A rifle for any cartridge can be brought to Target class gun if you
are willing to spend the money. There seem to be cartridges that
are " born" accurate. The 222 is one of them. I've owned many
and even the utility grade Savage 340 series shot very respectful
groups. The only reason 222 is taking a back seat to the 223 is
the popularity of the AR and para military type bolt guns. It's not
because the 223 is a better cartridge.
I have always had several rifles at hand and have never been one
to try to crank a rifle up to the level of the next most powerful
cartridge in the same caliber. It made more sense to me just to
buy another rifle. In 222s and 223s, I load 55gr bullets. I have
been using BCL-2 for over 50yrs in 222s. In 223 when it first
came out I had 5.56 military brass. I found because of case
thickness of GI brass, IMR-4198 would fill the case to the brim
with the standard velocity GI load of 3250fps/ 55g bullet. You
could tap it down but it was a PIA so I use BCL-2 in 223 also.
I did experiment with Sierra Golden Match in 52g hp & 53g but
there was no difference in accuracy and a big difference when it
came to expansion.

I've always felt that before you go nuts on the real technical
things in reloading you have to have a rifle capable of making
use of them. Not to long ago I bought some Sierra .224 bullets
off a guy that has a H&R Handi-Rifle in 223. It was one box and
he told me he had to be honest they were seconds. When I ask
what did he mean "seconds"? Seems he was into weighing the
Sierra bullets on a Lee beam scale and he was culling out the
ones that weren't perfect. I will guarantee you that Sierra has a
much more accurate scale for tolerance than you can read on a
Lee scale. I told him I would buy all his seconds $5 a box. I
also told him he should consider weighing his brass, I can always
use his "seconds" of brass also.