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Who is having success with 40gr. bullets in the .222???

Phil

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All the gory details,i`m fence sitting between the .222 and the .20VT,for some reason I`ve always wanted a deuce.

Phil.
 
I had the same hankering so I had a shilen chambered and put on my howa 1500. With 23.6 grains of H322 and 40 nos BT I am averaging 3450fps. Right now I am getting 1/2 inch groups. I have not played with the seating depth yet. O yeah, my barrel is 23".

My barrel was 24" but it would not shoot so I sent it to another gunsmith it turned out the barrel we threaded with standard threads instead of metric. I used IMR 4198 at that time and it showed promise just not consistently. It would shoot a 1/4 inch group then a 3/4" to 1" group . I haven't had a chance to go back to 4198 yet. I was using 19.8 gr w/IMR4198 and getting about 3325 I believe.

By the way I love my 222 I wish I wold have got one sooner.
 
Why are you wanting to shoot 40gr., Speed?, not the best with any wind at 100++yds. I can tell the 222 shoots 50, 52 gr bullets very well and shines with these at 100 and 200 yds. if you want speed with 40's go to 204, and you have speed. I have shot 40 grs in a 222 and in the wind on PD they get real Squirrley. Give me 3200 fps, a 50 gr bullet and a 222 and what you have is "priceless". Try H4198 and 40 gr sierra HP and they will shoot.
 
H4198, Don't go for max velocity just do a good group test for increasing powder charges. (3-5 should be find on a calm day). At your good powder level, do another test at bullet jump to lands. Go from 0.040 to 0.001" jump.

H4198 is a GREAT powder for the Deuce, as is H322, Benchmark, and H335 but H4198 gave me some Lazerlike rounds at 100y.

-Mac
 
i4198 and either a 40 or 50 balitic tip . lapua brass. any primer. 2- rem 700s and a sako vixen. for me it has been the easiest most forgiving cartridge to load for hands down.
 
I shoot a 222 rimmed martini, not pushing max velocity so as cases extract due to weak extraction but 20 gr of ADI's 2207 which is the same a H4198 is around 3300 and shoots in the 0.6's. This is with 40 nosler BT's, these have been without doubt the bees knees in the little rifle.

Ryan
 
Both my Rem700 BDL, and that of a friends - like 21.0 of IMR-4198 with CCI 400's at regular old "book COL", 2.130" or whatever it is. The key is the primer, but we're seeing speeds of 3,300 or just slightly better in mine, and as much as 3,385 fps with the same 21.0 grain load in his with the 40gr Hornady V-MAX's.

I need to re-test 21.0 and 21.1 again in mine, but in his - at 21.1 we were actually seeing the group fall apart a little and velocity was degrading as well. So in his, 21.0 is definitely 'the one'. Do a ballistic calculator run on a 50 weight bullet in 222 going 3,000 or at most lets say 3,100, versus a 40 doing 3,385! I'll take these great, long, boat tail 40 V-MAX's any day. I haven't shot anything yet that they haven't anchored perfectly. But the 222 loves them all I think, and most every powder you would ever want to try in it as well! So IMR-4198, or H4198, or BL-C2, Reloader 7, possibly even 10x, Benchmark, H335, ...etc., with 40's, or with 50 Blitz, 50 TNT, 50 Blitzkings or V-MAX's, 52HPBT's, 52 Bergers, whatever. I agree with what Roninflag said - the 222 rem is:

"the easiest most forgiving cartridge to load for hands down."
 
sbranden said:
"the easiest most forgiving cartridge to load for hands down."

I believe it was Ken Waters, who mentions that the 222 used to be cartridge that in the old days when powder selection was minimal, you just filled the case to the neck, installed a 50gr bullet, and out came an accurate round. I have found that my 222 (remington 788) is more sensitive to COL than a 2% powder change, so measure distance to the lands, and tune that before you worry about 0.1gr differences in powder.

-Mac
 
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I have an old Savage 340B bolt gun with the original bbl. I shoot Nosler 40 grain Ballistic tips, Use Remington cases, Federal 205 primers and Reloader 10X. I used it this year on a prairie dog hunt and was hitting dogs at 400 plus getting the red mist. Dont know the speed but it is fast enough to blow a pdog apart at 400 plus. I can shoot .450 to .575's with it over flags all day long.

This gun was made back in the 50's and it was my dad's passed down to me. I love the triple deuce at one time I had 3 of them. Economical to shoot and 8,000 to 10,000 rounds on a bbl if you clean it and take care of it.

I can give you my loads but every rifle is different as far as the chamber the lead and if it like to be jammed or jumped.

Supersparks
 
Tell me about it... 8)

Powder

Velocity

Accuracy


All the gory details,i`m fence sitting between the .222 and the .20VT,for some reason I`ve always wanted a deuce.

Phil.

I passed on the 20 VT as it was not designed to handle 40 grain bullets. And though I had great luck with RL 7 and the 40 V-Max in a 222 I realized that the 20 caliber 40 V-Max was much superior in the ballistic department. I trimmed a Winchester, 222 Rem, brass to 1.575" and run it through a 20 EXTREME die that I had made. I found that I could push the 40 V-Max to similar and even slightly higher velocities than the triple duce with a couple of grains less powder. I found that I could even run superior ballistics to the 22-250, with a 55 grain factory load, with around 22.2 grains of powder.


Ballistics 40 V-Max 3650.jpg

40 BT RL 10X.jpg
H322 & AA2015 40VMax Benchmark 11 twist.jpg

IMR 8208 & Sierra 39 BK @ 300 yards.jpg

Xterminator 40 Vmax012.jpg
 
Tell me about it... 8)

Powder

Velocity

Accuracy


All the gory details,i`m fence sitting between the .222 and the .20VT,for some reason I`ve always wanted a deuce.

Phil.
Tell me about it... 8)

Powder

Velocity

Accuracy


All the gory details,i`m fence sitting between the .222 and the .20VT,for some reason I`ve always wanted a deuce.

Phil.
For a long time I've shot 40 grain BT and RL-7 in a .222, won't repeat the powder charge....But it chrono'd at 3800fps...hard to believe for many. One thing though, I'd bought some once fired Norma .222 brass from a Game warden.
Those 150pcs of Norma brass had a small flash hole and would withstand the pressure I was running them at. Remington brass would last only a couple of firings.
Never the less that 112series J savage .222 shot many many tiny groups with that load and I'd won a varmint shoot or two at Eau Claire WI with it.

Had a few guys shake my hand saying they didn't think a .222 had a chance in hades of winning! Had a .222 in a Remington 788.....but that's a story for another time...absolute driller.
 
This guy had good results with both RL7 and Benchmark in a 223. Drop to appropriate charges and you should get about 200-250 fps slower. Accuracy should be similar.
 
I used to try to get the 40’s to the upper limits of velocity with the 222 but just couldn’t get it to the point where I thought it was better than a 50 going a touch slower. Though they were accurate. I finally settled on the 50gr vmax with N133. I’m able to get 3350-3400 FPS with the 50gr so I don’t feel I’m lacking anything compared to the 40gr. Heck, this is faster than my AR 223 pushing the 50-52gr bullets.
 
Tell me about it... 8)

Powder

Velocity

Accuracy


All the gory details,i`m fence sitting between the .222 and the .20VT,for some reason I`ve always wanted a deuce.

Phil.
222 rem is consistant rounds loaded months earlier shoot as well as range loaded. Been shooting LT32 with great success. Standby powder is 4198IMR.
 
I picked up an old 722 Remington that was someone's old bench gun, chambered in .222 Remington. After a thorough cleaning and getting the worn out extractor replaced I scoped it and attempted to find a good load with the components I have on hand. The first trial I picked RL 7, Nosler 40 gr. Varmageddon HP in Winchester cases fired with a Remington 7-1/2 primer. The bullets were loaded .020" off the lands to start with. The first load trial started with 19.5 gr. with decent results with the groups hovering around the 3/4" mark. Working up 1/2 grain at a time the group size changed very little. When I hit 21.5 gr. the group size shrunk to where 5 shots could be covered with a dime. I'm waiting for the weather to get better to re-verify the results I got, and to see if it can be improved on.

I thought about my post, and went back and checked my targets. It appears I have embellished a bit on my results from the first loads from this gun. The groups leading up to the 21.5 grain mark were closer to the 1-1 1/4" size.
 
Last edited:
Krico action
40gr Vmax,cci 450 primer
24in 1-9 twist pac-nor match barrel
Lapua brass
N130
Average velocity 3682 fps
Took the pressure test 1.5gr past
This loads charge weight and still
NO PRESSURE SIGNS
Grouping just under 1/2 minute at 100 yards
 

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