Options are very limited in California. I have a Remington 788 in 222. I use to have my favorite load of 23gr of H322 and a 50gr sierra blitz. Very accurate in my rifle. What are you finding that works for you, lead free? Thanks. Gary

Gary, you may have struggle to find a non-lead varmint bullet, I know I have not had much luck.

I tried the Barnes Varmint Grenades in a .223 Rem and two 22-250's. The groups were just not up to par with lead bullets.

I have high hopes for the new non-lead Nosler Ballistic Tip. It looks just like a regular BT, but has an iron-tin core. The 22 caliber version only weighes 35 grains, but it looks pretty sleek and might fly pretty good. Only problem is, nobody seems to have any yet.

You might want to go to Nosler's web page and take a look.

Sorry state we live in, I cannot believe it.
I do have to admit I have had good luck getting the hunting versions of the Barnes X bullets to shoot well in most guns. And they have worked well on a variety of game for myself and my friends.

Thanks for the nosler info. I think that my 788 has a 1-14 twist rate. I have not shot lighter bullets than 50gr. Do you think that the lighter bullet will do ok with this twist rate, or will I have created more problems? I am pretty lost when we start talking twist rates, but they do seem to be important!

Your 1 in 14" Twist should do well with the lighter weight / shorter bullets than it would witl heavier weight / longer bullets.

You may want to also try the 53gr. Barnes TSX. Not sure about in a .222, but have read where guys are shooting them in 1 in 14" Twist .22-250's.

Larry

I believe there is also a 45 grain Barnes TSX available.

I've been trying to get my 223Rem to shoot Barnes bullets without much luck so far. The VG in both 36 and 50gr have done the best so far but are barely MOA. Haven't got the TSX to do very well at all. Your 1 in 14 barrel may not be able to shoot the TSX in any weight as the Barnes manual recommends 1 in 12 or faster for the 45 and 53TSX and 1 in 9 or faster for the 62gr TSX. My rifle keyholed them all at 25 yards with its original 1 in 14 so the barrel was replaced with a 1 in 9 Douglas. Maybe more manufacturers will start making unleaded bullets and we will be able to find something that shoots. Good luck to you.

quote:

Remington 788 in 222.

I have not had a .222 Remmington in years but, these two loads shot smaller than a dime at 100 yards with a 52 grain bullet:
22.5 grains of Ball C-2
19.0 grains of 4198