22 Remington Experimental

[Skeet 028]

I also use 4198 of both flavors but prefer the old H4198. Not many use the powder these days because of all the new wonder powders. Typically buy it for about 10 bucks a pound. Having had a few 223s I seem to feel the caliber is not as accurate as the average 222 or 222 mag. Close but no ceegar. And I also feel that in the 222 I prefer the Rem 6 1/2 primer. The 222 is typically a medium pressure round.The 7 1/2 primer was really developed for the mag round when Remington was working on the new military round. Of course, my thinking may be incorrect. Having shot a "few thousand" with 4198 and the 6 1/2 primers I've never blown even one primer. Because they aren't recommended anymore I can find the 6 1/2 fairly cheap. At the last gun show I bought a thousand for 30 dollars. But in the mag round I usually use 7 1/2s or CCI BRs. BTW I was recently cleaning in the vault and found 960 CCI BRs on a shelf..price on them was 1.59 per 100. Also the old 722 222 has had many thousand rounds through it and it is still more accurate than the guy holding it. But that may not be saying much about my abilities

 

[rockquarry]

I've shot .222s for many years and still have two older Sakos and a Reminton 722. I've used far more Winchester brass than anything else, but Remington has been fine, too. About ten or so years ago, a friend gave me a sizable quantity of .222 brass that had been given to him. It was all sized and much of it was primed. I'm pretty sure all the brass was from the '60s.

The old brass, Remington and Winchester was much lighter in weight than the newer Winchester I had purchased probably fifteen years ago. Weight differences were roughly 10% on all the brass. That's not much on a large cartridge case, but it's significant with the .222. Powder charges had to be adjusted for safety and to keep velocity the same for all case weights.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

At one time, IMR 4198 was considered by bench rest shooters to be the best powder for both .222 and .223. Maybe it still is. I have been away from bench rest shooting for 30+ years. I still have a Savage 112 Series J varmint rifle in .223, and have determined that 21.5 grains of 4198 with 52 grain bullets surpasses the performance of any other load in it. The Savage is not in the bench rest running, but is fully capable of consistently producing 0.5-0.75 MOA 10-shot groups with 4198 loads.

From what I'm told H322 is the chosen powder for .222 target rounds. It seems to be the most accurate. Saying this I'm now wondering why I have not tried H322 in .223 target loads???

 

[Skeet 028]

From what I'm told H322 is the chosen powder for .222 target rounds. It seems to be the most accurate. Saying this I'm now wondering why I have not tried H322 in .223 target loads???

I have used H322 in the 222 and 223. I find it a little more touchy than 4198. You also can't reach the higher velocity of the military round. But then you can't quite do it with 4198 either. IMO I don't think the 223 is quite the equal of the 222 or 222 Mag in accuracy. For many years the best bullet for accuracy in almost any 22 cal rifle was the Sierra 52 grain HPBT. I have been loading the 40 gr Nosler BT bullet for coyotes in the 222. It is more accurate than the Hornady VMax. Out to about 275 yrs that bullet makes one hole and blows up inside. Luckily I don't have to skin them.

 

[rockquarry]

Many powders work very well in the .222. I've used more Reloder 7 than anything else along with the Sierra 50 grain BLitz.

Ken Waters comprehensive .222 update article in "Pet Loads" is certainly among the best ever written on this cartridge and it has a lot of load data.

 

[jjrr]

Since several members knew of Mike Walker I will add my experience with him. Remington was owned by the DuPont Company and I spent my working years in a DuPont plant that was in this area and we had a nice 300 yd rifle range on the property. He moved to this area in his later years and maybe because the range was available to him, can’t say for sure about that but I had the pleasure of getting to know him. Being a bench rest shooter he was always on the range early in the morning for the no wind condition and he was always by himself. He passed away in 2013 at 101 in an assisted living facility nearby, his obituary is listed as Merle Walker and it’s still available on line. It’s lengthy and has a lot of information about him if any one is interested..

 

[Narragansett]

I have not shot my rifles in years, and probably own nothing later than 1980. In about 1986, I got my hands in a Belgium Browning Safari grade heavy barreled 222 built on a short Sako action. The metal is perfect, and there a few use marks in the stock, but it is my favorite rifle. Soft recoil and you can cover 5 rounds with a nickel at 100 yards. It was a lot of fun tuning loads to that rifle. It has a vintage 4-12X Redfield on it.

 

[rockquarry]

Since several members knew of Mike Walker I will add my experience with him. Remington was owned by the DuPont Company and I spent my working years in a DuPont plant that was in this area and we had a nice 300 yd rifle range on the property. He moved to this area in his later years and maybe because the range was available to him, can’t say for sure about that but I had the pleasure of getting to know him. Being a bench rest shooter he was always on the range early in the morning for the no wind condition and he was always by himself. He passed away in 2013 at 101 in an assisted living facility nearby, his obituary is listed as Merle Walker and it’s still available on line. It’s lengthy and has a lot of information about him if any one is interested..

For former long-time PRECISION SHOOTING readers, they are well aware of how much influence Mike Walker had on benchrest shooting and many other facets of modern rifle accuracy. Many of his accomplishments were covered in the PS pages over decades.