Needing a good 222 load!

[33rowdy]

I have a remington 788 that was my Great grama's. I'd like a good load to tayler that I can use to target, bust some ground hogs and sometimes wipe out chimpmunks here around the house and barn. Maby coyotes

I do have 4 manuals; Speer, Nosler, Hornady 7th and barnes #4. (The Speer and nosler are being loaned out at this time.) My desire was to use the Barnes 36 grain Varmint Grenade. I thought I was going to be smart buy and study the manual then decide of the things to buy and ect. But I found out that their broducts are hard to keep on the shelf. So I'm not sure Im gonna go with a Barnes product yet.

So why am I asking you for a good load?

Its hard to find anyone with a 222 and that reloads for them, experence with the result of a kill ect.

Thanks in advance.

 

[NCsmitty]

My personal load is 22gr. of H322 with CCI 400 primer and a Nosler 50gr. ballistic tip. This is a near maximum load so be careful and work up to it. I only shoot paper but should be great on small game. There are many good combination's of powder and bullets that will shoot well in the 222 Rem. It is inherently accurate provided the rifle is in good shape.

NCsmitty

 

[Grumulkin]

My 222 load comes out of a 20 year old Speer manual. It uses a compressed load of H414/Win. 760 and Speer 70 grain Semi Spitzers. It has accounted for one shot kills on rabbits, groundhogs and a deer. Accuracy wise the load does somewhere in the 0.5 to 0.75 inch range at 100 yards.

 

[Afy]

52 gr SMK + 21.7 of SP7.. very accurate in a T-3

What kind of bullets and powder are you using?
The Lyman 47, VV site, and Tubal have quite a few loads for .222 R.

It is a very popular cartridge in Europe.
I have .222 RM

 

[Poper]

Here's mine. I load for a CZ527 and a Remington 700 and they both love it.

Case: Winchester
Bullet: Hornady 40gn V-max
Primer: CCI Small Rifle, Benchrest
Powder: VihtaVuori N-133 - 24.0 gn.

When I stay off the caffeine, 5 rounds will make one ragged hole at 100 yards.

Be careful with you bullet seating length. Throats on the .222 seem to vary widely. My 700 will take 'em long but my CZ and my brother's old Savage wont.

I hope this helps.

Poper

 

[33rowdy]

The gun is in great condition. I know...It still blows my mind that my Great Grama had this gun and still wonder what the heck she used it for. My Grama doesn't know.

I'm shooting factory Hornady 50g V-Max. Im happy with it but wanting to try something different I guess. And build my own ammo too.

I guess the "Varment Grenade" struck me to use because of less chances of ricochets. In the mid summer when the trees and other vegition are grown up, houses, farmers in the fields and anything else might be safer if I miss judge something.

Another Question:
As I'm looking at my Hornady Manual; Is 24.5 to 27.4 of WIN 748 too much powder for a 50 grain bullet in a 222? I see that most manuals max out around 25 grain for a 50 g bullet. Or am I just crazy?

 

[NCsmitty]

Hodgden's site, who distrbutes the Win. powders, shows 24gr. as the max load with the 50 gr. With the lighter bullets, such as the 36gr. Varmint Grenade, it looks like IMR4198 is THE powder for top velocities. Check it out yourself if you haven't yet.

www.Hodgden.com

NCsmitty

 

[dodge]

When I loaded a .222 Remington I used 19.0 gr of IMR 4198 with a 50 gr bullet and CCI 400 Small Rifle primers. This load at that time ( 25+ years ago)was "the load" for a .222 and proved very accurate out of any .222 that I used it in.

 

[GooseGestapo]

My favorite load for the .222 is the same as Bruce Hodgdon's and Joyce Hornady's:

Sized and trimmed brass (I like W-W), I trim and neck turn mine too;
Fed #200 small rifle primer, I prefer the BR version;
Hornady 50gr Soft Pt (also like SX, or Sierra, or Speer, too)
25.0gr of BLC2 (same as Win748).
Seat bullets to have at least .224" of bullet shank within the case neck. Usually, this will chamber easily. If not, seat .015-.030" off the lands.

A best friend who's now deceased used this load with 52gr Euber's to beat some fellow competitor's using the various BR's with his ancient Remington 40XB with a factory 20" bbl. On more than one occasion, too!
His groups ran in the low .3's with occasional .2's on no-wind days.