Accuracy king of the small cals?

[dgeesaman]

What is a 222-1/2?

Old school short range benchrest wildcat. My understanding is it was made by running a 222 reamer in a bit deeper than standard.

 

[Gabe22BR]

What does WS2 do ??

Keep copper fouling at bay

 

[RGRobinett]

What is a 222-1/2?

Head-space 1/2 way between .222 Rem. & .222 Rem. Mag. OR, roughly, .223 capacity . . . RG

 

[ArtinNC]

I had a barrel that was marked 222 1/2 it had a 35* shoulder. And to form brass , you run a 223 brass in the 222 1/2 die and fire formed it. I would say it was half way between a 222 and 223 with a longer neck

 

[Yote Hunter]

219 Donaldson Wasp Short. I know the 222 and PPC variants are very accurate but my Wasp is Phenomenal! It has shot 0.070” @ 100 yards (24xLeupold) and 0.154” at 201 yards. 4 shots at 201 yards were in 0.100”. That was with a 36x Leupold. Shots 1,2,3,5 were in 1/10”. Built in the 50’s by Taylor and Robbin’s. Lots of trouble making brass from 30 American Small Primer brass but worth it! Oldie but goodie.

 

[Lightfoote]

I’d love to build a Donaldson Wasp on a marlin 336! Not necessarily to shoot tiny groups, but if hornady would make a 75 gummy tip eldx it would make a really fun truck type gun.

 

[1911nut]

219 Donaldson Wasp Short. I know the 222 and PPC variants are very accurate but my Wasp is Phenomenal! It has shot 0.070” @ 100 yards (24xLeupold) and 0.154” at 201 yards. 4 shots at 201 yards were in 0.100”. That was with a 36x Leupold. Shots 1,2,3,5 were in 1/10”. Built in the 50’s by Taylor and Robbin’s. Lots of trouble making brass from 30 American Small Primer brass but worth it! Oldie but goodie.

I’d like to see a pic of your Wasp.

 

[Coyotefurharvester]

When you start adding deer/pigs to the target list, mostly eliminates the 17/20's (at least legally in many states).

 

[Yote Hunter]

I’d like to see a pic of your Wasp.

Will take photo this weekend and post.

 

[1911nut]

Will take photo this weekend and post.

We may have shared pics on another thread. I also have a Taylor and Robbins Wasp.

 

[RCE1]

Then there's .220 Russian...

 

[COLT45SA]

You should look into WS2 -

I'm with you regarding smaller calibers being more difficult to clean, so I'm not interested in the .20s or .17s.

 

[nakneker]

I have a soft spot for the 222, I have several factory rifles and a couple customs. One of the factory rifles shoots as good if not better than my customs but they are all capable of shooting small. I’ve had a couple that were duds over the years, they either got a new barrel or found new homes.

I also have a couple Sako factory PPC rifles, sporter barrel repeaters, one in 6PPC and one in 22PPC. Very accurate rifles.

I have a custom Tikka 20-222 that is extremely accurate. My 6BR and 22BR are very accurate rifles.

I think you can take most of the cartridges mentioned in this thread and have the potential for a very accurate rifle. The biggest variable is probably who builds it, at least if you’re going with a custom. One guy can build a 222 and it might not shoot nearly as good as the next guy who builds one. Every cartridge I mentioned above has incredible potential, just choose who builds it carefully and then hope you end with one of those special barrels we all lust after.

 

[ArtinNC]

222 1/2 is in the middle . 222 on the left and 223 on the right .

 

[rayh]

222 1/2 is in the middle . 222 on the left and 223 on the right .

Art, thanks for showing that case. I took Jerry Hart's chambering class and we threaded and chambered a barrel stub. I used a Red Elliot reamer in 222 1/2. Just never seen what the case looked like.

 

[Webster]

Curious if there is a general consensus on which small/varmint cartridge is known for easy accuracy. I know the 6ppc is notorious, as well as BR/Dasher family for bench rest. In the 20-22 caliber range what would you build for an absolute eyeball puncher? 222rem had a good run, Vartarg seems pretty popular here, 22ppc?
Lots of variables I know but, look forward to hearing opinions. I don’t have much experience in this realm yet.

222. Avoid needing to form cases into a new wildcat caliber. 222 was the dominating short range bench rest caliber before the 6PPC came around.

 

[L.Sherm]

222. Avoid needing to form cases into a new wildcat caliber. 222 was the dominating short range bench rest caliber before the 6PPC came around.

Why is it some people put forming as vudoo? When it will shot like this why not? There's simply nothing to forming cases on an AI case or something like a 20 PRAC.
Is there a straight 222 or 22 PPC that will shoot much better if any? I'm not talking BR platforms because this gun certainly is far from it.

 

[CharlieNC]

Why is it some people put forming as vudoo? When it will shot like this why not? There's simply nothing to forming cases on an AI case or something like a 20 PRAC.
Is there a straight 222 or 22 PPC that will shoot much better if any? I'm not talking BR platforms because this gun certainly is far from it.

Ironically it is often reported that accuracy is as good when fireforming a wildcat. Then another post argues the necessity of sizing to .0005". Go figure.

 

[Anchorite]

RESULTS 2024 | UltimateBenchrest.com

If you scroll through this you will see 22ppc, 220 beggs, 222.....

The Beggs and ppc have an advantage of a stronger case head, little more forgiving at high pressure.

This.

 

[Lefty2506]

My guess is a 22PPCAI would have the same as an22 ARC case and maybe push 35.0

FWIW, the 22ARC IS a 22 Grendel. As I understand it, when Hdy did the 6mm ARC, they shortened the Grendel case so that it could feed some of the heavier (ie 105gr) projectiles from an AR mag. When they dropped down to 22cal, they were able to keep the original Grendel dimensions and still feed the 90gr pills.

As far as the 22 ARC/Grendel being a 22PPCAI, I'd say that's exactly what Bill Anderson was going for when he developed the 6.5 Grendel so it wouldn't surprise me if a 22PPCAI was an absolute ballistic twin to a 22 ARC.

As far as the accuracy of the 22ARC goes, I'm curious about this myself. Based on the almost legendary performance of the 22 PPC and 22BR, I'd expect it to be outstanding. I would think that the brass would be the weak link regarding its accuracy potential. The only factory 22ARC brass I've heard of is from Hornady. If you start with 6.5 Grendel brass from Lapua or Starline and neck it down, I'd expect the end results to be on par with the PPC and BR cartridges with the velocity being somewhere in between. My personal interest in a cartridge like this would be for prairie dogs. I'm on a budget, so being able to easily form 22 ARC brass from comparatively cheap Starline 6.5G brass and ending up with something that rivals a 22 BR sounds pretty appealing....