221 Fireball

Kanewpadle

Kanewpadle

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I simply cannot understand why this caliber has fallen out of favor. I know there other popular varmint calibers such as the 22-250, 22 Hornet etc.....

But the 221 is sweet. Easy to shoot. Easy to reload. And extremely accurate. And not quite as loud as the 223.

My dear ole dad is somewhere in Wyoming reducing the prairie dog population with the CZ 221 I found for him last month. Found one on Gunbroker brand new in the box! :eek: Since there are no 221's in current production we jumped on it.

He is using his Ruger 77/22 for up close and the 221 for out there a ways. He has yet to shoot his CZ 223. But it's there if he runs out of 221 ammo. ;)

Can't say enough for the CZ. Lot a gun for the money.
 
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I have a CZ 527 in .221 Fireball. Compact, lightweight, and accurate.

I cannot remember the distributor who had them at the time, but it was at a very low closeout sale. They had the .221 and the .222 Remington on sale. I ordered the Fireball and my friend ordered the .222 Remington. Both are great shooters.
 
A dear friend of mine here in Billings has a Cooper in .221 Fireball that he uses to help with the varmint population here. It is devastating in all regards!!

The gophers went and got a restraining order order against us!! (We ignored it) however..........

He shoots long range and I use my CZ 455 17HMR for the near ones....the combination is incredible to say the least....

Randy
 
I think there are just too many.....

I think there are just too many good .22 class varmint rounds and most people just have to have the latest and greatest. Sometimes these rounds are rediscovered when people find that the latest and greatest isn't that much more later and greater than the ones they have pushed aside. I won't say 'replaced' because they are always out there with a few aficionados.
 
I have a Remington 700 Classic and a Contender barrel, both in 221 Fireball. Great little round! I'm hard pressed to say if I like the 222 Remington better than the 221 Fireball or vice versa.
 
A friend has a Cooper in 221 Fireball. He ordered it the week he came home from Iraq in '08 and has been destroying varmints with it ever since. I have two 10" Contender barrels, one bull and one octagon. I am slow on the uptake and only have been playing with them for 2 years.
I have found the best accuracy with the 50 grain Combined Technologies Ballistic Silver Tip bullet. Good brass was a problem getting, and a different friend found that reforming Lapua 222 Remington brass was the best there could be. I found Nosler 221 Fireball ammo and brass available at Midway and use it and the reformed Lapua to great results. I have a mixed bag of loading dies, with Redding Competition and Forester/Bonanza Bench Rest dies along with an old set of standard RCBS dies, just to keep everything honest. I have not had neck wall thickness problems, that many have with Remington brass.

The longest shot on ground hog has been 350 yards out of the Cooper and I've been close behind with a 22 Hornet Rifle at 300-310 yards and 325 yards with a 218 Bee in a Ruger No.1! These small 22 caliber rounds are murder on close to mid-range varmints. With almost no recoil and reduced noise levels, they keep the area where urban sprawl and farming meet devoid of varmints!

Ivan
 
Speaking about the triple duce as it brings back many fond memories when at the range. Had an old rem 40x single shot that shot extremely well with 4198 and remington's 55 grain match bullet. Like an idiot I sold that one. Also has one of the little sako's in 222 and also sold that one. But the one that best stands out was the rem 788 in 222. That little rifle shot like a house afire, used to take it with me to my uncle's farm and pot woodchucks with it. And like an idiot sold that one as well. Cleaning out one of my tool boxes and found one loaded round from way back when. Thanks for the memories. Frank
 
One of my favorite walking around rifles is my Sako Riihimaki, in a Bishop stock in .222. A good dose of 4198 behind a Speer 52 grain HP has been it's fodder for as long as I have owned it, (28 years). It has taken it's share of "dogs" out is SD.
 
Ah the 222. I have an Anshutz, spelling, in 222 that I bought from the Army Gun Club in Germany back in the 60's and it still shoots with the best. This is one that I will never sell.
 
All you SAKO fans got my varmint-hunting memories stirring. I have one of the sweet little SAKO "Vixen" heavy barrel in .222 with that great looking "beaver-tail" fore-end.
It shoots sooo much better than I do.
 
Ditto on the CZ 527, in .221 Fireball.

It is a true one hole rifle, with 4227, and 40 gr. Ballistic Tips. 3300 fps.

It covers 99% of my varmint shooting, with ZERO recoil. The trigger is above fantastic, single set. The "field" setting is at 2 3/4 pounds, zero creep, and over travel.

The "set" trigger is at 1 3/4 pounds, and also without take up, or over travel.
 
The .222 crowd is getting off the subject. :D I used to have an Anschutz in .22 Hornet and I was never totally pleased with its accuracy so I sold it and bought a CZ American in .221. I should have kept the Hornet but that's a familiar story. The CZ is a nice little rifle. I really don't care for the bottom metal but it is a shooter. Around here there is still some interest in the .221 and the .222. :)
 
I've had this Remington XP-100 in .221 Fireball for many years. It's topped with a Leupold 1.5x long eye relief scope, and is phenomenally accurate. With a chamber insert, I can also fire .22 LR for plinking. Great field gun for small game.

As a side note, Wayne Leek, the Remington muscle behind this gun, first used the .222 Remington in it while it was under development. Leek then thought that it burned too much powder to be used efficiently in a pistol barrel, and that there was way too much flash at the muzzle. He pushed the shoulder of the .222 back a bit, trimmed the case back 1/4", and got what he wanted - sufficient velocity with a 50-grain bullet for varminting, and lessened flash and blast. In spite of its name, the .221 Fireball uses .224 diameter bullets. At 2650 fps muzzle velocity, it has a mid-range trajectory of 2.6" with a 200 yard zero, and still has 360 foot-pounds of energy at that distance. It's a very efficient round, outclassing the .22 Hornet, which was a standard for many years.

John

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I know I'm afflicted and should be able to answer this, but what IS it about little 22 centerfires? Something appealing about them that I just can't put my finger on. Just enough, but not too much for the purpose? Or what?
 
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