Hi,

I have boght my first varmint rifel and need help I have only handoad for cartridge like .270W and .280Rem.

The rifel is a Remington m/700 with 24" heavy barrel. I intend to use 55grs bullets.

Wich varmint bullet for big varmints like red foxes and beaver? I want instant "stopping power" and accurance.

Many shooters recomend Sierra bullets for accurance and the effects of the bullets

Whats the difference between Sierra Blitz Varmint and Blitz King?

Powders that are common and easy to buy in Sweden are Norma and Vitavuori. Are any of this powder used buy U.S varmint hunters?
Any idea of powder type and loading weights?

Looking forward to read the answers!!

.280 Sweden

Greetings from North Dakota in the USA. Sierra makes excellent bullets. The Blitz bullet is meant as an explosive expansion bullet. It comes with a lead tip. The BlitzKing is meant as a mix of the Blitz's expansion with the Matchking's accuracy legacy. You can get more info at www.sierrabullets.com.
I have had better accuracy out of my 223 with the 50 gr bullets. I also have been using the Hornady Vmax with excellent results. I have heard that some shooters get excellent groups with the Vitavuori powders-especially N133. I can't get them here, so I cannot speak from experience.
Hope this helps.

CAL9

I was in your situation precisely 51 weeks ago! First off excellent calibre!

My 222 works fine with 55gr lead tipped sierra game kings that I use on roe deer. Will shoot under half an inch. The bullet holds together and will exit a fox/beaver. I cannot give you any real life VV feedback as this is the one bullet I use a Hodgden powder for left over from another project.

For varminting I use Hornady Vmax in 40gr. These are plastic tipped bullets that do not exit a red fox or much else. They start to fragment as they hit the skin. I shot a red fox at 175yds and found what I thought was an exit hole but on the wrong side. I skinned it and realised this was the entry hole. Bits of jacket right under the skin.

Viht powders I have tried are N120 for the 40gr and N133 for the 50gr. The VV data for the N133 is max load 24gr for 50gr bullet - this will not fit in the case without a LOT of compression. It may be better for the 55gr bullet.

If I was starting off with a 222 I would take flash hole deburred Norma brass, a 50gr Hornady Vmax, VVN130, seat to the lands and work up to the most accurate load.

Look at the following links

http://www.vihtavuori.fi/vihtavuori/index.html

http://www.norma.cc/sida/eng/index.html

http://www.hornady.com/html2/reload.html

I use 19.6gr of IMR 4198 and a 52gr speer HP. That gives me some impressive groups.

Try nosler 40gr ballistic tips. If a gun wont shoot noslers it likely wont shoot anything else.
These are among the best bullets around. Accurate and explosive, very few exits. V-max might be even more frangable.

good luck

Well I am tryin to think of all the good things to say about that caliber rifle, but I got ice-cream a waitin for me in the palor, so I'll speed this up a bit OK. It was my very first center fire varmint gun years ago and the most accurate little rifle loaded with that .222 case and bullet. I wasn't hard on pelts either. Many a fox, coyote, bobcat met their demise with that rifle in then a young boys hands. It was easy to reload for too as well as cheap! I could darn near drive nails into a tree at 100 yards with handloads. I kinda wish I hadn't wore the gun out target practicing so much back then. Good practice always makes perfect you know.

.280 Sweden: I presently have 4 Varmint Rifles in caliber 222 Remington. One is a Sako and the other 3 are Remingtons. All are VERY accurate. I am sure you will have no trouble finding an accurate loading for your Remington! Over the decades I have probably owned 8 other 222's and it was uncanny how accurate they all were! Now to the bullet you might try. I highly recommend the Sierra Blitz bullet in either 50 or 55 grains. These bullets have been consistently accurate for me and lethal on Varmints in all calibers I have tried them in from 221 Firebll to 220 Swift. I have 2 Swift Rifles and a 22-250 that shoot the 55 grain Blitz bullets now and have for years. Superb performance in them also. They most often leave Coyote pelts in good condition for skinning. Fox pelts would suffer I am sure if shot with a Swift and the Blitz bullets though.
I have not shot a Beaver yet with any of my Varminters but have shot Fox with the 50 grain Blitz and have no complaints at all. I have also taken Coyote, Badger, Raccoon and many large Rock Chucks with the 50 grain Blitz and my 222's.
The 22 caliber Blitz bullets are not only very accurate and very lethal they are very inexpensive! I pay just at $8.00 (U.S.) per 100!
I highly recommend you try the Blitz bullets in your 222! I am sure the Blitz bullets from your 222 will impart all their energy inside an adult Beaver and should fulfill your stopping power requirement there. Long live the 222!
Good luck to you.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Thansks for the answers!!
Keeo on going, I want to now as much as possible of my new caliber.......

Sounds like I have chossen the right caliber and that Sierra Blitz bullets are the way to go for varmints.

Some of my Roedeer hunt will also be done with the .222 and if Sierra GameKing 55grs works in England they will proberly also work in Sweden.
But most of my deer and big game hunting will I use my .280Rem.

Thanks again!

.280 Sweden

[ 12-30-2002, 00:45: Message edited by: .280 Sweden ]

I have a couple of .222's. I shoot a bullet very similar to VarmintGuy it is a Hornady SPSX very reasonalbe, performs well and is very accurate. You may want to try it with N133. .222's all have seemed to shoot well for me.

The 222 Remington is my first choice for Varmints under 200 yards and then I grab the 243.But my favorite load for 222 is 21.5 Gr of IMR 4064 with a 52 Gr Hornady BTHP Match bullet.Good luck with your Tripple Deuce as I know you will love it.

[ 01-04-2003, 07:37: Message edited by: yotecaller ]

I have owned and used .222 Rem.for 35 years.My best accuracy is with 19.6grs,IMR4198 and a 50gr.
PSP bullet.I have used several different brands
of bullets and was able to get good accuracy with
all brands of bullets.
The .222Rem.was the gun that started me handloading in 1967,as I couldn't find any factory
ammo that would shoot better than 1 1/2m.o.a.With handloads .5 m.o.a.can be attained.
For animals up to 50 lbs. I have found 50gr. bullets to be adequate.

BTW,I am a refugee from Shooters,57 years old,
spent almost my entire working career in machine
and tool and die shops.

WC

280; I have 2-222 Remingtons and just love them!! My rifles are both Remingtons, one a 700 BDL and the other a 788. They will both shoot .5" at 100 meters on a good day for 5 shots, sometimmes a bit better. I do use VV and Norma powders, but only 2 numbers. VV N-135 and Norma 200. Pet loads with these are as follows: 52 grain Sierra, WW cases, Remington 7� primer and 24.5 grains VV N-135. The other is 50 grain Sierra Blitz, Same case, CCI BR4 primer and 20.0 grains Norma 200. You should start about 1 grain less with the Norma load, some rifles show slight pressure signs at 20, however both of my rifle shoot it with no problems, even in very warm weather. Regards, Eagleye [From Canada.]

Welcome to the world of .22 centerfires, Swede! There are few combinations with the .222 that are not excellent for your intended quarry.

Either the Norma or the VV powders will be fine in the correct burning rate. Consult the data on their respective websites. My favorite powders in this caliber are H-335 and 4895, but there's no reason that others won't do just as well.

As a universal bullet, the conventional Sierra lead-tipped 50 or 55 grain FLAT base is difficult to beat. I emphasize the flat base rather than the boattail of the Gameking because the flat will tend to hold together a bit better than the boattail model on game, but will give equally quick expansion for varmints. Truth be told, either will serve you well, as will similar bullets from Hornady. I use a Speer 50 grain TNT hollow point in my .222, but this is exclusively for varmints and this extremely frangible bullet would not be appropriate for roe.

Remington and Winchester bulk bullets tend to have inconsistent placement of the cannelure, and I have had poor luck with them in the accuracy department.

Have fun!

Congratulations on your selection!!!

As others have noted the deuce is one of the most accurate and easy calibers to load for. You will need to work hard not to find an accurate load with any number of powder and bullet combinations. The starting load suggestions in reloading manuals is a good place to start.

I have had good results with VVN133 and IMR4895 with 40 gr. Hornady v-max bullets.

Good shooting!!!!

The .222 Rem was my favorite varmint cartridge. It's low report is a real advantage in settled areas. Otherwise the lack of power limits the cartridge to medium range and animals under a certain weight. Having shot well over a thousand critters with the little cartridge I say it's limit on sure hits with sportsman like kills to be in the 250 yard range but I had some success out to almost 300 yards. The cartridge is in no way suitable for deer of any size and has resulted in lost animals. For very small deer at close range with a controlled expanding bullet of course it may work but why bother?

As pointed out above Sierra and others made the Blitz line as bullets for the regular .224 varmint cartridges like the Swift failed to perform well in the .222 R. They are just too hard. So use the special bullets for the .222.

On the North American red fox which only weights about 5 lbs the .222 is plenty of gun however beavers are a special case. If it's just dispatching them as pests that's one thing but I am not sure how to keep a beaver from getting into deep water or just falling into the water with out a head shot. For that almost any full power load would work. Body shots on beavers may ruin the pelt if that's wanted. Maybe a 40 gr bullet in the body might not exit some of the time.

I kept going from 50 to 55 gr Blitz and Hornady SX bullets trying to extend the range. All of these bullet did as well as the cartridge is going to do. The cure is to use a bigger cartridge to extend the range and a reduced load for short shots to keep the noise down.

Nice cartridge. Don't have one now.

I am on my second .222. The first barrel finally wore out at about 12,000 rounds. My favorite varmint loads are the 50 gr. Sierra semi-spitzer and the 50 gr. Rem. Core-Lokt HP. I have not had very good luck (in terms of varmint accuracy) with the Rem. SP bullets, but I have several friends who like them for coyotes (in the .223 Rem.) as they seem to expand but stay in one piece so the exit holes are only about 1". I saw one of the 55 gr. Rem. SP's used on a mule deer buck that worked fine. Through both lungs and left about a 1" exit hole. You can't get much of an average from one shot, and generally I feel the .222 is just a varmint rifle. My favorite powder for the .222 is Hodgdon BL-C(2) I have not tried any of the Vitavouri powders.

280,
My custom 600 Rem. likes VV N133 with 50gr Blitzkings or 53gr HP Match. Around 22.5-23grs of powder with CCI450 mag primers seems to be the most accurate load I have found so far. I have also had some real accurate loads using IMR4895 with 50gr Nosler Balistic Tips. I can't seem to break the VV powder habit, the stuff burns so clean and it meters so nice for an extruded powder. I can't find anything better.

Rem. 222

Thanks again for all the answers!!

Have anyone try Barnes X 50 or 53grs on bigger game like Roedeer?

.280 Sweden

Nice to hear all the good stuff about the 222. My wife just gave me one for Christmas, a CZ 527. Haven't had a chance to shoot it yet.