05 August 2002, 04:35
tommyn221 fireball
Waiting for my VV barrel and got busy match preping 50 cases. I'm going to start out with Re-7. I have Starke, Berger and Shilen bullets to start with. Anyone have good advise on load for 221. I have redding body die and wilson dies on order. Its been several years since I loaded for 221 as I remember I used H4198 and had good results. Thanks
05 August 2002, 05:03
Magnum Miketommyn,
I have tried several powders and bullets with my old 10" octagon barrel.
I have tested,
WW748, H110, W296, AA1680 with Nosler 40, 50 B-Tips and Sierra's 50 Blitz, 40 Hornet, 40 & 50 Blitzkings.
Best groups in my barrel so far are the 40 Blitzkings and AA1680. I have yet to chrono them and not shot any chucks so i cannot speak for performance, just accuracy.
Lyman recommends a load of approx 10 grains of WW748 for a subsonic load. This powder is WAY too slow for the fireball but would make a nice squirrel load. It is dirty, loading density is low but it did shoot well for me.
H110 & W296 are too fast. 50 yard accuracy is good but 100 is lousy. Groups are in the 2" range.
The Fireball is one fun caliber to develope loads for......
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06 August 2002, 03:20
Gary TTommyn, When I first bought my 221 Fireball barrel, I asked guys for their favorite powder for it. The most commonly rec'd powders at the time were (in no particular order): RL 7, AA 1680, and 4227. My load development was VERY BRIEF because the combination of IMR 4227 and Hornady 40 V-Max bullets did SOOO well.
![[Big Grin]](images/icons/grin.gif)
Mine is a 12" Contender barrel from VVCG. I started off just using what I had on hand--40 gr V-Max bullets, H 110 and IMR 4227. At 100 yds, H 110 wouldn't hardly stay on a notebook-sized sheet of paper; 17.0 gr (2940 fps) and 17.5 gr (3020 fps) of 4227 both did VERY well; former shot 2 (3) shot groups averaging 0.6" while latter shot 0.8". I used Rem 7 1/2 primers in virgin Rem brass that had receieved "match preparation" (primer hole uniformed, flash hole deburred, and case neck uniformity <0.002"); loaded OAL was 1.935", 0.02" off the lands. I settled on the above two loads after only a total of only 18 rounds through it! Of all the guns I've worked w/, I've NEVER had such promising loads SO QUICKLY.
![[Wink]](images/icons/wink.gif)
I've got to hand it to VVCG--looks like they "done me good" w/ this barrel. Haven't shot any live game w/ it yet, but hope to soon! Gary T.
[ 08-05-2002, 18:21: Message edited by: Gary T ]06 August 2002, 04:16
tommynThanks for the info. Now for the hard part just waiting for the barrel. I'm not going to hunt with the barrel just target shoot so I will probably stay with the 52gr match bullets but I do have some Starke 45 gr and Berger and Hornady 40gr bullets on hand.
12 August 2002, 14:53
HHI6818Tommyn,
Are you still looking for 221FB data? If so email me goforit40@msn.com
I finally found a floppy disk that I same 221 FB data on from varminthunters.com page. It is in jpeg and I can't post it here.
12 August 2002, 15:13
<T. D. Clevenger>AA1680 (in my experience) is THE powder for the 221FB. Great accuracy, good velocity, clean burning.
T.D.
13 August 2002, 10:43
tommynI want to thank everyone for their replys. Should have the barrel here this week. I have some little gun and short cut H-4198 on hand and will try Re-7 and 1680 if these don't work out like I want.