from him while being there when he did the work. My father had an afinity for this cartridge as well and I still have his old Rem 721 in 222 Mag.
Any load advice or any other words of wisdon would be greatly appreciated.
Mark

 

[357Mag]

Mark -

You have a great gun, there !

From memory.... powders to try in your Deuce Mag would be

H4895, VV133, H332, H335 and the like.

Back when guys were still shootin' .222s and Deuce Mags for benchrest. a lot of H5895 was being burned.

You might ask Sinclair's if they have a good contact number for Ron Pfieffer. Ron used to make great 53gr .224' calibre match-grade bullets, to the old Remington 52gr pattern.
He lived about 12mi from Sinclairs. No 52-53gr .224' bullets I tried could ever bet the Pfieffer's.

With regards,
357Mag

 

[k80skeet]

Try some H322 21.5grs.You can go up to 23.0 without any problems with a 205M primer works good for me with 53gr & 52gr Sierra's

 

[jdavis62]

l had the best loads with 748 and Rem.71/2 52-53 gr.flat
base bullets.
good luck Jon.

 

[GerryM]

Another top powder of the day was IMR 4198.
Loads are in the sierra book. Wally hart shot 23.5 grs with a hart 52gr flat base. Berger bullets should shoot just fine in the weight range . 50 to 53 gr bullets.
Records were set in their day with the 4895 and 4198 with a 7 1/2 rem primer just missing or jumping a bit.

 

[cliffy]

Since a .222 Rem Magnum and a .223 Remington have a lot in common, stick with small rifle MAGNUM primers. DO NOT USE, so called, standard small rifle primers to avoid possible problems such as I initially encountered; A pierced primer, at maxy loads, is no joke. A magnum primer regarding small rifle primers has a .005' thicker cup thickness versus STANDARD, and is designed for MAGNUM loads, though NOT designated. .22 Hornet cartridges thrive on standard small rifle primers. All .243 Winchester and above loads use .027' thick cups. Get the picture? cliffy

 

[jthyttin]

Primer thickness comparison:

http://www.jamescalhoon.com/primers_and_pressure.php

I use Rem 7-1/2 for hot loads in 223 Rem, since I have them avail.

Steer away from fast powders to extend case life,primer pockets). I don't use anything faster than Vihtavuori N133 for 52gr bullets in 223. Occasionally I go faster with short,16'), suppressed barrels.

Sako factory ammo is loaded to approx. 222 Rem levels, and their brass may be a bit soft for full house loads,brass quality seems to wander). There's also drastic weight differences between lots,10+ grains).

 

[fdshuster]

jthyttin: I've recently 're-discovered' the Rem. 7 1/2 primers. Blew 2 or 3 Fed 205 primers with a recommended load in my 6ppc, switched to the Rem 7 1/2 with their .025' cups, same load, and all is normal. As a bonus, with several powders, they are proving to be very accurate. Great article by James Calhoun.

 

[markr]

Thanks for the info everyone. As my dad discovered long ago, Rem 7 1/2 and CCI mag primers are the ticket. I tried some IMR 4895 this week, I need to check this one out further, spotty groups at lower pressures but as it increased the gorups started shrinking, always a flyer tho...4 in 2/10 1 opens the group to 1/2', may have been the bullets though, they were Sierra 55 gr blitz. Most of my loads have been with 53 gr SMK and N201 and shooting around 3/10 ths. I do want to try 4198 and H322 though, I've heard good stuff about those two. I really have to find some smaller quantities of various custom bullets just to see if I can shrink the groups any. I'm gettin ready to re-bed the rifle with a Whidden bedding block, I talked to John yesterday and he walked me through the procedure!
My buds are still making fun of me though for fooling with the little deuce mag. I've got an 220 AI if I want to make horsepower though.
I am wondering about the viability of getting quality 204 brass and opening it up to 23 then back down to 22 and fireforming it.
It's all in the chase for smaller groups...

 

[GerryM]

You probably can use the 204 brass{but it's going to form a tad shorter.
Remember to turn the cases and leave enough expansion.
Not too much though. It depends on your neck diameter.
Try neck sizing only and jump the bullets with the 4198.
The 7 1/2 is very good and we also used the cci BR 4 primer.
Now we have the new wolf mag primers to play with and i bet they work out fine. They have the hard thick cup

 

[cliffy]

.222 Remington Magnum is the newer .223 Remington for all similiar intents. Alliant ReLoder 10x powder rules the 35 to 55 grain range of performance-oriented bullets currently available. Rifling twist will decide what's best for your rifle's ultimate bullet weight. 1-in-12" twist performs super with 55 grain fare. An "HONEST" 1/2" group at 100 yards is about as good as hunting rifles get. Magnum primers are ideal, but CCI BR-4 primers work well, if you wish to spend more $. A 55 grain Nosler Ballistic-Tip is accurate at 3500 fps. Cliffy

 

[JASmith]

My Browning (Sako action) from the mid-60's has served me well with the exception that the 1-14" twist means that the 52-53 gr bullets work a lot better than even 55 gr bullets.

What is the twist in your rifle?

 

[fdshuster]

JASmith: Regarding barrel twist on the older Sako's: I have 2 Sako Vixen's, L-46, both made in the very early 60's, a 222 serial# 36xxx, and a 222 Rem. Magnum (since re-barreled), serial# 48xxx. Both of the original Bofors steel barrels have 1-16 twists. Really proved to be a problem with the 222 Magnum since I had to use the very short 40 gr. bullets ( groups with 45 gr. would start to open up/ 50 gr. was impossible), and to add to the problem, the throat was very deep. With the bullet seated (just barely), hanging on to the case mouth, the jump to the lands was .135". "Groups" at 200 yd were more like clusters, in the 3 1/2" to 4" range. At the time the 222 & 222 Magnums were being made, they were also chambering the 22 Hornet and 218 Bee, both of those requiring 1-16, so I guess they just arbitrarily cut all the 22 centerfire barrels with a 1-16. The 222 was re-barreled with a Hart 222 and 1-14, and the 222 Magnum is now a 223 Rem with a 1-9. Also had to have some major repairs to the trigger of #48xxx. The critical parts (trigger & sear) were not hardened and developed some serious wear over the years. Replacement triggers are not available for these older Sako's, so repair was critical, but my 'smith was able to re-cut the engagement surfaces and properly caseharden. Both the original Bofors steel barrels were heavily pitted, I'm told from the high sulphur content steel used at that time. So, like anything else, nice rifles, but not without problems.

 

[Ackman]

My 222Mag was extremely accurate with W748 and a 50gr Sierra blitz. Don't remember the exact load but it was more than 27gr. This was an old Sako 469 (detachable magazine) and bullets were seated quite a bit off the lands.

 

[HawkI]

I have used 3 222 Magnums, two are 1-14's and one is a 1-9.

52 Bergers, A-Max and 53 Sierras with loads 27-27.5 grs. Benchmark and a Fed. 205 have been gems.

If using 204 cases reformed (and turned or reamed at the old shoulder jucture) or Herters/Norma/Sako cases a charge reduction is definitely in order. They are either softer or have less cap or both.

Good luck!

 

[cliffy]

If I had a 1-in-14" twist .222 Rem Mag, I'd opt for a 50 grain bullet at MAXIMUM WEIGHT design. Several great 50 grainers are available: 50 grain Hornady V-MAX; Speer TNT; Sierra BlitzKing; Nosler Ballistic-Tip to name a few. I-in-14" twist will not over-stabilize any of these. Overstabilization is as disruptive to accuracy downrange as Understabilization. Always stay within your rifle's proper grainage design fare. Cliffy