222 Rem long neck

[Lucky Shooter]

I've heard many comments on the advantage of the relatively long neck
on the 222 Rem.

How can we use this neck length to gain an accuracy advantage ?

My 222----unknown reamer print---has about .160" of bullet in the
case neck when seated about .010" off the lands. This is a very sweet
spot but I'd like to get some land engagement, which comes at the
expense bullet seating depth.

Any comments on getting benefit from the long neck ?

A. Weldy

 

[1911nut]

My 222’s, a Shilen and a Remington seat 52g Barts about 0.018” in the neck at 0.010“ off the lands (Square marks). Single shot guns, no problems. Neither shoot smaller closer to the lands.

You could try a 55g bullet if you haven’t.

 

[Hoser]

Cant help you that much, but...

I have always wanted to build a 222 Ackley. Get a reamer with zero throat and then using a throating reamer to have about 10-15 jump from a 80gn bullet.

 

[PracticalTactical]

The way I see it is you have 2 ways to align the bullet to the rifling, by the freebore or by the neck.

In the days of 222, they didn't run heavy VLDs so freebore would be short, so you can't use that to align the bullet.

That leaves you with tight necks to create that alignment. So I suppose your options are relative to how much neck clearance you have in the chamber. If fired cases are around 0.250 or less then you could neck turn cases and run them with minimal neck clearance.

If you have larger chamber neck diameter, then all you can really do is hope for the best.

 

[JEFFPPC]

Bullet seating depth in the neck in my opinion has nothing to do with accuracy. Seat the bullet out until you have a square mark from the lands. Then start backing it into the case .003 until you find the best accuracy. Tried, true, and simple.

 

[NZ_Fclass]

I'm sure someone will tell us how the benchrest shooters got great accuracy with the 222 before the 6PPC became the thing. Before I re barrelled my Tikka it shot fine with 50g, well under .5 with the good loads, but would not shoot the 55g Sierra HPBT well. As the barrel wore, I fitted a new Tikka 1/8 twist take off barrel so it will handle all projectiles. The barrel was re chambered from 223, the reamer has a short freebore, and 55g rounds fit the magazine length easily for a 25thou jump.

 

[BoydAllen]

I've heard many comments on the advantage of the relatively long neck
on the 222 Rem.

How can we use this neck length to gain an accuracy advantage ?

My 222----unknown reamer print---has about .160" of bullet in the
case neck when seated about .010" off the lands. This is a very sweet
spot but I'd like to get some land engagement, which comes at the
expense bullet seating depth.

Any comments on getting benefit from the long neck ?

A. Weldy

I have a couple of .222s, one with a custom no freebore chamber, and the other a factory rifle with a relatively short one. I do not think that there is an accuracy advantage for long necks, but there may be a barrel life advantage that would show up more in larger cases. With my factory rifle 40 gr. V-Maxes have plenty of shank in the neck when seated moderately into the rifling. and of course my custom chamber has all that you can get as far as shank in neck. Both have served me well, one as my favorite varmint rifle and the other punching paper, sometimes getting down into the .1s. It has a tight neck that requires turning. If I were going that way again I would specify a .246 neck, zero FB and SAAMI minimum body dimensions. The reason that I say that is that with those dimensions and necks turned to the proper thickness run of the mill one piece FL dies will produce outstanding brass, as far as neck tension and straightness. If you take a little time to pull the decapping assembly out of a factory die, size a fired case, do some measuring and calculating, I think that you will see what I mean. The last time I took the bench rifle out, it was to work up a load for a powder that I had not tried in decades, H322, some of Bart's 52 grain bullets, Lapua brass and 205s The load took about 45 minutes to tune, with me loading, and a younger friend doing the shooting. The last three shots fit in a standard mothball without touching the line. I don't remember the exact load, but I was starting to see a little pressure, and the bullet was seated at jam, with moderate neck tension. We had a couple of flags out, conditions were light and easy to deal with, and the rest and bag setup was a good fit for the stock, a prototype McMillan EDGE that Kelly gave me installed on my barreled action back when I was writing for Shooters News. I was given the option of pillar bedding or a glue in. The action is a tuned up 722 with a 22" HV Hart barrel. I had always wanted to try a glue in, and it turned out to be an excellent choice. The stock has trigger pin holes so I can get the Canjar LP out and back in if I need to, but up to this point I have not.

 

[boltfluter]

I have a couple of .222s, one with a custom no freebore chamber, and the other a factory rifle with a relatively short one. I do not think that there is an accuracy advantage for long necks, but there may be a barrel life advantage that would show up more in larger cases. With my factory rifle 40 gr. V-Maxes have plenty of shank in the neck when seated moderately into the rifling. and of course my custom chamber has all that you can get as far as shank in neck. Both have served me well, one as my favorite varmint rifle and the other punching paper, sometimes getting down into the .1s. It has a tight neck that requires turning. If I were going that way again I would specify a .246 neck, zero FB and SAAMI minimum body dimensions. The reason that I say that is that with those dimensions and necks turned to the proper thickness run of the mill one piece FL dies will produce outstanding brass, as far as neck tension and straightness. If you take a little time to pull the decapping assembly out of a factory die, size a fired case, do some measuring and calculating, I think that you will see what I mean. The last time I took the bench rifle out, it was to work up a load for a powder that I had not tried in decades, H322, some of Bart's 52 grain bullets, Lapua brass and 205s The load took about 45 minutes to tune, with me loading, and a younger friend doing the shooting. The last three shots fit in a standard mothball without touching the line. I don't remember the exact load, but I was starting to see a little pressure, and the bullet was seated at jam, with moderate neck tension. We had a couple of flags out, conditions were light and easy to deal with, and the rest and bag setup was a good fit for the stock, a prototype McMillan EDGE that Kelly gave me installed on my barreled action back when I was writing for Shooters News. I was given the option of pillar bedding or a glue in. The action is a tuned up 722 with a 22" HV Hart barrel. I had always wanted to try a glue in, and it turned out to be an excellent choice. The stock has trigger pin holes so I can get the Canjar LP out and back in if I need to, but up to this point I have not.

Great story Boyd! Feel free to share more. Always cool to read about the days gone bye.

Paul

 

[Mark W]

To me the major advantage of a .222 or any other long neck cartridge is that they are so forgiving when it comes to bullet choice and seating depth.