.221 Fireball

[toz]

Hi Folks,

First post and it's for a friend who asks if any of you have experience loading for .221 Fireball using Winchester 748? At this point in time he has no specific bullet in mind. And his objective is target shooting, with rifle, at 100 and 200 yards. Any information would be gratefully appreciated. - Bill

 

[noylj]

Reloder 7 or H335 seem to be the more "popular" choices.
Can not find any Winchester data and I expect 748 is too slow for good performance.

 

[cfullgraf]

W748 is a bit slow for the 221 Remington Fireball.

I like AA1680 and H322.

A quick check of several of my reloading manuals also list H110, 2400, IMR 4227, H4227, IMR 4198, Lil Gun, H335, AA2015, RL 7, and a couple others.

Rifle data is included in the current Hornady manual and the 2010 Hodgdon magazine. I did not check, but I think they also have pistol data. Sierra has data listed in the single shot pistol section only. The Lyman 49th has no 221 Rem Fireball data. I did not check my current Speer manual, they used to have 221 Rem Fireball data. Accurate Arms #2 has data but I don't remember if Accurate Arms' current owners has data on their web site.

***Correction, Lyman 49th has 221 Rem Fireball pistol data in their Encore/Contender section. I missed it the first time around.***

Pistol data and rifle data for the 221 Rem Fireball can be interchanged but the powders selected may not be optimum for a shorter or longer barrel length. Remember, the round was originally developed by Remington for 10-3/4" barreled bolt action hand gun so there tends to be more pistol data.

Obtain some reloading data from a reputable source.

Twist rates tend to be a bit slow for most 221 Rem Fireballs so anything heavier than 50 to 55 grains may not work well. The 52/53 grain target bullets might work fine but I have never tried them. My rifles do well with 40 and 50 grain bullets particularly my 1-12 twist custom Contender carbine barrel.

221 Rem Fireball is as easy to load as 223 Remington, just a little smaller.

Hope this helps.

 

[Kevin Rohrer]

I just got an XP-100 pistol and was researching loads. For the 10.75" barrel I settled on H110 as it will be quieter than other, slower powders.

For rifle, I'd suggest looking at 4227 and 4198. My research says they tend to be the most accurate for longer barrels.

 

[steve4102]

I use 2400 in my CZ. Barrel seems to stay cooler longer with 2400 and is scary accurate.

 

[flashhole]

I shoot a lot of 221 Fireball. My go-to powder is Reloader #7 with a Nosler 40 grain Ballistic Tip bullet. Mild primers are the way to go for this cartridge. Hodgdon LilGun also works well and steps the velocity up a bit. Like one of the other posters said - there just ain't enough oomph in that dinky case to shoot bullets heavier than 50 grains and the barrel twist will be slow, usually 1:12 ro 1:14. Great cartridge and you can get some light bullets right on the heels of the 223 Remington.

 

[243winxb]

CAUTION: The following post includes loading data beyond currently published maximums for this cartridge. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK. Neither the writer, The High Road, nor the staff of THR assume any liability for any damage or injury resulting from use of this information.
My old data for a Rem XP100, 221 Fireball- IMR 4198- 17.0gr.(start 16.0gr to max 17.8gr.) CCI 450 primer, 50 gr Sierra bullet. Rem. brass. Average 2536 fps, 10" barrel. Neat pistol, but the Contender came along in 222 and 223, both were more accurate.