.221 fireball

[.22 ppc]

Hello my friends I have since returned from a brief hiatus and I am ready to continue where I left off. I have since been working on a new project one of the more interesting things I got from my grandfather in the slew of rifles was a Remington xp-100 in .221 fireball. I have never worked with this cartridge before so I am very interested in seeing what it is truly capable of. In the pistols current state it is performing rather lack luster, I have shot 2 groups of a load known to be accurate in multiple other pistols and I struggle to get under 4" at 100 yards. I feel this is mainly due to the flimsy nylon stock Remington put on them in the 60's but I can't do anything about it atm. I plan on making a new stock out of some cherry lumber I have hidden away. I have since replaced the 6x Burris scope with a 24x target scope, and re-installed the rings and base. I hope to get that shooting under an inch for crows and wood chucks, and maybe even just to turn som heads at a benchrest shoot. Now enough rambling on that subject I am aware that the action of this pistol would make one heck of a benchrest rifle action, I believe it is based off the Remington 40x target action. At some point when the barrel goes out I want to use the action to make a new benchrest rifle but I want opinions on .221 fireball as a benchrest cartridge. I see some advantages and disadvantages of using it it's small case capacity strikes me as a plus for accuracy, but I see it lacks in velocity compared to say a .22 ppc. Would the loss of velocity really be an issue? my guess would be less resistance to wind. Another thing I like about this carttridge is it is a very efficient cartridge. I know there is a lot more to it, that's why I want you guys to inform me. I look forward to speaking with you all at the next shoot. I'll bring my 6ppc next time

 

[rkittine]

I have owned 3 Remington XP-100s over the years. Put a laminated thumbhole stock on one and it did shoot much better. Also had the trigger worked on. Best I was able to do off a rest with that one was about 1.5" at 100 yards, which I thought was decent.

I have sold all of my XP-100s, but still have 4 boxes of Remington Factory Ammo that I would sell if you are interested. Drop me a note at: rkittine at sign aol dot com.

Bob

 

[GerryM]

221 fireball

The 221 fireball was a nice little case to work with. The xp actions were used on Benchrest rifle,s for quite a while. Its a 600 length action Now called a model 7 xr 100 in single shot

More or less a smaller version of the 40X action. IT was chambered in a few different calibers but .221 fireball was the most likely one.

It was a bit hard to duplicate Factory loads years ago. Most of the guys used IMR 4227 for powder. There should be new data for it in the loading manuals and on the web;

You could consider having it re chambered to 222 Remington. You should also glass bed the stock your making. you should also get a nicer trigger or have the stock one reworked for lighter pull

 

[Wayne Shaw]

I'm not sure you could bed the action in the plastic stock. The only thing I did was get a slightly NGSC stud installed in the front and put a bi pod on. A soft sand bag under the grip and you have a pretty stable platform. With a bi pod and 24x scope, you should be able to shoot an inch at 100 yards with some practice. It does take practice to master the grip and follow through. I owned a bone stock 223 in plastic stock that would put many factory varmint rifles to shame. You do some work on them, stock, barrel, trigger, it will be amazing.