Post by picklehead on Dec 22, 2015 20:15:09 GMT -5
I got into the 222's many years ago because our local gun shop owner, shot international bench rest comps. He took me to the shooting range one day and brought his 40x and 721 sporter rifle. He let me shoot both and WOW them damn things would burn a hole. I have his load to this day and it was 23 grains of IMR 4895 and a 52 grain Remington Match bullet. Far as I know, Remmy doesn't even make that bullet any more.
I have gave this info to many people over the years and they said I was crazy and 4895 wasn't a good powder for a tiny 222. Bull crap and ive shot some tiny freaking groups with 4895 in my Mod 700 heavy barrel. Mine liked 22.3 grains though and the only reason I changed to 4198 was,,, 4895 is hell to get in the case and fills it to the tip top. I didn't even know what a drop tube was back then and 19.5 of IMR 4198 and a 50 grain pill or 52, has proved to be one helluva load in many rifles over the years that ive fooled with.
A decent shooting 222 will eat about any fast to semi med burning powder very well. Ive used 4198, R7, 4895, Varget, 4064, BLC2, Benchmark, H332, H335, 748 and lord only knows. All my data in my mind goes back to IMR 4198, IMR 4895 and H322 for spooky accurate loads. Benchmark and BLC2 came in second.
One thing I seen over the years is,, most love FLAT BASE bullets for the spooky accuracy. Why not and the 222 is a 200 yard rifle anyway and most of the time, Boat Tails just don't seem practical for them. Some claim the 222 is a good out to 300 yards and that might be so if you put a high dollar glass on it and figure the thing out. I know for a fact that it drops like a rock after 200 yards and a simple good 3x9 is just fine.
I ran a 52 grain A-MAX, 50 grain NBT and a 50 grain Sierra semi point a few years back,, at about the same FPS. The boat tails shot about 1/2" flatter compared to the flat base at 100, 150, 175 and 220 yards. All shots was pretty damn close to each other left to right and up / down. I truly think that the 222 is the easiest thing to load for that is out there.
Here is all my data that I have wrote down and most is in my head.
H 4895 23 grains --- 52 grain HP Match in horn, sierra or speer
IMR 4895 22.3 with the same as above.
H322 24.5 with a 50 grain NBT.
H4198 19 with a 50 grain NBT.
IMR 4198 19.5 with a 50 grain NBT or Sierra Semi point bullet #1320.
Ball C 2 = BLC 2 24.8 grains with a 50 grain Sierra SP bullet #1340
Some are hot but most is well below MAX and for my rifle only so take with a grain of salt. I thought I had a Benchmark load in my notes but cant find it and that powder worked great also and a good one for the 204.
I used many differ primers also over the years but my favorite is a 7 1/2 or Fed 205M. CCI 400 or BR4 works great too.