Benchrest 222

[domino300]

I have a few triple deuces also, including the Mini-14, 700BDL, contender barrels and a Savage 24-O/U 20ga. The 222 Minis were built for foreign entities where military cartridges were not allowed.

[Lee Martin]

Jan 1, 2024 18:24:39 GMT -5 weiler said:

Lee, doing a deep dive on the 222 Remington and found this, what’s your go to powder? Currently have IMR-4198, N133, H-322 and LT-32 on hand which from what I’ve read are all top contenders

H-322 and RL 7 are excellent powders in the 222. Ironically, my dad just finished a .222 Rem on one of his actions. We had it out last Friday. I'll get a photo or two posted to my "Building A Benchrest Action" thread latter today. Stay tuned.

-Lee
www.singleactions.com
"Chasing perfection five shots at a time"

[jeffh]

My own personal favorite 22 caliber cartridge.

Early seventies, my dad bought my mom a SAKO in 222 and had it rechambered to 223, because "the 223's better - more velocity." Now, even as a kid, I didn't quite buy that, even though I tended to view my dad's wisdom as supreme among my male influences. I've always leaned toward "just right" or "just enough" in deference to the most of everything and anything.

Fast forward twenty-some years and he discovered the barre had developed a nasty rust or corrosion spot, starting at the muzzle and extending quite a way into the barrel. Never figured out how or why, but he had it rebarreled with a Douglas "Premium" barrel by John Pell, in Colorado, as a tapered 24" octagon. Beautiful rifle and perfect for carrying with just enough forward weight to make it easy to shoot well in the field.

He had it chambered to 223 - with the original 1:14" twist. As I look back, it was about this time I started questioning some of his logic, but it wasn't my rifle, so I kept my mouth shut.

Got me my own eventually a Remington 722 with a 26y" barrel and it was the most accurate rifle I've owned, plus the easiest to shoot accurately to boot. I wanted a shorter, lighter 222 and during a discussion with a collector was convinced to sell it rather than chop it up. Good decision. I ended up with a CZ 527 American and, while not AS accurate as the old Remington, it's still incredibly accurate. Mind you, I'm not a competitive shooter, so anything where all shots touch at a hundred yards is "accurate" to me.

My CZ is a dedicated cast bullet shooter, with the American stock swapped out for a Youth Carbine Stock and the barrel will eventually be cut to 18.5". Maybe heresy to some, but it's such a little treat to handle and shoot, and I've never shot another rifle cartridge so EASY to make shoot - like you can't MAKE a bad load up for one. It's basically a centerfire 22 LR/22 Mag for me, but it's what I wanted and the easiest 22 to get to shoot well regardless of the configuration.

NOT to derail the thread about bench-rest guns or contradict the utility and beauty of a bench gun such as Lee has posted, but to make the point that I believe the 222 IS superior to other 22s in that it just doesn't seem to matter what kind of rifle you chamber the 222 for, it will shine - in relative terms, of course. Mine, on its BEST day, would never shoot as well as Lee's would on its WORST day, but if I shot jacketed out of it, I'm betting it would hold under 3/8" for "hunting accuracy," shooting three-shot groups. I like shooting cast from it so much that I doubt I'll ever touch the factory jacketed stuff I have on hand.

And Lee, that really is a beautiful gun. I love that there are still some folks who recognize and respect the cartridge for its virtues. I know more people who've never heard of the 222 than have these days. Shame they miss out.

[northerngos]

I’ve been in the market for a 222 for awhile now, waffled between sako l46 and Anschutz. Any thoughts? The sako vixen (461) seems sweet as well. Looking for a hunting rifle so slender barrel preferred.

[x101airborne]

I have a Savage 24 in 222 over 20 gauge. It is the PERFECT predator calling weapon. I keep in on the shotgun barrel for close running in shots. Federal 3 inch #3 buckshot and Federal 40 grain (I think they are VMAX bullets). No ricochet worries around cattle, within reason of course. And at 40 yards all pellets land on a 24"x24" piece of cardboard. Wears a 1.5-4 power Leupold scope and for shotgun use on 1x power, just put the horizontal line on their back and let fly. I get 4 inch groups for 5 shots at 300 yards even with the "shotgun" trigger pull off the bench. No need for me to look further.

[weiler]

Jan 3, 2024 8:51:59 GMT -5 x101airborne said:

I have a Savage 24 in 222 over 20 gauge. It is the PERFECT predator calling weapon. I keep in on the shotgun barrel for close running in shots. Federal 3 inch #3 buckshot and Federal 40 grain (I think they are VMAX bullets). No ricochet worries around cattle, within reason of course. And at 40 yards all pellets land on a 24"x24" piece of cardboard. Wears a 1.5-4 power Leupold scope and for shotgun use on 1x power, just put the horizontal line on their back and let fly. I get 4 inch groups for 5 shots at 300 yards even with the "shotgun" trigger pull off the bench. No need for me to look further.

My favorite uncle on Long Island hunted turkey (and whitetail’s on Gardners Island) heavily with a Savage 24 in 222 with a Weaver K4, and the man could have bought damn near any gun in existence. He keeps it sighted in at 200 yards with 50 grain soft points and did well with it. Believe in due time it’s coming to stay with me, think his stories are what got me down the 222 rabbit hole in college. I bought my 700 BDL in 2012 at a gentleman’s estate sale for the princely sum of $625, the most I had ever paid for a gun! Uncle Jack had given me 5 box’s of Winchester soft points and whatever brass he had the summer before when I mentioned I was going to start looking for one, still have 2 box’s left and the rest with various hand loads.

[singleaction]

An old bench rest shooter, who I met in a local gun shop, taught me how to reload for accuracy and told me to get a 222. He sold me an old arbor press, and an old set of Wilson dies. He had competed with the 222 from the early 50s until the PPC’s came out in the 70s. In the old days, he used a 53 grain flat base over IMR 4198. That was a common BR recipe for a very long time. I was really only interested in shooting coyotes and prairie dogs, though. I settled on 50 grain ballistic tips over Hodgdon’s Benchmark, but the 222 easy to load for with a bunch of powder and bullet weight combo’s. Bullet weight is limited by slow barrel twist, but that don’t bother me. My all-time favorite varmint round for sure.

[sixshot]

4198 would really make a 222 sing but I hated it because it metered so bad & then I found RL7 & never looked back. There was a time about when I got out of the service I think that they stopped making RL7 for a while and the bench rest boys were paying big money for it. I had 7 cans of it & stretched it a long way before they started making it again.
I had an old Remington 40X I called "Big Bertha", only gun I ever gave a name! Me & Bertha & that 26" barrel made life tough for the rock chucks & crows for several years. This was an early gun with a blue barrel but it was a great shooter & sent many rocks chucks for a ride!
Later on I had a couple of 40XB's & XBR's, one with the factory 2oz trigger for an extra $40. Took me quite a while to get use to that thing but after a while I finally figured it out. They were fabulous guns for the price. Years later my gunsmith son built me a walking 222 on a blue printed Remington short action with a Shilen select match barrel & if you ever missed a shot with that rifle you needed a really good excuse. A few years back I found a nice 722 & these came with 26" barrels, I grabbed it & gave it to one of my grandson's, it will always stay in the family, they are amazing shooters.

Dick

[kgb]

Have any of you had success with 55gr bullets in your .222? My first gun was very accurate with 40gr bullets and RL7, the current is another 788 and with CFE223 it can go 3100fps using a 55gr. 50gr bullets only hit another 50fps beyond that. It gets close to the 3500fps the first one did using RL7 and 40gr, but not quite as accurate up there.

Anyone find 55gr to work in their .222, observing differences in effectiveness over 50gr?