Something's Wrong

C

ColColt

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Anyone load for the .222 Remington? I recently bought a pound of IMR 4895 at the gun show to try and moments ago looked at the Hornady manual and for a 52-53 gr bullet they recommended a start charge of 22.8 gr and max of 25.1 gr. Looking over Hodgdon's website they show something quite different. They show 21 gr start and 23.5 gr as max.

I thought I'd dump 23 gr in a Lapua case to see how much it filled the case and it was nearly out the top of the case! Something seems wrong. That would be one heck of a compressed charge and I doubt you could seat the bullet. Why such a great discrepancy between Hornady and Hodgdon? No way to get 24-25 gr in a Lapua case in this caliber. Is there that much less space in a Lapua case over a Remington or Winchester case?
 
stool-Are you trying to say something? If so, I'm missing it.
 
I shot a .222 with I 4895 for a good part of two seasons. I used a 52gr Hillbilly bullet with WS2 coating. The load is 24.6grs and it will go in a Lapua case, but maybe not before fire forming. It is definitely a compressed load. Matter of fact, I started using RL 7 instead because I began to think the bullet was being pushed out between loading and matches. I was probably mistaken, but the RL 7 shot as well or maybe a shade better. To get the 4895 in the case you will probably need a long drop tube and will need to drop it sloooowly. Even then it will be compressed. I can't speak to the 133 load as I never shot that powder.

Rick
 
I've never had to use a drop tube with smokeless before with any powder. I do have one about 2 feet long I use for loading the 45-70 with black powder. I don't much care for having to use a drop tube with smokeless. Maybe time to use another powder. I thought I'd try this powder but they are new cases and perhaps they'll stretch a bit after firing. You sure won't get 24 gr in those cases now as the powder would spill out.
 
I think we used IMR 4198. Been a long time since i loaded any 222. I remember the cases being full but not overly full. I think 4198 uses less grains for max load. If you had a 4 to 6 inch drop tube and poured slowly you might be surprised how much more you get in. I got that powder funnel kit from Midway and it has a drop tube and different ends you put on for different calibers.
 
I loaded some yesterday with H4198 and didn't have this problem. I do have a 2 feet drop tube but have primarily only used it for black powder, never smokeless. Perhaps the volume of the Lapua cases will increase a bit upon their first firing.

I'm just amazed the Hornady manual shows a min/max charge much higher than Speer or Hodgdon. They're usually the conservative ones.
 
ColColt said:
I've never had to use a drop tube with smokeless before with any powder. I do have one about 2 feet long I use for loading the 45-70 with black powder. I don't much care for having to use a drop tube with smokeless. Maybe time to use another powder. I thought I'd try this powder but they are new cases and perhaps they'll stretch a bit after firing. You sure won't get 24 gr in those cases now as the powder would spill out.
Click to expand...

After giving it some thought I recall that I did not have to use a drop tube after the first firing. But I do/did use a Satern powder funnel and the kernels swirl into the case. I don't have any problem getting 24.6 into the case, I just have a compressed load.

Rick
 
I think I need to get another funnel. This one, an RCBS, says on the lid it's for 22-45 caliber but that's a good sized hole in it for such a small .224 mouth case. I keep watching for spills. I suspect all will be ok once I fire form the cases. H4198 just drops in without getting even close to the case mouth and it's extruded powder as well.
 
In small bodied cases like the .222 or even .223 if a full power load of either 4895 is used it requires either a drop tube or very slow and careful addition of the powder is required. There are a couple of solutions, use a finer grained and/or faster powder. The finer grained powder will pack better, and a faster powder will require less. Still powders like IMR 4198 are a pain to get into a .22 case without a lot of bridging, the solution is H4198 Extreme which is much finer grained and allows faster case charging.

Powders like H4198 Extreme, Benchmark, RL 7, N130, N133, and some of the faster spherical powders like X-Terminator, and 2230 can work well and don't require drop tubes or incantations to get a full power charge in a .222 case.
 
H4198 was no problem at all, just IMR 4895 and I doubt H4895 would have been any better. I looked up the Satern funnel mentioned and liked the idea of caliber specific so ordered one. Again, I believe once fire formed 4895 will work ok. I just wanted to try it for groups primarily. It may turn out H4198 or BLC(2) will work better. You never know what a given rifle/bullet combination will like.
 
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