222 Rem Mag shooters...

P

Paul Fielder

Guest
...where / can you buy factory loaded ammo??

Also, I know we don't do specific loads on this forum but is there a powder of choice?? I'm betting N133 would have to work good.

Remington brass is the only flavor available for reloading, correct??

Thanks in advance!!

pf
 
222 rem. mag.

factory ammo is as scarce as hen's teeth, even at gunshows. I'd start reloading and it seems n133 may be a good powder to start with.
The older powders in the manuals have produced some amazing accuracy in my 222 RM.
 
Worst case scenario, if you want higher quality brass you could buy Nosler .204 Ruger and neck it up.
 
Paul,
To my knowledge, you can't buy loaded 222 RM anymore. I've not seen any in years other than some very old boxes that turn up at gun shows.

As Tyler said, you can use 204 brass and make your own. I have shot a ton of prairie dogs with a 222RM and most of my loads were with BLC-2 and H335.
N133 would probably do well, but it's pricey.

Rick
 
Thanks!!

I see Sinclair has 222 rem mag brass....at least in this latest catalog.

I'm just not sure what I'm going to with this gun. I found a mint 700 ADL Deluxe. Very clean and looks close to new. I can tell the trigger was worked on and it 'appears' as if the channel was opened up slightly as I don't think they came free floated but just barely clears the paper trick.

Date puts it 1963 I think & has the steel buttplate and really too nice for me. I can look at a gun and get a dink on it if I take it hunting. I'm dying to shoot it. Bore looks new.

Not sure whether to consider it more on the collectable side or enjoy it. Man I love this disease!! Dad said $60/box from midway for the Nosler.

pf
 
I have no doubt

that rifle is a "goodfind" after shooting it you'll know it's a keeper.It'will outshoot most .223's though customsmiths will chamber for that ctg., I'll never quite understand, even with the advent of the 223, why major mfg's quit chambering their rifles for it.

Economics I guess ,but I still think the 222 Rem Mag., is in a league of it's own. ;)
 
Try...

55 Grain Sierra Blitz King and N-135... advantage of .222 RM is you can use slightly slower powders than in .223. In a way, you almost have to... Disadvanage is that the Rem. brass is a bit soft and won't take the pressures that, for example, Winchester .223 will without losing primer pockets. So to get roughly the same velocity (as a practical matter the two are a ballistic standoff) you use a bit slower powder at slightly lower pressures... Wouldn't a .222 Rem Mag Ackley improved with some good tough brass be interesting??

Incidentally, although based on the .222 Mag case, the .204 has had the shoulder moved forward to add powder capacity and allow for a shorter neck in conformity with current thinking. So just necking it up wouldn't give you .222 Mag brass. Base to shoulder on .204 Ruger is 1.539"; on .222 Mag is 1.464". So if someone were to neck the .204 UP to .222, there would be the ".222 Super Mag." Anybody want to try this??

Seriously, it's good to see some folks who still love this oldie. It's one of my favorites, and my first real varmint rifle (in 1966.. a Sako Vixen) was a .222 Mag. Still have it. Also a Hart barreled 700 and a 40XB repeater with 8- twist barrel.. All shoot better than I can.

I think the .223 killed the .222 Mag because the .223 was adopted by the military.. and the .222 Mag is a bit too long for the AR15 action and magazines.. And all the hoop-la in the 60's and 70's favored the .223... one had to give and it was the .222 Mag. Too bad....
 
www.midway.com In the paper catalog lists Norma 50gr Ballistic tip @ $60.99 for 60 rounds and Remington brass $34.99 per 100.

Midsouth and Natchez have nothing. Hope this helps
 
Paul Fielder said:
...where / can you buy factory loaded ammo??

Also, I know we don't do specific loads on this forum but is there a powder of choice?? I'm betting N133 would have to work good.

Remington brass is the only flavor available for reloading, correct??

Thanks in advance!!

pf
Click to expand...
.....Several of my 222mags have liked IMR4198 with 52-55 grain bullets loaded to upper end loadings.....I have a couple of boxes of factory Rem ammo but it is left over from a gun trade 15yrs ago and is used for load pressure comparisons and the last new Rem brass lot I got was better than some of their past issues as far as wall consistancy and weight....I love my old round top Browning Sako 222 setback/rechambered to 222mag with the med weight multi step down barrel......good luck and good shooting-loading!!
 
Crow99

I've been playing with the 204 case for a couple of years now. My first endevor was the 25-204 because I needed a deer rifle for the fall. My second was the 22-204, I've been shooting it for about a year now and it is now my go to rig for open country coyote hunting. I'm running 40g NBT's at 3900fps and it is devastating on coyotes yet easy on the pelts. I rechamberred a Savage 223 barrel 22" 1-9 twist. I was thinking heavier bullets but the 40's were so accurate and effective that this has turned into a one bullet one load gun. My shooting is called coyotes and most shots are between 10 and 300yds.

204s005.jpg


Left to right 222 Rem, 223 Rem, 22-204, 25-204

I have a barrel on order for a 6mm-204(6x47mm Improved) and should start some load work in June.

Browndaug
 
Browndaug.... I do like the look of the .22-204. I don't think the .222 Mag's neck needs to be as long as it is; might as well move the shoulder forward for more powder capacity, and it looks like this does the job. I presume that one still uses standard .204 headspacing.. So how do the primer pockets stand up to hot loading? This, as I said, is a major downfall with the .222 Mag. brass (Remington) that I've used.

On another note, I seem to remember that the largest .222 head sized round used to be the European 5.6 x 50mm, 3mm longer than the .222 Mag case. Don't have the exact dimensions, and it never caught on over here, but I think I saw a magazine article several years ago that allowed that it was a fairly hot number. Brass availability would be a real problem today of course.

Maybe someday when time and funds permit I'll order up a .22-204 reamer and give it a try..... It really does seem like a good round.
 
Yes I use the same 204 headspace guage for all three variations. The nice thing about this cartridge is that there is a great selection of brass and it's a straight neck up requireing no fire forming. I'm running these pretty hot and haven't seen any problems with the primer pockets but I'm only on the 3rd loading and using Win. brass.

AWS
 
vicvanb said:
I have had very good luck with WW 748.
Click to expand...


I shot several of the older Sako's years ago growing up and shooting woodchucks in NYS. The powders that work well are H335 and Win 748. Due to the twist rates of the time, 50 - 55 grain bullets were the norm. I dare say that velocities were well beyond .223 of today... brass life was good, at 10 loadings. Sako made ammunition, I think Norma made brass as it was/is a very popular cartridge in Europe. I am saving ten boxes of Factory primed Remington brass for the day I find a nice clean rifle at a show.
 
just checked the gunbroker site, yeah that's a nice one, pricey though.

They sure shoot well!!!!!!!!

The "saftey" lever look's like it's from a 725, not unusual, remington was known to interchange parts like that during that era, I like that saftey lever, I have one of those on a 700 or 722, can't remember which :confused:

There was a "transitional" period, when Rem., was changing over from the 721 / 722, to the 700. It's interesting to me as I have a mint 722 chambered in 6mm Rem, with the then new 1-9 ? twist, maybe 1-10 :confused: but it has a "transitional" M700 barrel as in minus the rear sight bump!
 
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