222 rem question

[LHSmith]

Lapua at one time outsourced their .222 brass, about 3 years ago they began making it in house again. The outsourced quality was substandard ......metallurgy wise and dimensionally. Many were getting better results from .222 W-W head-stamped brass.

 

[boltman223]

Well, I sent my 222 out today to get pilar bedded and rechambered with a .250 neck and 0 freebore, I should have it back in about 8 weeks. man It's going to be a long 8 weeks!

 

[Juma]

Going to load 300 cases with 62gr Barnes for red deer. Either with 748, BM2 or 2207.

 

[BoydAllen]

Since you will now have zero freebore, if you like to do a little varmint shooting, do yourself a favor and work up an accurate and fast load using the 40 gr. Vmaxes. They have a BC that is the equal of the old 52 gr FB and leave a lot faster. IMO the plastic tipped 40 gr. bullets have remade the .222 and .223 in a significant way. Not that I have tried all the possible combinations, but I have used Benchmark with this bullet in the .222, and been able to come up with a load that gives me high .2s and low 3s from a push feed model 70. This is a lot of fun on California ground squirrels, with a lot of terminal action. At the range, Berger 52s are hard to beat. I have shot 133, but with one of my bench rifles, I have gotten very consistent results from 748. I know that this is not the classic powder for this powder, but I tend to listen to my rifles, rather than try to make them shoot what they "should". On the other hand, in my 6PPCs 133 dominates.

 

[boltman223]

Boydallen

That is great to hear that, benchmark and the 40 plastic tips are exactly what i want to use.

 

[robbor]

Lapua at one time outsourced their .222 brass, about 3 years ago they began making it in house again. The outsourced quality was substandard ......metallurgy wise and dimensionally. Many were getting better results from .222 W-W head-stamped brass.

my batch of brass is the new lapua made batch.
I have been wanting to try the hornady 53 vmax, they have a great bc.
Also i was looking at a 0 freebore drawing the other day for 222 and it is 0 freebore but .009" lead as i recall, made me wonder. Probably done to help with alignment for accuracy???

 

[Juma]

Juma, in the 70's Ball C was the go to in line with 4198 and 4895

Today Hod has Ball C and 748 burn rate next to each other and either willdo the job, i think they are the same.

Bob

Sweet. Only addition is that we anneal all brass and USC. We slow size and can feel the brass fit a lot better.

 

[LHSmith]

Juma, in the 70's Ball C was the go to in line with 4198 and 4895

Today Hod has Ball C and 748 burn rate next to each other and either willdo the job, i think they are the same.

Bob

Sweet. Only addition is that we anneal all brass and USC. We slow size and can feel the brass fit a lot better.

Pls. explain "USC" and "slow size"

 

[fdshuster]

.020" of jump has always been the best for me. Screwed up on my bullet seating a few years ago, went to the range & the 5 shot groups at 1 & 200 yards were in the toilet.

Was going nuts trying to figure out what the problem was, ( with a very accurate Rem. 700 & a Hart barreled Sako), until I discovered the error in bullet seating. I had them seated to touch. Pushed them all .020" deeper into the case, went back to the range & it began to shoot the usual very small bug hole groups.

Favorite powders are H4198 ( 20.5 grs.) and H322 at 22.2, with any high quality 50 to 53 gr. bullet.

Very easy round to load for, and dozens of excellent powder & bullet choices, very long barrel life, no recoil, a long history ( 1950) of accuracy, etc. What's not to like?

 

[22BRGUY]

What Predator 1 said for me

 

[BOBC]

Remember Mike Walker designed the 222Rem around IMR4198 and a 50gr bullet.
All my dueces shot best when bullets jumped .020". Never could get the best accuracy
touching the lands. My best groups are 20.5 grs of 4198 and my own 51gr bullet. But most 50 to 52gr bullets with that same charge shoot well. And your powder goes a long way with these charges. And 4000 + rds of good barrel life too. What a great little cartridge.

 

[Juma]

USC=ultra sonic clean. Slow size means we squeeze the case slowly and rotate.Probably annal but some guys go to the pub others reload in the garage.

 

[delmartin]

I enjoy shooting the 222 about as well as any rifle I have. The sage rats in Eastern Oregon just hate it! With several of these rifles it is nice to have a load that shoots well in all of them. I picked up a nice 40XBR that was Mike Walker's genus.
I had some loads made up using the 30 grain Berger bullet and N 120. First time I tried it this is the group it shot. Not a match winner by any means but I was happy and the light recoil using this bullet is really significant. I trier the load at 200 yds but it got moved around by the wind so much that wind flags are a must. You might want to try these light bullets as they shoot well even with a long jump.

 

[COhunter]

The 222 has been my go to round for 15 yrs now. I found a very clean model 700 and have never looked back. Keep in mind that this is a factory rifle, with the only modification being a trigger job. It will shoot some unreal group's when i do my part. Here is my pet load for my rifle.

52 gr Hornady BTHP match
24.4 grs IMR-4895
Rem 7 1/2 primer
loaded to factory length