222 Rem Build Questions For A Friend

[COhunter]

So a hunting friend of mine is wanting to build a lightweight, walking varmint rifle in 222 remington. He would like a little insight from the awesome group here on some of the particulars. He already has a blueprinted remington short action, but has a dilemma with which barrel manufacture. He is looking at either a Hart or Shilen at this point in time and either a Peak 44 or AG Composite stock. Any points that he is missing? He has a reamer, i believe that it is just a sammi spec reamer. Not sure of the free bore on it. Anything else he is overlooking?

 

[C.E.Smith043]

Nope. Sounds good to me. Tell him to go with it. All components sound great.

 

[Richard Jones]

Shilen has a great .250 neck reamer. If not a 'pre-fit', the reamer dimensions are available and I'm sure that more than a few smiths would have it or something close. Which action is it?
Even a SAAMI 222 is awesomeness.......... I ran one for years and have zero complaints.

 

[nakneker]

222s are classics for a reason, sounds like your friend is good to go. Either barrel should give him good results. I’ve had a few built over the years. My wife’s 222 is built on a 700, HS precision stock, Kreiger 18” barrel that shes uses for varmint calling, it’s been an excellent rifle. My own builds had Douglas, Kreiger, PacNor and Brux barrels, a variety of stocks. All of them had short freebores or no freebores, I mostly shoot 50 and 52 grains bullets in them. Some have longer barrels, some have shorter barrels. If he’s wanting a walking varminter it’s a great choice for a cartridge. Barrel length is personal preference, I like the handiness of shorter barrel but you certainly give up a little speed. 22” is a nice compromise in something like a #3 contour.

That’s the beauty of a custom build, get exactly what you want.

I have few factory 222s, older Remingtons, Sakos, CZ, Tikkas, they all shoot sub .5

I hope your buddy enjoys the mighty triple duece. It’s easy to tune, accurate and certainly has a history. Nice to see mentioned more and more.

 

[lawman29]

but has a dilemma with which barrel manufacture. He is looking at either a Hart or Shilen at this point in time

More important question is what twist?

 

[COhunter]

I believe that he is going to stick with a 1-14, but may step up to a 1-12. He plans on shooting 50-52 gr bullets. He has a 223 for anything heavier

 

[1911nut]

I have a 222 Shilen 14 twist with a .250 neck. It shoots in the 1’s and 2’s with 52g Barts.
I have to turn necks on Lapua brass.

 

[jds holler]

One of my most beloved rifles has been a 222 with 1/14 twist, but it was from the days when they didn't even make bullets heavier than 55's in .224.
These days I'd have to bump it up to a 12, or even 10 to take advantage of a little heavier pills. Should still be able to find a happy medium for free bore, since there's a lot of neck on the 222 case. jd

 

[warrbuk]

I had a triple duece Rem 700 varmint. Rebarreled with a Douglas / 0 FB min sammi reamer Wore it out too

Killed lots of squeks with it.

I went 221 FB this go around as I couldn’t source 222 brass at the time

 

[LHSmith]

The Rem 700 LVSF was the epitome of a walking varmint rifle. Had one in .221 and .204. Not offered in .222, if they had been I'd still have it -but I liked the stock so much I used them on other builds as well as the actions.

 

[snert]

No issue with a 14 twist. It will run anything that the Duece shoots well. Run the 50-52 grain flat base target bullets. Try the 50 grain SP from Sierra, or the SX if you can find it for varmints. I like the TNT for volume shooting.
IMR 4198 at 19.5 grains for traditional target load
I also really like N133 and H322
I found that just about any powder in that range is fine and will produce.

Keep the 223 for heavies and run the Duece for what it was made for...300 yard varmint whacking and short range BR

 

[lawman29]

Lilja also makes good barrels and turnaround is 4 mo.
14 twist.
40-50 gr bullets.

 

[357Mag]

So a hunting friend of mine is wanting to build a lightweight, walking varmint rifle in 222 remington. He would like a little insight from the awesome group here on some of the particulars. He already has a blueprinted short action but has a dilemma with which barrel manufacture. He is looking at either a Hart or Shilen at this point in time and either a Peak 44 or AG Composite stock. Any points that he is missing? He has a reamer, i believe that it is just a sammi spec reamer. Not sure of the free bore on it. Anything else he is overlooking?

Cohunter -

Howdy !

I recommend a 1-14 twist, which would easily handle bullets of 50-55gr.
Back when Remington offered .221FB, .222, .222Mag, .223, and .22-250 as factory chamberings, they used 1-14 twist.

Hornady offered/offer their excellent .224” cal 50 & 55gr SXSP bullets specifically to provide explosive performance on varmints; when shot from cases lick those mentioned above. Hornady recommends a 3,400fps MV limit for these 2 bullets, because of the SX’s .009” thin jacket.

If your buddy already havs a great riflesmith in-mind, and access to a good chamber reamer; than I suggest he forego a “ pre-fit “ /pre-chambered barrel…and let the ‘smith do the work. My first customer varmint rifle used a Hart .224” cal SS 1-14 5-groove, and it proved to be a wonderful choice ! Hart makes great barrels !

Whatever neck diameter the reamer cuts, your buddy ( if a reloader ) will simply neck turn his brass if need be, for proper cartridge-to-chamber fit. It might be such a circumstance that the brass will only need a “ skim trim “ to even out small-ish irregularities in neck wall thickness.



A light sporter wt taper might make use of a 24” barrel finished length possible ?
I DK how arduous his “ walking “ might be, when varminting ? If sunlight “ glinting “ off a polished SS barrel is not desired, he could go w/ a vapor-blasted external finish
( example ).

A great trigger is a must, and most aftermarket trigger manufacturers offer products that fit an M-700.

A “ bridge mount “ type of scope base can aid in rigidity of the action.
If scope wt is not too big a factor in scope choice for his application, a variable like
Leupold’s 4.5-14X would pretty much “ cover all bases “.


With regards,
357Mag

 

[AWS]

Personally, the rifle you want to build is out there, the Sako L,-461 Vixen, lightweight, great trigger and accurate Your going to end up with bulkier rifle and more than likelier heavier rifle.

Your talking "walking varminter" and it sounds like your building a "walking benchrest rifle".

Mine is the full-stock version and is one of my favorite coyote hunting rigs

An inexpensive very accurate bullet in the 222 Rem is the Speer 52gr flat base HP Varmint bullet , I buy them by the "K" around $10./100.

I put a sleeve on the front half to cut the glare

And they shoot, there are five there, four and the highball still pushing .5 MOA even with the flyer.

Both Wooters and Fadala built their walking varminters on the Sako, Fadala in 6mm-222 so his wife could use it for deer also and wooters in 25-222(25 Copperhead) so he could use easier casting .257 bullets.

Just another thought, I have a compact Leupold 2-7 on mine. The SWFA 2.5-10 Ultralight would make a great scope for a vixen as the ocular housing is small enough to use Sako Low rings. The Leupold compact can use lows but the 1-4x20 shown needed mediums.

Pic in the morning .

 

[AWS]

Another thought for a walking varminter is a combo gun, fine for fur or feather. I have an extra set of 12ga/12ga barrels for this also.

Valmet 212 12ga/222 Rem

And they are accurate also.

 

[ASbobcat]

Take a look at Pac-Nor. Great folks and superb barrels. Polygons superior in every way.

I'm re-chambering a 223 to 222 for short range target. Fantastic cartridge. Overlooked for decades, but making a comeback.

 

[Truckbed]

Get her going, one of the all time great chamberings! Don’t scrimp on trigger or glass. Try some 40gr Blitzking or v-max and Reloader 7. Will be a smokin little varmint laser !

 

[SBS]

Get her going, one of the all time great chamberings! Don’t scrimp on trigger or glass. Try some 40gr Blitzking or v-max and Reloader 7. Will be a smokin little varmint laser !

Or 8208 with the 40 grainers. Not as much recoil as heavier bullets and flat shooting with the increased velocity (and 14T works well with the 40's).