Thoughts on the .222 remington (not magnum)

[David LaPell]

I was looking around for a coyote gun the other day when I found a Savage bolt action in .222 Remington. I really have never dabbled with this one, has anyone else played around with it? Ammo seems pretty easy to get at every gun shop locally, and I imagine reloading cannot be too hard.

 

[GP100man]

It was the first cartridge that i shot a 1 hole group with !!

Most are very accurate & stayin within it`s means it`s a great cartridge !!!

 

[contender]

I have owned a couple of rifles in 222 and I currently own a Contender barrel in it along with a semi-bull barreled Remington.
A VERY accurate round.
One of my rifles was owned by a police chief here in town many years ago. When he got a good reload for it,, a deputy & him were out shooting it. The deputy was downrange,, off to the side,, & behind a truck while he was shooting at about 300 yds. He shot one round,, the deputy checked it,, and then told him to "hold the same thing & shoot again." He did,, they met back & the deputy handed him a penny with a hole in it. I have the penny. His comments about that gun & caliber were always, "I'd bet my house on one shot with that gun."
I also made my longest shot ever on game with my Rem. 667 yds,, ranged,, on a pararie dog. It wasn't my first shot,, as I wasn't sure of the range or wind,, but the gun & I did make it after a few shots as I adjusted for the wind.
A very accurate round.

 

[sixshot]

There's only one rifle I ever regret of getting rid of, a custom 700 Remington my son built. I think a 222 still holds the accuracy record in Benchrest shooting & the record was set back when CCI first brought out the Benchrest primer, that had to be in the 70's.

Dick

 

[Snake45]

Before the AR and Mini-14 craze really started to take off sometime between the late '70s and the mid '80s, the .222 was THE varmint cartridge (or shared the throne with the .22-250).

 

[bigchillymn]

I currently shoot a m77 mk11 in 222 "uncatalogued item" This gun is extremely accurate, and like Contender, I have taken dogs out past the 600 yard mark with it. They are easy to reload and components are readily available for it. If you are interested, Davidsons still had about 27,Hawkeye all weather rifles in 222 available, on their web site. A great chance to own a fantastic caliber in an uncatalogued gun.

 

[gregs45auto]

Triple duce is the benchmark for varment rifles. A speer 50 gr. tnt, H335, and a cci primer. My 223 savage is loaded at 222 velocities and is very accurate. hth greg

 

[XP100]

I have a 788 and and 2 early 700 Varmint specials in 222 all 3 will shoot clover leaf 5 shot groups at 100+ yds. It was the first round I loaded fro when I started reloading. I tried many combinations in the 788 and it liked then all fron 40 to 55 gr. bullets several different powders and diff. primers. If I could only have one rifle it would be one of my 222's.

 

[Bucks Owin]

I think a 222 still holds the accuracy record in Benchrest shooting & the record was set back when CCI first brought out the Benchrest primer, that had to be in the 70's.

Dick

I could be wrong but I think the 6BR holds that record now. But regardless, the .222 is a superbly accurate cartridge, no recoil so is easy to shoot and will be fine with good bullets for coyotes to 250 yds or so. BUT. The .222 is no fireball in the velocity/trajectory department and for LOONG range yodel dogs, I'd rather have a little more "swat" and be shooting a faster and flatter .22 cal or better yet a .243 etc. Actually, my dad killed a few deer with a .222...22 Hornet too "in range". JMO :wink: (FWIW, a 6.5/284 fired the first group measuring under an inch at.........get this........SIX HUNDRED YARDS!!! Now that's accurate! :shock: )

 

[BearStopper]

I bought a Savage 340 Deluxe a couple years ago for $200.00 in .222 and it shot great with cheap PRVI Partizan ammo believe it or not. I bought the ammo as a supply of brass and it shot a tiny little group from the bench. I have since sold that rifle for $400.00 because I wanted a 22-250 and decided on a Ruger #1 simply because I found a NIB mid seventies example at a good price.

 

[Bryan]

The 222 Remington is a fine round,it'll do the job on coyotes.

 

[contender]

GASP!!!!!!!!! sixshot has admitted to missing a rifle! GASP!!!!!!!

Actually,, I can feel his pain. I had another .222 that even though I had 3 of them at once,, I let it go. I never should have let myself do that!
But,, that Rem 700 I have now,, that I only paid $150 for (see above) was due to the gun shop owner's feelings. When I saw the gun,, I asked him about it, & he said,, "It's a damn .222" I knew I had a jewel. He was into military such stuff to where if it had been .223,, it would have cost me a LOT more. A truly accurate shooter. I just smile when I need to drag it out as I know if I pull the trigger,,, a critter is gonna die.

 

[Boxhead]

I had a M700 222 Rem when I kived in West Texas. I use to load the 50 gr Speer soft point and killed a number of coyotes, a handful of javalina and a pile of prairie dogs and jack rabbits with it. A very accurate rifle that I later had Pac-Nor rebarrel to the 223 AI. While I didn't regret the decision I still wanted another 222. I came close to buying one of the fine Sako's but they were getting darn pricey. A couple of years ago while living in Canada I came across a sweet deal on a very fine Krico 222 so bought it and imported it to the States when I moved. It is a one hole gun and I am a happy camper again.

 

[sixshot]

I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure that world record is still in the hands of a 222, it was shot by one of the McMillan brothers in Pheonix, & measured .008" of an inch for 5 shots. Not only that but it was fired with a Light Varmint class gun (10.5 lbs) That group was so small at the time that some of the official measurers actually measured it smaller than bullet diameter.
I've been out of that loop for many years but I doubt that record has been broken.

Dick

 

[MADISON]

222 Remmington loads with either a 52 or 53 grain bullet:
BL-C[2] 22.5 GRAINS
4198 19.0 GRAINS

 

[don44]

The .222 is a very accurate round and I think sixshot is right.

 

[Bucks Owin]

I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure that world record is still in the hands of a 222, it was shot by one of the McMillan brothers in Pheonix, & measured .008" of an inch for 5 shots. Not only that but it was fired with a Light Varmint class gun (10.5 lbs) That group was so small at the time that some of the official measurers actually measured it smaller than bullet diameter.
I've been out of that loop for many years but I doubt that record has been broken.

Dick

Could be, I searched around and found that record fired in 1973 by Mac McMillan .009"! (Must've "grew" .001" ) I thought I'd read somewhere that a "perfect" group was fired recently but maybe it was a railgun. But also found this at Precision Rifle site so I don't know... :? (Maybe a serious benchrester will chime in on this) But I was wrong about the 6BR being the cartridge : 6PPC

"A legend amongst wildcats! This is the most famous accuracy cartridge of all time. The 22PPC was soon necked-up to 6mm and this round now dominates benchrest competition out to 300 yards. If you are looking to shoot benchrest, don't even think of any other round. The 6PPC holds all the world's accuracy records out to 300 yards. Flat-base bullets in the 66-68 grain range are most popular and velocities are around 3250 fps" One thing for sure, a 10.5 lb .222 RIFLE (not railgun) firing a .009" group is pretty dang spectacular IMO! :wink:

 

[chg]

The .222 is a great little cartridge. Accurate and mild report. Mine's now 37 years old, throats a little worn but will still put 5 shots under 1/2" at 100 yds. The old 50 gr. Sierra Blitz still shoot the best seated way out.

 

[gramps]

All I know is of a sheep rancher that swears by his .222 to keep live coyotes and dogs off his property.
gramps