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How heavy in a 222 rem

CF2209

How heavy a bullet has one tried in a 222 rem and got consistent accuracy. It seems from old posts that the 52gn and 53gn bullets amongst others were very successful in benchrest. Did they have 69 gn mk back then. I have a 9 twist able to be rechambered. Is this a stupid idea.
Opinions appreciated.
 
CF -

Howdy !

In a great article from the " Guns & Ammo 1974 Annual ", reknowned ballistician Homer Powley included a list of " Centerfire Rifle Cartridges Standard American Calibres ". For .222Rem, 50gr bullet wt is listed.
55gr showed up on the list when case capacity went up to .223, .222Mag; and .22-250.

Powley also had a chart listing "Powder and Bullet Weight Combinations " for various calibres/cartridges.
The 50gr wt was again listed for .222Rem.

I had a mid-'70s Savage 112V in .222. It had a 1-14 twist, and handled 50-55gr bullets just fine.
I used it on groundhogs some, but did not push the distance out too far. As mentioned, 52-53gr bullets were the dominant benchrest wt for use in .222 . You could even buy Remington factory ammo loaded w/ 52gr bullets in the 60s-70s.

For varminting ( groundhog ), I think Hornady's 50SX is great for the closer shots, and prefer their 55SX is pressing a .222Rem shot out to the limits of acceptable energy.

IMR4895 saw a lot of use, and of course lots of shooters used IMR4198, and H322. The Hodgdon version of these powders was not so often encountered back then. Those came into their own in the more recent decades.


With regards,
357Mag
 
CF2209 said:
How heavy a bullet has one tried in a 222 rem and got consistent accuracy. It seems from old posts that the 52gn and 53gn bullets amongst others were very successful in benchrest. Did they have 69 gn mk back then. I have a 9 twist able to be rechambered. Is this a stupid idea.
Opinions appreciated.
Click to expand...
Not a stupid idea at all, I'd like to see the results of a 69 in a faster twist. That said, my 50 years with the Deuce have shown such stellar performance with the 52 gr. class bullets that I never felt the need to experiment. Excepting of course, the forays into the 222 1/2 and a 222 Improved, that only took me back to the ordinary little .222.

Some of the newer powders might do well with that weight bullet, I dunno. I well remember the custom bullets of the late 60's and the 70's, I couldn't afford them so I've stayed with the 52 gr. SMK and never regretted it in any of my .222s.

An aside, my old Model 70, a Hornet with a GR Douglas barrel in .222, 14"twist, from 1956 still shoots quality groups. And case life is measured in decades, not shots. I reloaded for this rifle for 25 years before I found out my Bair resizing die had never ever touched the shoulder of the case, didn't need to.
 
For years, I've had three older Sakos and a Remington 722, all in .222. I've tried a variety of bullets but none over 55 grains that I can recall. I've tried match bullets, but the Sierra 50 Blitz will about equal their accuracy, so that's all I use along with Reloder 7 powder.
 
lotech said:
For years, I've had three older Sakos and a Remington 722, all in .222. I've tried a variety of bullets but none over 55 grains that I can recall. I've tried match bullets, but the Sierra 50 Blitz will about equal their accuracy, so that's all I use along with Reloder 7 powder.
Click to expand...
+1 on the 50 Blitz. The 50sx ain't far behind
 
With it's limited powder capacity and resulting rainbow trajectory plus the diminished terminal energy, WHY.
The 222 is a great cartridge and is my goto coyote hunting rigs, I own three of them. 50-52gr bullets will kill every coyote I care to shoot at and can't see where bumping it up another 20grs would do anything for me.
 
My .222 with its 1:12 McGowan barrel loves Berger 55 gr FB match bullets over N 133.
I've also tried using 69 SMKs loaded hot & got decent accuracy but nowhere near the Berger 55s.
 
I've shot the Hornady 60 grain Varmint soft point in my 1:12 .222 with IIRC accuracy of about .6 MOA at 100 yards. Tried it primarily out of curiosity, I have a bunch of those bullets for .223.
 
I’ve used 50 grains bullets in a bunch of my 222s, blitzking, Vmax, ballistic tips, they all seem to do the job and the accuracy is there. Not shooting paper, just shooting varmints and prairie dogs. Once you get past the 50s I think your better served with cartridges that have more powder capacity. Anytime I have the swifts or 22-250 out I’m using 55-60 grain bullets. Works great for me. H322 is my go to for the 222 and 50s.
 
Something I noticed years ago regarding .224" bullets... I used to shoot Sierra MatchKing 53 grain (the flat base version) pretty much exclusively in all centerfire .22s because it was accurate in everything. I was under the mistaken impression that any jacketed .22 bullet was also a suitable varmint bullet. I finally read in the Sierra manual that these are target bullets only and not designed for game or varmints. They know what they're talking about.

I shot several coyotes that I knew were well hit using the MK, yet they ran off. This happened about 50% of the time. I switched to the 50 Blitz and found these bullets shoot as accurately as the MKs and kill far more reliably. They even work well in .220 Swift if you don't shoot them too fast.
 
CF2209 said:
How heavy a bullet has one tried in a 222 rem and got consistent accuracy. It seems from old posts that the 52gn and 53gn bullets amongst others were very successful in benchrest. Did they have 69 gn mk back then. I have a 9 twist able to be rechambered. Is this a stupid idea.
Opinions appreciated.
Click to expand...
CF2209, Following link ref. 222 and 69gr Sierra for your info.

Powder ? Heavy bullets .222

Hi what powder would you use for 69gr Sierra tipped match kings In the .222 rem , I know I am restricted on powder capacity but just want to try it 😀👠24in barrel (1in9 twist) The gun is used as my truck gun (200 yards max) I will be using 55gr blitz kings but have picked up a few boxes...
forum.accurateshooter.com
 
I went with H4895 for powder and was well pleased with results as well as how linear it responded when working up loads.
 
When the 222's hit the scene back in the old days, they had a 1-14 twist so 55 & under bullets was what they used. Plus at that time (1950's) 55 grain was about the heaviest bullet on the market.
 
Thank you everyone for their input especially those that found the other posts, they were interesting reads.
Regards CF
 
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