I have been given a .222

[hogpatrol]

Wow! Talk about a timely thread. I picked up one of these over a year ago and haven't got around to shooting it. Too many other guns to feed. Then last week, my brother comes in to possession of two boxes of old .222 reloads and buddy says he's got a hundred rounds of brass and a set of dies he's never used and they're mine for the taking. I now have no excuse for not seeing if it's a shooter. I'm debating on whether or not to shoot the old ammo. Ironic, it's loaded with 4198 and 50 gr. Sierra soft points. Check the date on the reloads, over fifty years ago.

 

[ebb]

Loaded in 1959?? I would have to shoot them just to know.

 

[hogpatrol]

Loaded in 1959?? I would have to shoot them just to know.

Took it to the range today. Three rounds went off without a hitch. Going to do some reloading and put a scope on it.

 

[epc308]

My mother has decided to give me her Rem 788 in .222rem. This rifle is in basic stock configuration and I plan on making it just a fun, low recoil accurate range toy. I may eventually rebarrel it, but will keep it in triple deuce.

It's a new cartridge to me, my Dad has a .222 as well, so I can get some of the old load data he has for my moms gun, but it was back from before he was into match shooting and likely not thoroughly tested. She hasn't shot it in years.

So, school me. Good dies, current favored powders (is 3031 and H322 still popular?), which brass, etc. I have plenty of true match rifles and not necessarily wanting to go full-tilt-boogie trying to get a 788 up to SR/BR level.

A bonus is if you know of a good unleaded bullet to use for small game and varmint hunting, here in PRK we have to hunt with unleaded ammo only.

Haven't taken delivery of it yet, my safe is currently overflowing and am waiting for the upcoming holiday sales to get another one before I bring this one home.

Super cool old rifles. A buddy that used to run a table at the local gun shows knew I liked 788s. He found me a nearly new one in 222 with a 24” barrel. It’s been a great rifle from day one. I used 4198, RL7, and AA BR 2015 with various 50-53g bullets, all with good results. Good luck with your new acquisition.

 

[Fast14riot]

Anyone use CFE223 with 50-55gr bullets? I have several pounds of SW Match Rifle and it is close to CFE.

 

[bowfisher]

Someone was loading those when you were at the Prom, Hog ! haha

 

[NZ_Fclass]

Very nice. It's my birthday soon, should you want to dispose of it....

 

[ebb]

I have a friend that bought a 222 at the gun show. 222 ammo would not chamber and it was determined that it had a tight neck. They figured out what to turn the neck and started shooting it eventually find a very accurate load. It was shot often and plenty till the chamber went away, and was set back 3 times, When I saw it the barrel was getting so short it was almost to the legal min. The owner told me he had wondered how many shots had been fired through it and got out all of his Grafs receipts and found that by how many 8 lb jugs of H323 he had used it looked like about 18000 shots.

 

[riflewoman]

Anyone use CFE223 with 50-55gr bullets? I have several pounds of SW Match Rifle and it is close to CFE.

https://explosia.cz/app/uploads/2019/07/EXPLOSIA_reloading2019_en_new.pdf

SW MR is the same as Lovex D073.6. Note that the loads in 222 are cimpressed an velocities are lower. It can be used but is not ideal.

 

[MrMajestic]

N133& 52 gr. Berger or Fowler shoots 1 hole groups in my 222

I'll second the N133 and the Berger 52 but the Bart's Ultra 52...never tried the Fowler though. 1/2 MOA with my factory barreled 788.

 

[Fast14riot]

Brought home the 788-222 today, it's going into a vintage bullpup stock I picked up for a good deal, just for grins and giggles!

It's a good looking gun as is, and I will not be making any permanent modifications to the gun so it can go back to it's original configuration easily.

 

[varmit_hunter]

I got to looking in my reloading room. I fount a box off 222 factory ammo . Dont know where it came from.

 

[17VLD]

I still have some factory rounds for the .222 that I bought in 1979.
I remember thinking how big that case looked compared to the tiny 50 grain Core-Lokt.bullet.They did a heck of a good job on ground hogs and crows in upstate New York and New Jersey back then.Guess I bought some factory stuff to get brass and have a baseline for my reloads,what a great round to reload for,she sure taught me a lot.Enjoy that 788
Matt

 

[stacy]

REM 788 WERE WORKHORSES BEEN ALOT OF TABLES FILLED BUY THEM WISH I HAD MY 788 222 BACK IT WOULD NEVER LEAVE AGAIN I CAN ASURE YOU THAT

 

[sandwarrior]

My go-to powder was AA2015. Shot my three best groups ever out of a Winchester 70 HB using that powder under 52 gr. Sierra HP's.

 

[sw282]

222 in a Mod 70 with 10X Leupold was my first prairie dog rig. After almost 30yrs 222R was and IS my favourite PD round. Its gets the job done for ME out to 300yds. lts recoil is mild enough for me to see my hits without needing a leaded forend or break. S&B 50gr factory fed the deuce for awhile. H335 and 40gr Ballistic Tips were my pick. l use 40gr Vmax now. My 222 M70 was eaten in the last century in a domestic dispute. l never forgot it tho. Couple months back a beautiful early Model 70 Varmint in 222Rem fell out the SKY with fancy checkered walnut and white outline spacers
l'm chasing a strait 10X AO Leupold for it now.

 

[sw282]

https://www.gunbroker.com/item/874013369

Snagged this 10x a few days past. Target knobs and all lt will be interesting to see how the optics
of this 40 year old FX will compare to newby/current Leupold VX3s in clarity and resolution..
l will do a little side by side testing....@10X on all samples of course.

 

[Ackman]

The 788's aren't pretty but you've gotta love them. I've had this old walnut stocked gun since 1983, a few 788's bought and sold since then but never this one. As a .222 it came with a box of 20 Rem. 50psp and that factory load grouped about 1/2" which was a surprise. Btw - the Rem. 50psp was (is?) nicely explosive even at .222 velocity, just completely gutted a crow at 150 long paces.....only the empty rib cage remained. For years the .222 load was 24.5gr T32 and a Sierra 40gr HP doing about 3700. Late 80's it was rebarreled with a Rem. factory 700 .222 barrel cut to 20" and chambered with a minimum .223 reamer. Now wears a Burris FFII 4.5-14. Shoots beautifully. Over it's life has dispatched a great many prairie dogs, several rockchucks, and too many groundsquirrels to even estimate. Used to be load was the old 50Blitz with 2015, nicely accurate. The current load is 27.5/VV133/40Vmax at 3895. Mostly a take-along truck gun now, one that will never be sold.

 

[JSH]

I took mine out this past week, Howa Mini in a chassis. Ugly as sin, I put it in there to see how it shoots for the time being. Sierras accuracy load of 4198 with a 40gr BK, I was going good (1hole) till I picked my head up off the stock, #5 went right into the first three.
Ran five of the same @ 200 under 2”. I think it deserves some attention, one of the new bottom metals with a hinged floor plate and a nice stock from B&C.
Jeff

 

[biggun2869]

788s have a faster lock time than 700. In the old days a lot of benchrest gun were made off these actions