Any 222 remington Varmint Hunters Out There?

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bcshadow

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Hi, I have always been more of a big game hunter, but recently picked up a Mohawk 600, 18.5 barrel in 222 Remington as a dedicated coyote / pest gun.

I would appreciate experienced advice on hunting bullets for coyote and powder selection. I picked up a lot of nosler custom brass in 222 for a song, and want to put it to good use!

Thanks for any suggestions you can give me.
 
Lots of good bullets. I use a lot of hornady bullets (Vmax or
Zmax) sierra blitz kings or nosler ballistic tips. With the 222 I would me more likely to run a 50 grain but they shoot so good I doubt you will have trouble with whatever you pick.
 
I have been had a Remington Model 788 .222 for nearly 40 years and still love shooting it. My favorite bullets for it are the 52 gr. Sierra MKHP and the Hornady 50 grain V-Max. H-322 and BLC-2 are the two powders I use most for these loads. I have killed a truck load of coyotes with the 788 and it's still one of the most accurate rifles I own.
 
I'm really partial to the 52gr Speer Flatbase Hp and Benchmark or 748 it seems to shoot well in all my 222's. I'm down to 3 222's, a Win Model 70, Sako Vixen Fullstock and a semi-custom Savage in a Boyeds stock with a 20" Shaw HB that I built for the Egg Shoot a couple years ago. I sold a Marroci combo gun 222/12ga that would shoot sub MOA groups with that bullet.
 
I love the 222! My Winchester HV likes the 50gr vmax with N133. Other loads that shot well were H335 with a 52gr Berger and Benchmark with a 50gr Vmax. Honestly, all three powders i listed are awesome with all the 50-52gr bullets I tried.
 
The Hornady 50 gr SX was originally made for the triple deuce and is still a good choice and hard to beat, but without a plastic tip or a hole in it, most give it a pass
 
I have been shooting a 222 since the late 70's and have shot the Nosler 40 gr BT for a number of years. I got some splashes with that bullet on coyotes so I have been telling myself I was going to work up another load for it.
I happened to have a bunch of the Barnes 36 gr Varmint Grenade bullets and having worked up a load with them for a friend of mine who also has a 222, I thought I work up load using that bullet in my rifle.
I did that over the last couple of weeks and can tell you my final load is putting 5 shots in less than 1/2 inch at 100 yards in my rifle. I have not used it yet on a coyote but don't have any reason to believe it won't be a good one.
I am using H322 (has always been a good powder for me in this caliber), Fed 205 primer and the Barnes 36 gr VG bullet.
 
Originally Posted By: parsonThe Hornady 50 gr SX was originally made for the triple deuce and is still a good choice and hard to beat, but without a plastic tip or a hole in it, most give it a pass

I would agree with you here. I started out shooting my 222 back in the late 70's reloading the 50 gr SX. I was on the hotter end so I had a few disintegrate on me and I ended up changing bullets. One thing about this caliber that I figured out long ago is that it is not a hot rod, like the 220 Swift and some others, and if you slow it down a bit the accuracy is unbelievable.
 
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wyobull Don't use the varmint grenade on coyotes as they are made to explode on impact on PD's and ground squirrels. Not on anything as big as a predator,they will just splash and leave a wounded animal.
 
I hope some CA guys will wade in here on the 36gr VG for coyotes, I've only killed a couple with 224 50gr and 243 62gr, the 50's worked pretty good(just loaded 50 rounds for this winter) and the 62's left huge exits on coyotes. I'm looking at trying the 40gr NBT Lead Frees on coyotes as the 55gr 243 bullet has worked well for me much better for pelt hunting in 6mm's.

The weekend after my first post in this thread I took a pair of relatively new acquisitions out for a spin.

Saturday Model 70 222 Rem 52gr Speer HB FB



Sunday Sako Vixen 52gr Speer HP FB



The following week, Savage 10 22-204(222 Rem Mag Improved) 50gr VG


 
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Most of the guys I know here in CA are using TSX or TTSX, the varmint grenades aren't that popular for coyote sized stuff.
 
I used to have a model 70 .222 rem that I had cut down to 19inches and had great results using 50gr hornady SX and benchmark. Great accuracy and great on coyotes.
 
I have a 20-222 being built that should finish up in the next month or so, does that count.
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