.222 reloading

BRACES of Bristol - Sauer 100 XTA Stainless Package
wildfowler.250

wildfowler.250

Well-Known Member
My new venture is going down the .222 route. Is it sensible to buy 100 new brass at ~ £65 when you can buy a loaded box for about £22 and then keep the cases?

Looking to shoot 55grain for roe. What powders are people using? N120?

Cheers!

Reloading is going to get me through lockdown..
 
I think I used 4198 when I first started with my 222. Now trying out RS40, but not had a chance to shoot that yet, and Lil’Gun for Hornet-speed load with 45gr sp bullets.

£22 / 20 is (obviously) £110 per 100, but you do then get 100 rounds to shoot and get used to the rifle. Only you can tell if those economics work for you. Krank’s 222 Rem brass looks to be PPU @ £30 / 100. Not found a massive difference in accuracy between all the different brands I have shot in mine, it’s more me/you behind the trigger.

Regards

Mark
 
I shoot and reload a ton of .222rem a year. If you are not looking for mega speed, and I expect you are not when shooting the deuce, then normal loads result in very very good brass life. If you are going to reload, why bother with factory ammunition? Just buy 100 cases and get cracking. You will reload for around the 40-50pence mark. Brass cost is close to negligible when you consider that you can get well in to double figures and much more with firing good quality .222 brass before you run into issues. Obviously you should anneal at some point to really push life and to get maximum performance but if you are just shooting Roe out to normal range, they will be fine. As long as loads are kept mildish, primer pockets with something like Lapua will go a long long time.

If you are shooting 55grain bullets, don't go buying a ton of them. Try getting a handful and loading them and shooting them out to 200yds to ensure you get semi respectable groupings without bullets tumbling. I have a 1 in 10 twist barrel but most .222rem's are 1 in 14 which tend to like 50grain bullets or lower. That is not a given but don't go buying 400 x 55grainers before you know your rifle will definitely stabilise them.

If you are using Viht powder, you will want either N130 or N133 for 55grain bullets. N120 is too fast really and you will not get as good case fill as you will with 130 or 133. Another thing I will say is pay a tiny bit more for the best primers. CCI BR 4's are a good place to start for the deuce.

Good luck but you won't need it. It is a lovely cartridge to reload for. Dead easy and very forgiving. That little cartridge was born accurate.
 
Obviously it will depend on your rifles barrel but I'd advise trying a few different powders if possible but mine loves 50gr heads with viht n130 behind them . I've had 55gr 1s loaded for nearly 2 year now but because of how good my normal load is if never got round to trying them but we all have different needs .
 
I have a Sako AI in .222. It's from around the end of the 1970's with a 570mm, 1:14" barrel. My present load is a Hornady 50gr Z-Max over 20.3gr of ADI AR2207 (very close to N130). This gives me an MV of 936m/s (measured over a MagnetoSpeed). I use Lapua brass and CCI 400 primers. The projectiles are seated at 1.749" to the ogive (measured with the Hornady gauge).
Zeroed at 100m it drops 0.2 mrad at 150m, 0.6mrad at 200m and 1.0mrad at 250m.
Zeroed at 30mm over at 100m, near zero is at 35m and far zero at 160m and I can point and shoot between 8 and 180m (give or take).

This is my goto walkabout rifle for hares and foxes. Yesterday I dropped two crows at 195m from my house balcony.

Cheers
 
@wildfowler.250

I’ll follow @antsa here and say that unequivocally, the absolute best thing you can do is buy quality brass from the outset. And spend your shooting hours digging around in the grass looking for it!

I primarily use Lapua, but also Peterson and Starline. Simple question of availability.

I don’t anneal. I have yet to be convinced of the need. My .308 and 6.5 Lapua brass is on its 12th and 8th reloading respectively and the brass is perfect. I neck size only until it gets a little tight, then full length resize, FLR about every 4-5 firings. My ADI .223 brass gets hammered (hot load) but still goes 7-8 cycles before needing some serious inspection.

Someone’s mileage will vary, such is the nature of the game.
 
Cheers for the help guys!

Sounds like 50 grain is the common theme. I've a tub of 55 grain gamekings so tempted to try them. Are 50 grain any less effective on roe?

I’ll buy some Lapua brass. Is it much better than Norma? I’ve Norma brass for .270 but when it gives up I’d consider swapping over if Lapua is better.

Cheers for all the help!
 
antsa said:
I have a Sako AI in .222. It's from around the end of the 1970's with a 570mm, 1:14" barrel. My present load is a Hornady 50gr Z-Max over 20.3gr of ADI AR2207 (very close to N130). This gives me an MV of 936m/s (measured over a MagnetoSpeed). I use Lapua brass and CCI 400 primers. The projectiles are seated at 1.749" to the ogive (measured with the Hornady gauge).
Zeroed at 100m it drops 0.2 mrad at 150m, 0.6mrad at 200m and 1.0mrad at 250m.
Zeroed at 30mm over at 100m, near zero is at 35m and far zero at 160m and I can point and shoot between 8 and 180m (give or take).

This is my goto walkabout rifle for hares and foxes. Yesterday I dropped two crows at 195m from my house balcony.

Cheers
Click to expand...

That’s surprisingly ‘flat’. The second zero sounds the way to go!
 
Some folk split hairs with primers seeking the elusive one hole group.
Some powders like a hot primer to ignite them consistently. Low volume loads are best served via a hot primer too.
I tested pet full volume loads with different primers and the difference for hunting purposes was negligent. Ok, if you are shooting crows at 500 yards you need to be fussy about everything including primers.
If your happy with moa accuracy and using an extruded powder work with what you have.
 
wildfowler.250 said:
So I have CCI large rifle BR2’s which is essentially what I ‘got sold’ for the .270. Is there much variation between these primer types? Beyond large rifle and magnum I’m unsure what the breakdown is?

Cheers!
Click to expand...

Smellydog makes some good points and if I am honest, for my stalking rifle, I too use standard CCI 200 large rifle primers because the level of consistency and accuracy required is easily realised using them and they are a touch cheaper, although barely.

The differences I believe are slightly hotter ignition and a thicker material on the BR primers. I have often seen borderline fake pressure signs using CCI 400 primers with .22CF rifles. The load is not developing excess pressure but the thin nature of the standard primer "maybe" demonstrates slight cratering. I have not seen this using the same or similar loads using BR primers. I have also seen better accuracy in the .222 using BR primers and as alluded to, I do shoot crows and such at ranges far in excess of the 150yds that you might shoot a Roe at. For those purposes, the BR primers, for me anyway, are better.

Given that they appear to perform better and the hike in cost is almost negligible, there is good reason to use them.

If you literally will only shoot Roe out to normal deer ranges, then there is probably no real world benefit in using them I guess. I personally still would but I get what others are saying.
 
For a more reliable pressure indicator than flattened primers measure the head of the cartridge just above the rim before and after.
Any increase more than .004" trim back the charge. (Probably +3gn on book listed max by today's standards!).
 
wildfowler.250 said:
My new venture is going down the .222 route. Is it sensible to buy 100 new brass at ~ £65 when you can buy a loaded box for about £22 and then keep the cases?

Looking to shoot 55grain for roe. What powders are people using? N120?

Cheers!

Reloading is going to get me through lockdown..
Click to expand...


Hi
I load for a 20/222 and used to use lap 222 match cases which are expensive but then got a bag of privy cases which are cheap as chips , and after a lot of measuring and weighing I found only 7 out of 100 did not match the lap cases so the moral of the story try lots of options , and find one that suits your needs and pocket , the dearest is not always the best option . I'm not saying privy is better just in this instance they are pretty dam close.
Hope this helps a bit
Andy
 
I
dully1963 said:
Hi
I load for a 20/222 and used to use lap 222 match cases which are expensive but then got a bag of privy cases which are cheap as chips , and after a lot of measuring and weighing I found only 7 out of 100 did not match the lap cases so the moral of the story try lots of options , and find one that suits your needs and pocket , the dearest is not always the best option . I'm not saying privy is better just in this instance they are pretty dam close.
Hope this helps a bit
Andy
Click to expand...
would gladly bet that those lap cases just came off the same line and got put simply in another type of box!
Think about it....they ain't going to change any of the process are they. The brass is weighed and then drawn, annealed, drawn and annealed. What are they going to do other than possibly neck turning and uniforming flash holes? Is there any evidence of the above?
 
wildfowler.250 said:
My new venture is going down the .222 route. Is it sensible to buy 100 new brass at ~ £65 when you can buy a loaded box for about £22 and then keep the cases?

Looking to shoot 55grain for roe. What powders are people using? N120?

Cheers!

Reloading is going to get me through lockdown..
Click to expand...

1) Probably not: I bought 60 Sako 55g Gameheads, fired them, and now have some good quality brass for reloading at about the same price as new brass.

2) I use Viht N-133, and 55g Sierra Gamekings, and its a great combination. In fact the N-133 is versatile enough that I use it for .308W as well.

Have fun; its a really good branch of this sport.
 
Giving 55grain bullets a try is worth it, even in a 1 in 14 twist rate barrel. My BSA .222 has this twist rate and it shoots 50grain and 55grain bullets equally well.
 
Lovex 073.4 same as accurate 2230,designed for the. 223, reasonably priced and gives excellent results with. 222.
My favourite is 25g of 073.4 with a 40g varmageddon or vmax.
 
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