Am beginning the arduous task of assembling loads for my 13th caliber and could use some help to make things simpler.

I already have many powders and bullets of many brands, weights, etc.

For those of you experienced in .222, could you share your 1, 2, or 3 favorite bullet and powder combinations?

If this topic should go into reloading, kindly advise and I will move it.

Thanking you in advance.

"Bo"

I like bullets around 50 grs - 50 grs Vmax, 52 grs HPBT Sierra spring to mind. For powder, I like VV N133 - you normally find good accuracy around 22 grs.

Make sure you work up from below.

- mike

The .222 works well with a large number of powders. I personally mostly use H-335 (or its military spec equivalent WC-844) in my .222 and it does well. I have also used H4895 and like it just about as well.

Except for powders that are clearly too fast for optimum performance (faster than 4198) and powders that are too slow (slower than IMR 4320), there are few powders that won't potentially do well in your .222.

My favorite and only load for the 222 is a compressed load of Win. 760 under 70 grain Speer Semi Spitzers. Nothing I've ever hit with this bullet has lived very long and it's accurate even in my 1:12 twist barrel. I took a whitetail deer with this combo last year.

The only load I tried in my Savage 340 is H-335 and 40 grain Hornady V-Max. It shoots one whole groups, so I have not messed with it.

As good as Lil gun worked in my 221, with 40 gr, at 3600 fps, I'd try it in a 222. 222 does real well with 40-52's. 4198 and 335 do well with 50's.

Nosler 50 grain bullets and RL-7 work best in my new 222. My old one likes 4198 powder best, with 52 grain bullets.

21gr RL7 under any 50gr in my Steyr is very accurate. Mine seems to like a very short OAL around 53.5mm.

Seem to have the best repeatability with the Acc2015 and Wcc844 also. roger

In my .222's seems it's harder to find something that doesn't shoot good than something that does. This includes cast bullets. My .223 on the other hand is very accurate with jacketed,but I have not found a cast bullet load that works.

As I recall,the favorite load was 20.5 grs of IMR 4198 with a good 50 gr bullet.
This was when the .222 was in it's heyday.

My favorite load is the Rem. 50 gr. HP, 25.0 gr. of BL-C(2), Rem. 7-1/2 primer, and Rem. brass. Other 50 gr. bullets work well also, but I use the Rem. because I can buy them in bulk. I have not had very good success with the Rem. SP. AA-2015 is also a good powder.

52 Sierra MK / N 133 / 22.5

quote:

Originally posted by BoCash3:
Am beginning the arduous task of assembling loads for my 13th caliber and could use some help to make things simpler.

I already have many powders and bullets of many brands, weights, etc.

For those of you experienced in .222, could you share your 1, 2, or 3 favorite bullet and powder combinations?

If this topic should go into reloading, kindly advise and I will move it.

Thanking you in advance.

"Bo"

The triple deuce has probably set & broken more records than all the other 22's. It's my favorite by far.
It's also very good with about anything you stuff it with. I use 50 gr bullets & some 55 sierra gamekings for hogs & the occasional deer in N. FL.
Powders are mostly BLC-2 & 4198. I carry a stainless contender carbine when knocking around in the woods most of the time in that cal. It shoots 3/4" all day. Not too bad for 5# rifle.

I don't own a trip deuce (yet...), but several years back I worked up loads for a friend's Model 788. I used BLC-2 and standard CCI SR primers. I was able to find one-hole loads for Hornady 50s, 55s and 60s, by adjusting powder charges.

what works in the .223ill sing a song in the 222 as well....in my world it's BL-C(2) and 50 grain bullets

what works in the .223 will sing a song in the 222 as well....in my world it's BL-C(2) and 50 grain bullets

H335 & RL7 is what i generally use. For fun try the new barnes varmit grenade bullets 36 gr with a sintered core. They really explode

I get .750 groups at 100yds w/H4198 at 21gr with the 40gr V-Max bullets.That is out of a well worn Savage 340 D that is 40 some-odd years old.

A good friend who passed away a few years ago, had his favorite rifle as a Sako Forester he picked up when he was 20 or so, working in Australia for a few years, when he was working on a sheep station...

He bought one just like an older Aussie gentleman had on the station.. chambered in 222...This old guy was somewhat of a pretty experienced WW 2 vet....

This old guy used IMR 4895.. which was pretty plentiful in the early 60s pretty cheaply too... and the bullet was any old 50 grain SP...

He use to just poor powder on the table, scoop the case full of powder.. level it off at the neck... and then just seated his bullet...

Evidently this load technique ( if you could call it that).. was pretty darn accurate and dropped everything from Rabbits and foxes to Kangaroos at 300 yards or so... wearing a simple 4 power scope...

My friend came back to the states after a couple of years in Australia, and then got his medical doctor degree and practices medicine for 35 years... and was a man who could afford about anything he wanted....

His favorite rifle was that Sako Forester in 222.. with the same early vintage 1950s 4 power Japanese scope he brought back from Australia in 1961...

and its entire life, he handloaded it just like the old guy in Oz taught him too.. scoop it full of IMR 4895 and seat your bullet...

every other cartridge he loaded, he had a spendy digital scale with all the bells and whistles...

but he thought the 222 was the least finicky cartridge on the planet...and that little Mannlicher Sako was the best rifle ever made..

Seafire,

That's a "Vixen" in a Sako; the "Forester" is the medium action for .243 and .308.

My .222 Vixen has the twelve groove rifling that some people believe is a problem, but mine will do <1/2" groups with boring regularity. If that's a problem, then I've learned to live with it. My standard load is a 50 gr Speer TNT over 25 grains of H-335 for 3200 fps. A friend of mine made nine hits in a row with this gun and load on prairie dogs a couple of years ago.

I use 4198 under the Hornady 55 gr SPSX ( stands for super explosive). At .222 speeds it holds up to its name out to 225 yards or so. The bullet is very thin jacketed and it does a number on yotes without an exit most if the time. If there is an exit, it is just pin holes. A bit much for foxes or bobs.

The Nosler 55gr ballistic tits at around 3000fps give superb accuracy in my little Sako.
Use them for everything up to and including feral goats.
Also the Hornady 35gr V-max at around 3600fps is excellent on rabbits and foxes and shares an almost identical trajectory to the 55gr Noslers out to 200 or so.
Powders used are IMR4895 and AR2207.

I have a CZ 527 in 222, not had it long and have only tried Hornady 50 gr and 55 gr V-Max in it, with a load of 20.5 gr of H4198. I do not think I am in too much of a hurry to try anything else.

John

N-133,4198 and 4895 in that order have been my favorites. I never needed to look any further. I use N-133 exclusivly for any case that it appropriate for.

quote:

Originally posted by BoCash3:
For those of you experienced in .222, could you share your 1, 2, or 3 favorite bullet and powder combinations? "Bo"

I have 126 different loads, most with velocities and results, that I can E-Mail to you. It is on Excel format but can be opened in Word. A lot of the powders are surplus but most have near equivalents, such as WCC846 To BL-C(2) and Wcc844 To H335. Glad to share. roger

quote:

N-133,4198 and 4895 in that order have been my favorites. I never needed to look any further. I use N-133 exclusivly for any case that it appropriate for.

Many thanks, Bartsche and I would like to take you up on it. I do have "word" and should be able to convert.

My address is: bocash3(at)Yahoo(dot)com

Thanks again, "Bo"

my anchutz always worked well with 19,2 of imr4198, 52grs boat tail bullets, CCI SRBR primers.
if it help this is my penny.

quote:

Posted 10 March 2007 01:25

Am beginning the arduous task of assembling loads for my 13th caliber and could use some help to make things simpler.

Well I'll pop my $ .0225 cents in !. You picked the wrong caliber for simple !. If memory serves me ? , on the burn rate chart ; powders suitable for the .222 are from about 60 through 75 .
That's a lot of powders and projectile combinations . Great caliber though . I've asked for the same help in the past and everybody was nice enough to reply with suggestions which were helpful . You'll get there with patience and perseverance .

Mine seems to prefer Bl C-2 H 335 Varget 4895 they all give very good accuracy weights vary with projectiles 20.5 - 24.5 grains is normal range for that cartridge with most suitable powders . Take advise from those above they seem to know ...